placing sustainability: engaging (rural) communities understandings of sustainability ·...

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Placing sustainability: Engaging (rural) communities understandings of sustainability Project: Towards place-based education in the Murray darling Basin http://www.canberra.edu.au/murray-darling-crn/projects/place-based-education Research Team: Philip Roberts, Jo Caffery, Bill Green (CSU) Amy Chapman (ACU), Katja Mikhailovich John Spriggs, Jo-Anne Reid (CSU), John Rafferty (CSU), Natalie Downes with Will Inveen (MDBA)

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Page 2: Placing sustainability: Engaging (rural) communities understandings of sustainability · 2015-06-26 · reference) 3. ZEnvironmental maintenance - focused on environmental maintenance

The presentation will explore:

• The concept of place for understanding rural spaces

• The representation of sustainability in the official curriculum & the relevant literature.

• How sustainability is understood by community (based on eth data from a survey conducted for the project)

• How these understandings can be incorporated in place-conscious education, and by association other public spheres.

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Conflicting values

‘I was bailed up on the main street, with people all around, and absolutely abused by a students father because of the greenie bullshit I was apparently teaching his son. He was absolutely wild, I thought he was going to punch me.’

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/young-men-burn-copies-of-the-guide-to-the-murray/3678418

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Somerville & Green (2013) • ‘the most exciting and innovative

sustainability education initiatives are emerging at the grassroots community level, but do not appear in the formal curriculum of school education’ p. 73.

• ‘They typically involve place and community-based experiential pedagogies shaped within and by the communities and places in which they arise’ p.74

• ‘in the school system … relied on … the dedication of particular visionary teachers to contribute over and above their normal teaching work’ p.74

• Storyline analysis: – Region-based spatial

framework

– Place-based focus

– Philosophical foundations

– Scarcity of funding and resources

– Partnerships

– Innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

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A cosmopolitan nation

• ‘the cosmopolitan child is not born but made, and that schooling is the central site of this production’ (Popkewitz, 2008 p.3).

• Metro-centric, cosmopolitan values (Popkewitz 2008, Corbett 2010)

• Curriculum as policy (Rizvi & Lingard 2010, Luke et al 2013)

• Policy dominated by human capital ideas • Neoliberal social imaginery

– Standardisation, regulation, accountability & choice – Placeless

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Curriculum ‘relevance’ or ‘acceptability’

• Commonwealth Schools Commission, 1987; McKenzie, Harrold & Sturman, 1996; HREOC, 2000

• Country Areas Program • Learning to leave (Corbett 2007) • A Curriculum for the country: The

absence of the rural in a national curriculum (R. 2014)

• Place conscious – placeless (R. 2013) • In the Aust Curric:

– No local studies – Choice of texts – Local studies were:

‘unnecessary in an essential learning curriculum and will free up time for the essentials’ (ACARA, 2010, p.157).

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From ego-centric to eco-centric

• Paul Clarke (2012)http://www.pop-

up-foundation.org

• New ways of thinking and knowing for innovative forms of action

• ‘there is little evidence of new concepts of sustainability in the Australian syllabus’ (Skamp, 2010, p.10)

• Sustainability education = genuine professional learning (Leonard 2013)

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Green & Reid (2004)

• Relationship between education and rural-regional sustainability.

• Education as situated practice.

• Teacher education as renewal, education as representation, and staffing

• ‘special forever’ project.

• Relationship between Quality Teaching & rural-regional sustainability.

• What is education for? What skills & understandings do teachers need?

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Brundtland Report (1987)

• Called for “a vast campaign of education, debate, and public participation” to address the challenges of sustainability in the future (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 p.23.).

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World summit on sustainable development (2002)

• Recognised the indispensible role of education for achieving sustainable development.

• As education is “one of the most powerful instruments we have for bringing about the changes required to achieve sustainable development” (UNESCO, 2005)

• Declaring a UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (began in January 2005)

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Complex environments • “scholarly and public debate on agricultural water is

characterized by strong polarization and dichotomies” (Mollinga, 2010, p. 415)

• “the pursuit of sustainable development is more than just reconciling potential conflicts between economic growth and ecological sustainability; there is a social dimension to sustainability” (Mitchell, Curtis and Davidson, 2008, p. 67)

• Aboriginal Australians “look at Country as everything all living together … everything’s got order and connection” (Walsh et al. 2014, p 84);

• There is no division but connectedness (Weir, 2009)

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Triple Bottom Line (TBL) • Economic bottom line: (growth, efficiency, stability)

financial capital of an organisation; physical capital (machinery, equipment etc.) human capital (skills, experience, knowledge in the organisation). sustainability revolves around cost competitiveness and future projections, demand, profit margins, maintenance of human capital.

