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At the heart of sustainability is the relationship between humans and the planet. The binary of anthropocentric or ecocentric worldviews appears to be powerful in defining this relationship. Sustainability requires nuanced approaches which go beyond simple binaries, and therefore a dialectic approach which works to synthesise the binaries may be helpful. This paper draws on Maori cultural understandings of fire to trouble the ecocentric versus anthropocentric binary. Maori oral traditions of fire identify the connections between people and the planet and see people as part of fire and fire as part of people. By exploring Maori oral traditions, it is possible to see fire as more than purely an element that contributes to environmental problems and reveals the pedagogical potential of campfires to reignite the relationship between humans and the planet.

The role of digital technologies in outdoor and environmental education is contested and therefore educators should carefully consider their inclusion or exclusion of networked spaces. In addition, educators are asked to make their pedagogical intentions visible to students. We ask 'How might we include our students in decisions about digital-downtime?' This article takes Western and Maori (Indigenous) approaches to preserving nature and applies them to looking after human-nature (the nature within). Learning lessons from the past about preserving nature offers a way for educators and students to discuss and consider the benefits of setting aside times and places to exclude networked spaces. Simultaneously these discussions offer students a language and framework to support their intentionality about digital connectedness or disconnectedness in their wider lives.

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, the much-heralded threat of climate change has become a reality whose effects we not only read and hear about daily but also experience in a raft of seen and unseen ways in our local communities. Morton (2012) called unequivocally for a broader vision of music education that includes and embraces a cross-curricular emphasis on ecological and social justice. In particular, she challenges music education (and the arts in general) to participate in the provision of eco-aesthetic experiences and activities, which foster participation in and reflection upon human inter-dependency. In this article, I will reflect on my experience as a music teacher in a West Auckland enviroschool and the lessons I learned from the children that influenced and supported the development of music-making activities connected with their environmental concerns. Then, taking into account the work of relevant contemporary musicians/composers and music educators, I will offer some suggestions for eco-literate pedagogical practices (Shevock, 2018) for music teachers in 21st century Aotearoa New Zealand.

The School Strike 4 Climate New Zealand (SS4CNZ) movement have organised and led four strikes between 2019 and 2021. With each successive strike, adult support for students' demands increased. Their most notable achievement was garnering sufficient support to pass Aotearoa New Zealand's Zero Carbon Bill into legislation. However, tensions with SS4CNZ led to the Auckland Chapter announcing its disbandment in 2021. There were mixed responses to their decision. In this reflective essay I argue that this disbandment was a positive move forward because these youth were showing their willingness to re-build relationships with their Maori and Pacific Island activist peers. By disbanding, not only were these young leaders enabling their Maori and Pacific Island peers to lead future actions, they were acknowledging the connections between racism, colonialism and climate justice; responding to our relational crisis by demonstrating the importance of re-building robust and reciprocal relationships between humans and more-than-humans when advocating for ways to navigate towards a climate-just society.

This ecofeminist-inspired research study, influenced by an ethic of care, engaged the participants in photo-elicitation and interviews. Ecofeminism originated as a theory and movement related to women and the environment (Estévez-Saá & Lorenzo-Modia, 2018), while an ethic of care stems from relational ethics that assumes human connectedness in context (Clement, 1996; Noddings, 2013). Thematic and visual narrative analysis of collected data supported the establishment of findings. The study aimed to contribute to the idea that a place-based approach can be taken to developing a holistic, meaningful and balanced local curriculum -- one that privileges a 'sense of place' and the relationship between humans and their environments as co-habitors.

Kaitiakitanga is promoted in the revised curriculum document "Te Whariki--He Whariki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum" (Ministry of Education, 2017). The authors give primacy to the Maori world-view of sustainable living through engaging with, and protecting, the natural environment. This article reports on a picturebook research project designed to support teachers to explore kaitiakitanga with young children in early childhood education settings. Two Aotearoa New Zealand picturebooks are featured, curriculum links are proposed, and feedback from a small sample of teachers about the picturebooks and curriculum links is reported. Picturebooks are powerful teaching tools and can provoke learning across the curriculum, as this research highlights.

