Rethinking Work and Learning: Adult and Vocational Education for Social Sustainability (Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 9)

This volume brings together an international group of contributors to explore ways in which social sustainability can be integrated into Adult and Vocational Education (AVE) practices. While it is clear that given the rapid change of work, job-specific training for adults is clearly vital the world over, it is argued here that job-specific training needs re-orientation to include life-specific learning as well. This can come about when the learning opportunities to which citizens have access prepare them for participation in work which is economically productive and at the same time engages them in related civic activities which promote environmental and social sustainability. The re-orientation of current AVE systems can be achieved in two ways: by broadening the educational agenda to include elements of environmental science, politics and the arts, and by including more dialogic and collaborative teaching and learning styles. Front Matter....Pages I-XXIV Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction: Challenges in Adult and Vocational Education for Social Sustainability....Pages 1-9 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Advancing Social Sustainability Through Vocational Education and Training....Pages 13-23 An Ecology for the Fourth Pillar: Imaginal Learning for Social Sustainability in AVE....Pages 25-43 The Historical Contribution of AVE to Social Sustainability in Australia....Pages 45-61 The Language of Longing: Rationality, Morality, and Experience in Education for Sustainability....Pages 63-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Educating for a Sustainable Democracy....Pages 83-91 Transformative Learning and AVE for Social Sustainability....Pages 93-105 Education, Religion, Sustainability, and Dialogue....Pages 107-117 The Role of Religion in Education for Social Sustainability....Pages 119-130 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 Claiming Sustainable Space: Families, Communities, and Learning, an Auto/Biographical Perspective....Pages 133-144 Health Literacy and AVE for Social Sustainability....Pages 145-154 Education in Post-conflict Environments: Pathways to Sustainable Peace....Pages 155-162 Social Sustainability and Activation Strategies with Unemployed Young Adults....Pages 163-178 Front Matter....Pages 179-179 Chasing the Vultures Off the Roof: AVE for Living in Sierra Leone....Pages 181-191 The Contribution of Non-formal Adult Education to Social Sustainability: Policy Implications from Case Studies in the Asia-Pacific Region....Pages 193-210 Community Adult Learning Contributions to Social Sustainability in the Asia-South Pacific Region: The Role of ASPBAE....Pages 211-224 Birds Learn to Swim and Fish Learn to Fly: Lessons from the Philippines on AVE for Social Sustainability....Pages 225-235 Breaking the Silence: Exploring Spirituality in Secular Professional Education in Australia....Pages 237-248 Waldorf Schools as Communities of Practice for AVE and Social Sustainability....Pages 249-260 Conclusion. AVE for Social Sustainability: Where to from Here?....Pages 261-264 Back Matter....Pages 265-273 Rethinking a Sustainable Society Alan Mayne The world has already passed the midway point for achieving by 2015 the eight Millennium Development Goals for a “more peaceful, prosperous and just world” that were set by the United Nations in the wake of its inspirational Millennium Dec- 1 laration in 2000. These goals range from combating poverty, hunger, and disease, to empowering women, and ensuring environmental sustainability. However Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, conceded in 2007 that progress to date has been mixed. During 2008 the head of the United Nations World Food P- gramme cautioned that because of the surge in world commodity prices the program had insuf?cient money to stave off global malnutrition, and the World Health Or- nization warned of a global crisis in water and sanitation. Depressing news accounts accumulate about opportunities missed to achieve a fairer world order and ecolo- calsustainability:themanipulationofelectionresultsinAfrica,humanrightsabuses in China, 4000 Americans dead and another nation torn apart by a senseless and protracted war in Iraq, and weasel words by the world's political leadership in the lead-up to negotiations for a climate change deal in 2009 that is supposed to stabilize global carbon dioxide emissions. It is clear that the parameters of the debates that drive progressive policy change urgently require repositioning and energizing. As is shown by the contributors to Rethinking work and learning, experts in the humanities and social sciences (HASS) couldhaveanimportantroletoplayinthisprocess.