Slow down and smell the eucalypts: Blue Gum Community School and the slow education movement

This paper investigates and analyses the features of a non-mainstream pedagogy, educational context and learning environment by presenting a counter-model which contrasts with the currently dominant educational project, an emergent global educational movement known as the Slow Education Movement. It demonstrates how the associated principles and praxes of a particular ethos and its philosophical foundations guide teaching and learning. Set against the background of the Slow Education Movement, the paper draws on a case study to illustrate some of the foundational principles and practices of that movement. The paper outlines the educational ethos, philosophy, processes and practices of Blue Gum Community School and how the teaching and learning practices contribute to the development of skills that increase student resilience, positive emotion, engagement and meaning in a learning environment of authentic student research and academic rigor. The paper fulfils an introductory and exploratory purpose into the area of nonmainstream education which, it is envisaged, will be built upon through further research and deeper analysis of the methods and strategies employed in the teaching and learning processes employed in such educational environments.