TY - JOUR
T1 - Schooling ecologically : an inquiry into teachers' ecological understanding in 'alternative' schools
AU - Wright, David
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This article reports on an inquiry into ecological understanding and the professional practice of a selection of teachers in alternative and/or independent non-systemic schools in Australia, Canada and the United States. Through a reflective, participatory framework, based on the premise that it is one thing to observe ‘an ecology’, another to understand one's self as part of it, as actively involved in ‘bringing forth our world’, the project sought to understand if and how teachers employ systemic, ecological insights in their teaching. The project looked at the underlying ecological principle of ‘connection’ and how teachers work with this, through teacher education and options for further education in ecological understanding, at the responsibilities schools hold for ecological understanding, and at ways in which individual teachers have worked with this form of knowledge. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with small numbers of teachers in five schools. The philosophical underpinnings of these schools were considered in relation to the teachers’ capacities to facilitate ecological understanding and the organisational setting in which these schools operate. Teacher perspectives are reported and discussed through a structured presentation of selected responses to a series of questions on the overlapping themes of ecological insight and formal and informal learning processes.
AB - This article reports on an inquiry into ecological understanding and the professional practice of a selection of teachers in alternative and/or independent non-systemic schools in Australia, Canada and the United States. Through a reflective, participatory framework, based on the premise that it is one thing to observe ‘an ecology’, another to understand one's self as part of it, as actively involved in ‘bringing forth our world’, the project sought to understand if and how teachers employ systemic, ecological insights in their teaching. The project looked at the underlying ecological principle of ‘connection’ and how teachers work with this, through teacher education and options for further education in ecological understanding, at the responsibilities schools hold for ecological understanding, and at ways in which individual teachers have worked with this form of knowledge. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with small numbers of teachers in five schools. The philosophical underpinnings of these schools were considered in relation to the teachers’ capacities to facilitate ecological understanding and the organisational setting in which these schools operate. Teacher perspectives are reported and discussed through a structured presentation of selected responses to a series of questions on the overlapping themes of ecological insight and formal and informal learning processes.
UR - http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/540824
U2 - 10.1017/aee.2014.2
DO - 10.1017/aee.2014.2
M3 - Article
SN - 2049-775X
SN - 0814-0626
VL - 29
SP - 136
EP - 151
JO - Australian Journal of Environmental Education
JF - Australian Journal of Environmental Education
IS - 2
ER -