scholarly journals The quest for sustainable futures: designing transformative learning spaces with multilingual Black, Brown, and Latinx young people through critical response-ability

Author(s):  
Shakhnoza Kayumova ◽  
Deborah J. Tippins
Author(s):  
Christine Schulz

Australia, like many nations across the globe, has a focus on engaging young people in the post compulsory years of school to ensure their transition into further education, training and /or the workforce. Applied Learning programs which are based on the premise of active, transformative learning from authentic experience have emerged as valuable tools in assisting the transition of young people. Understanding of Applied Learning however, not only varies between nations but also disciplines, context, education settings and curricula. Using a lens of boundary crossing, this chapter draws on research data to provide an account of challenges educators face in an Australian program where there appears little guidance for educators on constructing an Applied Learning pedagogical model for individual practice. From consideration of data and educational theory an Applied Learning pedagogical framework is proposed as a guide for educators in developing Applied Learning programs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Schnitzler

Recent research has become increasingly interested in the concepts of education for sustainable development (ESD) and transformative learning (TL). However, even as ESD can be described as holistic and transformational education with the purpose to transform our society, only few studies have examined potential bridges between these two concepts. The article at hand gives an indication on this issue by studying the literature of ESD and TL. Strengthening the transformative aspect of ESD requires taking into account critical reflection, participation and social engagement, all of which all express key features of the new collaborative learning spaces (CLS). Subsequently, the potential of such CLS for the transformative mission of ESD are emphasized. In ESD as well as in CLS, the bridge between learning and action is crucial and a core element of social transformation. In order to clarify this, the new method of WeQ is described, aiming to better understand and develop CLS.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Loukianov ◽  
Kate Burningham ◽  
Tim Jackson

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Bentz ◽  
Karen O’Brien

Young people represent a powerful force for social change, and they have an important role to play in climate change responses. However, empowering young people to be “systems changers” is not straightforward. It is particularly challenging within educational systems that prioritize instrumental learning over critical thinking and creative actions. History has shown that by creating novel spaces for reflexivity and experimentation, the arts have played a role in shifting mindsets and opening up new political horizons. In this paper, we explore the role of art as a driver for societal transformation in a changing climate and consider how an experiment with change can facilitate reflection on relationships between individual change and systems change. Following a review of the literature on transformations, transformative learning and the role of art, we describe an experiment with change carried out with students at an Art High School in Lisbon, Portugal, which involved choosing one sustainable behavior and adopting it for 30 days. A transformative program encouraged regular reflection and group discussions. During the experiment, students started developing an art project about his or her experience with change. The results show that a transformative learning approach that engages students with art can support critical thinking and climate change awareness, new perspectives and a sense of empowerment. Experiential, arts-based approaches also have the potential to create direct and indirect effects beyond the involved participants. We conclude that climate-related art projects can serve as more than a form of science communication. They represent a process of opening up imaginative spaces where audiences can move more freely and reconsider the role of humans as responsible beings with agency and a stake in sustainability transformations.


Author(s):  
Mona Betour El Zoghbi

The international community is increasingly recognizing the importance of youth as key stakeholders in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. Young people need to be continuously empowered and provided with opportunities to enhance their competences and networks. There are multiple capacity-building and networking events that seek to engage youth, yet the learning and impact generated in such spaces remains less understood. This chapter explores the value of youth-targeted and youth-led conferences and events centered on sustainability themes in advancing the learning experiences of youth participants. Testimonials from young people provide key insights into their engagement. The findings highlight the need for such platforms to be more empowering through focusing more directly on fostering collaborative actions amongst youth and organizations rather than merely on capacity-building on the spot; and through garnering financial or technical support for advancing youth action on the SDGs, especially at the local community level.


2020 ◽  
pp. 174619792097180
Author(s):  
Peter Wright ◽  
Barry Down ◽  
Christina Davies

This article considers Participatory Arts and sociocultural understandings of justice and praxis through the example of Big hART, an Australian multi-award winning provider where both artists and participants – often disenfranchised and marginalised young people – co-create the work (Matarasso, 2018). Enacting social justice principles, Big hART works alongside young people to improve their life outcomes through arts practice strengthening young people’s critical capabilities by inducting them as both makers and responders to their own lives and the world around them. Drawing on three years of ethnographic research across three sites in rural and regional Australia we highlight how multidimensional and multi-modal arts-based projects contribute to young people’s lives through theorising the attributes and dimensions of twenty productive conditions and practices identified as essential for social change. These possibilities are important as when these conditions are purposefully enacted, the power of the arts for sense-making and identity development is revealed in non-formal learning spaces. Theoretically unpacking these conditions and practices and linking them with research outcomes helps build understanding of the generative power of Participatory Arts through the ways Big hART builds bridges between young people and their communities and the developmental trajectories they may take through being ‘at-promise’ rather than ‘at-risk’.


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