Social Ecology and Education: Transforming Worldviews and Practices

203 Pages·2020·5.329 MB·English

by  David Wright and Stuart B. Hill

“The portfolio of essays is excellent, ranging widely, incorporating many different
voices, stretching it seems (thankfully) beyond academia into the world of environ­
mental practice, emphasizing the experience and first-hand accounts of the authors.
I’m impressed, too, at the emphasis on personalizing educational experience, the
developmental orientation, and the openness to multiple forms of learning. The essays
challenge the reader to encounter some of the existential challenges that are inevitable
in contemplating environmental issues. The authors are highly qualified, very experi­
enced, and surely in Stuart Hill’s case, among the founders of academic environmental
studies.”
—Mitchell Thomashow, Director of the Second Nature Presidential
Fellows Program, former president of Unity College, and
former Chair of Environmental Studies at Antioch University

SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND EDUCATION

Social Ecology and Education addresses “ecological understanding” as a transformative
educational issue: a learning response to emerging insights into social-ecological
relationships and the future of life on our planet.
In the face of the existential threats posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity,
pandemics and the associated ecological and social challenges, there is a need to extend
our responses beyond scientific inquiry and technological initiatives. This book seeks
to move the dialogue towards a deeper and broader understanding of the complexities
of the issues involved. To achieve this, the book discusses issues rarely addressed
through programs in “Education for Sustainability” and “Environmental Education,”
such as student defined knowledge systems, deep engagement with the implications of
indigenous understandings, climate change as symptomatic of broad epistemological
problems, social disengagement and differentiated barriers to meaningful change. This
work is enriched by its focus on the learning and the learning systems that have led to
our current predicament.
This book seeks to initiate considerations of this kind, to invigorate education for
sustainable, equitable, healthy and meaningful futures. As such, this book will be of
great interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students in a range of education and
environmental courses.
David Wright is a senior lecturer in Education at Western Sydney University,
Australia.
Stuart B. Hill is Foundation Chair of Social Ecology at Western Sydney University,
Australia.

SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND
EDUCATION
Transforming Worldviews and
Practices
Edited by David Wright and Stuart B. Hill
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, David Wright and Stuart B. Hill;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of David Wright and Stuart B. Hill to be identified as the authors of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wright, David (David George), editor. | Hill, Stuart B., 1943-editor.

Title: Social ecology and education : transforming worldviews and practices /

edited by David Wright and Stuart B. Hill.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references

and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2020013569 (print) | LCCN 2020013570 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780367471088 (Hardback) | ISBN 9780367471095 (Paperback) |

ISBN 9781003033462 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Social ecology. | Educational sociology | Environmental

education.

Classification: LCC HM861 .S624 2021 (print) | LCC HM861 (ebook) |

DDC 304.2–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013569

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013570

ISBN: 978-0-367-47108-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-47109-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-03346-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Taylor & Francis Books
With thanks to the pioneering work of Murray Bookchin
and colleagues at the Institute of Social Ecology, and to
pioneers in systemic approaches to learning, especially
Richard Bawden, Graham Bird, David Russell, John Cameron
and Judy Pinn. And with thanks to Christy, Louis and Arlo.

CONTENTS
List of illustrations xi

Preface xii

Acknowledgments xv

PART 1

Transforming learning 1

1 (Edge)ucation by design 3

Ann Dale and Hilary Leighton
2 Teaching social ecology 15

David Wright
3 Transformative learning priorities 28

Stuart B. Hill
4 What was education for? Learning in the shadow of

climate change 41

Isak Stoddard
5 Wild pedagogies and the promise of a different education:

Challenges to change 55

Bob Jickling and Sean Blenkinsop