Teaching in the Anthropocene: Education in the Face of Environmental Crisis

Teaching in the Anthropocene emphasizes the need to reorient teaching aims to envision multiple futures for children, youths, and families in the face of the global climate crisis, environmental degradation, and social injustice. The book discusses the challenges to teacher education practice and praxis, the emotional responses to climate events, relational pedagogies, and ways to ignite the empathic imaginations of future teachers. It offers critical reflections on anthropocentrism from various education perspectives and includes accounts that deconstruct the disavowal of the climate crisis and articulate an ecosophical approach to education.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 350 pages
Publication date: 30 July 2022
Publisher: Canadian Scholars

This new critical volume presents various perspectives on teaching and teacher education in the face of the global climate crisis, environmental degradation, and social injustice.

Teaching in the Anthropocene calls for a reorientation of the aims of teaching so that we might imagine multiple futures in which children, youths, and families can thrive amid a myriad of challenges related to the Earth's decreasing habitability. Referring to the uncertainty of the time in which we live and teach, the term Anthropocene is used to acknowledge anthropogenic contributions to the climate crisis and to consider and reflect on the emotional responses to adverse climate events.

The text begins with the editors' discussion of this contested term and then moves on to make the case that we must decentre anthropocentric models in teacher education praxis. The four thematic parts include chapters on the challenges to teacher education practice and praxis, affective dimensions of teaching in the face of the global crisis, relational pedagogies in the Anthropocene, and ways to ignite the empathic imaginations of tomorrow's teachers. Together, the authors discuss new theoretical eco-orientations and describe innovative pedagogies that create opportunities for students and teachers to live in greater harmony with the more-than-human world.

This incredibly timely volume will be essential to pre- and in-service teachers and teacher educators.

FEATURES:

Offers critical reflections on anthropocentrism from multiple perspectives in education, including continuing education, educational organization, K–12, post-secondary, and more.

Includes accounts that not only deconstruct the disavowal of the climate crisis in schools but also articulate an ecosophical approach to education.

Features discussions of the emotional and ethical dimensions of teaching in the Anthropocene, including the role of hope, resilience, and empathy in responding to the challenges of our time.

Provides practical examples and strategies for integrating eco-consciousness and sustainability into teaching practices, including interdisciplinary approaches, project-based learning, and community engagement.

Addresses the need for teacher education programs to prepare teachers to address the complex and interconnected challenges of the global climate crisis, environmental degradation, and social injustice, including issues of equity, justice, and social transformation.

This new critical volume offers a valuable resource for educators, policymakers, and researchers seeking to reimagine teaching and teacher education in the age of the Anthropocene. By exploring the intersections of education, climate change, and social justice, it provides a roadmap for creating more sustainable, equitable, and just educational systems that can support the well-being of all learners and the planet.

Weight: 574g
Dimension: 170 x 249 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781773382821