Sharing Student Projects

This dissertation set out to explore the lived experiences of sustainability educators: teachers who alongside their regular teaching duties are trying to embed sustainability into schools and create wider institutional change. Although there is a growing body of research on what sustainability education should look like, much less has been written about the actual people who are doing this work on the ground, and how they experience both the possibilities and challenges of it. The project involved three sustainability educators, including myself, who co-composed the inquiry. Each of us created an autoethnographic visual reflection journal, using the metaphor of longshore drift (the movement of sand along a coastline) to think about our journeys in sustainability education. This metaphor allowed us to visualise moments of progress (swash), setbacks (backwash), the underlying influences shaping our work, and the directions we move toward. We then came together for a warm conversation, where we shared stories and reflected collectively on our experiences. The analysis was conducted using a posthuman diffractive approach, an experimental methodology that resists searching for neat themes or fixed conclusions. Instead, it traces the entangled and relational aspects of our stories, recognising that experiences do not exist in isolation but are shaped by contexts, systems, emotions, and relationships. Posthumanism challenges human-centred and linear ways of knowing and being, and instead emphasises relationality and emergence. In this project, it meant treating the visual journals, the warm conversation, and even my own reflections not as separate data points but as intra-acting parts of a dynamic process of knowledge-making. Key findings revealed both enabling and challenging phenomena in our journeys. Positive swash moments included trust and autonomy from school leaders, recognition and encouragement, and the support of communities of practice, which included networks of like-minded educators who provide both practical advice and emotional support. Backwash moments were dominated by the lack of time available to do sustainability work meaningfully, feelings of burnout and imposter syndrome, and the challenges of navigating school systems where powerful individuals can either block or enable change. Another insight was the evolving sense of teacher identity, in terms of how our worldviews of sustainability developed over time, often shaped by personal experiences and professional encounters.This dissertation does not end with fixed conclusions but with an “unending,” opening space for ongoing reflection and becoming. By adopting a posthuman diffractive approach, it offered a more responsive way of tracing sustainability educators’ journeys, highlighting how swash and backwash moments are entangled with wider systems, as well as acknowledging the emotional struggles that come with the work. Unlike studies that emphasise barriers or enablers at policy level, this work recentres the lived realities of educators themselves, reminding us that their becoming is always in motion, never complete.

This research has potential impact across multiple audiences involved in sustainability education, both in practice and in research. For teachers and sustainability educators, the findings emphasise that they are not alone in their struggles. By sharing stories of burnout, identity challenges, and systemic barriers, the research offers validation and solidarity. It may also encourage educators to actively seek out or build supportive communities of practice where they can share frustrations and successes. For schools and educational leaders, the research shows that trust, encouragement, and teacher autonomy are key enablers of sustainability work. Creating space and support for sustainability educators is not only beneficial for creating a more flourishing world for humans and more-than-humans, but is also vital for teacher wellbeing and retention. Finally, the research contributes to academia by offering an alternative methodology, analysis, and writing style. Through a posthuman diffractive approach, drawing on creative methods such as visual journals and storytelling, it demonstrates how non-traditional approaches can generate richer, more nuanced insights into complex educational phenomena. It also highlights the potential of experimental, non-linear writing styles that resist closure, instead inviting ongoing dialogue and reflection. In this way, the study contributes to sustainability education research while also encouraging researchers to explore posthuman methodologies as generative and transformative tools.