Abstract
We live in a world with a globalising culture that does not value life in its many dimensions: the environment, the health and vitality of its children and young people, or the wellbeing of socio-cultural life in general. This chapter begins by reiterating the important evolutionary theme that would shift our thinking from static mechanistic metaphors to life-enhancing ones. I refresh the reader on the postformal qualities and pedagogies that support this shift before discussing the philosophical underpinnings of a life-promoting education. An introduction to the most life-supporting educational approaches today is followed by examples from my teaching experience and that of other alive and vital educators. I finish with some personal reflections on the importance of pedagogical life.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Abbs, P. (1994). The educational imperative: Defense of Socratic and aesthetic learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Anderson, J. (1985). Cognitive psychology and its implications. New York: W.H.Freeman and Co.
Arnheim, R. (1989). Thoughts on art education. Los Angeles: Getty Centre for Education in the Arts.
Bassett, C. (2005, October). Wisdom in three acts: Using transformative learning to teach for wisdom [Electronic version]. In Sixth international transformative learning conference, East Lansing. Michigan.
Bergson, H. (1911/1944). Creative evolution (A. Mitchell, Trans.). New York: Macmillan & Co.
Biesta, G. J. J. (2014). The beautiful risk of education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.
Boulding, E. (1988). Image and action in peace building. Journal of Social Issues, 44(2), 17–37.
Broudy, H. S. (1987). The role of imagery in learning. Los Angeles: The Getty Centre for Education in the Arts.
Callahan, G., & Cubbin, N. (2000, November 11–12). Scream tests. The Australian Magazine, pp. 20–27.
Clouder, C., Jenkinson, S., & Large, M. (2000). The future of childhood. Gloucestershire: Hawthorn Press.
Cook-Greuter, S. R. (2000). Mature ego development: A gateway to ego transcendence. Journal of Adult Development, 7(4), 227–240.
de La Mettrie, J. O. (1748). L’Homme machine. Leyden: Elie Luzac.
Deleuze, G. (1990/1995). Negotiation: 1972–1990 (M. Joughin, Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.
Deleuze, G., & Conley, T. (1992). The fold: Leibniz and the Baroque. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy? (First published in French 1991) (H. Tomlinson, & G. Burchell, Trans.) (A series in social thought and cultural criticism). New York: Columbia University Press.
Derrida, J. (2001). Structure, sign, and play in the discourse of the human sciences. Writing and Difference (A. Bass, Trans.) (pp. 278–294). London: Routledge.
Dewey, J. (1972). The early works, 1882–1898 (Vol. 5). Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.
Eckersley, R. (1995). Values and visions: Youth and the failure of modern Western culture. Youth Studies Australia, 14(1), 13–21.
Eckersley, R. (1996). Having our say about the future: Young people’s dreams and expectations for Australia in 2010 and the role of science and technology. Australian Science and Technology Council.
Egan, K. (1988). Metaphors in collision: Objectives, assembly lines and stories. Curriculum Inquiry, 18(1), 63–86.
Egan, K. (1989). Teaching as story-telling. Chicago: Chicago Press.
Egan, K. (1990). Romantic understanding: The development of rationality and imagination, ages 8–15. London: Routledge.
Egan, K. (1997). The educated mind: How cognitive tools shape our understanding. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Eisner, E. (1985). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Fien, J. (1998). Environmental education for a new century. In D. Hicks & R. Slaughter (Eds.), World yearbook 1998: Futures education. London: Kogan Page.
Fraser, M., Kember, S., & Lury, C. (2005). Inventive life: Approaches to the new vitalism. Theory, Culture and Society, 22(1), 1–14.
Gare, A. (1999). Speculative metaphysics and the future of philosophy: The contemporary relevance of Whitehead’s defence of speculative metaphysics. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 77(2), 127–145.
Gare, A. (2002). The roots of postmodernism: Schelling, process philosophy, and poststructuralism. In C. Keller & A. Daniell (Eds.), Process and difference: Between cosmological and poststructuralist postmodernisms. New York: SUNY Press.
Gebser, J. (1949/1985). The ever-present origin. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Gidley, J. (1998a). Prospective youth visions through imaginative education. Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies, 30(5), 395–408.
