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Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

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Coming to a place near you? The politics and possibilities of a critical pedagogy of place-based education
Peter McInerney , John Smyth & Barry Down
a b a a b

University of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

Available online: 15 Jan 2011

To cite this article: Peter McInerney, John Smyth & Barry Down (2011): Coming to a place near you? The politics and possibilities of a critical pedagogy of place-based education, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39:1, 3-16 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2010.540894

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Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 39, No. 1, February 2011, 316

Coming to a place near you? The politics and possibilities of a critical pedagogy of place-based education
Asia-Pacific 1469-2945 1359-866X Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 39, No. 1, Dec 2010: pp. 00 CAPJ Education,

Peter McInerneya*, John Smytha and Barry Downb

P. McInerney et al. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

University of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia; bMurdoch University, Perth, Australia

(Received 25 January 2010; final version received 6 September 2010) It may seem something of a paradox that in a globalised age where notions of interdependence, interconnectedness and common destinies abound, the local, with its diversity of cultures, languages, histories and geographies, continues to exercise a powerful grip on the human imagination. The ties that bind us have global connections but are anchored in a strong sense of locality. This paper explores the theoretical foundations of place-based education (PBE) and considers the merits and limitations of current approaches with particular reference to Australian studies. The authors argue that there is a place for PBE in schools but contend that it must be informed by a far more critical reading of the notions of place, identity and community. The implications of pursuing a critical pedagogy of place-based education are discussed with reference to curriculum, pedagogy and teacher education. Keywords: community engagement; critical pedagogy; place-based education; student engagement

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Introduction In an era when teachers work is being prescribed and, to a large extent, controlled through external accountability processes, such as centralised curriculum and high-stakes testing, a growing interest in place-based education (PBE) represents a refreshing turnabout in educational practice at the school and district level. Going local as Smith (2002b, p. 30) describes the movement for PBE in the USA, owes much to the advocacy and writings of Bowers (2006), Gruenewald (2003a, 2003b), Smith (2002a, 2002b), Sobel (2005), Theobald (1997), Wood (1992), and to school reform organisations including the Orion Society, the Foxfire Fund, the Coalition of Essential Schools, PACERS Small Schools Cooperative, the Coalition of Community Schools, the Rural School and Community Trust, and the Highlander Research and Education Centre. Although the language of place-based education is less embedded in the lexicon of Australian educators, many of the features of PBE are contained in environmental studies, service learning, local history courses, outdoor education and work-related programs in schools. Support for PBE is particularly strong in some rural communities where organisations such as the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia have been especially critical of the demise of local studies in the wake of a push for standardised curricula (Bartholomaeus, 2006). Further signs of a growing interest in PBE are the choice
*Corresponding author. Email: p.mcinerney@ballarat.edu.au
ISSN 1359-866X print/ISSN 1469-2945 online 2011 Australian Teacher Education Association DOI: 10.1080/1359866X.2010.540894 http://www.informaworld.com

