This open access book is the first of a two-volume series focusing on how people are being enabled or constrained to live well in today’s world, and how to bring into reality a world worth living in for all. The chapters offer unique narratives drawing on the perspectives of diverse groups such as: asylum-seeking and refugee youth in Australia, Finland, Norway and Scotland; young climate activists in Finland; Australian Aboriginal students, parents and community members; families of children who tube feed in Australia; and international research students in Sweden. The chapters reveal not just that different groups have different ideas about a world worth living in, but also show that, through their collaborative research initiative, the authors and their research participants were bringing worlds like these into being. The volume extends an invitation to readers and researchers in education and the social sciences to consider ways to foster education that realises transformed selves and transformed worlds: the good for each person, the good for humankind, and the good for the community of life on the planet.
The book also includes theoretical chapters providing the background and rationale behind the notion of education as initiating people into ‘living well in a world worth living in'. An introductory chapter discusses the origins of the concept and the phrase.
Dr Kristin Reimer is a researcher and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Kristin works to advance the idea of education as a humanizing practice. Restorative Justice Education (RJE), the main focus of Kristin’s work, is one such humanizing approach in schools. With RJE, educators focus on building strong relationships in schools and rigorous, healthy learning environments. Beyond RJE, other threads of Kristin’s research and practice reinforce education as a connective practice: alternative education for justice-involved youth; access to higher education for non-traditional students; and experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking university students.
Dr Mervi Kaukko works as an associate professor (Multicultural Education) in Tampere University, Finland, and is an adjunct research fellow at Monash University, Australia and a docent (Migration Studies and Global Education) in Oulu University, Finland. Mervi’s research is mostly framed within practice theories, focusing on refugee studies and global education. Mervi’s Finnish-Australian research study investigates refugee students’ day-to-day educational practices, and she is also involved in an international research project focusing on young refugees’ relational wellbeing and a longitudinal study exploring asylum-seeking students’ experiences in higher education in Australia.
Dr Sally Windsor is a senior lecturer in pedagogical work in the Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Sally teaches Education for Sustainable Development, International and Global Education, and educational research methods courses. Her research interests include sustainability education in schools, social sustainability, international teacher workforce and policy comparisons, inequality and the unequal provision of school education, and the implications of globalization on school-level education.
Dr Kathleen Mahon is a docent in Pedagogical Work at the University of Borås, Sweden. Her research interests include educational praxis, higher education pedagogy, teacher professional learning, and outdoor education. Kathleen is a co-editor of the Springer books 'Exploring Education and Professional Practice – Through the Lens of Practice Architectures' (2017) and 'Pedagogy, Education and Praxis in Critical Times' (2020). She is also a senior editor of the Journal of Praxis in Higher Education. Kathleen also has a professional background as a secondary school and outdoor education teacher in Australia.
Professor Stephen Kemmis is Professor Emeritus at the School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Australia. He is interested in action research and practice theory and has published widely on education, educational research, case study methods in education, educational evaluation, educational reform, and the theory of practice architectures as a theory for understanding and transforming educational and social practices.
