Presentation delivered by Professor Keri Facer, University of Bristol, as part of the Next Ten Years for People and Nature session at Communicate 2012: Breaking Boundaries

1. Communicate
Conference 2012:
The next ten years for
people and nature
Keri Facer

2. The next ten years? Living with environmental
change
BUT ALSO…
Technological change that
changes ideas of agency –
Augmentation, large scale
systems, data
Demographic shifts – aging
and mobility
Low economic growth and
increased positional
competition – esp middle
classes

3. We need to Act now to mitigate
environmental impacts and
prepare for adaptation
Learn how to harness and live
wisely with our technologies
Build intergenerational and
social solidarity
Develop new models of
economic resilience beyond
the ‘formal’ economy

4. Why do schools matter in all this?
• One of the last public (just about)
services left in every community
• An institution that large numbers of
people have a stake in
• A critical resource in developing the
powerful knowledge to help us
understand these problems
• Significant resources – young
people, staff, buildings, land,
expertise, infrastructure
• Track record in changing
expectations of what counts as
‘good’ in the world – e.g. human
rights & mass education

5. What are schools starting to do?
• Recognise their own powers and
unleash them
– Resources, Students, Staff , Spaces/Land
• Beyond schizophrenia towards
‘educated hope’ (Giroux) & ‘non-
stupid optimism’ (McWilliam)
– Learning that Matters, Learning Futures,
Critical Mathematics, Todmorden, Apps
for Good, Landless Workers Movement,
Intergenerational learning (Comp
Clubs/Reading Mentors)
• Build robust relationships and
partnerships with other people
working in the same direction
– e.g Co-operative Education Movement;
Whole Education, SEED, Transition

6. How might the community help?
• Remember schools are important – not just in terms of
young people ‘learning about the environment’ but as
resources for communities and for social change – and
that they are changing
• Challenge the trend towards for-profit schools and
universities
• Challenge the trend to disconnect school leadership from
place
• Recognise that schools can’t do everything and mobilise
the city’s own resources in support of them
– 80 x 18 project – starting Bristol 2012

7. Thank you for listening
@kerileef
Keri.Facer@bristol.ac.uk
For more elaborated discussion of these issues see:
Facer (2011) ‘Learning Futures: Education, technology and social change’ (Routledge)
Sources & Inspirations:
Wrigley, Thomson & Lingard (2012) ‘Changing Schools: Alternative Ways to Make a World of
Difference’ (Routledge)
Fielding & Moss (2010) ‘Radical Education and the Common School: A democratic alternative’
(Routledge)
Anyon (2005) ‘Radical Possibilities’ (Routledge)