P. McInerney et al.

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of place as a conference theme for professional organisations, such as the Australian Association for Environmental Education (Vanclay, Malpas, Higgins, & Blackshaw, 2008; Wooltorton & Marinova, 2006), and an increase in research projects that have a major focus on local literacies, situated pedagogies and community-oriented schooling (see for example Comber, Nixon, Ashmore, Loo, & Cook, 2006; Comber, Thomson, & Wells, 2001; Cormack, Green, & Reid, 2006; Hattam & Howard, 2003; Hattam & Prosser, 2008; Smyth, Angus, Down, & McInerney, 2008; Smyth & McInerney, 2007; Somerville, Power, & de Caterer, 2009; Thomson, 2006). According to its enthusiasts, PBE invests young people with a sense of agency (Rodriguez, 2008), acknowledges them as producers rather than consumers of knowledge (Smith, 2002b), enriches their education through hands-on, community-engaged learning, and provides them with relevant knowledge and experiences to participate actively in democratic processes and devise solutions to social and environmental problems (Coalition of Essential Schools, 2006; Smith, 2002a; Smith & Sobel, 2010). Critics argue that place-based learning is often under-theorised, lacks a critical perspective, and fails to make the connections between global and local phenomena that are so vital in understanding the causes and effects of economic, social and ecological problems (Cormack et al., 2006; Furman & Gruenewald, 2004; Gruenewald, 2003a; Hayes-Conroy, 2008; Nespor, 2008). What are we to make of these claims and counter-claims? Can PBE reduce the degree of alienation that often characterises students experience of schooling? Is it possible to develop an approach to learning that combines the best of critical pedagogy and place-based pedagogies (Gruenewald, 2003a)? What are the implications for curriculum, pedagogy and teacher education? This paper explores these questions with reference to the theoretical foundations of PBE in the United States, and elsewhere, and to the findings of research in a cluster of senior secondary schools in Australia (Smyth, Down, & McInerney, 2008). Following a discussion of place, identity and the politics of place-based pedagogies, we proceed to an empirically grounded study to illustrate the potential benefits and limitations of PBE, and conclude with some suggestions as to how schools and teacher education programs might promote the development of socially critical approaches to PBE. Place and identity: the search for belonging What does it mean to call a place home? How do we create community? When can we say we truly belong? These are the questions bell hooks explores in Belonging: A Culture of Place (2009) as she chronicles a journey in search of a place to call home. hooks (Gloria Watkins) spent her early childhood in the hills of Kentucky where she developed a close affinity with the countryside and the people. She contrasts this sense of belonging with the feelings of isolation and despair she encountered when she moved with her family to the racially segregated townships of Kentucky, and during her time in New York where she studied and pursued an academic career. Ultimately, a yearning to regain the sense of community, freedom and independent spirit led to her decision to return to rural Kentucky, the land and landscape of her birth. The desire for a place to call home is also a key theme in Sally Morgans My Place (1987), an autobiographical account of a young womans quest to uncover her identity and heritage as an Aboriginal person something denied to her for many years by her mother and grandmother. What began as an archival search for information about her family history eventually took Morgan to the Pilbara region of Western Australia and a reconnection with the heritage and culture of her ancestors, the Bailgu people. In the dedication to her family she writes:

Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

How deprived we would have been if we had been willing to let things stay as they were. We would have survived, but not as a whole people. We would never have known our place.

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To know our place, in Sally Morgans words, involves a heartfelt need on the part of many Indigenous Australians to reconnect with the earth, the spirit and the culture of their forbearers to once again walk in the land from which their families were evicted during a century of European colonisation. Both hooks and Morgan provide compelling accounts of the significance of place and community in shaping human identity and subjectivity. They suggest that how we see the world is profoundly influenced by the geographical, social and cultural attributes of the place(s) we inhabit. In many respects, place is a lens through which young people begin to make sense of themselves and their surroundings. It is where they form relationships and social networks, develop a sense of community and learn to live with others. Seizing on these insights, progressive educators, such as Dewey, attached a great deal of importance to experiential forms of learning, such as nature studies, that directly connected to the lives, cultures and interests of young people and their communities. In more recent times, PBE has become part of a broader movement that has arisen in response to globalisation and the serious environmental issues confronting humanity. This new localism (Gruenewald & Smith, 2007) has a much stronger political flavour insofar as it seeks to make more explicit the connections between global capitalism and the devastating impact of economic exploitation and cultural oppression on local communities. The political and pedagogical strands of PBE Aside from the focus on place, just what constitutes PBE is somewhat problematic. Whilst acknowledging its evolving forms, Woodhouse and Knapp (2000, p. 4) suggest that PBE is: inherently multidisciplinary and experiential; reflective of an educational philosophy that is broader than the notion of learn to earn; and, primarily concerned with connecting place with self and community. According to Gruenewald (2003a), the movement lacks a single theoretical tradition, instead:
its practices can be connected to experiential learning, constructivism, outdoor education, environmental and ecological education, bioregional education, democratic education, multicultural education, community-based education, critical . . . [and] other approaches that are concerned with context and the value of learning from and nurturing specific places, communities or regions. (p. 3)

PBE has also been referred to as community-oriented schooling (Theobald & Curtiss, 2000), place conscious education (Gruenewald, 2003b), ecological education (Smith & Williams, 1999), and ecoliteracy (Orr, 1994). In keeping with the somewhat eclectic nature of PBE, exponents tend to appropriate concepts and pedagogies from other education traditions, for example, situated pedagogy (Orner, 1996), funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992), students as researchers (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 1998), connectionist pedagogy (Goodman & Kuzmic, 1997), and, to some extent, critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996; Shor, 1992). The adoption of PBE in schools has been rationalised on several grounds, chief among these being the importance of creating opportunities for young people to learn about and care for the ecological and social wellbeing of the communities they inhabit and the need to connect schools with communities as part of a concerted effort to improve student engagement and participation.

