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Sean Blenkinsop describes his Current Work
Author: Sean Blenkinsop. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sean Blenkinsop and I have been part of the Faculty of Education at SFU for almost 18 months and the IERG for almost 30. I was hired after a stint as an IERG post-doctoral researcher, which in turn happened shortly after finishing a doctorate in philosophy of education at Harvard. The result, you ask, of this whirlwind, beyond being a new faculty member and moving thousands of miles across Canada into the most expensive housing market our nation has to offer, well … I am the least known of the three co-directors of the IERG. So apparently, although anonymity has some significant advantages, my job, in 400 words or less, is to rectify that seeming dearth of knowledge and tell you a little more about my research interests and current research projects. My doctoral work focused on the philosophical school of existentialism, primarily relating to questions of choice, dialogue, and freedom, and was an initial exploration of thinking more comprehensively about a philosophy of education based in existentialism.
Now if we agree with Kieran that the imagination is the ability to think of the possible then it is helpful, at least at times, to explore the imagination and the corresponding practical educational questions thereof using the philosophy of the possible, existentialism. As a result, I have ongoing research interests with regard to imagination and the possible. The second area of interest I want to discuss is a growing research agenda focusing on notions of ecology and ecological education. This is not a discussion about the ways in which we should theorize, discuss, and teach the subject of ecology, but more generally an exploration of what it might mean to teach ecologically. This work is currently operating in two directions. There is philosophical research searching for clarity around what might be some of the fundamental tenets necessary to sustain, for lack of a better set of terms, an ecological worldview. The second direction, which has gained some funding through SSHRC and SFU, is to begin working with elementary school teachers to develop what might be called a more ecological and imaginative curriculum. The goal of this project, which I hopefully call “In Search of the Ecological Imagination” is to build on the really exciting work of the IERG and LUCID and bring this work to educators, administrators, and parents who are searching for ways of making our planet, our lives and the lives of our children, and our education more sustainable. In closing let me be explicit in inviting you, if you are interested in being involved in either of these projects or something in a similar direction, to feel free to contact me. I am more than happy to build, grow, and extend with conversations with anyone (student, teacher, policy-maker) who wants to engage. Look out for our slowly developing Eco Imaginative Education site at www.ierg.net. I look forward to working with and having conversations with many of you in future.
Click here to access his IERG bio: http://ierg.net/people/index.php?bio_id=6