I admit I have not really read much about the 2020 Summit in Canberra this weekend (19th/20th April,2008), but I did see Barry Jones on tv saying that “if the environment is shot, then the economy is shot as well”. He has a good point there.
The current system of education adopted by our state governments gives strong weighting to economic outcomes for our childrens’ learning. The ALP supports “Kevin Rudd’s plan for Australia’s Future”, educational directions that appear heavily weighted with economic outcomes for our childrens’ learning.
To be fair, the ALP National Platform and Constitution 2007 does include environmental educational outcomes. However, the emphasis and dominant principles appear to be weighted towards linking prosperity, productivity growth, and human capital investment, with the revolution needed to educate our coming generations. Will this education revolution really lead us into this sustainable future that the 2020 Summit will no doubt be talking about?
Perhaps the real revolution will come when the Australian Government heeds the call for giving equal priority to both economic and environmental educational outcomes.
On a Regional level, here in the Mt Warning Caldera, many environmental educational facilities, businesses and community projects are happening. The full integration of environmental understanding with economic capacity within an educational vision, relies on giving both environmental and economic values equal weighting within all levels of education. We have a ways to go yet, on this one. An example of educational institutions that have this vision may be the Steiner Schools . Possibly aboriginal communities also have the capacity to link environmental and economic education. It would appear they have a good history concerning this marriage of economy and environment, as when European settlers arrived within this region, it was abundant with biodiversity, and local tribes of indigenous people.
Let’s hope that the 2020 Summit includes the vision of a real revolution, one where environment and economy have equal weighting and merit within the education system, at all levels.
