Educating the Imagination: Teaching for Sustainability through a Bioregional Literacy Curriculum

In Canada, a national framework proposes to integrate learning outcomes into existing K-12 curricula to teach the values, skills and behaviours of sustainability. This article describes a research project designed to identify existing curricula that may contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD). The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has a tradition of developing bioregional curriculum resources that reflect the unique landscape, history and culture of the province. This article presents research investigating the Newfoundland curriculum to determine to what extent it correlates with, and teaches to, the values of ESD as represented by the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005–14) initiative. High school students involved in a four-week unit of study were carefully observed, and the texts they generated were analysed for themes of pedagogical value in an attempt to determine the potential of the Newfoundland bioregional curriculum to foster values associated with ESD. It was found that literacy curricula containing imaginative, creative texts can be used to deepen student awareness of the cultural and living landscapes in which they dwell. Further research is needed to support the use of existing curricular resources and the development of new bioregional curricula specific to unique cultures, communities and bioregions across Canada and other countries.