Wild Pedagogies

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxi

   PDF

2. Why Wild Pedagogies?

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Bob Jickling

   Pages 1-22

3. On Wilderness

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Bob Jickling

   Pages 23-50

4. On the Anthropocene

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Bob Jickling

   Pages 51-62

5. On Education

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Bob Jickling

   Pages 63-76

6. Six Touchstones for Wild Pedagogies in Practice

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Sean Blenkinsop

   Pages 77-107

7. Afterwords

   • The Crex Crex Collective, Sean Blenkinsop

   Pages 109-131

8. Back Matter

   Pages 133-140

   PDF

This book explores why the concept of wild pedagogy is an essential aspect of education in these times; a re-negotiated education that acknowledges the necessity of listening to voices in a more than human world, and (re)learning how to dwell in a place. As the geological epoch inexorably shifts to the Anthropocene, the authors argue that learning to live in and engage with the world is increasingly crucial in such times of uncertainty. The editors and contributors examine what wild pedagogy can truly become, and how it can be relevant across disciplinary boundaries: offering six touchstones as working tools to help educators forge an onward path. This collaborative work will be of interest to students and scholars of wild pedagogies, alternative education and the Anthropocene, and for all those engaged in re-wilding education.

• Wild pedagogy
• Outdoor education
• Children and nature
• Learning outside
• Learning beyond classrooms
• Relationship with nature

“The collective behind Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene have produced a timely and valuable book which provides a much needed prompt for environmental educators to revisit their philosophies and focus.” (Lewis Winks, Environmental Education Research, November 08, 2019)

“This book makes a valuable contribution to a growing body of literature calling for a change to established ways of teaching and learning. However, more importantly, the book explores the potential of outdoor learning in the Anthropocene and offers educators a useful framework to guide development. It is the latter that educators of change will find most useful.” (David Irwin, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, March 17, 2019)

“Wild Pedagogies opens with some introductory explanation of how the book came about, the history of the authoring collective and a general overview of the purpose of the work. … Wild Pedagogies is accessible, well organised and provocative. … this kind of educational writing is much welcome – we need more of it. and soon.” (Giles Barrow, Pastoral Care in Education, February, 2019)​


“The book is organized into three conceptual discussion themes: On Wilderness, On the Anthropocene, and On Education. … These three accounts of what I believe were wild pedagogies moments help to add some experiential flavor to my review of this new book, Wild Pedagogies, which draws attention to the importance of such moments and how we can understand them educationally. I commend the book to you. Happy reading and hoping!” (Bob Henderson, Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, Vol. 21, 2018)
“Wild Pedgogies leads an attack on the domestication of learning, the creeping formality, the structures and control, the standardizing, the separation of each of us from ourselves and our physical reality. Here's a portrait of the physicality of children and the need to embrace this in education; the need to see education as humans in the world; the need to experiment with ideas and words that give meaning to our intuitions. An important argument. An important book.” (John Ralston Saul, award-winning essayist and novelist)

“This seminal book is stunning. It offers educators and researchers genuine avenues or what the authors call touchstones for troubling dominant education systems. Jickling, Blenkinsop, Timmerman and Sitka-Sage offer “wild hope” in wild times where the planet has entered a new geologic era—the Anthropocene.  Books like this are desperately needed to shift education into a new wild era where teachers are supported in returning to or opening up their own wildness in pedagogy.  It is a return to what Leopold eloquently describes as “growing down,” honouring wild childhoods.” (Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie, Sustainability, Environment & Education (SEE) Research Cluster, Southern Cross University, Australia)

“Set in the most important of all contexts—with the future of life on our planet at stake—this book reminds us that whilst we can and must learn in and through wild (and perhaps not-so-wild) places, modern education systems around the world must also learn and adapt, and with urgency. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in education and its role in supporting the health of planet Earth—and surely that should mean all of us!” (Peter Higgins, Professor of Outdoor and Environmental Education and Director the Edinburgh Global Environment & Society Academy, University of Edinburgh)

“An antidote to the steady drumbeat of environmental decline, Wild Pedagogies invites readers on a wilderness-soaked journey ofhope, connection, and joy. This thought-provoking, edited volume is a clarion call for the (re)wildling of education. Through beautifully crafted prose, it offers a vision for learning that leads with the landscape, de-centers the human, and positions educators as “agents of discovery.” Essential reading for anyone who has looked longingly out of a classroom window and wondered “what if…?”” (Nicole M. Ardoin,  Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, USA)

• Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

  Bob Jickling

• Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

  Sean Blenkinsop

• Sustainable Communities, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

  Nora Timmerman

• Imaginative Education Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

  Michael De Danann Sitka-Sage

Bob Jickling is Professor Emeritus at Lakehead University, Canada.



Sean Blenkinsop is Professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada. 
 
Nora Timmerman is Lecturer at Northern Arizona University, USA.
 
Michael De Danann Sitka-Sage (formerly Michael W. Derby) is Researcher at Simon Fraser University, Canada. 


The Crex Crex Collective includes: Hebrides, I., Independent Scholar; Ramsey Affifi, University of Edinburgh; Sean Blenkinsop, Simon Fraser University; Hans Gelter, Guide Natura & Luleå, University of Technology; Douglas Gilbert, Trees for Life; Joyce Gilbert, Trees for Life; Ruth Irwin, Independent Scholar; Aage Jensen, Nord University; Bob Jickling, Lakehead University; Polly Knowlton Cockett, University of Calgary; Marcus Morse, La Trobe University; Michael De Danann Sitka-Sage, Simon Fraser University; Stephen Sterling, University of Plymouth; Nora Timmerman, Northern Arizona University; and Andrea Welz, Sault College.

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