In order to teach for sustainable growth, it is essential to utilize a "queer-informed" approach, according to a pedagogue who holds the opinion that unsustainable development, which can be economically, socially, and ecologically detrimental, is "heteronormative and patriarchal."
Economic growth that does not reduce natural resources is known as sustainable development. Wind and solar power are considered to be ecologically beneficial, yet the production of the tools needed to utilize the energy they generate, store, and transmit is not as sustainable.
Dr. Keiran Higgins from Queen's University Belfast's School of Biological Sciences published a paper in 2021 named "Queer pedagogy for, wherein he argues that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a growing movement that seeks to empower learners to face the existential threats of the Anthropocene.
It is accepted that the Anthropocene is the current geological era, wherein human activity has been the major factor affecting the climate and environment.
Higgins remarks that with queer pedagogy as a type of critical pedagogy, heteronormative and patriarchal systems are disregarded, and anthropocentrism is also not accepted.
Heteronormativity can be described as an ideology that presumes cisgender heterosexuality is the standard or even the perfect situation.
Higgins asserts that the UN established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 with the intention of assisting humanity in creating a more balanced and fair climate, society, and economy. Education for Sustainable Development was created in response to these goals, and Higgins believes it should be "queered."
Higgins argues that educational systems are not impartial, but can instead obscure or even impede sustainable development. His study looks particularly into higher education, yet many of its conclusions can be applied to primary, secondary, and further education.
Higgins claims, It is important to foster queer desires in the classroom. While queer pedagogy does have an element of the (homo)erotic to it, this is not specifically about students choice of romantic or sexual partner. Instead, it is about celebrating the diversity of wants and needs among students, particularly when it comes to how they might use the education that pedagogues imbue them with.
Instructors are also urged to make use of self-disclosure as a crucial technique for queer longings, and Higgins denounces the traditional teaching approach which instructed teachers to not bring their personal lives into the classroom.
They use their stories to build rapport with students, inform students about the range of options open to them and follow this up with a referral pathway of opportunities to engage in events, training programs, clubs, societies, and more taking place both inside and outside institutions.
According to Higgins, it is critical that students not be embarrassed by the qualities within them that could lead to the development of innovative answers to the major tissues that mankind is experiencing. If we are to have any hope of our students coming up with creative solutions, this is an important point to recognize.
Students can take the next step to transform their wishes into practices that support lasting development, the article goes on to state. Additionally, marking, grading, and evaluation are straight, literally and figuratively. The concept of enhancement is here presented as being informative.
In the conclusion of Higgins' work, he states that when considering queer pedagogy or any subject from a queer perspective, one is more likely to be left with queries than solutions.
The UN's SDGs, known as the symbol of sustainable growth, do not include any reference to queerness. Higgins objects to the first objective of SDG5, which is to terminate all sorts of bias against females everywhere. Only cis-gendered women and girls everywherewill benefit, and gender is reduced to biology only.
The Global Goal of SDG10, which is "Reduced Inequalities," is also inadequate, according to Higgins, since it does not mention even sexual orientation, common to equality legislation throughout the world, leaving it neatly tucked away under terminology like other status.
As a truly queer pedagogue attempting to educate for sustainable development, our first duty is to resist a vision of a future that omits queerness, and that may mean a rapid change to, or even rejection of, the SDGs.
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