Education Commons^™

The second strategy of the Australian government’s National Action Plan (NAP) for sustainability education is to reorient education systems to sustainability (Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts [DEWHA], 2009). In this chapter, I put forward an activist-based socially critical viewpoint on the ambition to reorient education whilst uncovering a range of ambiguities, tensions and constraints which hinder meaningful change. I suggest that attention to these predicaments across curriculum, policy and accountability mechanisms will offer possibilities and hope. In this introductory section, I begin with the sustainability education NAP and provide a socio-ecological context before sketching out the …

The Worsley Alumina Energy Challenge (WAEC) is an innovative sustainability education project that connects four schools, the South West branch of the Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE), two universities and a corporation, Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd (Worsley). As part of its corporate sustainability

responsibility, Worsley is providing renewable energy systems to the schools including photovoltaic, wind and biodiesel equipment. The type and size of the systems are based on each school's physical location, size and local community context. In turn, the schools have committed themselves to attempting to reduce their power consumption by 20% per capita over a five-year …