Gidley, J. (1998b). Youth futures: Transcending violence through the artistic imagination. In S. Inayatullah & P. Wildman (Eds.), Futures studies: Methods, emerging issues and civilizational visions. A multi-media CD ROM. Brisbane: Prosperity Press.
Gidley, J. (2001, June). The dancer at the edge of knowledge: Imagination as a transdisciplinary force. In The 2nd International Philosophy, Science and Theology Festival, Grafton.
Gidley, J. (2002). Holistic education and visions of rehumanized futures. In J. Gidley & S. Inayatullah (Eds.), Youth futures: Comparative research and transformative visions (pp. 155–168). Westport: Praeger.
Gidley, J. (2003, September). Empowering teachers to work with imagination. In 3rd international soul in education conference, Byron Bay.
Gidley, J. (2004, May). Imagination and integration: Empowering teachers and children. In Council of Government Schools Organisations (COGSO), 4th annual conference, Darwin, NT, Australia.
Gidley, J. (2005). Giving hope back to our young people: Creating a new spiritual mythology for western culture. Journal of Futures Studies, 9(3), 17–30.
Gidley, J. (2007). Educational imperatives of the evolution of consciousness: The integral visions of Rudolf Steiner and Ken Wilber. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 12(2), 117–135.
Gidley, J. (2008). Evolving education: A postformal-integral-planetary gaze at the evolution of consciousness and the educational imperatives. PhD dissertation Southern Cross University, Lismore.
Gidley, J. (2009). Educating for evolving consciousness: Voicing the emergency for love, life and wisdom. In The international handbook of education for spirituality, care and wellbeing (Springer international handbooks of religion and education series). New York: Springer.
Gidley, J. (2012). Evolution of education: From weak signals to rich imaginaries of educational futures. Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies, 44(1), 46–54.
Gidley, J., Bateman, D., & Smith, C. (2004). Futures in education: Principles, practice and potential (AFI monograph series 2004, Vol. 5). Melbourne: Australian Foresight Institute.
Giroux, H. A. (1998). Series foreword. In H. A. Giroux (Ed.), Naming the multiple: Poststructuralism and education. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.
Giroux, H. A. (2001). Stealing innocence: Corporate culture’s war on children. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Goodenough, U., & Deacon, T. W. (2006). The sacred emergence of nature. In P. Clayton (Ed.), Oxford handbook of science and religion (pp. 853–871). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grigorov, S. K. (2012). International handbook of ecopedagogy for students, educators and parents: A project for a new eco-sustainable civilization. Sophia: Bulgarian Centre for Sustainable Local Development and Ecopedagogy.
Grossman, D., Degaetano, G., & Grossman, D. (1999). Stop teaching our kids to kill: A call to action against TV, movie and video violence. New York: Random House.
Guevara, K., & Ord, J. (1996). The search for meaning in a changing work context. Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies, 28(8), 709–722.
Habermas, J. (1992). Postmetaphysical thinking: Philosophical essays. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Healy, J. M. (1998). Failure to connect: How computers affect our children’s minds—and what we can do about it. New York: Touchstone.
Healy, J. M. (1999). Endangered minds: Why children don’t think and what we can do about it. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Hicks, D. (1995). Envisioning the future: The challenge for environmental educators. Environmental Education Research, 1(3), 1–9.
Hicks, D. (1998). Identifying sources of hope in post-modern times. In D. Hicks & R. Slaughter (Eds.), World yearbook of education 1998: Futures education. London: Kogan Page.
Hicks, D. (2001). Citizenship for the future: A practical classroom guide. Surrey: World Wildlife Fund-UK.
Hicks, D. (2002). Lessons for the future (Futures and Education Series). London: Routledge.
Holden, C. (2002). Citizens of the new century: Perspectives from the United Kingdom. In J. Gidley & S. Inayatullah (Eds.), Youth futures: Comparative research and transformative visions (pp. 131–142). Westport: Praeger.
Hutchinson, F. (1992). Making peace with people and planet: Some important lessons from the Gandhian tradition in educating for the 21st century. Peace, Environment and Education, 3(3), 3–14.
Hutchinson, F. (1993). Educating beyond fatalism and impoverished social imagination: Are we actively listening to young people’s voices on the future? Peace Environment and Education, 4(4), 36–57.
Hutchinson, F. (1996). Educating beyond violent futures. London: Routledge.