Mixed reality (XR) environments combining real-to-virtual immersive experiences provide unprecedented potential for reframing educational pedagogy and practice. XR environments provide scaffolded learning points accommodating individual needs, while enhancing sensorial and embodied experiences. XR environments can facilitate self-determined (heutagogical) experience-based learning and esthetic visualization of wicked problems, making complex knowledge more accessible. Here we report on a study exploring the design of mobile learning with education outside the classroom (EOTC), heutagogy, and free-choice learning to enhance marine ecological literacy, based on a bring your own device (BYOD) XR intervention at a marine educational center in Aotearoa New Zealand. Findings indicate that XR affordances can enhance the understanding of complex marine conservation science, facilitating ecological literacy knowledge, attitudes and behavior change. Implications include pedagogical rethinking of EOTC with self-determined mobile learning; haptic, sensorial and embodied XR design considerations for environmental education; and epistemological speculation on learning phenomena in real-to-virtual immersive environments.

In this article, we present a theoretical framework for mixed reality (MR/XR) self-determined learning to enhance ecological literacy in free-choice educational settings. The framework emerged from a research study in New Zealand which aimed to explore how learning experiences which incorporate mobile technologies within free-choice learning settings can be designed to enhance learner development of marine ecological literacy. An understanding of how mobile technology can be integrated into the teaching and learning of sustainability education that incorporates free-choice learning contexts, such as visitor centres, is of strategic importance to both education outside the classroom and adult learning. Following a design-based research methodology, the framework is presented in the form of a set of design principles and guidelines, informed by key theories in ecological literacy and free-choice learning, heutagogy, bring your own device and self-determined learning. We briefly describe how the framework provided the foundation for an educational intervention. This paper aims to assist researchers and developers of MR/XR immersive learning environments to consider design principles and processes that can enhance learning outcomes within free-choice settings, such as museums and visitor centres.

Zero hour contract is an arrangement between employers and employees which does not include minimum working hours and employees have to be available in order to work in any time. There is a legal definition of it in New Zealand recently however it might be carried out under casual contract which is legal. Zero hour contract is a big problem in terms of employees and ecoliteracy because it causes exploitation of the employees' rights. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the applications of zero hour contracts within ecoliteracy in New Zealand. It will then focus on specific points, negative aspects--in terms of employees--and the local implications of zero hour contracts. In conclusion, it may be said that the zero hour contract should be checked by the government regularly and employees' rights should be protected legally in New Zealand.

Purpose: This study aims to discuss to what extent are WMPs practical tools for circular and sustainable waste management in universities, presenting, therefore, a case study of the usage of WMP in the Brazilian public universities and comparing this scenario with the international context. Design/methodology/approach: The WMPs were identified by online search and analyzed according to qualitative indicators (spatial-temporal distribution, year, extent and virtual availability), and through circularity and sustainability criteria, using a proposed checklist. Findings: Even being mandatory instruments, only 17% of the 103 public universities in Brazil had a WMP identified, and, among these plans, 55% were restricted to healthcare services waste, only 15% covered all university campuses. Although most of the available plans indicate measures for more sustainable waste management (e.g., recyclable waste collection on campus), they lack specific deadlines for presented goals on waste management, treating waste management at a more emergency pace than in well-structured long-term planning. Originality/value: Numerous studies have discussed waste management strategies for universities worldwide, but few have addressed the usage and structure of WMPs. A case study of the Brazilian situation in light of the international scenario is of great value in understanding the differences between universities in terms of waste management, and with strong potential to support the structuring of more solid environmental policies in universities, especially in developing countries.

The Ministry of Education's recent changes to NCEA to incorporate mana orite mo te matauranga Maori has become the source of consternation for many kaiako in secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. Kaiako are struggling to understand what integrating mana orite and matauranga Maori into their programmes looks like. This article is intended as a lay person's guide to understanding two things. First, what the terms "mana orite" and "matauranga Maori" are, and secondly, what mana orite mo te matauranga Maori may look like in their programmes of study.

This paper discusses the use of an estuary monitoring toolkit "Nga Waihotanga Iho" as a central part of a Maori-centred education project undertaken by Kaipara hapu (sub-tribe), Te Uri O Hau, in Northland, New Zealand. The toolkit was designed by New Zealand's National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). In this project, Te Uri O Hau collaborated with NIWA and regional high schools in order to use this toolkit as a mechanism for kaitikaitanga (environmental guardianship) and Indigenous-led environmental education. This paper demonstrates that approaches such as this can be powerful vehicles for Indigenous self-determination as Maori actively undertake tribal development and environmental guardianship, and strengthen the place of Indigenous knowledge, priorities and approaches within an evolving 'post-colonial' education system.

