The 4Cs: Practicing Education for Eco-Social-Cultural Change

Abstract

Educators working for fundamental social change in response to the ecological crisis approach the challenge in a diversity of ways. This chapter summarizes a wide range of practices, competencies, capacities, and capabilities in four complementary “stances”—essentially, four different kinds of educational “ethos” for change. These are the critical educator, who plays the roles of activist (critiquing existing relationships and norms), ally (walking alongside and opening space for voices and practices that have been marginalized), and advocate (articulating and advancing alternatives to the status quo); the community educator, who facilitates relationship-building and collective flourishing (with children, caregivers, knowledge holders, communities, the more-than-human); the change educator, who guides processes of dealing with risk, uncertainty, discomfort, and disruption (developing individual and collective strategies to respond to challenges and losses: grieve, adapt, rebuild, transform); and the coeur/care educator, who supports and nurtures well-being (responding to trauma, depression and oppression, building capacity for self-care and resilience, connecting with the sacred). Each stance is described in some detail and some key capacities and practices are proposed.