10 December, 2010

Ghazali, K. (2011). Transformative learning via eportfolios: a critical review of communication and technology to inspire confidence in novice practitioners

Abstract
Development in the corporate world has instigated changes that have had a ripple effect globally.  Government and corporate strategy are inextricably integrated, meaning that a rise in ideologies which are embedded in commerce supports the network of communication.  It is these corporate-centred ideologies that heavily influence and significantly correlate to the reforms required in education.  Globalisation has steered a way forward for transformation in higher education to fit pedagogy and technology with Communities Of Practice and delivery.  While there are ongoing difficulties and challenges, supporters keep faith that good change comes from the stimulation of tension and uncertainty.  UNESCO programs (e.g. Education for All, Millennium Development Goals, Education for Sustainable Development) are regarded as opportunities for sustainable change.  The dysfunction and potential source of resistance to the development of sustainable policy stems from the considerable amount of pressure on people who teach to restructure professional practice in order to contribute towards Education for Sustainable Development.  Eportfolios are widely used in corporate strategy, and may be considered a method by which transformation and integration of education occurs through its introduction to preservice teachers.






Introduction
Diversity may be seen as policy that either follows, or is followed by, innovation.  Policies on lifelong learning and capability are sourced from national level debate and are prioritised as policy that leads innovation.  The focus of the  2002 World Summit was on how to prepare education for sustainable development, how to set benchmarks and standards, and how to build control mechanisms that assess progress.  The objective of the Summit was to venture into the collaboration of strategy immediately which meant that participants were required to generate draft policies.  The situation revealed that several preparatory steps to enable strategy driven sustainable development would have to be implemented and monitored.  Specifically, the overriding impression left from the Summit was the complexity of global management and the time needed to implement development programs to raise awareness.

Current debate questions whether social reproduction or transformation is part of education and is reflected in the educators’ professional attitude.  Noticeable themes are relationships between social workers and clients (Shardlow, ed. 1989).  New methodology relates the needs of a community with relevant support structures that are more in keeping with developing the environment holistically (e.g. support comes from active participation in a community; taking individual responsibility for community belongingness).  Exploring the meaning that sustains these relationships brings an awareness of the implications that effective professionalism creates the unity required to integrate values that translate as collaborative achievement (Wadham, 2003).  By placing social reproduction in context, individuals maintain participation levels and arguably demonstrate a responsible and committed attitude born of obedience and deference (Trigg, 2001).  The more varied and diverse an individuals' network is, the more stimulation there is to respond to.  Some research analysts prefer to view education as more transactive and transformative with a distinct sympathy for social constructivism and cognitivism (Garavan & McCarthy, 2003).  Social networking shapes learning through translational learning and diversity of cultural perspectives.  Education that leads to transformation is open and self-directed (Montague, 2008).  Delivery of static knowledge is the platform used to integrate individual knowledge with group knowledge, making tacit knowledge explicit in curricula and students.  Therefore, environmental education defines the perception from which individuals view the world (Martin, 2007).  While discomfort surrounding the Education for Sustainable Development agenda is tangible, the aims for ESD cannot be discursively debated until the concept of education has been explored.  Tension (Leuenberger & Wakin, 2007; Duncum, 2008) caused by opposing views concerning the nature of education emerged when scholars analysed 20th century theory and its dominant tendencies, and noted that new perspectives were developing towards the close of the century (Bennett, 2008; Davies, 2010).  Memetics (Barton, 2004; Jahoda, 2002; Poulshock, 2002; Walter, 2007) suggests we think of education as transmissive, meaning that skills, knowledge and values are transmitted to students.  Participants are steered towards a committed objective via a closed learning process that affords bi-directional communication between master and apprentice (Carlson, et. al, 2003).  From a transmissive perspective, education is a tool through which to deliver messages to open minds and examples can be found in government, industry, and special interest groups.

