Transformative Education

MA Education: Transformative Learning is a low-residency programme with 4 x 30-credit modules and 1 x 60-credit Dissertation or Final Project module.

The course is available full time over one year or over two years.

On the two-year pathway students complete modules 1, 2 and 3 in Academic Year 1, and module 4 and the dissertation in Academic Year 2 for the full Master’s.

A full-time (1 year) or part-time programme (2 years, UK students only) with 4 x 30 credit modules. Students taking the full-time option will study all four modules during the first two terms. On the two year pathway students take modules 1, 2 and 3 in academic year 1, and module 4  in academic year 2.

A full-time programme with 2 x 30 credit modules. Students will study both modules during term one.

The first module from this course can be studied on a standalone basis, with 30 credits allocated per module.

To apply for the accredited single module option, apply in the usual way, selecting the ‘Module One’ option during the application process.

Here are indicative module descriptions to give you a sense of our plans for how the course will be broken down.

Module 1 – Regenerative Learning

The first module introduces students to a radical revision of learning that takes a wholly integrated approach to learning based on place as community in the context of complex social and ecological systems and key drivers. This focuses on worldviews, deconstructing meaning, power relations and values. The module introduces a deeply place-based course with an emphasis on expanding our understanding of community and practice-led embodied learning in global socioecological contexts.

The module puts first-hand experience of environment at the core of study, whilst placing contemporary sustainability learning in the context of leading theorists, practitioners and educators. Topics covered include regenerative practice, embodiment studies, natural history, ecological literacy, biodiversity, learning in the Anthropocene, nature education, ecopsychology, rites of passage and more.

Students will explore the dynamics of practice-led ecologically focused learning in global contexts and strategies that different stakeholders can leverage to promote change in policy and action. Further, students will examine the ethical and philosophical frameworks of environmental education policy and practice by considering case studies from progressive, transformative educational practitioners, leaders and practices the world over.

Module 2 Learning and Complexity

Module two develops the nature-centred context of a regenerative learning paradigm introduced in the first module to guide students in visualising and representing networks to challenge pervasive divisions between social and ecological domains. Students will explore the relationship and interplay of educational structures and forms within the context of a complex, dynamic and evolving network. Complex more-than-human and human systems on multiple scales – from bacteria and cellular-level systems, mycelium, ocean currents, climate systems, and animal migration to their concomitant human corollaries including community development, social networks, social justice frameworks, political systems, human migrations, displacement and more. The components of complex systems as well as their sympoietic relationships will serve as a model for new socioecological learning frameworks. Topics covered include facilitation, complexity, systems thinking, network visualisation, resilience, socioecological systems.

Module 3 – Global Pedagogical Perspectives

The relationship between environmental and social learning rests in the understanding, visualisation, and integration of network thinking into facilitation, distributed knowledge, curriculum design and teaching. This module builds on the introduction of ecological literacy and community-centred learning in the first two modules to develop a fully bioregional and socioecological framework for learning, including study of diverse learning approaches from friluftsliv and folk schools to on-country learning to First Nation and Sámi learning communities to integrative nature/arts education.

A holistic approach to urban, rural, and wild environments integrated with the study of cultural and social contexts will provide students with the scaffolding to draw on the deeply interwoven strands of social and ecological to develop innovative curricular and facilitation methods. Topics covered include transformative learning theories, global ecological practices, diversity, equity, and inclusion in facilitation and leadership, eco-cosmopolitanism, critical regionalism, deterritorialization, digital experiential learning, arts-based learning.

Module 4 – Environmental Education

As a scaffold for student opportunities for theoretical or practical projects in Module 5, this module guides students in the study of active use of concepts, ethics, judgement, decision making, and engages the study of environmental education policy and practice through case studies from around the world.

Students will explore dynamics of environmentally-focused learning in global contexts and strategies that different stakeholders can leverage to promote changes in policy and action. Further, students will examine the ethical and philosophical frameworks of environmental education policy and practice by considering real-world examples of environmental analysis, impact assessment, modelling, and risk assessment. We will look at the interaction of practice, policy, science, ecological literacy, and environmental ethics across a range of different scales, from local public space access to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Using the tools of group facilitation and leadership through a regenerative lens, students will frame, develop, and practice skills that can help shift both thinking and practice to make meaningful change in relationships between the human and more-than-human world through their own development of curriculum, programme design, and framing of learning experience. Topics covered include Environmental ethics, policy and law, activism, deep ecology, political ecology, ecofeminism, social ecology, and environmental and climate justice, service learning, and more.