Pack for sustainability : Navigating through uncharted educational landscapes

Abstract

The worlds of education and learning have for the last few decades been characterized by reactions to the detrimental human impact on the environment, which is measured on such a scale that scholars now refer to the present epoch as the Anthropocene. In order to develop ideas and practices that could guide us into place-based research and an emancipatory relationship between pedagogy and knowledge, the focus needs to shift from what to teach and why (Knowledge and Curriculum) and concern over how learning is evaluated (Assessment) to how we should teach (Pedagogy). The acronym PACK (Pedagogy, Assessment, Curriculum, and Knowledge) turned into the idea of packing for a trip into uncharted educational territory, taking with us several gadgets that might be useful. Our own journey emerged as a dialogue between a philosopher and a science educator. Building on experiences from global work to regional research and a university chairmanship for sustainability, we tried to pack some big ideas for educators to take along, helping them navigate the educational landscapes ahead.