Turning Green Stories of environmental learning and leadership in a public sector workplace Nina White Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education Honours UniSA Mawson Lakes

How the story begins  Lifelong love of nature and learning  A desire to synergise these passions  Expansion of academic focus  Interest in the learning about and practice of sustainability, both personally and professionally

How the story begins  Greening of government  Public sector agency, responsible for sustainable economic development of primary industries  Green economists  Environmentalism in a personal and professional sense  Learning experiences  Role of leadership

Research question “What has contributed to the team’s greening culture, how is it experienced and how is it expressed?”

Approach  Methodology – Constructionist, naturalist- interpretative (Somekh & Lewin, 2005; Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000)  Research Methods – Observation, interviews and a focus group session (Berg, 2004; Wilkinson & Birmingham, 2003)  Analytical Techniques – Emergent themes and interconnections reviewed against theoretical concepts (Trahar, 2006)  Approvals – Ethics and permissions

Emergent Themes  Participant backgrounds  Social contexts  Professional context  Workplace culture

Theoretical Lenses  Social ecology (Conn, 1991; Hill, 2000; Weinsten & Schuck, 2011)  Social practice theory (Hargreaves, 2011)  Socially constructed learning (Illeris, 2011; Høyrup, 2010; Hager, 2004; Illeris, 2002; Wenger, 1998)  Leadership (Chan & Scott-Ladd 2004; Dubrin, Dalglish & Miller, 2006; Raelin, 2011)  Organisational and Workplace Learning (Illeris, 2011; Fenwick, 2008; Chan & Scott-Ladd, 2004)

Critical Insights  Implicit, socially constructed learning  Leadership, and leadership in practice  Ecological nature of individual, team, community, organisation, culture, practice, philosophy, profession and learning

Conclusions  Non-universal  Depth and richness  Interconnectedness  Potential of social benefit as a motivator

Future Research  Internalising sustainability in the public sector  Connections between environmental action, environmental evidence and organisational characteristics  Application of social ecology to organisational research and organisational development

References Somekh, B. & Lewin, C. (2005), Research methods in the social sciences, eds, SAGE Publications, London. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2000), Research methods in education, 5 th ed, RoutledgeFalmer, London. Berg, B., (2004), Qualitative research methods for the social sciences, 5 th ed, Pearson Education, USA. Wilkinson, D. & Birmingham, P. (2003), Using research instruments: A guide for researchers, RoutledgeFalmer, London. Trahar, S. (2006), Narrative research on learning: comparative and international perspectives, eds, Bristol Papers in Education, No.2, Symposium Books, UK. Conn, E. (1991), The ecological organisation: A new perspective, Management Learning, 22(3). Hill, S. (2000), Social ecology, A social ecology journal, University of Western Sydney. Weinsten, M. & Schuck, B. (2011), Social ecology and worksite training and development: Introducing the social in instructional system design, Human Resource Development Review, 10. Hargreaves, T. (2011), Practice-ing behaviour change: Applying social practice theory to pro-environmental behaviour change, Journal of Consumer Culture, 11. Illeris, K. (2011), The fundamentals of workplace learning: Understanding how people learn in working life, Routledge, Oxon. Høyrup, S. (2010), Employee-driven innovation and workplace learning: basic concepts, approaches and themes, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 16. Hager, P. (2004), Conceptions of learning and understanding learning at work, Studies in Continuing Education, 26(1). Illeris, K. (2002), The thee dimensions of learning, Rothkilde, Rothkilde University Press. Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Chan, C. & Scott-Ladd, B. (2004), Organisational learning: Some considerations for human resource practitioners, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(3). Dubrin,A., Dalglish, C. & Miller, P. (2006;), Leadership, 2 nd Asia Pacific Edition, John Wiley & Sone, Australia. Raelin, J. (2011), From leadership-as-practice to leaderful practice, Leadership, 7. Fenwick, T. (2008), Understanding relations of individuals – collective learning in work: A review of research, Management Learning, 39(3)

Questions?