Abstract
Conceptions of education as sustainability (for example Bonnett 1999, 2002; Foster 2001, 2011; Sterling 2003, 2009, 2010; Vare and Scott 2007) locate education as sustainability within systems theory which emphasises the nested, interdependent spatial relationship between education, society, the economy and the ecosphere. This paper, however, builds on temporal conceptions of education as sustainability. Temporal conceptions place emphasis on the temporal continuity of a system, rather than focussing mainly (or only) on spatial continuity. Temporal conceptions are hard for people to engage with and understand. The anthropologist Graeber (2001) suggests that this stems from a worldview based on the Parmenidian approach prevalent in Western culture. People see the world as constructed from static objects and reflections of ideal forms: even relationships and feelings are reduced to objects. He suggests that science and philosophy are now recognising a more Heraclitean worldview in which everything is in flux, where new forms and structures are emerging: a world of becoming and potentiality. This paper explores what education as sustainability could look like if people can embrace such a worldview and why this is important. It concludes with a short case study of engaging with such an approach in a University Teacher Education module on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
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Notes
- 1.
Osberg and Biesta (2007, p. 49) describe closed systems ‘as those which do not interact or exchange information with their environments’.
- 2.
Intersubjectivity---the interaction between two subjects shaping and forming each other.
- 3.
The Lifelong Learning Sector includes: Community learning and development, further education, higher education, libraries, archives and information services work based learning (UK Commission for Employment and Skills 2010).
- 4.
The tutor is also the author of this paper.
- 5.
Biesta (2006) also uses this quote in his final chapter.
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Chave, S. (2015). Toward Temporal Conceptions of Education as Sustainability: Contributions from Complexity and Process Thinking. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08837-2_22
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