Rewilding Education calls for a radical, system-wide reinvention of education as an adaptable ecosystem; less predictable and measurable, but far more suitable for shaping the adults of tomorrow.

By encouraging us to transform how we think about education in what is left of the twenty-first century, Hilary Cremin connects directly with educators, parents, young people and policymakers to share a vision for healthy education settings and societies that nurture both human flourishing and sustainable ecosystems. Full of ideas about what rewilding might look like when applied to education, Hilary Cremin evidences how education has been, and can be, successfully rewilded in schools and classrooms, including case studies from unexpected places like Kerala in India, where literacy rates exceed those in the United States.

By combining academic research, poetry, and examples from around the world, the book will inspire the next generation of educators, decision-makers and families to take practical steps towards the education our children need and deserve.

About the Author

Hilary Cremin is a Professor in Education Peace and Conflict and Head of the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. Hilary has also published Positive Peace in Schools: Tackling Conflict and Creating a Culture of Peace in the Classroom (2017, Routledge), and Debates in Citizenship Education (2012, Routledge) amongst others. Hilary has worked in the public, private and voluntary sector as a schoolteacher, educational consultant, project coordinator and academic.

Reviews

This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the state of the world we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren, and the role that education can play in rewilding hearts and minds, and in foregrounding young people's voices, especially girls.

- Sandi Toksvig, Danish-British writer, comedian, broadcaster and TV and radio presenter.

The education system in this country and beyond needs all the help (all the wild) it can get right now.

- Robert Macfarlane, University of Cambridge, UK.

For schools that are serious about sustainability and nature based learning, this book is essential reading. Whatever role you have in a school, Professor Cremin's work gives you the capacity to think and act differently. Scholarly, passionate, and provocative, Rewilding Education presents a deeply compelling case for reimagining a child's learning journey.

- Philip Keech, International School of Luxembourg.

Children need you to read this book! Hilary's incisive diagnosis of the challenge children face makes me angry; rephrase for too many children the experience of education is a catalyst for fragmentation and exclusion. Her bold vision for what education can be gives me courage; it can become a catalyst for wholeness and peace. Leaders who read this book with an open heart and a readiness to change will find practical guidance to think and act differently. As a result, they will transform the lives of children and the future of communities in which they live.

- Tom Shaw, Carr Manor Community School, UK.

Rewilding Education: Rethinking the Place of Schools is a timely and radical challenge to educators to rethink our educational systems through the concept of "rewilding education." Cremin's work highlights the potentially damaging effects of modern schooling systems and societal structures, and calls for a more holistic, sustainable approach to education. Rewilding education emphasises the importance of peace education and the need to place relationships at the heart of our educational systems creating environments that support both academic progress and emotional and social development, preparing students for the complexities of the modern world

- Lee Farmer, Holte School, UK.

Rewilding Education is needed to address uncertain futures related to an escalated climate crisis and our lackluster, detrimental, and turtle-slow human responses. The book inspires, through arts-based and creative approaches, systems-wide interventions rooted in holism and wisdom traditions. Nature is our best teacher if we slow down, connect, observe, listen. Rewilding Education surely will be on my bookshelves at the office and at the cabin-- for guests, students, and for me to absorb theory and practical ideas therein.

- Edward J. Brantmeier, James Madision University, USA.

Those concerned with rethinking education's role in tackling the climate crisis and building positive peace in schools and communities today will find this book compelling. The book outlines some fundamental flaws of modernity (and modernist thinking) and in turn offers several alternatives gesturing toward rewilded futures. Written in accessible language, this book is equally valuable for policymakers, teachers, students, and parents. A thought-provoking read!

- Kevin Kester, Seoul National University, South Korea.

Book Information
ISBN 9781041043157
Author Hilary Cremin
Format Paperback
Page Count 186
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd