Exploring place-attentive education and decoloniality in the English Home Language Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement

Abstract

In my study I undertook to explore place-attentive education and decoloniality in the 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 (2011), with the overarching aim of the study being to explore how place-based education and Ingold’s (2017) concept of attention can be read together to create the concept of place-attentive education. This was achieved by garnering a better understanding of concepts such as place and attention and place-based education. Moreover, a thorough understanding of Ingold’s principles of attention, namely the principle of habit, volition and correspondence as well as coloniality and decoloniality and the intersection of place-attentive education and decoloniality also proved seminal to my study. In that understanding how Ingold’s concept of attention intersects with decoloniality through the concepts of grounded normativity and grounded relationality enabled my analysis to be informed by these critical concepts. I sought to address the aim of the study through conducting an analysis of policy and education related documents, namely, the 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 (1996); the 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 1 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 (𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 10-12) (2011). I found that the policy and documents achieve alignment, the White Paper 1 (1996) and the 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 (𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 10-12) (2011) essentially echo the Constitution (1996) which is befitting since it is the supreme law of the land. Place-based education is premised as central throughout the documents as the importance of environmental education is emphasised, a factor which I contend is essential for the promotion of place-attentive education in order to promote decoloniality.