Transforming pedagogy to fit objective
Education is used for implementing a set strategy, the standards for which correlate to ideologies that represent a segment of society (Waging War over Public Education and Youth Services: Challenging Corporate Control of Our Schools and Communities, 2005).   Implanting ideology is counter-productive in education for personal development, as transformation is the result of holistically training minds to develop analytical skills and insight rather than narrowing focus to content (Byrnes, 2006).  Allowing personal diversity as a means to sustain and maintain sense-making, identity (Collin, 2009) and developmental progress creates naturally occurring overt personal behaviour supportive of Education for Sustainable Development activities (Terry, 2007).  Reflexion is stimulated by a multitude of perspectives and transmission is more readily accepted as a result of preparation and clear, bi-directional understanding of objectives (Anderson, 2008).  While it may be easy to  denounce transmissive and deterministic goals, much of the literature available is written by people who have themselves been challenged by the structure of existing pedagogy and provides a foundation of experience for those committed to transformation and reformation in pedagogy (Macleod, 2005).  Evans and Powell (2007) value eportfolios as a means by which we can share knowledge and preserve authentic practice.  They suggest a healthy critique of the practical aspects to online teaching (Riel & Polin, 2004) that supports and maintains additive training for holistic attributes of nextgen learning.  As communities of practice are integrated networks that sustain culture, knowledge and objectives (Rudsberg & Ohman, 2010), preservice teachers are nurtured as a means to develop and archive an expanding knowledge base.  In creating and archiving artifacts (Aubusson, et. al, 2009), novices gain the necessary experience to analyse and self-evaluate individual work.  The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards places emphasis on recognising that teachers form learning communities as part of their professional duties.  Inculcating the values and group unity of communities of practice for preservice teachers facilitates progression to learning communities although analysis reveals that understanding the composite function of communities of practice has not been fully grasped.

Embedded learning
Instructional technologists propose that preservice teachers embed class and program level mediation as a means of integrating knowledge and communication technology (Laine, et. al., 2010) through eportfolios before employment (Franklin & Hopson, 2007).  Recent literature (Barnett, 2006) indicates that preservice teachers demonstrate strong individualistic behaviour commensurate with initiating pedagogy that embeds mediation and aids learning and teaching (Winch & Ingram, 2002).  Experience in eportfolio management (Anderberg, et. al, 2009) reveals a weakening effect if novices imitate without comprehension, which invalidates pedagogy and renders the artifact an unreliable source.  The strength of eportfolios lies in the ability to connect novices with their product drawing attention to the student-teacher network that include themes on mentoring and guidance through existing technology (Cornelius & Marston, 2009).  As reflection allows deeper cognitive processing, preservice teachers adopt behaviour that is valued in the profession gained from activity designed to generate strategy (Milman, 2005).

Eportfolios and the integrated COP
Phenomenology is the science of observation made popular in the 19th century.  Its foundation lies in an ecological balance of rational thought and embodied learning (i.e. living knowledge) that proposes all thought ( i.e. tacit knowledge) must first be lived in order to process knowledge.  Turning focus from activity to intention, phenomenology highlights the interaction between group members and the artifacts-in-use (Voulalas & Sharpe, 2005). Learning is based on experience that has been performed by the individual (Yechiam & Busemeyer, 2005).  Each time an individual has cause to use artifacts and interact with other members is an opportunity to embed the activity (Keough, 2008).  Embodied learning is the result of behavioural processes that facilitate individual meaning-making, and tacit knowledge can be described as the daily encounters an individual has that bring about holistic meaning (Kupers, 2008).  To formulate a concept, individuals use examples taken from the environment.  Theoretical knowledge provides the framework for debate, while critical analysis of content and context create a deconstruction of perspectives that shapes the design of solutions.  Thus eportfolios develop flexibly according to individuality and program requirements.  This function is of primary importance when considering the attributes of communities of practice. (e.g. active participation and open communication).  In addition, eportfolios provide active encouragement that supports lifelong learning (Fitch, et. al, 2008); facilitates and embeds triple loop learning (Dubinsky, 2003); maintains constructive feedback from peers (Chatel, 2003); and activates professional and personal identity (Chambers & Wickersham, 2007).  Peer interaction sustains the development, diffusion and dispersion of new knowledge (Miller & Benz, 2008).  Traditional assessment methods undermine the efficacy of eportfolios by implementing standardisation as eportfolios should be regarded as more than a compilation of artifacts to be assessed out of context by rubric marking systems.  