This paper asks, what is the outdoors, and challenges conceptions of the role the outdoors play in education. It critically examines why a better understanding of the outdoors is important to outdoor education, how wilder places are essential to education, and how learning generated from these places can be translated into sustainable thinking and action. The enquiry is presented as a discussion between three experienced outdoor educators on international understandings of the outdoors and wilderness. In particular, they explore whether taking students to wilder places supports myth-making in uncritical ways, or whether experiencing these places reconnects them with nature, modifies their worldview, and in turn brings important aspects of the wild into their decision making about how they wish to live on the planet.

This article presents the case for using mobile technologies to facilitate the integration of classroom and outside-of-classroom learning experiences designed to enhance the ecological literacy of primary school students and their parents. There is growing evidence supporting the transformative potential of mobile learning technologies and tools within education settings to deliver meaningful learning experiences. We argue here that this potential could extend to integrating learning between the classroom and education outside the classroom (EOTC). We further argue that this mobile learning potential can mediate learning between students and their parents, visitors and educators at free-choice learning settings. We situate our argument within learning to enhance ecological literacy and call for studies that can consider the possibilities offered by mobile technology and related pedagogical frameworks, the reinforcement of learning experiences post a visit to a free-choice setting, and the integration with hands-on and non-technology mediated learning instances. Here we present some key theoretical considerations as a prelude to a study being funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative to examine these possibilities.

The world is changing, but political and educational institutions appears to be stuck in the 19th century. Modern policy and education are both premised on an Enlightenment assumption of the human, rational, individual subject. Increasingly, elements of these philosophical premises are being interrogated. The critique emerges from the environmental interest in collapsing the dualism between subject and object, and reintegrating the human with/in our ecological context. Indigenous philosophy is important for rethinking the integration of the dualism between humanity and ecology. Maori philosophy is a vital counterpoint to the anthropomorphic position of modern policy and education. Taking Maori concepts to inform contemporary philosophy generates a substantive shift in world view that does not lose sight of the solipsist, phenomenological parameters of human sense making, but enables us to make deeper ethical decisions, and transform the basis of education and policy.

This article focuses on the relationships between social justice, environmental justice, and sustainability from the local to global levels. We envision social and environmental justice as involving not only human beings, but also the rights of all species to life and respect. We advocate an ecological justice approach based on the equality and intrinsic value of all existence. This standpoint also forefronts core values and world views of marginalized people and epistemologies, such as Indigenous knowledge systems. With the understanding that there is much heterogeneity among Indigenous communities and individuals, we delve into core commonalities which embrace the perspective that humanity's relation to the cosmos is ever-salient, that the Earth is a living being, and all species, as interconnected co-habitants of Earth, are intelligent, equal, and divine.

Environmental educators remain challenged by how to encourage people to make connections between environmental quality and human development in a way that is socially just and equitable for all living things. This article explores links between performance-based learning and environmental education pedagogy as one way to address this challenge. Sixteen children (8-10 years) from an Auckland primary school worked with a performance artist to present "Lookout," an intimate performance by a child for an adult. Its intent was to juxtapose people's different backgrounds, experiences and ages in a two-way communication of their view of Auckland City through an environmental lens encompassing past, present and future, while surveying the city from a vantage point. Analysis of data from focus groups with the children and interviews with their parents (also participants) showed that the "Lookout" process led to children developing a deeper understanding of Auckland City's issues, a stronger sense of connection to their city, an understanding of the future, and feelings of empowerment. However, their parents' learning was more tenuous. Three key elements to the success of "Lookout" for learning are identified, and it is proposed that these could be used when developing performance-based environmental education programs.

Climate change is described as the defining issue of our time. There are many climate-change teaching resources that cover the science of climate change and actions to make a difference. However, there is limited focus on envisioning the future we want to create together. Enviroschools' key concepts of interrelatedness and whanaungatanga support students, schools and communities to explore how they are connected to each other and the world they live in. Using an example from one school, I suggest building understanding of how we are all interconnected is one way to create space to imagine the change we want.