Jantsch, E. (1980). The self-organising universe: Scientific and human implications of the emerging paradigm of evolution. New York: Pergamon Press.
Jardine, D. W. (1998). To dwell with a boundless heart: Essays in curriculum theory, hermeneutics, and the ecological imagination (Studies in the postmodern theory of education). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Jencks, C. (1997). The architecture of the jumping universe: A polemic: How complexity science is changing architecture and culture. West Sussex: Wiley.
Jenson, R. (1996). The dream society. The Futurist, 30(3), 9–13.
Kearney, R. (1998). Poetics of imagining: Modern to post-modern. Edinburgh: University Press.
Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Klisanin, D. (2003). Designing media with intent: Evolutionary guidance media for the creation of planetary consciousness. Ph.D., Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, California.
László, E. (2006). The chaos point: The world at the crossroads. Charlottsville: Hampton Roads Publishing Company.
Leonard, T., & Willis, P. (Eds.). (2008). Pedagogies of the imagination: Mythopoetic curriculum in educational practice. Berlin: Springer.
Lyotard, J.-F. (2004). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Marshak, D. (1997). The common vision: Parenting and educating for wholeness. New York: Peter Lang.
McGill, J. (2005). Reflecting on the pace of schooling. http://www.torontowaldorfschool.com/pdf/refpace.pdf. Accessed 7 Dec 2006.
Miller, J. P. (1988). The holistic curriculum. Toronto: OISE Press.
Miller, R. (1999). Holistic education for an emerging culture. In S. Glazer (Ed.), The heart of learning: Spirituality in education. New York: Putnam.
Milojevic, I. (2005). Educational futures: Dominant and contesting visions. London: Routledge.
Montessori, M. (1916/1964). The Montessori method. New York: Schoken Books.
Montuori, A. (1997). Reflections on transformative learning: Social creativity, academic discourse and the improvisation of inquiry. ReVision, 20(1), 34–37.
Montuori, A. (2003). The complexity of improvisation and the improvisation of complexity: Social science, art and creativity. Human Relations, 56(2), 237–255.
Morin, E. (2001). Seven complex lessons in education for the future. Paris: UNESCO.
Morin, E. (2005). RE: From prefix to paradigm. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 61, 254–267.
Morin, E., & Kern, A. B. (1999). Homeland earth: A manifesto for the new millennium (S. Kelly, & R. Lapoint, Trans.). (Advances in systems theory, complexity and the human sciences). Cresskill: Hampton Press.
Neville, B. (1989). Educating psyche: Emotion, imagination, and the unconscious in learning. Melbourne: Collins Dove.
Neville, B. (2001). The body of the five-minded animal. In S. Gunn & A. Begg (Eds.), Mind, body and society: Emerging understandings in knowing and learning. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.
Nicolescu, B. (1991). Science, meaning and evolution: The cosmology of Jacob Boehme. New York: Parabola Books.
Nielsen, T. W. (2006). Towards a pedagogy of imagination: A phenomenological case study of holistic education. Ethnography and Education, 1(2), 247–264.
Nuyen, A. T. (1998). Jean-Francois Lyotard: Education for imaginative knowledge. In M. Peters (Ed.), Naming the multiple: Poststructuralism and education. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.
Orr, D. (1994). Earth in mind: On education, environment, and the human prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Orr, D. (2001). The nature of design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Palmer, P. (2007). The precision of poetry & the passion of science: An education in paradox uncovering the heart of higher education. In Integrative learning for compassionate action in an interconnected world, San Francisco.
Pearce, J. C. (1992). Evolution’s end: Claiming the potential of our intelligence. San Francisco: Harper.
Polak, F. (1973). The image of the future (E. Boulding, Trans.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rose, K., & Kincheloe, J. (2003). Art, culture and education: Artful teaching in a fractured landscape. New York: Peter Lang.
Schiller, F. (1954/1977). On the aesthetic education of man—in a series of letters (First published in 1795). New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing.
Sinnott, J. D. (2005). The dance of the transforming self: Both feelings of connection and complex thought are needed for learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 108, 27–37.
Slaughter, R. (1991, June). Changing images of futures in the 20th century. Futures, 499–515.
Sloan, D. (1983). Insight-imagination: The emancipation of thought and the modern world. Westport: Greenwood.
