Place, Sustainability and Literacy in Environmental Education: Frameworks for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The ‘ecologisation’ of Australian primary schools brings new opportunities for curriculum expansion
and renewal for sustainability education. My contribution to the broader discussion of place,
geography, sustainability and literacy stems from an interest in how children are brought into contact
with sustainability discourses via sensory and embodied learning in local school ground landscapes. In
this paper I am interested in identifying the emergent pedagogies and new literacies that inform and
shape the implementation of sustainability curriculum. The paper draws on research that uses theories
of place inhabitation, relationships to food, place ecologies, and place-based pedagogies to examine the
educational value of food gardens and related environmental and health initiatives in primary
(elementary) schooling in Australia. Using research data from two schools, the paper illustrates how
school ground settings, curriculum and pedagogy generate spatial, temporal and geographical literacies
that support children’s meaning making. These multimodal literacies are vital curriculum ingredients
that effectively educate for sustainability.