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(1) Revitalising the commons Amongst the most prominent advocates of PBE, Bowers (2006) and Theobald (1997) claim that school programs which encourage students to play an active role in learning about, and caring for, their community can be a means of revitalising the commons the natural systems (water, air, forests, etc.) and the cultural patterns and traditions (intergenerational knowledge) that are shared without cost by all members of the community. In Bowers words, the commons constitute the environment . . . available for use by the entire community, encompassing every aspect of the human/biotic community that [has] not been monetized or privatized (p. 2). These social networks and sustainable practices are now threatened by the destructive elements of global capitalism and the market relationships that are a feature of Western societies. In proposing an ecojustice perspective to guide PBE, Bowers and Theobald regard the issue of ecological wellbeing as inseparable from the broader discourse on social justice. Schools seeking to revitalise the commons must therefore engage students in learning that addresses both the environmental problems confronting humanity and the oppressive social and economic factors that contribute to poverty, exploitation and oppression. In this context, Bowers is concerned that calls for more radical approaches to these issues by educators such as Dewey and Freire could potentially call into question the value of traditional beliefs and practices that contribute to social and environmental sustainability. (2) Connecting schools and communities In the wake of widespread student alienation and disengagement from schooling (Frymer, 2005; McInerney, 2009; Smyth & McInerney, 2007) a compelling argument for PBE has developed around the need to bring schools and communities closer together. One of Deweys major criticisms of the US school system in the early 1900s was that children were unable to utilise knowledge gained outside school in any productive way in the classroom, nor were they able to apply what they learned at school in daily life (Dewey, 2001, p. 46). Promoters of PBE seek to break down the isolation of school from life described by Dewey by emphasising place as a guiding principle in the choice of curriculum content and teaching practices. According to Nachtigal (1997), this has taken on a greater urgency over the past decade as the primary purpose of schooling has become defined largely in economic terms rather than the social and cultural advancement of society. As the agenda for public education is increasingly determined by state and national education policies, a growing schism between schools and local communities has resulted. Mandated national curriculum frameworks with prescribed outcomes and standardised testing regimes are far less accommodating of local contexts, school-based curricula and community-oriented approaches to learning. To counteract this trend the Orion Society in the United States has called for the propagation of an enlightened localism that is sensitive to broader ecological and social relationships at the same time as it strengthens and deepens peoples sense of community and land (Sobel, 2005, p. ii). PBE in action: what does research tell us? In many ways PBE has become a rallying point for school reformers in neoliberal times. It offers a progressive alternative to the high school curriculum that is particularly alienating for many students. It challenges the authenticity of mandated curriculum and authorises

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Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

locally produced knowledge. The most ardent advocates have high expectations that integrating curriculum around the study of place can transform the lives of young people and their communities. For Smith (2002a), PBE holds out the promise that young people can become valued members of society by engaging in worthwhile learning experiences that contribute to the betterment of their communities. According to Sobel (2005), PBE not only increases academic achievement but:
helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances [their] appreciation for the natural world, and creates a heightened commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. [Furthermore] community vitality and environmental quality are improved through the active engagement of local citizens, community organizations and environmental resources in the life of the school. (p. 7)

In the USA numerous case studies have documented how PBE can promote civic engagement whilst ensuring an intellectually challenging education that meets national standards (Gibbs & Howley, 2000; Smith, 2002a; Sobel, 2005; Wood, 1992). Much less has been written about the benefits of PBE in Australia although there has been a good deal of research into the related issues of schoolcommunity engagement and community capacity building (Hattam & Howard, 2003; Holdsworth, 2005; Smyth, Down, et al., 2008). Accounts of successful PBE projects include: Cormack et al.s (2006) description of the discourses shaping literacy practices amongst children in the Murray Darling Basin; Thomsons (2006) report on the ways in which a place-based curriculum strengthened community ties in Tasmania; and, Comber et al.s (2006) study of an urban renewal project undertaken by elementary school students in a low socioeconomic community in South Australia. Whilst acknowledging certain limitations, these studies show how PBE can provide an authentic context for developing literacy practices, foster an ethic of care for the environment and create opportunities for students to participate in community improvement programs. Further evidence to support the potential value of PBE emerged from our research into the school and community related conditions promoting school retention and student engagement in disadvantaged schools (Smyth, Angus, Down, & McInerney, 2008). Conducted between 2005 and 2007, the research involved multi-sited ethnographies (Marcus, 1998) in a cluster of high schools in the Bountiful Bay District (pseudonym) of regional Australia. Ethical approval was granted by the relevant institutional ethics committees and participants gave informed consent. Though PBE was not the primary focus of the study, it was apparent that an extension of community-based studies, chiefly around maritime themes, had resulted in significant improvements in student participation and achievement, especially amongst those deemed at-risk of dropping out of school. Drawing on information gathered from teacher/student interviews and participant observation activities, we have chosen three examples of place-based pedagogies from Bountiful Bay.

