Book Review: Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary essays in the Philosophy of conservation biology

Norton, B.G. (2003). Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary essays in the philosophy of conservation biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Viewpoint: Speaking of Sustainable Development and Values... A Response to Alistair Chadwick’s Viewpoint Responding to Destructive Interpersonal Interactions: A way forward for School-Based Environmental Educators

It may be considered unfair to respond to a paper from the point of view of another discipline, especially if central issues or assumptions in that article are discussed critically. In this paper, comments are made on Alistair Chadwick’s paper from the point of view of philosophy and ethics, but these are offered in the spirit of a constructive dialogue across narrowly conceived disciplinary borders. The general theme of these comments also calls for interdisciplinary dialogue: the language that we use in our debates about environmental education, ethics and action. As such, language is a  themeabout which every discipline in the social sciences can make a meaningful contribution, and this is what I would like to offer here. In this Viewpoint I will focus on only one issue, namely certain problems that may arise if we accept the language in which Chadwick speaks in his paper about ‘sustainable development’ and ‘values’ respectively. I will raise a number of critical points in this regard, not because there is one and only one appropriate language within which we can discuss our environmental concerns and our (educational) responses to them, but rather because we should be self-consciously aware of the assumptions and implications hidden in the language that we choose to discuss these matters, thus enabling us to disect and evaluate these assumptions and implications with a view to determine to what extent they enhance or undermine our efforts to understand the nature and extent of the environmental challenges that we are faced with

An Analysis of the Responses to Open-Ended Questions in the Australian Survey

This chapter reports the qualitative results of two questions from a survey administered to educational workers in Seventh-day Adventist institutions in Australia. The two questions addressed the Australian workers’ perception of the mission of the church through their institution and how their educational institution is different from similar educational institutions

An Analysis of the Responses to Open-ended Questions in the Solomon Islands\u27 Survey

This chapter reports the results of a survey conducted to determine how workers in Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions in the Solomon Islands perceive the mission of the church and how they believe their educational institution is different from other similar educational institutions

A Review of Literature: What is an Ideal Internationalised School?

This article presents the findings of a literature review conducted from 2005 to 2013 on the elements involved when a school internationalises. In the past there has been predominant focus on the teachers or the international students at schools with little emphasis on a whole school approach to internationalisation. This review considers the body of literature on internationalisation and synthesises the findings using a stage play metaphor to construct the ideal performance of a school-wide approach to internationalising. The first act by the school leadership is that of organising and managing the school, the second act involves the international student and their experience, and the third and final act is that of the teachers and their pedagogy. This literature review presents all the elements through the acts, key roles and essential scenes for the best performance of a school for internationalisation

Short Term Travel to the Holy Land: Questions of Potency, Pilgrimage, and Potential

This qualitative study reports on the impact of a tour of the Holy Land on two participants. This investigation was conducted as a collaborative auto-ethnographic study actively involving the researchers. Data was generated through individual diaries of daily highlights and other interesting aspects while on the Holy Land tour, as well as through observations, notes, reflections, interpretations, discussions and sharing of thoughts on return from the tour. The findings show that both researchers have experienced transformative learning through their experience contextualising through a visual perspective which has provided deeper meaningful understanding which continues to enhance their personal spiritual journal. In addition, the impact of the trip has been positive because of contributing factors such as planning, group membership and active engagement making this trip unlike any other