Design accentuates learning and assessment
Students have ownership of design layout and links as eportfolios are used to accentuate learning and assessment, in favour of assessment systems that are only supportive of assessment (Lyons, 2008).  Design solutions arise as a means to support sustainable practice from within the community (Selby, 2006).  Current use of eportfolios stems from learning communities archiving the range of teacher performance that has instigated reforms in the way technology is used (Wolf, 2006).  Setting standards for eportfolios may be viewed as contradictory to learning and sustainability as feedback suggests that eportfolios are regarded by preservice teachers as an expression of formative learning.  Historically, formal education has looked upon eportfolios as a means for summative assessment which places emphasis on institutional needs rather than on student requirement (Hoeltzel, 2004).  Disparity in views regarding eportfolios stem from a distrust of ICT that is generated by Digital Immigrants who have had access to an era of education without technology (Matthies, 2010).  Portfolios become the identity of the individual and are subject to change and influence directed by learning.  Continually updating an eportfolio requires careful planning in order to stay true to its objective.  Eportfolios present an authentic form of assessing activities and methodology in relation to pedagogy and practice.  Literature reviews on this subject reveal that many practitioners have failed to see the connection between learning, eportfolios and communities of practice until recently (Lipscomb, et. al, 2007).  For many students, the problem in creating efficient use of eportfolios has been in identifying and making the transition from paper.  Lack of familiarity with software and other issues have prevented students from archiving projects culminating in an obvious lack of sharing.  Much work has been invalidated by institutional expectation that is shaped by assessment rubrics as student work is limited to linking proficiency with standards.  Reflection reveals that tacit knowledge (Simons, et. al., 2003) is left out by preservice teachers in order to abide by standardised assessment.  Eportfolios are the potential to drive the values of a sharing, nurturing environment in such a way that promotes active participation and public sharing of knowledge.  Learning the art of teaching through eportfolios has a student-centered approach with rapid prototyping that removes some of the anxiety and deterioration associated with inhibition.

From novice to practitioner
Blenkinsopp and Stalker (2004) state that as novices make the transition to professional, current knowledge and identity is subsumed by ongoing working knowledge that develops from acceptance of their new role.  Challenges for novice practitioners lie in finding suitable expression within the community, where experience is acknowledged as valuable.  Working knowledge helps the individual transition to the fresh setting as new identities are constructed within the framework of function.  Group culture and identity become linked as individuals address mission statements to adapt and transform with the community.  Accepting community policies indicates a responsibility towards the group that results in an emotional attachment to performance outcomes (Bonnette, 2006).  Individuals become a representative state of the organisation.  Learning trajectories (Andersson & Hellberg, 2009) evolve from day-dreaming about future events based on the potential of self.  Projections of future identity (e.g. rise in seniority levels and commensurate status) facilitate in forming prospective values, attitudes and philosophies that depend on behavioural commitment.  Praxis constitutes the embodied knowledge of individual and group that is enacted on a daily basis, and transactive memory (London, et. al, 2005) guides members to make community-centric decisions based on experience and learning.  Cumulative knowledge is reflected in individual styles of effective pedagogy (Freebody, et. al, 2008).  Knowledge creation develops new skill sets that maintain the desire to fulfil potential (Clark, et. al, 2008).  In order to achieve individual potential, learning trajectories are the design of planned and sequential events (Geels & Raven, 2007).  Implementation of activities that facilitate achieving goals reveal individual passion and interest (Latham, 2001).  Practice and experience are transferable skills that are significant to constructing identity where reflection offers insights to discuss living knowledge in honest and open communication.

