ABSTRACT
Ecology is an idea with particular resonances for the busy, turbulent, and disruptive everyday world we inhabit—compressed in time and space, challenged and yet liberated by communication technologies, and often overwhelmed by the amount of information we have to acquire and process. It is a world that obliges human beings to learn in order to practise and to keep on learning across and throughout every part of their lives in order to survive and flourish. The idea of learning ecologies—with connotations of the natural rather than the artificial, of relationships and interdependence, of growth and renewal, of different elements working together to achieve something that the individual parts cannot achieve alone—has many attractions. However, precisely because of the interconnectedness embedded within the idea, it is also an idea towards which we should be wary. The very interconnectedness and fragility of the world contains potential for distortion and disruption of communication, perception, and learning because powerful forces can exert a malign influence. The introduction to this collection of essays examines why we should take seriously the idea of ecologies for learning and practice and outlines some of the historical steps that have been taken to explore and develop the ideas. If ecological thinking that leads to ecologically considerate actions is necessary to build a resilient and sustainable society that cares about the whole world and not just itself, then fostering an ecological worldview should be an important goal for all education systems.
