St. Bonaventure's College garden and compost program: harvesting critical and transformative learning in a place-based educational context

Abstract

This thesis examines a garden and compost program at a private school in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. It marks a unique educational teaching and learning dialogue between students, teachers and the wider community examined through the prisms of Sacredness, Place-Based Education, Critical Pedagogy and Transformative Education. Specifically, this thesis examines, through a reflective narrative, the influence a compost and garden program can have on a school community's curriculum, in the classroom and outside of it. As well, it examines whether such a program can offer other schools a model of working with community partners, local experts and government agencies that they could emulate in creating their own compost and garden initiatives, in schools and communities.