Sloan, D. (1992). Imagination, education and our postmodern possibilities. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 15(2), 42–53.
Spina, S. U. (2004). Power plays: Video games’ bad rap. In S. Steinberg & J. Kincheloe (Eds.), Kinderculture: The corporate construction of childhood. Boulder: Westview Press.
St. Pierre, E. A. (2004). Deleuzian concepts for education: The subject undone. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(3), 283–296.
Stehlik, T. (2008). Thinking, feeling and willing: How Waldorf Schools provide a creative pedagogy which nurtures and develops imagination. In T. Leonard & P. Willis (Eds.), Pedagogies of the imagination: Mythopoetic curriculum in educational practice. Berlin: Springer.
Steinberg, S., & Kincheloe, J. (Eds.). (2004). Kinderculture: The corporate construction of childhood. Boulder: Westview Press.
Steiner, R. (1901/1973). The riddles of philosophy (GA 18) (4th ed.) (Original work published 1901, and republished with addition in 1914). Spring Valley: The Anthroposophic Press.
Steiner, R. (1905/1981). The stages of higher knowledge (GA 12) (L. Monges & F. McKnight, Trans. 1967) (Original work published 1905). Spring Valley: Anthroposophic Press.
Steiner, R. (1928/1972). A modern art of education (GA 307) (3rd ed.) (J. Darrell & G. Adams, Trans.) [14 Lectures, Ilkley, Yorkshire, Aug 5 to 17, 1923] (Original work published 1928). London: Rudolf Steiner Press.
Steiner, R. (1956). Supersensible influences in the history of mankind (GA 216) (D. S Osmond, & O. Barfield, Trans.) [6 Lectures, Dornach, September 22 to October 1, 1922]. London: The Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co.
Steiner, R. (1967a). Discussions with teachers, lectures, 1919. London: Rudolf Steiner Press.
Steiner, R. (1967b). The younger generation: Education and spiritual impulses in the 20th century (GA 217) (R. M. Querido, Trans.) [13 Lectures Stuttgart, October 3 to 15, 1922]. New York: Anthroposophic Press.
Steiner, R. (1981). The renewal of education through the science of the spirit: Lectures, 1920. Sussex: Kolisko Archive.
Steiner, R. (1982). The kingdom of childhood: Lectures, 1924. New York: Anthroposophic Press.
Steiner, R. (1990). Toward imagination: Culture and the individual (GA 169) (S. H. Seiler, Trans.) [7 Lectures, Berlin, June 6 to July 18, 1916] New York: Anthroposophic Press.
Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education. Bristol: Schumacher Briefings.
Stewart, C. (2002). Re-imagining your neighbourhood: A model of futures education. In J. Gidley & S. Inayatullah (Eds.), Youth futures: Comparative research and transformative visions (pp. 187–196). Westport: Praeger.
Suess, E. (1875). Die Entstehung Der Alpen [The origin of the Alps] Vienna: W. Braunmuller.
Uhrmacher, B. (1992). Coming to know the world through Waldorf education. In American Educational Research Association conference (p. 24), San Francisco, unpublished.
Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1993). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Warren, E. W. (1996). Imagination in Plotinus. The Classical Quarterly, 16(2), 277–285.
Whitehead, A. N. (1916/1967). The aims of education. New York: Free Press.
Whitehead, A. N. (1919). Discussion upon fundamental principles of education. Process Studies, 14(1), 41–43.
Whitehead, A. N. (1929/1985). Process and reality. New York: Free Press.
Wilber, K. (1995/2000). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution (2nd ed., Rev.). Boston: Shambhala.
Wildman, P., Gidley, J., & Irwin, R. (1997). Visions as power: Promises and perils of envisioning desired futures with marginalised youth. Journal of Applied Social Behaviour, 3(2), 15–24.
Zajonc, A. (2005, February 13). Love and knowledge: Recovering the heart of learning through contemplation. In Contemplative practices in education: Making peace in ourselves and peace in the world, Columbia University.
Ziegler, W. (1991). Envisioning the future. Futures, 23(5), 516–527.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gidley, J.M. (2016). Pedagogical Life: A Sustaining Force. In: Postformal Education. Critical Studies of Education, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29069-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29068-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29069-0
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)