Education in the Anthropocene: From Theorists towards Young Climate Activists

This paper analyzes whether Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, which Freire defines as humanization, can be ecopedagogy, and if ecopedagogy is humanization. The text addresses the question of the actuality of Freire’s critical pedagogy and inquires whether it responds to such contemporary questions as the relation between the human being and the planet, or whether it, in a modern manner, prioritizes free human agency before the environment. As an instrument, a comparison is used of Paulo Freire’s and Zygmunt Bauman’s conceptions of phenomena encompassed by dehumanization and humanization. After an analysis of the social critique suggested by the thinkers in the aspect of dehumanization, a conclusion is made that ecopedagogy is humanization in the Freirean critical pedagogy sense, and Bauman’s social conception can serve as an example for a contemporary re-inventing of Freire’s critical pedagogy.

Ecopedagogy – Dehumanisation or Humanisation: P. Freire and Z. Bauman

Tuleikytė

2022

A Curriculum in the Post: A Reading of the First Foreign Language Sixth Grade Curriculum through a Posthumanist Lens

Gajauskaitė

2022

This paper looks at how the ontological and epistemological premises of posthumanism allow educators to reread a curriculum. Document analysis reveals the current grade 6 first foreign language curriculum in Lithuania as being, in Deleuzian terms, a striated, exhaustive, and positivist one. It is also ridden with tension to meet both the naturally arising learners’ interests and standardized learning outcomes. Posthumanism, which invites educators to look at the curriculum rhizomatically, allows for different kind of learning – defined through thinking, becoming, and affirming.

Becoming a Climate Change Educator: First-grade Pupils’ Action Research

Kairė,

Vaivadaitė,

Kundrotaitė

2024

This paper presents the results of the action research conducted by the research team in 2022-2023 with first-grade pupils at one Vilnius primary school in Lithuania. Primary, the action research aimed to improve the teaching practice of a primary school teacher on the topic of climate change and also develop her professional competence in climate change education; secondary, stimulate the learning process and possible actions for first-grade children on tackling climate change. The study reveals the learning process of the primary school teacher who integrated a series of 14 climate change lessons the research team created, her learning outcomes, and the main challenges she faced during the process. The results highlight specific changes that are taking place in the teacher‘s daily practice that are also undoubtedly leading to an increase in first-grade pupils‘ awareness of climate change topics. The study highlights a key aspect: becoming a climate change educator means developing her professional competence to work on climate change and developing a personal relationship with climate change phenomenon that moves beyond the classroom environment. The development of a personal relationship with climate change brings to the forefront the teacher‘s awareness of the need for climate change education at school to reduce the destructive activities of human beings in relation to the planet and mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change.