• Environmental bottom line: (biodiversity, resilience, natural resources, pollution) critical natural capital essential to the maintenance of life and ecosystem integrity and renewable, replaceable, or substitutable natural capital.

• Social bottom line: (empowerment, inclusion, consultation, governance) focuses on social capital and human capital.

• Elkington (1997 in Grootjans et al 2005)

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• ‘the way we imagine space has effects…’

– Massey 2005:4

• ‘space is fundamental in any form of communal

life; space is fundamental in any exercise of

power’ – Foucault 1984:252

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• The truth is that centralization is the best form of educational rule for a young country with a vast hinterland. It ensures that the children of the rural pioneer receive as good an education as the children of the banker or artisan in the city.

– Browne 1927:xvii-xviii

John Glover. Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point 1831-33 oil on canvas

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Conceptualizing rurality • 3 theoretical frames

– Functional (land use & life linked to land)

– Political-economic (social production)

– Social (culture & values) • Cloke 2006

• Three-fold model of (rural) space – Rural locality

– Formal representations of the rural

– Everyday lives of the rural

• Halfacree 2006

• Generative Theory of Rurality – Rurality as context – Forces (Space, place & time) – Agencies (Movement, systems, will) – Resources (Situated, material &

Psychosocial) • Balfour, Mitchell & Molestone 2008

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Rural as both real and imagined

• ‘real-and-imaginary’

• Trialectic of Space

– Preceived

– Conceived

– Lived

Soja (1996) & Henri Lefebvre (1991)

• Spatial Justice (Soja 2010)

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Place

‘place is space filled up by people, practices, objects and representations’

– Gieryn (2000) P.465

‘The point of becoming more conscious of places in education is to extend our notions of pedagogy and accountability outward toward places. Thus extended, pedagogy becomes more relevant to the lived experience of students and teachers, and accountability is reconceptualised so that

places matter to educators, students, and citizens in tangible ways. Place-conscious education, therefore, aims to work against the isolation of

schooling’s discourses and practices from the living world outside the increasingly placeless institution of schooling.’

- Gruenwald (2003) p. 621

‘Bourdieu viewed individual lives as taking place within social and physical spaces that are connected to cultural and symbolic capital’

- Reed-Danahay (2005) P.132

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• The multiplicity of rural places and perceptions of the rural remind us of the forces that have become otherwise invisible and that inevitably place matters.

– Reid, Green et al 2010

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National Goals of Schooling: From Social Justice to Excellence & Equity

• Adelaide declaration 1.7

– have an understanding of, and concern for, stewardship of the natural environment, and the knowledge and skills to contribute to ecologically sustainable development

• Melbourne Declaration pg. 14

– In addition, a focus on environmental sustainability will be integrated across the curriculum

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Sustainability in the AC Sustainability addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life.

Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Actions to improve sustainability are both individual and collective endeavours shared across local and global communities. They necessitate a renewed and balanced approach to the way humans interact with each other and the environment. Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It enables individuals and communities to reflect on ways of interpreting and engaging with the world. Sustainability education is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting environments and creating a more ecologically and socially just world through informed action. Actions that support more sustainable patterns of living require consideration of environmental, social, cultural and economic systems and their interdependence.

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Sustainability in the official curriculum

• All were consistent with sustainability being about maintaining the needs of the current generation, while ensuring the needs of the future generation are also able to be met

• No specific area of sustainability is focused on or prioritised over the other, suggesting a TBL approach (except for NSW Geography K-10)

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An environmental bias in content

• When linked to content elaborations there is a bias towards sustainability being seen in predominantly environmental terms.

• The implied definition of sustainability is one of environmental issues and focuses.

• This is evident in the context sustainability is to be enacted (taught), the subjects it is taught in, and the different elements of sustainability that are taught and focused on.

• For example, it is either referenced directly as environmental/ecological sustainability, or usually where it isn’t only an environmental reference, other areas are referenced closely to environmental issues.

