Sustainability in the Australian Health and Physical Education Curriculum: an ecofeminist analysis
Rebecca Olive, Eimear Enright
Abstract
Inspired by the activism of young people in response to growing calls for climate justice, this discussion examines the rich possibilities to more meaningfully engage with the interconnections between human and environmental health in the AC:HPE. We explore how the Sustainability cross-curriculum priority is articulated throughout the Health and Physical Education learning area of the Australian Curriculum (AC:HPE). Adopting an ecofeminist framework based on the work of Val Plumwood, we follow the current of Sustainability as it flows through the AC:HPE, to reveal the limited ways it manifests, as well as the points at which greater inclusion is possible. Given our analysis, we focus on expanding definitions and interconnections in the AC policy language to resituate Sustainability in more ecological and ethical terms, and thereby activate new pedagogical possibilities for teachers and students.