Humanistic futures of learning: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks<\/a>.<\/p>\nUNESCO initiated the call for chapters last summer with the goal of bringing together diverse perspectives of how education can provide a foundation for building peace and driving sustainable development. The book will later serve as the basis for a global report, developed by the International Commission on the Futures of Education and will guide future policy debate, research and action.<\/p>\n
Vasseur and Daigle\u2019s chapter, \u201cStrengthening our connection to nature to build citizens of the Earth,\u201d was selected from numerous contributions from around the world. In the chapter, they highlight the dangers of rampant consumerism and explain why the existing disconnect between humans and the realities of a depleting planet will prevent current and future generations from creating a sustainable future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t begin to realize now the important connection we have with nature, we will continue doing what we are doing, which is destroying this planet,\u201d says Vasseur.<\/p>\n
She says that by relying on technology as a learning tool instead of spending time physically immersed in nature, it is difficult to fully grasp the critical functions that biodiversity and the natural environment play in everyday life. Without fully understanding this interconnectivity, it is impossible to then understand that overall well-being is directly impacted by ecosystem degradation.<\/p>\n
Bridging that gap requires a shift away from the unsustainable model of viewing the natural world as merely a vessel for consumerism and economic growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe assume that economic growth can be infinite, but our planet is finite \u2014 we only have one,\u201d says Vasseur. \u201cWe can\u2019t continue to exploit what\u2019s non-renewable or there will be nothing left for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasseur and Daigle propose that a new educational approach focusing on nature, our place in it, and a mindfulness of the relationships between all living things, must be developed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA critical posthumanist perspective, such as the one I embrace, sees all beings as fundamentally entangled,\u201d says Daigle. \u201cWe must understand this and work toward fostering relations with the other beings with whom we live, so that the web of beings may thrive\u2014including, potentially, ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says achieving that will require a major overhaul of the entire education system from pre-school to lifelong learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe seem to be going in circles in our environmental policy decision-making \u2014 we devise solutions that cause other problems that we then must address \u2014 but the reason we fail is that we are devising those solutions based on the same old problematic worldview and set of values,\u201d says Daigle. \u201cIf we transform this radically, a goal we propose in the chapter, we will start devising different and better solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two Brock University professors contributed to their thoughts on what the future of education looks like in their chapter selected for publication in a recent e-book from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":65018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,1,4],"tags":[221,4035,3231,161,8832],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65009"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65033,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009\/revisions\/65033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}