Carving space to learn for sustainable futures: A theory-informed adult education approach to teaching

Diana Holmqvist; Filippa Millenberg

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5237

Authors

Diana Holmqvist Linköping University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9848-5098
Filippa Millenberg Linköping University https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3386-3956

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.5237

Keywords:

sustainability, critical pedagogy, adult educators, teaching design, modernity

Abstract

This article addresses the pressing need to reimagine education for sustainable futures amidst the socioecological crises of our time. Grounded in the recognition of modernity as profoundly alienating and unsustainable, we argue for an education informed by theory, critical pedagogies and critical sustainability research. Through an example from our own teaching practice, where we focused on pace, place, connections and modes of engagement, we demonstrate how adult educators can draw on theory to deliberately shape teaching. Highlighting the unsustainability of social acceleration, we encourage educators to slow down and carve out a space for profound engagement with sustainability. Drawing on diverse theoretical frameworks, we propose an approach that cultivates a sense of embeddedness in place and connection to oneself, others and the natural world. Finally, we argue that education for sustainable futures necessitates a departure from modernist paradigms, inviting educators to envision transformative pedagogies that foster critical awareness and societal change.

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Author Biographies

Diana Holmqvist, Linköping University

Diana Holmqvist is Associate Professor of Education and Postdoctoral Researcher of Adult Education and Learning at Linköping University. Her research is focused on how values are mobilised in education organisation and through teaching, with a particular interest for transformative learning, social justice, and sustainable futures. Holmqvist is a convenor of the ESREA research network on Active Democratic Citizenship and Adult Learning and has published on the effects of privatisation and commodification on public adult education and its teachers. Through a serious of transdisciplinary collaborations, she is currently exploring the potential of theoretically driven teaching design, particularly how critical pedagogy, transformative learning for sustainability, and degrowth pedagogies can inform teaching practices in HE and beyond.

Filippa Millenberg, Linköping University

Filippa Millenberg is a Postdoctoral Researcher of Adult Education and Learning at Linköping University. Millenberg’s research explores adult educators’ teaching practices and the everyday learning experience within folk high schools. She is particularly interested in educator-student interactions and interpersonal encounters. In her research, she has utilized various methods, such as ethnographic fieldwork, participant observations, interviews, and document studies, in conjunction with lifeworld phenomenological theory.

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