• It is rare to see references to sustainability out of the context of the environmental.

• TBL as an ‘add on’ - the focus is small, so the message is lost within the largely environmental focus.

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e.g. National

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In Policy

• The Environmental focus of sustainability is also evident in the policies of each jurisdiction - School specific policies, Departmental policies.

• While policies used mixed / TBL influenced definitions

• Actions and specifics were linked primarily to environmental foci.

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Q13b: Type of organisation

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Q13c: Organisation jurisdiction

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Q13e: Level of respondent

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Q14: Please click the map below to indicate your location

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Q1: Sustainability means different things to different people. What does sustainability

mean to you?

1. A ‘future orientated’ concept. While including the traditional view of maintain the environment and resources for future generations there was a semantic orientation towards the future.

2. ‘Integrated approach’ - emphasized the interconnected nature of the environment, the economy, people and communities (no time reference)

3. ‘Environmental maintenance’ - focused on environmental maintenance (no time reference)

• Farm specific perspectives of sustainability fell outside of these first

three categories. Positively this suggests that farming practices may be considered part of the broader environment as opposed to a narrower farm specific or land perspective.

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1 (NotImportant at all)

2 3 4 (Neutral) 5 6 7 (ExtremelyImportant)

How important is sustainability to you?

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1 (NotImportant at all)

2 3 4 (Neutral) 5 6 7 (ExtremelyImportant)

How important is sustainabilty to your organisation?

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1 (NotImportant at all)

2 3 4 (Neutral) 5 6 7 (ExtremelyImportant)

How important is sustainability to you? How important is sustainabilty to your organisation?

How important is sustainability to you / your organisation?

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Individuals V Organisations

How important is sustainability to you?

1. ‘future orientated’ - future generations, lifestyle and resources.

2. ‘sustainability of resources’

3. personal ‘values and beliefs’

4. Farm and business survival

How important is sustainability to your organisation?

1. ‘survival’ of the organization and the communities they serve

2. ‘integrated perspective’ in that the responses highlighted the organizations need to balance various aspects of sustainability

3. ‘Environmental’ reasons

4. Agricultural’ specific (food production)

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Q7:What activities is your organisation undertaking in relation to sustainability?

1. ‘Environmental’ programs

2. ‘Education & public awareness’ initiatives

3. Targeted ‘reduction of resource use’

• ‘cultural/social’ programs and ‘lobbying’ both received minor mentions.

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• Thus far we have NOT defined ‘sustainability’

• The results illustrate the multifaceted perceptive in use within community organisations.

• Students are growing up in communities with more complex and nuanced understandings of sustainability than that presented in the curriculum.

• Next we introduce Triple Bottom Line ideas…

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Q8: Rank the importance of each area of sustainability in achieving your organisation's sustainability goals.

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Q8: Rank the importance of each area of sustainability in achieving your organisation's sustainability goals.

Statistic Environmental Economic Social Cultural Other (Please specify)

Min Value 1 1 1 1 1

Max Value 5 5 5 5 5

Mean 1.84 2.41 2.52 3.44 4.79

Variance 1.05 1.47 0.73 0.81 0.66

Standard Deviation

1.03 1.21 0.85 0.90 0.81

Total Responses 284 284 284 284 284

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Q9: What percentage of the available resources do you feel should be allocated to each area of sustainability

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Q9: What percentage of the available resources do you feel should be allocated to each area of sustainability

# Answer Min Value Max Value Average Value Standard Deviation

1 Environmental 0.00 100.00 33.98 18.55

2 Economic 0.00 100.00 26.05 15.88

3 Social 0.00 60.00 20.92 10.66

4 Cultural 0.00 45.00 14.67 9.09

5 Other (Please specify)

0.00 100.00 5.11 16.24

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Challenges facing organisations in achieving sustainability goals.

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Suggestions for addressing the challenges outlined

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This is not to suggest that schools should only reflect the attitudes of their communities, though; indeed, there is a legitimate role in developing new understandings. Instead, we are arguing that in order to develop new understands and effectively problem-solve, education programs need to start with shared understandings.

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A Place Conscious enactment

• A question of direction

• Generative from place, connected to the global

• Generative from place, connected to abstract knowledge

• Not parochial or relativistic.

• Take students beyond their world while leaving that world intact and valued. Show communities other futures that include them.