Conclusion
Globalisation has made apparent the need for continuous and connected learning to stay abreast of ongoing practice.  Gathering the knowledge required to maintain strong external links also initiates insight for forward thinking practice. Insight developed from archived artifacts has been widely recognised as a means for investigating adaptability and transformation.  Kupers suggests that one perspective is to view organisational learning as Gestalt.  Gestalt unveils the relation the body plays in individual and collective learning.  Rational strategies are often unaccommodating of human behaviour.  Inclusive practice integrates mind and body, and offers an alternative.  Design and planned methods of pedagogy have been based on linear approaches to instructional design.  Models for instructional design should therefore reflect the complexity and chaos of any given community and technology should be considered a boon to the betterment of society.  However caution is required when used for initiating intervention.  Latterly technology has come to include wireless devices that reconfigure communication strategies that were unavoidably omitted from earlier research.  We require a thorough understanding of communities of practice before solutions can be effective as social connections are not based on the idea that individuals think about projected behaviour.  There is a link between what is done and what is felt.  A logical starting point is when the individual makes a choice between what can be done and what cannot.  This stage of learning precedes what is known, indicating a learning process that occurs between choice and acquiring knowledge.  Correspondingly, there is a strong connection to intention, context, and performance.  Individuals who embody knowledge are inclined to engage in active participation, where active participation encapsulates the study of process and meaning-making.  Learning trajectories develop according to motivational needs that emerge from personal capability to transform.  Maturity leads to more responsible acceptance of function and role that benefits group and community.  While the strength of knowledge acquisition propels learning trajectories and ongoing developmental lines, weak areas become apparent and may hinder performance  or further learning.  For example, an individual may have attained a high cognitive stage of self-development, but have low to weak stages of development in self-verification processes.  Phenomenology has an integral approach to analysing and understanding coherent discourse in learning.  Embodied learning stabilises cognitive and behavioural methods of delivery.  As sentient beings, humans embed what has been learned by performing daily activities until it is an habitual and unconscious process.  The potential for multi-disciplinary learning offers the nexus for considered learning methods that add to, increase, or replace epistemic philosophy.   Novice practitioners are advised to draw on their wealth of experience in technology and new knowledge to manage participation in communities of discourse.

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19 November, 2010

Selby, D. (2006). The Firm and Shaky Ground of Education for Sustainable Development.



Selby, D. (2006).  The Firm and Shaky Ground of Education for Sustainable Development.  Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(2), pp. 351 - 365.  Retrieved on September 18, 2010 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03098260600717471

Narrative
"There was a large clearing in the forest, a large open area from which many footpaths led off in many directions.  The people were disputatious.  Some argued the merits of taking one footpath, some the merits of taking another, and yet others the merits of taking a third.  They milled around in a confused and contentious mood.  Then they discovered what looked like a broad, firm and easy path that all might take, where all kinds of folk could walk together shoulder to shoulder.  Many hurried towards it, relieved that their arguments could be brought to an end.  In a sigh of collective relief, few were disposed to enquire whether the path was really heading in the right direction and whether the undemanding way it seemed to offer might discourage the further seeking and exploration of alternative pathways.  Even fewer bothered to ask whether going down the path would really be good for the forest and its inhabitants" (pg. 2).

The Firm Ground
Selby states that the strategy and planning done for tomorrow (i.e. future generations) is based on projections of today.  Sustainable development achieved priority status at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.  Under key principles one, three and four of Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development, humans are at the center of concern but ecological development must be allowed to ensure sustainable progress.  Both nonformal and formal learning integrate through culture to stabilise local environmental issues.  Reaffirmations were made at the World Summit in Johannesburg, 2004 where a proposal for a Decade for Sustainable Development (DESD) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at their 57th Session held three months later.  The DESD began in March, 2005 with key guiding values for ESD:
  1. respect for the dignity and human rights of all people throughout the world and a commitment to social and economic justice for all;
  2. respect for the human rights of future generations and a commitment to intergenerational responsibility;
  3. respect and care for the greater community of life in all its diversity, which involves the protection and restoration of the Earth's ecosystems; and
  4. respect for cultural diversity and commitment to build locally and globally a culture of tolerance, non-violence and peace.
Within the United Kingdom, DfES was launched in 2003 and by 2005 the HEFCE had developed and published a draft proposal to support a framework for strategy and action across curricula, teaching, learning, and estate management in higher education.