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(1) The boardwalk Francesca, a teacher with a keen interest in local history, involved a group of year 10 students in the restoration of a rather badly faded boardwalk along the seafront of their neighbourhood. With the support of a local service club and artists-in-residence, students designed and constructed murals and markers with information about pioneer families, historic events, maritime and forest industries and environmental themes. Students accessed information from museums, libraries, community centres and local residents, and gave a

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presentation of their designs to the city councillors. By creating spaces for students to research significant historical themes from their own neighbourhood, the teacher encouraged them to view themselves as makers and writers of history, not just as writers representing someone elses views of history (5 August 2005). (2) Community service Marianne and Amanda teach a group of year 11 students enrolled in a Technical and Further Education Commission-accredited community studies course. The course aims to increase students awareness and understanding of social structures, programs and primary care organisations such as schools, day care centres and hospitals. Students have an ongoing association with a nearby special school, where they work with severely disabled children, and a local aged care home where they were involved in a garden make-over. They have also spent time getting to understand the nature of the work in a day care centre and a youth refuge which some girls have used themselves. Others work as volunteers in a local primary school supporting students literacy development and getting to know more about teaching methods, curriculum and reporting. A girl told us:
I like this course because you get a certificate out of it for jobs this is important. The teachers keep you motivated and they push you along. Ive worked in respite care and a hospital for disabled children. I feel a sense of pride in what Ive accomplished at school. My mother is very proud of me. My parents have high expectations. They were a bit shocked about me working with disabled kids but Ive learned a lot about autism, Down Syndrome and other disabilities from the kids at the special school. (3 August 2005)

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(3) Horticulture enterprises Bill, a science specialist, developed a successful horticultural project for a group of socalled at-risk students in the middle years. The program now encompasses TAFEaccredited subjects, a pre-vocational option in year 10 and a range of business enterprises. This is how Bill described the genesis of the PBE project and its success.
Our aim was to retain students who were having massive problems in staying in school. We had troubles with a group of year 10 students. I proposed a horticulture project. The principal at the time said This is your baby we need to keep these kids at school so do what you want with them. I went up and shook their hands and I asked them what they wanted to do in horticulture. Grow marijuana, said one boy. I told them that I would support them in whatever they wanted to do, within reason. The program has been running for five years. We take orders from industry and grow the plants. Kids run a lot of the program; they are self-motivated and take ownership of the program. We grow our own produce; we take the orders and twice a week we open a caf. They have a purpose to what they do over there they get some realism into their learning. (1 August 2005)

Negotiating place-based pedagogy is not without its challenges, as illustrated in the students request to grow marijuana in the horticultural program. Obviously some limits were placed on what students could do in these enterprises but it was apparent that community-oriented, experiential and service learning in Bountiful Bay played a crucial role in keeping some of the most marginalised students connected to school. Undoubtedly, many would have left without the support of caring and innovative teachers who saw within students neighbourhoods the resources to enliven classroom learning and promote active forms of citizenship. Rather than following the official script, these teachers utilised

