| Abstract [eng] |
he question of child-nature relation development in education is a pressing issue in the era of the Anthropocene with ecological collapse in front. The development of these relations are limited and controlled in traditional schools by anthropocentric curriculum that emphasises human exceptionalism through human/non-human division. Posthumanism questions and criticises the anthropocentric establishment and its imposed ways to form child-nature relations, which create alienation between and disengament from the natural world around. Posthuman scholars Karen Malone, Jason Wallin and Blanche Verlie propose antidote to transform the rigid and stagnant human-cantered education practises into anti-speciest, inclusive and emotionally charged approaches that nurture rhizomatic and interconnected relation with non-human other(nature). Consequently, these approaches have potential to raise young people who are climate aware and responsibly engage in tackling the question of climate crisis. By looking for already used practises to potentially illustrate how these approaches could look like, the gaze falls unto Waldorf pedagogy, holistic pedagogy that emphases child-nature relation development as one of the pillars of education. This work is divided into five main parts. In the first part the problematics of the Anthropocene and the challenges of children living in the Anthropocene based on different posthumanists’ reasoning are disclosed. In the second part, child-nature relations based on posthuman reasoning are analysed. In the third part, educational practises that support learning living-with the climate crisis from a posthuman perspective are highlighted. In the fourth part, Rudolf Steiner’s philosophical foundations and principles of Waldorf pedagogy are analysed and compared with key tenets of posthuman reasoning concerning the nature-child relations. And in the final part Waldorf pedagogy practises in Lithuanian schools that foster child-nature relations are researched and their potential to contribute to climate crisis education from posthuman thought are explored. Key words: child-nature relations, posthumanism, climate crisis, Waldorf pedagogy. |
