Logo image
Back
Education through smoke and ash: thinking without method and the argument for a post-growth education
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Education through smoke and ash: thinking without method and the argument for a post-growth education

Ricky John White and Melissa Joy Wolfe
Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Vol.38(3-4), pp.462-475
09/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2022.33
pdf
Education through smoke and ash: thinking without method and the argument for a post-growth education354.11 kBDownloadView
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0,  Open Access
url
Education through smoke and ash: thinking without method and the argument for a post-growth educationView
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0,  Open

Related links

Metrics

139 File views/ downloads
48 Record Views
3 Times Cited - Web of Science

Abstract

education policy economics sustainability post-qualitative post-growth Environmental education curriculum and pedagogy Teaching and curriculum not elsewhere classified Policies and development
This paper speculates as to the material consequences of the ecological crisis for the current objectives of the education system in the State of Victoria. Drawing upon new materialist thought, it presents a post-qualitative inquiry into the lead author’s experiences as an educator during a 2014 fire event in the Latrobe Valley region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, known as the Hazelwood Coal Mine Fire. By engaging in thinking without method it unfolds an argument that a political preference for certain theories has resulted in economic growth becoming a key objective of Victoria’s education system. It explores alternative theoretical perspectives, including the theory that there are limits to growth. This theoretical shift implies that any meaningful response to the ecological crisis will require a transition to a post-growth society. The paper considers the implication of this alternative theory for the current objectives of the education system in the State of Victoria. In so doing, it considers what it might mean if we accepted our response-ability to educate for a post-growth society rather than for a society surrounded by smoke and ash.

Details

Logo image