In the context of public and policy concerns about human induced climate change, it is striking that dominant models and histories of English teaching marginalise the environmental significance of English as a school subject (Matthewman, 2010). This is in spite of a growing body of ecocritical work within English and cultural studies which has explored the relationship between cultural texts and environmental thinking (Buell, 2005; Clark, 2011; Garrard, 2012; Glotfelty, 1996; Kerridge & Sammells, 1998). This article explores the potential for teachers in New Zealand to clear the ground for a "greener" version of English. This could be facilitated by a number of features which are unique to the New Zealand context. These include the powerful (though contested) imagery of New Zealand's environmental purity; the historical relationships of New Zealanders to the land; the integration of Maori environmental values into educational policy; the relative openness of the national curriculum in New Zealand; the absence of a dominant canon and tradition of English teaching; and the recent turn towards New Zealand literature (with its strong emphasis on links to the land) in literary choices for study. The article will examine traditions of English in New Zealand against the social, cultural and environmental factors which offer the potential for ecocritical versions of English to emerge within new models of teachers' professional practice.

Many environmental concerns such as climate change and reducing fossil-fuel dependence seem 'out of reach' for the majority of us regarding creating change. However, food systems and how we interact with them, offer tangible opportunities to respond to these environmental concerns in small but meaningful ways. By examining the impact of our food consumption, we are provided with an opportunity for ongoing self-assessment. To engage in this self-assessment as part of a community of practice, we argue, is all the more impactful. This paper is self-reflective, exploring the process and outcomes of a group of non-experts working together to develop a workshop to explore the politics of everyday eating. This workshop took the form of a seven-course meal. To disquiet this indulgence, these seven courses included both food for physical sustenance and food to provoke hearts and minds, because 'we don't usually think of what we eat as a matter of ethics' (Singer and Mason, 2007: 3). The three food courses were sourced and cooked for conference participants by the authors of this paper. While undertaking these activities, we debated and documented our sourcing decisions and mused on the role of food in Aotearoa New Zealand. The remaining four courses served our guests the critical musings of food rescuers, local food producers and other food thinkers to cleanse the palate by way of presentations, poetry and performances. By using a meal as our methodology, we, as non-expert organizers and chefs, sought to explore our own, and allow others to explore their food consumption and ethics.

This paper draws on the narratives of three teaching staff as they collaborate to transform student teachers' thinking and praxis about sustainability through a bicultural perspective that acknowledges indigenous and Western ideologies. It will discuss some of the experiences that the student teachers found to be transformational such as: whakapapa (our connectedness to all things, both living and non-living) and a mini action research project on the "rubbish" generated on their class days. The question the co-researchers pose: How is the [bicultural] conceptual framework visible in our teaching and learning about sustainability? Our findings suggest that student teachers become articulate and passionate about sustainability through engagement in activities that challenge the "taken-for- granted" everyday practices. As confidence and competence increases, student teachers can realise their potential to make significant curriculum changes as they work alongside children and their families to care for planet earth.

Set against a context of Indigenous health disparities, climate turmoil, and unpredictability of human-ecological systems, this article asks the question of how transformative sustainability education (TSE) with its increasing emphasis on Indigenous knowledge and ways of being can be effectively and ethically applied in colonized modern nation-states? In doing so, it makes the necessary links between the interconnected goals of addressing underlying determinants of Indigenous health and supporting the resurgence of Indigenous knowledges and ways of being toward ensuring planetary well-being more generally. As a means of negotiating this critical interface, three pedagogical capabilities of TSE (Scaling DEEP, Scaling OUT, and Scaling UP) are briefly outlined. Having laid this theoretical groundwork, this article (Part 1) focuses primarily on the role of the transformative sustainability educator in Scaling DEEP (effecting cultural and relational transformation from a de-colonial perspective) as a necessary precursor to the interrelated domains of Scaling OUT and UP (programming and policy change).

Pedagogies that reflect the eco-cultural literacies of local Indigenous peoples have potential to foster young children's empathy for our planet as well as for other humans and for more-than-human kin such as mountains, rivers, forests, plants, fish, insects and animals. This article explores some ways in which early years educators can implement pedagogical strategies that encompass the eco-cultural literacies of local Indigenous peoples. These pedagogical strategies are illustrated through data gathered from children, teachers and families in two early childhood centres that participated in a wider study of early childhood care and education settings in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The data show how these pedagogical approaches can generate dispositions of respect and restraint with regard to use of resources whilst introducing children to traditional Indigenous sustainability practices. Eco-cultural literacies provide a counter-narrative to dominant discourses that perpetuate the exploitation of our planet and her resources whilst confining the focus of education to predetermined, narrow literacy and numeracy standards. In drawing upon ancient wisdoms, there are implications for how early childhood care and education settings internationally can engage in localised eco-cultural literacies that offer hope for sustainable futures.

