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International Review of Education

, Volume 62, Issue 5, pp 563–586 | Cite as

Sustainable development and social learning: Re-contextualising the space of orientation

  • Terri Seddon
ORIGINAL PAPER
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Abstract

In the lead-up to the 2007 Australian federal election, Labor candidate Kevin Rudd described climate change as the “great moral challenge of our generation”. In the years since then, the heat in Australia has been rising – in terms of both temperature and climate politics –, but government action has slowed down. Endorsement of economic growth is prioritised, with only intermittent recognition of environmental costs. At grassroots level, citizens’ attitudes are influenced by social norms. This kind of social learning is a major constraint on sustainability. Therefore, it seems useful to consider how educators might help build sustainable futures. To understand how historical context entangles social learning in ways that complicate policies associated with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and practices of Education for Sustainability (EfS), the author of this paper draws on the concept of “space of orientation”. Focusing on adult education, she traces the contradiction between “globalisation” and “sustainability” through policy logics, relational practices in Australian adult education and the “necessary utopia” which provides a point of reference for making futures. She argues that spaces of orientation are a critical resource in this era of intensifying conflicts of interest between economic priorities of globalisation and environmental priorities intended to slow global warming, because they mediate context and orient learning in ways that clear a path towards sustainability through the entangled histories of this present.

Keywords

Environmental issues Global warming Sustainability Social learning Adult education Vocational education and training (VET) 

Résumé

Développement durable et apprentissage social : recontextualiser l’espace d’orientation – Pendant la période précédant l’élection fédérale de 2007 en Australie, le candidat travailliste Kevin Rudd évoqua le changement climatique comme étant le « grand défi moral pour notre génération » . Depuis cette date, l’Australie s’est échauffée – à la fois en termes de température et de politique climatique –, mais l’action gouvernementale a connu un ralentissement. Le soutien à la croissance économique est prioritaire, accompagné d’une reconnaissance irrégulière des coûts environnementaux. Au niveau local, les comportements des citoyens sont influencés par les normes sociales. Ce type d’apprentissage social est un sérieux obstacle à la pérennité. Il semble par conséquent opportun d’examiner comment les éducateurs pourraient contribuer à édifier des avenirs pérennes. En vue de cerner comment le contexte historique influence l’apprentissage social au point de complexifier les politiques associées à l’éducation pour le développement durable et les pratiques de l’éducation pour un avenir viable, l’auteure s’inspire du concept « d’espace d’orientation ». Se concentrant sur l’éducation des adultes, elle traque la contradiction entre « mondialisation » et « pérennité » dans la logique des politiques, les pratiques relationnelles dans l’éducation des adultes en Australie, et « l’utopie nécessaire » qui fournit un point de repère pour construire des avenirs. Elle affirme que les espaces d’orientation sont une ressource décisive à cette époque d’intensification des conflits d’intérêts entre priorités économiques de la mondialisation et priorités environnementales destinées à ralentir le réchauffement planétaire; en effet, ils établissent un contexte et orientent l’apprentissage de sorte à tracer clairement la voie vers la pérennité à travers les historiques enchevêtrés du présent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of Education and ArtsAustralian Catholic UniversityMelbourneAustralia

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