Selby asks how ESD became so popular, so quickly.  As a global development it has provided some structure though critics suggest it is wallpaper.  Selby proposes that within the given circumstance, the amorphous concept allows for innovation that leads to constructive action - a theme "vague and diffuse enough to enable everyone to invest in it with their own meanings" (pg. 4).  He uses metaphorical terminology, such as 'the North' and 'the South', to categorise the division between environmental lobbyists and ecological developers.  Since global decolonisation, development has been in the name of social justice, and in the political correctness of concessions.  Establishing a system for developmental discourse has imbued progress with Western values, further alienating the reality of global consumption from ideology.  Representatives of both Northern and Southern culture collaborated to jointly form a framework that encompassed developmental goals based on the hegemony of Northern culture.  A parallel forum, the Rio International NGO Forum, produced guiding principles based on holistic environmental management for the development of communities:
  1. Principle 1: environmental education is not neutral but is value-based.  It is an act of social transformation;
  2. Principle 9: environmental education must recover, reflect and use indigenous history and local cultures; and
  3. Principle 16: education must develop an ethical awareness of all forms of life with which humans share this planet, respect all life cycles and impose limits on humans' exploitation of other forms of life.
Long standing suspicion of others' efforts at ESD are drawn from distrust that the end objective has not been analysed.  Integrating economic improvements with environmental protection and justice has resulted in a range of socially active interest groups from North and South willing to negotiate differences through collaboration.  Selby proposes that ESD supporters have the potential to form a confederation amongst educators to discuss development; human rights issues; human welfare; and, the environment.

With the advent of ESD, environmental education has moved from its original domain within the sciences.  As such, teachers have more opportunity to include various lenses (e.g. political, economic, and social) as a point of entry into ESD.  Selby firmly states that ESD is founded upon solid ground that has captured and sustained interest globally, bringing diverse focus-specific interest groups together.

Narrative
"So, many forsook the narrow paths and took to the broad path.  But is the path proving as firm as was hoped?  Is it realising its potential as a way forward?  Is it benefiting the forest and the trees?

Lingering in the forest clearing are folk who have concerns about the broad path.  Their concerns vary.  Some know what 'development' without the qualifier 'sustainable' has meant, and continues to mean, and worry if 'sustainable development' will really be very much different.  Some - environmentalists and ecologists in particular - worry that they have taken a broad path without the interpretation abilities and markers required to make sense of the path.  Others worry whether the song of sustainable development can really capture the song of the Earth; whether it has been worth losing the turns, complexities and irregularities of the many paths they used to tread.  Yet others worry whether the idea of 'sustainable literacy', much vaunted by ESD advocates, is a sufficient and appropriate educational response in the light of the global environmental crisis and global crisis in the human condition" (pg. 5).

The Shaky Ground
Sustainable Development as Oxymoron
Despite numerous attempts to define sustainable development, the concept remains open to interpretation and perspective.  Dobson argues that sustainable development has been framed by economists who categorically state that sustainable development is about the conservation of development, and not the preservation of nature.  It is proposed that this view is not one that requires a material reduction of living standards, nor does it appear to abate economic progress.  The approach uses resource management to curtail intense use, or seeks new measures to increase natural capital.

While environmental and ecological activists bemoan diminishing resources, economists are actively supportive of implementing alternative greening measures.  Critics argue that ecological sustainability is not only about measurements, but about "beauty, awe, enchantment, reverence and sense of wonder" (pg. 6).  Selby refers to Jickling who states that there are some things that are to be considered in spite of measurements (e.g. not an exact science).  The difference between economists and ecologists is that economists have envisioned a positive and sustainable future which allows them to adapt and design for tomorrow, while ecologists and ESD teachers are debating who should lead.  Worster wrote in 1995 "I fear that in partnership it will be 'development' that makes most of the decisions, and 'sustainable' will come trotting along, smiling and genial, unable to assert any firm leadership, complaining only about the pace of travel" (pg. 7).  Selby states that rendering cultural, spiritual or personal development as reasons to challenge this discourse would be marginalised.

He instead suggests that we view sustainable development as sustainable growth to further clarify this discourse.  Selby discusses the concept as sustained growth within a limited time frame, with general consensus in identifying location.

The fears felt by some eco-theorists and environmental educators are value judgments based on the perceptions of a Western culture heavily dependent on materialism and obsession.  Rigby suggests that 'development' does not mean the automatic acceptance of these attributes and makes the distinction between weak and strong memes.