This study examines the use of peer review in an undergraduate ecology programme, in which students write a research proposal as a grant application, prior to carrying out the research project. Using a theoretical feedback model, we compared teacher and student peer reviews in a double blind exercise, and show how students responded to feedback given by each group. In addition, students wrote a rebuttal for every feedback point before re-drafting and submission. Despite students claiming they could tell if the reviewer was a teacher or student, this was not always the case, and both student and teacher feedback was accepted on merit. Analysis of feedback types and rebuttal actions showed similar patterns between students and teachers. Where teachers differed slightly was in the use of questions and giving direction. Interviews with students showed the rebuttal was a novel experience, because it required a consideration of each comment and justification as to why it was accepted, partially accepted or rejected. Being a reviewer helped students to learn about their own work, and it changed the way they understood the scientific literature. In addition, some students transferred their new peer review skills to help others outside of the ecology programme.

An important aim of the Tuhia ki Te Ao--Write to the Natural World project is to investigate ways in which the cultural and ecological perspectives of Maori can be recognised and developed within literacy practices in secondary schools. In this article we propose four significant aspects to engaging with Maori literacies in classroom pedagogy and practice: place and environment; the relation of the tangible and intangible; "capturing the being"; and the concept and practice of tohu. Attention to, and awareness of, these areas may help mainstream educators to engage in conversations about how eco-critical literacy can be situated in Maori ways of knowing and operating.

In a time of environmental crisis we need a language to speak for nature. In our TLRI project Tuhia ki Te Ao--Write to the Natural World, we have been working with teachers to develop "3D literacy" practices responsive to both culture and environment and located in a rich language and ecology of place. This article will discuss vignettes from two teachers in two schools who experimented with creating ecological units of work for their English classes. The analysis of these vignettes leads to recommendations for how critical literacy can become eco-critical literacy. [This article was written with Newton Rewi and Rosamund Britton.]

This article describes and discusses a unit of work taught by Maria Iki, a Social Sciences teacher at James Cook High School in South Auckland. The unit was taught as part of the TLRI project Tuhia ki Te Ao--Write to the Natural World. The project is concerned to develop students' eco-literacy and to help them to inform their environmental identities. This article: (1) provides readers with an account of how the issue of sea-level rise in the Pacific Island of Kiribati can be understood through a model of 3D eco-literacy; (2) offers Maria's reflections on the challenges involved in teaching the unit; (3) discusses the 3D eco-literacy developed in the unit; and (4) ends with some comments about how Maria plans to develop the unit in the second iteration of the project.

This article reports on a focus group study of newly qualified early childhood teachers' experiences during their first year of teaching. It argues that focus groups have the potential to invite dialogical engagement in ways that support teachers' exploration of their own identities, and it emphasises the significant role group context plays in their professional support and development. A feature of the study was the way in which participants interacted with one another, with the researchers and with imagined others, resulting in a production of unique narratives that revealed both affiliation and difference. With a focus on the associational and interactional elements of the teachers' responses, rather than the content of their responses, this article examines the use of focus groups as a method for exploring social interactions and group processes. In this study, focus groups are seen as temporal ecosystems, engendering new understandings from existing and ongoing encounters within the group. The authors argue that the resonance and cohesion of the interactions within the group are productive in responding to new teachers' feelings of isolation, and that there is a need for more attention to the vitality of group processes in the lives of early childhood teachers.

Bullying is a major concern in education worldwide, particularly in countries such as New Zealand that are reported to have high rates of bullying in schools. In this article it is proposed that, in order to effectively prevent or substantially reduce bullying in schools, a systemic approach needs to be adopted, with interventions organized at various levels. An ecological model for bullying prevention is presented that suggests strategies and interventions at the levels of teachers, schools, communities, and society. Examples of interventions that have been found in the literature to have evidence supporting their effectiveness have been outlined at each of these levels. Guidelines are presented for schools adopting such an ecological model for addressing bullying and for bringing about the changes needed to implement it successfully.

Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

We have been in the postmodern turn for some time in early years care and education. As a result, much has been said and written about what policies, theories, and practices we no longer wish to see govern us. However, alternative ways of being in the world with young children still are reticent to take hold. Proposed here is a turn "East," a turn "inward," and a return to our "roots" for wisdom to guide, inspire, and challenge us. Moment to moment living and "being with self," others, and the Earth in deep humility, compassion, and empathy is explored as a pedagogical alternative to the "doing ways" of conventional early childhood practice.

