Abstract
The instrumentalist view of the purpose of education manifested in recent decades through the influence of neoliberal ideology, and the set of assumptions that accompany this wave of change and reform, are critiqued from an ecological and humanistic viewpoint. A collective blindness to the global systemic issues that are shaping the near human and planetary future is present both in wider society and in educational systems that can, consequently, be deemed maladaptive to this reality. A deep learning response within educational thinking, policymaking, and practice is required based upon an emerging relational or ecological worldview, already burgeoning in diverse civil society movements. This would allow attention to be brought to generating purposes and assumptions in education aligned to, and able to address, the possibilities of systemic breakdown or breakthrough in global and local systems. Such education is supportive of living in more creative, collaborative, and explorative ways that help assure breakthrough trajectories as the century plays out.
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Sterling, S. (2017). Assuming the Future: Repurposing Education in a Volatile Age. In: Jickling, B., Sterling, S. (eds) Post-Sustainability and Environmental Education. Palgrave Studies in Education and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51322-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51322-5_3
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