Students Learning Agroecology: Phenomenon-Based Education for Responsible Action

Abstract

Preparing students for a complex and dynamic future is a challenge for educators. This article explores three crucial issues related to agroecological education and learning: (1) the phenomenological foundation for learning agroecology in higher education; (2) the process of students' interactions with a wide range of various learners within and outside the university environment; and (3) the unique characteristics of agroecology as a discipline and why these require different ways of learning than the conventional academic education. Phenomenology provides an epistemological foundation for learning about and interacting with the world outside the university. A profound aim is to bridge two learning communities: the university environment, where most traditional education takes place, and that of the stakeholder groups in farming and food systems. In this paper, we discuss several challenges of such a bridging activity: the integration of learning processes within the university with those in the case regions; the role of core and single discipline teachers; the role of the stakeholders; and the role of the students. Dealing with complex sustainability issues requires the assembly of a wide range of expertise in an inter-professional mode of collaboration. The article concludes that phenomenology and agroecology meet most fruitfully when phenomenology is done, when it is turned into actual efforts for promoting learning, and when phenomenon-based learning provides practical relevance for students to ground their knowledge in farms and in communities and this relevance of education leads to responsible action.

Keywords:

• Agroecology
• Higher education
• Phenomenology
• Action learning