Natural disasters are frequently exacerbated by anthropogenic mechanisms and have social and political consequences for communities. The role of community learning in disasters is seen to be increasingly important. However, the ways in which such learning unfolds in a disaster can differ substantially from case to case. This article uses a comparative case study methodology to examine catastrophes and major disasters from five countries (Japan, New Zealand, the UK, the USA and Germany) to consider how community learning and adaptation occurs. An ecological model of learning is considered, where community learning is of small loop (adaptive, incremental, experimental) type or large loop (paradigm changing) type. Using this model, we consider that there are three types of community learning that occur in disasters (navigation, organization, reframing). The type of community learning that actually develops in a disaster depends upon a range of social factors such as stress and trauma, civic innovation and coercion.

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution's adoption of EL as a graduate attribute (or in a US context, a general-education learning outcome, and something to be fostered throughout a student's education). The instrument and associated processes were designed to fit within conventional institutional mechanisms that manage student feedback on the quality of teaching. The instrument was tested with more than 600 students from more than eight programmes over the course of a year and its use stressed that students were anonymous within the survey. We conclude that evaluating (or in a US context, assessing) the extent to which students acquire EL is an achievable objective and is a reasonable expectation for any higher education institution that claims to foster this attribute.

New Zealand is unique in the global tertiary education environment because there is a legislative requirement that teaching and research are closely interdependent and that most teaching in universities and all degree-granting institutions should be done by people who are active in advancing knowledge. Moreover, the Tertiary Education Strategy calls for "a research culture within which undergraduates learn to take a research-based approach to their lifelong educational Canament." Thus there is a strong imperative for research and inquiry to be part of the undergraduate curriculum. In 2006 the authors were part of a research team that gained a substantial external grant from the government to document and analyze the use of inquiry-guided learning (IGL) in undergraduate education in New Zealand. This article draws on that research by first providing some background on the research project and highlighting some key findings and then considering different approaches to including IGL in an undergraduate curriculum. In the first case--the appetizer, the authors discuss how inquiry can be included in a large first-year sociology class, and in the second case--the entree--they examine how inquiry is embedded throughout an ecology degree program. The intent is to present theoretical concepts from the research and to offer practical advice for faculty seeking to include inquiry within an undergraduate curriculum. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

Working with an understanding of assemblage as the ad hoc groupings of vibrant materials and elements, this article argues that conceptualizing place as an assemblage opens possibilities for bridging the gap between subjects and objects that continue to structure pedagogy. Considering "place" as an assemblage of humans and their multiple "others" puts emphasis on the productive nature of forces and forms as vibrant matter. While much of the literature on "place-based pedagogy" argues for a commitment to place-based local environments as a counterpoint to globalization, "place-as-assemblage" circumvents such politics of resistance. Instead of critique and opposition, the emphasis lies on finding ways for critical engagement and new perspectives through an understanding of the forces and forms that make places, and shape pedagogies. The article draws on New Zealand-based research to reconsider the often taken-for-granted relationship between place and pedagogy. (Contains 1 note.)

Higher education institutions are interested in the impact that they and concurrent life experiences may have on students' sustainability attitudes, but they lack formal processes to monitor changes. We used the NEP to monitor changes in students' ecological-worldviews. We were interested in what variation there would be in a multidisciplinary group, if the NEP could detect changes in students' ecological-worldviews over a limited time period, and to learn more about the NEP and its use. We conclude that the NEP is a valuable research instrument for this study and that monitoring students' attitudes is a worthwhile precursor to debating the issues institutionally. (Contains 2 figures and 8 tables.)

Culturally, childhood is often understood as a time of innocence which can mean that issues such as ecological sustainability are considered too problematic for early childhood practice. By drawing on findings from a research project that focused on issues of ecological sustainability in early childhood centres in New Zealand from Western and indigenous perspectives, this article contributes a critical perspective of ecological sustainability as an educational issue in early childhood education (ECE). The article falls into two parts: the first section gives an overview of some of the conceptual and theoretical issues that underpin critical perspectives of childhood, and provides a context for current global ECE discourse, while the second section introduces the research project and discusses the intersections of "local" and "global" in light of teachers' emerging "pedagogies of place". The intent is to demonstrate that critical engagement with such complex global issues as ecological sustainability generates spaces for new understandings of how ECE can contribute to theory and practice of education for sustainability.