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the knowledge of Aboriginal elders, local historians, environmental project officers, service groups, local businesses, and community arts personnel to develop curricula that were responsive to the interests and aspirations of young people. For their part, students began to see greater purpose in their schooling, especially when they gained public recognition for the products of their learning. They told us they enjoyed working collaboratively on community projects which they perceived to be far more relevant and worthwhile than much of the textbook learning in class. Place-based studies also brought students into contact with people and organisations within their neighbourhoods, thus helping to extend their social networks and enhance employment prospects. In the case of the community studies course, they developed a greater appreciation of the social, economic and cultural assets of their neighbourhood and of the ways in which they could contribute to the welfare of some of the most vulnerable members. Place-based curriculum can offer students new resources for identity work, and new ways of making meanings about a particular local place and the collection of people who live there (Thomson, 2006, p. 92). However, from our observations in Bountiful Bay, the public policy environment, obsessed as it is with imposed curriculum, standardised testing, and performance management regimes, discourages more critical approaches to PBE approaches which might engage students in a deeper analysis of the causes and effects of poverty, racism and other social issues that affect their lives and communities. In the absence of system support for critical perspectives in the curriculum, teachers are more inclined to conform to narrow, technicist conceptions of their work. Indeed, to suggest that they might encourage criticism of the status quo, or work in transformative ways, represents a serious threat to the current reform agenda. The problematic aspects of PBE Although a good deal of research supports the educational merits of PBE, there are a number of tensions and dilemmas associated with contemporary approaches. In what follows, we discuss the lack of a critical perspective raised previously in the school-based study with reference to:

prevailing assumptions about the notions of place, identity and difference; the pedagogical limitations of place-based curriculum; the limits to local activism when it comes to transforming communities.
(1) Place, identity and difference In much of the literature on PBE, the notion of place is represented in an idealised way as a stable, bounded and self-contained entity rather than something in the making (hooks, 2009). Writers, such as Theobald (1997) for example, have a tendency to treat the commons as romanticised relics of the past rather than dynamic institutions with regional, national and global connections. Place, as Cormack et al. (2006) point out, is an ideological and discursive construct and placing making is inherently political (p. 20). In their respective accounts of a search for a place to call home, hooks (2009) and Morgan (1987) show how the politics of race, gender and class strongly influence the degree of attachment that individuals and groups feel towards a particular place and community. At Bountiful Bay we observed how educational inequalities were reinforced by the geographies of exclusion (Sibley, 1995) bearing down on students in socially stratified neighbourhoods. Although many students felt a strong sense of belonging to a beautiful coastal environment and its

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relaxed lifestyle others were victimised and stereotyped because of their low socioeconomic standing and/or ethnic background. We were told how prejudices penetrated the classroom:
A teacher who is doing a unit on Asia has run into the attitude that we get all the time: We hate Asians. Kids say theyre all povo (poor) or SALVO (welfare recipient). Why do they have rice every meal? they ask. Its not the kids fault that theyre like that. You have to challenge community understandings and stereotypes. (Teacher)

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In the light of such experiences, we have to be careful not to overly romanticise the notion of place in the construction of young peoples identities. As Somerville (2007) points out, we learn about place through embodied connections and this can be a bittersweet experience. Many urban and rural environments are far from idyllic places for children and their families. It is easy to feel a strong sense of attachment to an aesthetically pleasing landscape a pristine stream, a beautiful valley or a leafy-green suburb much less so to a squalid, unsafe, environmentally degraded place or one that is fractured by social, economic and racial divides. Notwithstanding the extant funds of knowledge in culturally diverse communities, why would students want to engage in learning that seeks to nurture a love of a place where they feel excluded or oppressed? Of course it could be argued that PBE might encourage students to consider what needs to be transformed to improve the ecological, social and economic wellbeing of their community but this is likely to be a difficult task if students do not care sufficiently about their own place in the first instance. What we are alluding to here is the need for a critical reading of the physical, social and cultural attributes of the place(s) which shape students identities. (2) The limits of a pedagogy of place Another concern we have relates to the principles of curriculum planning underlying PBE. Invoking the image of Russian nesting dolls, Sobel (2005), argues that it makes developmental sense to proceed from the near to the far (p. 20) when designing childrens learning experiences. Decrying the lack of attention to the local in the early years, Sobel writes:
Im anxiously awaiting a good explanation of why its more important for sixth graders to know the order of planets from Mars to Pluto. Wouldnt it be more useful to develop a knowledge of the geography of the town the second grader lives in? (p. 21)