Alternative terminology is appearing - 'education for the development of responsible societies', 'education for sustainability' and 'education for sustainable futures' have been adopted in favour of sustainable development.  Whatever it's called, Sterling indicates that the focus should remain on whole systems thinking rather than in mechanistic, managerial or transmissive practice.

Sustainable Development as Denial of Intrinsic Value
Selby proposes that much of the controversy surrounding environmental ethics concerns the reasons for wanting to save nature.  Potentially, it may have more to do with identifying cures for human malaise rather than the intrinsic value nature presents.  He reminds us of Principle 1, and argues that worldview is primarily ego- and technocentric.  Selby proposes that the perpetuated view is of nature as a resource (i.e. a.k.a. natural capital or ecosystem services).

The concept of sustainable development therefore, can be interpreted as the ability and capacity of humanity to manage the future of the planet.  Even as educators accept Gaia, an autonomous self-regulating conscious entity, they are equally attracted to human endeavour.

Education for Sustainable Development as Lacking in Thematic and Epistemological Breadth
ESD has often been presented as a complete and holistic experience, when in reality the domain is still in formulation.  Most arguments stem from the fact that there are educators who don't believe that education should have a determined outcome, and who instead suggest a range of possibilities be made available for student evaluation and subsequent choice be the determining manifestation of action.  It is possible that there is a lack of concrete definitions due to potential "instant fossilisation" of key understandings (i.e. ideology trapped under microscopic inspection).  Selby indicates that it is a source of concern that so many government policies are initiated based on a report archived more than nineteen years ago, to address current issues.  The HEFCE support the document stating that a high level document such as the Bruntland had produced a concise and flexible model with multiple points of entry that would only warrant further discussion at some later date.

A training perspective suggests there is a predetermined and achievable goal to education, especially valid as economic and technical progress is in the process of transformation based on sustainable development.  Meanwhile, Selby ponders academia's choices - if sustainable development concerns the issues that challenge the very nature of human existence, then ESD may seem a reasonable and justifiable response.  Education has always been linked to desirable outcomes (e.g. linking HIV and venereal disease with unprotected sex).  Structuring a framework that is flexible enough to withstand challenges and individual determinism achieves the objective of academic goals and alleviates some of the pressure felt by educators who don't know where to begin.  A list of philosophies derived from public voice on sustainability offers popular challenges to students who lead ethically sustainable lives.  Included are:
  • animal liberation philosophies, which claim that animals have rights, and offer a philosophical basis for the claim;
  • bioregionalist philosophies, which call for humans to live simply and convivially within the place they have inhabited since birth or, if they have moved, reinhabited, i.e. through conscious processes have become native to;
  • deep ecology, which calls upon us to think deeply about the human-nature relationship and to renounce the anthropocentrism of much of our thought and behaviours in favour of biospherical egalitarianism;
  • ecofeminist philosophies, which, running counter to the thinking of many deep ecologists, identify the problem as patriarchy rather than anthropocentrism, and argue that oppression and exploitation of women, minorities, peripheral groups and nature are mutually reinforcing as well as intersecting in their dynamics;
  • environmental justice theories, which identify environmental problems as social justice problems whenever class, race/ethnicity and gender are significant factors in determining who experiences the effects of, and who controls the causes of, environmental degradation; and
  • social ecology theories, which argue that environmental degradation is the outcome of inequalities and injustices within human society and that, if the latter are properly addressed, environmental degradation will go into reverse.
It is proposed that by placing these philosophies under sustainable development, nature's value increases.  Systematic degradation leads to a moral paradox, infusing the situation with delusional attributes that has negative impact on sense-making for students.  "We stunt the potential of the broader fields of environmental ethics and philosophy by an over-concentration on sustainable development and sustainability that, by definition, do not in and of themselves lead us to consider what we may need or want to know about beauty, culture, the spiritual and life purposes" (pg. 11).

