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ERIC Number: ED464791
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 96
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-1-870098-99-4
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Sustainable Education: Re-Visioning Learning and Change. Schumacher Briefings.
Sterling, Stephen
Today, most learning is functional or informational learning, which is oriented towards socialization and vocational goals that take no account of sustainability. This has been reinforced in Western educational systems by the introduction of a managerial view of education which has paralleled recent economic restructuring. This modernist educational paradigm derives from a broader social and cultural paradigm, which is fundamentally mechanistic and reductionist. There is a poor fit between this dominant paradigm and our experience of increasing complexity, interdependence, and systems breakdown in the world. Asserting education for sustainable development within the present educational framework can only meet with limited success, as such forms of educational change are marginalized by the mainstream. The real need is to change from transmissive toward transformative learning, but this in turn requires a transformed educational paradigm. Educators for change need a clearer understanding of an ecological, participatory worldview from which a strong ecological educational paradigm and culture can be developed. Realization of a sustainable education paradigm requires vision, image, design, and action from all concerned with achieving healthy, ecologically sustainable societies. Time is critically short to make the educational changes necessary to ensure a secure future. Case studies that exemplify a more ecological educational paradigm are presented in the areas of government, nongovernmental organizations, schools, teacher education, higher education, and business and professional practice. An appendix to the booklet presents a list of 38 resources. (Contains 71 references.) (TD)
Schumacher UK, CREATE Environment Centre, Seaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN, England (6 pounds). e-mail: admin@schumacher.org.uk; Web site: http://www.schumacher.org.uk.
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A