While we could agree with Sobel about the doubtful value of memorising the names of the planets, restricting learning in the early years to the schoolyard and local neighbourhood appears somewhat myopic. Students do, after all, inhabit planet earth and that is surely the most significant of all places. Moreover, young children often have a great curiosity about the solar system and their place within it. We would be denying them a great disservice if we did not respond to this interest. Although the local may be an appropriate point of entry into a study of regional, national and global issues, we contend that students can also learn much about themselves and their world by studying other cultures, places and times. A more serious concern is that under-theorised and uncritical forms of PBE may sustain hegemonic curriculum by simply endorsing the status quo and leaving unchallenged community prejudices, inequitable practices and unfair structural arrangements. As Cormack et al. (2006) point out, engaging children in nature writing may well be an important element in place-conscious education but it needs to be accompanied by a

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degree of critical reflection and informed scepticism about the quality of the environment in which they live. The same could be said for local workplace studies. From our observations it appears that students rarely have the opportunity to examine in a critical way the role of trade unions, workers rights and responsibilities, occupational health and safety issues, and the effects of structural unemployment on communities (Simon, Dippo, & Schenke, 1991). (3) The limits to local activism One of the dangers with PBE is a tendency to view the solutions to environmental and social problems as lying wholly within the grasp of local people. Nespor (2008) claims that neoliberal policy makers have been quick to jump on the bandwagon of local empowerment and volunteerism when it comes to community renewal, much to the detriment of social welfare programs. A failure to connect local issues with political events and forces of regional and global dimensions means that many well-intentioned efforts to transform communities are doomed. Rust belt communities arise from decisions taken by global corporations to move industries offshore to minimise wages and operating costs. Contesting this kind of practice requires nationally active citizens organisations, such as trade unions and environmental groups, that can complement and support locally based groups (including schools) in the fight against injustices. Self-reliance has limits in neoliberal capitalist systems (Hayes-Conroy, 2008). Toward a critical pedagogy of place-based education What we are arguing for in this paper is an approach to PBE proposed by Gruenewald (2003a) that combines a concern for the ecological and social wellbeing of communities with critical pedagogies that:
. . . challenge the assumptions, practices, and outcomes taken for granted in dominant culture and in conventional education. Chief among these are the assumptions that education should mainly support individualistic and nationalistic competition in the global economy and that an educational competition of winners and losers is in the best interest of public life in diverse societies. (p. 3)

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We suggest that critical pedagogy and place-based education can be viewed as mutually supportive traditions but as Gruenewald (2003a) argues both are in need of some conceptual reorganisation. Place-based education does have a critical perspective but this is often downplayed in preference to a celebratory approach to place. On the other hand, according to McLaren and Houston (2004), the field of critical pedagogy has until now downplayed the ecological dimension of social injustice. What they propose is a radical pedagogy grounded in Freireian Marxist traditions that accord primacy to the political economy and the oppressive features of global capitalism. Some promising new directions for PBE can also be found in Kahns (2010) account of the ecopedagogy movement which seeks to reconstruct critical pedagogy in the light of disastrous ecological conditions. A critical perspective in PBE encourages young people to connect local issues to global environmental, financial and social concerns, such as climate change, water scarcity, poverty and trade. It invites teachers and students to question the established order, to view how things are from the position of the most disadvantaged, and to work for the common good rather than self-interest. A critical pedagogy of place not only interrupts the insular and

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prejudicial views of people but more importantly involves students in a political process of understanding and shaping communities. When teachers and students view their schools and communities through a critical lens they are prompted to ask such questions as:

What are the best features of our community? What could be done to make it a What do monuments and public architecture tell us about the heritage that is most
better place for all? highly valued in this community? What groups are under-represented or rendered invisible? What might we do to ensure a more inclusive and accurate record of community heritage in our school and community? What is the quality of our local environment the air, water, soil, native flora and fauna? What might we do to conserve our environment and resources to achieve a more sustainable future? To what extent does our school model and promote good environmental practices? What are the social, economic and cultural assets of our community? How fairly are they distributed? What can we do to work for a more just community? Who gets to make the decisions in our community? Whose voices are largely unheard? What might we do to achieve a more democratic society?

