Paradoxes & Praxis: The 21st Century Imperative for Educational Foundations

Phillip Payne

Phillip Payne is an adjunct associate professor of curriculum and education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While he does teach classes in the college of education such as Experiential Education in Sport and Outdoor Recreation and Experiencing Australian Landscapes, Payne’s main focus is his research. Payne’s main research interests include the nature of the human experience in the environment, outdoor education, social constructions in human-environment relations, and critical phenomenology of the body and time-space. He has dubbed this study of environment and curriculum or environmental education (EE) ‘Ecopedagogical Activism’. Payne structures his curriculum in nine questions that he says are inspired by historical models of experiential, problem solving, and interdisciplinary strategies between a student and the environment.

While some may compare his research and theory to constructivist mindsets and beliefs, Payne insists that his model can be added to other models of education as a supplement, rather than an entire way of teaching and learning. Payne’s wants his work to promote active responsibility in the environment and nature through curriculum.

Payne’s publications include:

Payne, P. (2015). Critical Curriculum Theory and Slow Ecopedagogical Activism. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 31(2), 165-193. doi:10.1017/aee.2015.32

Payne, P. (2014). Socio-Ecological Formations of Nature's Others: A Response. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 30(1), 76-77. doi:10.1017/aee.2014.27

Payne, P. (2005). Families, Homes and Environmental Education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 81-95. doi:10.1017/S0814062600000975