Education and sustainability
The key intellectual tension that informs this research programme lies in developing and critically appraising radically differing conceptions of sustainability in relation to political decision-making, and how these inform both educational provision and opportunities for learning. One important dimension to this is whether education needs to be seen as necessary defence to the social, economic and environmental threats that confront us, or as a necessary source of inspiration in relation to the social, economic and environmental opportunities that we shall be presented with. These lead to quite different philosophies, policies and practices of educational provision and learning. A further tension lies in the need to develop appropriate education for sustainability in all areas of social life, while at the same time inquiring and critically questioning its underlying assumptions.
The theoretical strand of this research programme uses a range of philosophical and other sources to explore epistemological and ontological constraints on, and possibilities for education for sustainability, exploring the specific implications of this, both for liberal societies in general, and for formal and informal educational provision within such societies in particular.