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There is always a danger that focusing exclusively on what is wrong with the world will engender feelings of hopelessness amongst young people rather than imbuing them with a sense of agency and possibility. Hence, a critical approach to PBE must combine a respect for, and a critical reading of, the social institutions, histories, cultures and environments that constitute students lifeworlds. In this context, the question of what needs to be conserved and protected may be just as crucial as the question of what needs to be transformed (Reid, 2007). However, as Shor (1992) points out:
[a] curriculum that does not challenge the standard syllabus and conditions in society informs students that knowledge and the world are fixed and are fine the way they are, with no role for students to play in transforming them and no need to change. (p. 12)

Teacher education and critical placed-based learning If we are to promote a critical approach to place-based learning in schools it is appropriate to consider how teachers may be better prepared to develop curriculum that fosters a spirit of critical inquiry into communities and landscapes. We see this as a pedagogy of responsibility (Reid, 2007, p. 122) that is grounded in a commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice. Although teachers are constrained by mandated curriculum requirements, there is still scope for place-based learning in the selection of subject content and pedagogies. The challenge, according to Ladson-Billings (2000), is to get teachers who have been educated in and inducted into patterns of tradition and hierarchy that reproduce inequality to teach in critical, emancipatory ways (p. 151). We have chosen two teacher education programs that demonstrate what can be achieved. Redesigning Pedagogies in the North (RPiN) brought together a team of teachers, students and researchers from the University of South Australia to develop new forms of community-engaged curriculum and pedagogy in the middle years of schooling (Hattam & Prosser, 2006, 2008). Offered as a graduate course for secondary school teachers, the action research project was conducted in a cluster of disadvantaged schools and provided

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opportunities for teachers to trial place-based pedagogies utilising the funds of knowledge in local communities and incorporating generative themes from students lives into the curriculum. Participation in the project unsettled some of the deficit views teachers held about students in these communities and it helped to create a culture of collaboration and reflective practice within the region. Although topics like place-based education and community studies are sometimes included in teacher education programs, a critical perspective is often missing. Tlusty and Rhoades (2006) from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire sought to address this issue by asking their mid-western students to engage in some critically reflective writing about their own communities and family histories as a foundation for a discussion about issues of social justice and schooling. Their intent was to get the students to move beyond celebration of their own traditions and histories to a more penetrating analysis of the deeper roots, origins and analogues of power and privilege (p. 3) in their lives. They reasoned that an awareness of how students own lives were influenced by class, culture, racial identities and social factors might open up the fragile but critical possibility of their aligning with an agenda for social justice in their classrooms, their communities, and their lives (p. 5). Clearly autobiographical writing of this kind can engender discomfort but if we are challenging school students to think critically about their communities, teachers should also be willing to engage in critically reflective practices themselves. Concluding comments Without detracting from the merits of PBE, we believe that it should be regarded as one of a number of pedagogies that have the potential to promote civic engagement, democratic practices, an ethic of care for others and the environment, and the fostering of values that are largely absent from individualistic and utilitarian approaches to schooling. It is more than a case of not putting all the eggs in one basket. Rather it is to recognise that a primary focus on place does not necessarily encompass all the elements that make for critically engaged forms of learning (Smyth, Angus, et al., 2008). We suggest these include: giving students a say in what and how they learn; encouraging young people to engage with the big questions confronting the global community; building relational trust within schools and communities; developing a sense of student ownership, identity and belongingness; creating spaces for dialogue, reflection and political action; and, establishing an ethical commitment to justice and a fair go. Place-based learning may be coming to a place near you but will it foster a spirit of critical inquiry into the place(s) students call home? Will it assist young people to make sense of the world they inhabit and the possibilities of transforming that world? Acknowledgements
Research undertaken in this paper was supported primarily by a Linkage Grant from the Australian Research Council, Enhancing school retention: school and community linkages in regional/rural Western Australia (200207), and to a lesser extent draws conceptually from a Discovery Grant, Individual, institutional and community capacity building in a cluster of disadvantaged schools and their community (200608). The Chief Investigators for the former project were Professor John Smyth and Professor Barry Down and for the latter project Professor John Smyth and Professor Lawrence Angus. Dr Peter McInerney was the Research Associate for both projects. Grateful appreciation is extended to the Western Australian Department of Education, the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and to the principals, teachers and students at the participating schools. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.

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Notes on contributors
Peter McInerney is Research Associate in the School of Education, University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. His research interests span the areas of critical pedagogy, ethnography and school reform for social justice. John Smyth is Research Professor of Education, School of Education, University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, where he is also Director of the inter-disciplinary cross-university Centre for Addressing Disadvantage and Inequality in Education and Health. His research interests are in policy sociology, policy ethnography, and school and community capacity building. Barry Down is the City of Rockingham Chair in Education, School of Education, Murdoch University, Western Australia. His research interests include educational disadvantage, youth culture and identity, vocationalism and critical pedagogy.

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