Interlaced Strands of Change: Vernacular Pedagogies Weaving Indeterminism into Place-Based Education

Amid profoundly unstable and vulnerable times, conventional education systems continue to reflect the dominant ideology in modernity that has contributed to the current global polycrisis. This study explores how educators engage in vernacular pedagogical practices, locally grounded, relational and o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Junko Kondo, Roger C. Baars
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press
Series:Australian Journal of Environmental Education
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0814062625100591/type/journal_article
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Summary:Amid profoundly unstable and vulnerable times, conventional education systems continue to reflect the dominant ideology in modernity that has contributed to the current global polycrisis. This study explores how educators engage in vernacular pedagogical practices, locally grounded, relational and often situated outside standard curricula, that act as counterpoints to the conventional constraints using a Place-Based Education (PBE) approach. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 educators from the Southeast Michigan Stewardship (SEMIS) Coalition, the research investigates how educators experience job satisfaction, define their roles and navigate tensions between dominant norms and community-rooted learning. Findings suggest that educators embrace indeterminism as a source of creativity, responsiveness and growth, weaving together interlaced strands of personal, cultural and ecological meaning in their vernacular pedagogical practices. Educators carve out alternative ways of knowing and relating, positioning PBE as a cultural stance that enables responsive, locally rooted reform amid today’s complex, uncertain and interconnected crises.
ISSN:0814-0626
2049-775X