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Sustainability Education across the Lifespan

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2024 | Viewed by 680

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Environment, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
2. School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Interests: sustainability education; natural resource management; sustainable consumption; indigenous knowledge and stewardship

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Guest Editor
Head of Department of Learning and Leadership, Institute of Education, University College London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK
Interests: intergenerational learning; engaged learning; multimodal literacies and digital technologies; music psychology (life course learning, development, and wellbeing); intercultural learning; diversity and inclusion in learning contexts; creative collaborations; civic engagement; educational leadership

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability education is changing at a rapid pace in the context of a world experiencing increased disruption due to climate change, inequalities, and the understood interdependecies of social and ecological systems. From the advent of greater environmental awareness and international dialogue about sustainable development in the 1960s, the vast majority of people on the planet today have grown up with formal or informal education about sustainability. As Wals et al (2017: 71) have argued, educators “need strategies for anticipatory engagement with changing socio-ecological realities–both in the present and future–in order to be effective within their various embodied contexts”.

This Special Issue will feature articles that address how we can imagine and implement sustainability education across the lifespan, and at particular important junctures in the lifespan and within relational geographies of place and space. We seek articles that argue for, describe, and report the effectiveness of sustainability education that fosters continuing education about anthropocene realities; interdependencies with other social, economic, and environmental changes; possible solutions and improvements of how humans live and thrive within their ecological limits and repair damage done, and invites community that supports adaptation and resilience. This Special Issue will supplement the current literature on sustainability education by addressing the clear need to imagine sustainability education across the lifespan, from cradle to grave, to foster understanding, responsibility, hope, and courage for all ages to have their role in building a better world.

Reference:

Wals, Arjen E.J; Joseph Weakland; Peter Blaze Corcoran. Preparing for the Ecocene: Envisioning futures for environment and sustainability education. Japanese Journal of Environmental Education 2017, 26, 71–76. 

Prof. Dr. Naomi T. Krogman
Prof. Dr. Susan A. O’Neill
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • lifelong education
  • resilience
  • intergenerational learning
  • climate change crisis
  • transformative education
  • lifelong learning
  • ecological systems
  • environmental education
  • relational geographies
  • human flourishing
  • social justice education

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 580 KiB  
Article
Indigenous Intergenerational Resilience and Lifelong Learning: Critical Leverage Points for Deep Sustainability Transformation in Turbulent Times
by Lewis Williams
Sustainability 2024, 16(11), 4494; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114494 - 25 May 2024
Viewed by 367
Abstract
Rapidly changing conditions and the complexity and interconnectedness of global challenges means that learning across the lifespan is more important than ever. Equally critical are sustainable planetary futurities and associated pedagogical practices which reach beyond the imposition of settler temporalities, modernist technological solutions, [...] Read more.
Rapidly changing conditions and the complexity and interconnectedness of global challenges means that learning across the lifespan is more important than ever. Equally critical are sustainable planetary futurities and associated pedagogical practices which reach beyond the imposition of settler temporalities, modernist technological solutions, and western cognitive imperialism as a means of responding to our cultural-ecological crisis. Pedagogical practices must actively work with diverse generational realities and impacts associated with the cultural, ecological, and climate emergency. This paper reports on a growing conversation across diverse cultural biospheres regarding inclusive Indigenous-led strategies of multi-generational resilience addressing human–environmental wellbeing. Adopting an inclusive Indigenist theoretical and methodological approach, it narrates the epistemological and relational practices of several multigenerational pedagogical forums (land-based and virtual) based in and out of Turtle Island/Canada from 2015–2023. Based on an Indigenist research paradigm and qualitative research methods pertaining to one multi-day land based learning summit and three online virtual learning forums, a thematic analysis of key findings relating to pedagogical practices, intercultural and intergenerational themes, and the shifting dynamics of multi-generational resilience work is provided. Themes include the critical importance of epistemological shifts over time; Indigenous multi spatial-temporalities; relational rather than binary or even hybrid views of sexual, gendered, ethnic, and racial identities within cultural-ecological restoration work; the relevance of transnational gatherings; and the adaption of pedagogical practices to meet fluctuating local–global conditions. The paper then summarizes the key elements of lifelong learning within an Indigenist approach to cultural-ecological restoration work, and concludes with a discussion regarding the relevance of this approach in reorientating three previously identified leverage points for accelerating sustainability transformation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Education across the Lifespan)

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: What are we seeking to sustain? Educating for self-determination, consent, kindness and freedom
Authors: Mark Fettes; Sean Blenkinsop
Affiliation: Simon Fraser University
Abstract: What does the land itself teach us about sustainability and learning across the lifespan? The four concepts explored in this contribution to the Special Issue are drawn from the work of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, an important Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar and writer from Canada. They shed fresh light on our own work on education for eco-social-cultural change, as well as illuminating the notions of “sustainment” and “design for the pluriverse” in the work of Colombian decolonial scholar Arturo Escobar. We argue for educational practices that foster these possibilities in students and teachers alike, in close, sustained, resilience building relationships with the land, air, water, and re-generative community.

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