The "greening" of outdoor education has received increasing attention from educators in Aotearoa-New Zealand and internationally. Given contemporary global concerns about the scale of environmental issues and the associated recognition that educating for sustainability is a matter of urgency, the continuing exploration of pedagogies promoting human connection to nature is arguably a central concern for outdoor educators. This paper contributes to professional dialogue about outdoor education pedagogies that may facilitate the development of students' connectedness to, and care for, non-human nature. It draws from an interpretative research project that explored the meanings of nature-based leisure for eleven women aged 40 to 65 years. Findings from that research highlighted an important interplay between women's conceptions of nature and their participation in leisure. The paper directs attention to three interconnected pedagogical principles that are teased from the women's stories: repeated immersion in local nature environments, the decentring of traditional performance discourses, and critical reflection. These are presented as key considerations for outdoor education teachers and teacher educators in promoting nature connectedness and care. Recommendations are made for outdoor education researchers and teacher educators for future research directions. (Contains 8 notes.)

Inquiry-based learning has been promoted as a student-centred approach that can strengthen the links between teaching and research. This article examines the potential of inquiry-based learning to strengthen the teaching-research nexus by analysing three case studies: a "structured inquiry" third-year endocrinology medicine module, a "guided inquiry" second-year political communications course and an "open inquiry" third-year ecology course. The relation between teaching and research differed significantly amongst these three cases and led to a reconceptualisation of inquiry-based learning. A model was then developed to link the focus of learning (using Levy's framing of information or discovery-oriented inquiry) with the level of independence and the potential strength of the teaching-research nexus. The findings show that, if teachers are aiming for strong links between teaching and research, they should adopt an open, discovery-oriented inquiry-based learning approach. However, more structured and guided forms of inquiry can be useful to progressively develop particular inquiry skills. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

A 10-year strategic plan for early childhood education introduced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education in 2002 included policies to create a teacher-led early childhood profession by 2012. This article reviews the provisions of the strategic plan and argues that it emerged from a critical ecology of the early childhood profession with a history of advocacy and strategy. The article marks out new challenges to the implementation of the strategic plan as it draws close to its end date in a changed political context and a time of economic constraint. It is argued that the challenges call for the emergence of a critical ecology of the profession that responds to the current context. (Contains 6 notes.)

Within the political economy of agriculture and agrofood literatures there are examples of approaches that reject simple dichotomies between alternatives and the mainstream. In line with such approaches, we challenge the assumption that alternative agriculture, and its attendant improved environmental practices, alternative management styles, less intensive approaches, and better approaches to animal and ecosystem welfare, is the only source of agricultural sustainability. This article uses national farm-survey results for New Zealand's sheep and beef, dairy, and horticulture sectors to examine conventional farmers, measure their assessments of farming practices, and assess their environmental orientation. Analysis identifies a proenvironmental cluster of farmers in each sector characterized by a higher environmental-orientation score and distinct ratings of other farm practices queried in the survey. We interpret the results in terms of the exposure of different agricultural sectors to the effects of market-based, audited, best-practice schemes. The presence of shades of "greenness" among conventional farmers has important implications for environmental management and for our understanding of the various and complex pathways toward the greening of agrofood systems. (Contains 6 footnotes and 6 tables.)

This article presents the results of two studies on using an innovative pedagogical strategy in teaching mathematical modelling and applications to engineering students. Both studies are dealing with introducing non-traditional contexts for engineering students in teaching/learning of mathematical modelling and applications: environment and ecology. The aims of using these contexts were: to introduce students to some of the techniques, methodologies and principles of mathematical modelling for ecological and environmental systems; to involve the students in solving real-life problems adjusted to their region emphasizing the aspects of both survival (short term) and sustainability (long term); to encourage students to pay attention to environmental issues. On one hand, the contexts are not directly related to engineering. On the other hand, the chances are that many graduates of engineering will deal with mathematical modelling of environmental systems in one way or another in their future work because nearly every engineering activity has an impact on the environment. The first study is a parallel study conducted in New Zealand and Germany simultaneously with first-year students studying engineering mathematics. The second study is a case study of the experimental course Mathematical Modelling of Survival and Sustainability taught to a mixture of year 2-5 engineering students in Germany by a visiting lecturer from New Zealand. The models used with the students from both studies had several special features. Analysis of students' responses to questionnaires, their comments and attitudes towards the innovative approach in teaching are presented in the article.