It does not take much to understand the emphasis on sustainable literacy as:
  • an holistic understanding of the need for transformation, individually and collectively;
  • having comprehensive knowledge and skills to activate situation monitoring to engage in behaviour commensurate with sustainable development;
  • the wisdom to recognise and reward decisions and actions that favour appropriate measures for sustainable development.
Selby indicates that the issues raised in these definitions relates to the need to have closure in understanding the objective goals of ESD.  The term 'literacy' is arbitrary and obscure, as historically it has meant the ability to read and write.  Is it widely accepted to acknowledge literacy as a multimedia, semiotic experience?  Is 'text' a metaphor for the environment/culture/society?  Selby notes that the definitions listed previously refrain from active engagement with environment/culture/society, observing tongue-in-cheek that neither is there instruction on identifying and reading the meaning of trees, biophysical phenomena or ecosystems.

Selby links 'literate' with 'literal' and wonders about the emotional attachment the term 'sustainable literacy' engenders, and how it may differ from the attachment we have to the words 'awe', or 'wonder', or 'beauty' that are typically associated with nature.  Selby takes comfort in Jane Austen, declaring "definitions and conceptions are too much about sense and not enough about sensibility" (pg. 12).  When we adjust our perspective of environmental sensibility to fit our aspirations for sustainability, additive dimensions increase holistic understanding of epistemology.  Initially, these dimensions feel counter-cultural as they were long abandoned by modern practice.

Education for Sustainable Development as Falling Short of its Promised Scope
Selby feels that within ESD, several aspects relating to learning have been under represented.  Furthermore, discourse on peace and social justice is inflammatory to current advocates of ESD.  The voices of indigenous peoples extol the virtues of sustainable living, but are unheard in Northern discourse.  The South, proponents of non-accumulative sustainable living, are similarly disregarded.  Selby proposes the examination and validation of alternative methods of knowing.

Discourse on:
  1. probable futures - futures that are likely to pass;
  2. possible futures - visions of the future that are inclusive of countercultural infringement; and
  3. preferred futures - based on given ontological belief
has not drawn from existing models of future representation that enable students to reflect on their own version of a possible and sustainable future.

Sustainable Development as inheriting an Outdated 'Orderliness' Conception of Ecosystem
Early scientists developed a structure for understanding the comprehensive meaning of ecosystems that make sense of a 300 year old mechanistic worldview.  From this perspective and holistic understanding of the nature nurture debate, humanity can realise its own potential to guide an integrated pedagogy of economics and social progress in balance with the harmony of nature.

Equilibrium and disequilibrium, caused by fluctuations in weather conditions (e.g. tsunami), is nature's gentle reminder and regulation of the balance.  Selby proposes that investigation into 'education for ephemerality', 'education for elusiveness' and 'education for ineffability' is warranted.  Ethics that promote the intangible quality and pureness of feeling that is associated with belonging and tenderness.  Transformation is the enactment of integrated processes and goals to relinquish control in the face of transience and maintain focus.  To captivate the hearts and minds of poets in the aftermath of the industrial revolution, sustainable development requires the unification of spirituality and the sciences.  Holistic knowledge comes from utter acceptance of the absolute, the lived experience.  It is the very transience of nature that inspires awe and appreciation for beauty.

Narrative
So some stayed in the clearing bemused and troubled.  Were their worries big enough and deep enough to avoid the broad path?  Should they look for an alternative path that would be more congruent with what they valued?  Or, should they be pragmatic, join the throng on the wide path, and seek every opportunity to make gains even against the give and camber of the path?

Some wrestled and wrestled in their minds with what to do.  But the application of reason was not enough.  Others smelt flowers, watched the busy-ness of insects, the silk of a butterfly's wing (the flap of which could touch off a weather cataclysm thousands of miles away) and touched the smooth bark of beech and the rough bark of oaks.  Feeling the flow of life through themselves and what they witnessed, they declared that the key was to embrace a fundamental change in our attitude to nature based not on what we can extract from her but on what we can learn from her.  Her lessons of cycles, flows, networks, partnerships, diversity and, yes, unpredictability, uncertainty and turbulence can and should infuse both the curriculum and process of our learning and teaching, as well as the way our learning institutions work.  As long as we are sure that our way is deeply informed by the dynamics and processes of nature, we can walk the firm and shaky ground of any path.


Choose Not To Fall