why education is a problem as well as a solution

It is fair to say that education is generally thought of as a good thing. Indeed, it is thought of as such a good thing by many governments that they commit vast amounts of money each year to support and develop what we call the education system.  In the UK at the moment, there is a huge programme of educational reform, where over a period of multiple decades, we will be seeing a commitment to the BSF - Building Schools for the Future programme.   But what kind of schools, and what kind of education will be housed within them?  Will they continue to produce more of the same, or will they radically alter the ways in which young people are equipped to respond to the world outside the school grounds?

It is quite clear that education as an enterprise of government is framed within very specific boundaries, and in the main, our education system equips young people for life as workers in the new information society and willing consumers of its output. Their ecological illiteracy is therefore a way of arguing that not all education is a good thing, in fact, quite the opposite, it can be detrimental to self, society and environment.  Over recent times, a central focus of school improvement has been on the quality of learning taking place in the classroom - it has to be asked, what form does this learning take, what lessons are we giving the next generation on what it is to live sustainably?

I think that the challenge is to reclaim education from those who desire centralised, predetermined packages of learning - to take education from those who see it as a servant of industry and therefore model it around industrially established measures and parameters. Stephen Sterling (2001) calls this alternative 'authentic education', a form of education rooted in tradition, in meaningful contexts and in the pursuit of community (will come to community later). It is open, participatory, engaging, passionate, it challenges convention, it is spontaneous and reflective. This challenge is what Thomas Berry calls 'the great work' which involves us in remaking the human presence on earth and how we 'provison ourselves with food, energy, materials, water, livelihood, health and shelter' (Orr in Sterling 2001). The pursuit of sustainability comes through both ecological renewal and spiritual reconnection with self, others and environment. It is time for this change, it is time for this challenge to be taken up by educators, and education. 

What would education look like if it were to take the ecological paradigm really seriously?  Your thoughts are welcomed.