The roots and routes of environmental and sustainability education policy research – an introduction to a virtual special issue

This article introduces the themes of a virtual special issue (VSI) of Environmental Education Research (http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/ceer-vsi) focused on policy research in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). The broad purpose behind preparing the VSI was to consider the challenges involved in linking particular concepts of environment and sustainability with key themes in educational policy, and how this remains a heavily contested practice. Examples drawn from two decades of studies published in the journal show how these might be illustrated, addressed, problematized and possibly transcended. The introduction traces how ESE researchers have dealt with key trends, complexities and issues in the policy-practice-research nexus both conceptually and empirically. It also illustrates how researchers within the field might reimagine and reinvigorate policy research on ESE, and how working with researchers from other fields who offer different perspectives, ideas and expertise might aid the cross-fertilisation of a complex terrain of ideas, policy and practice. In so doing, we hope the accompanying VSI inspires renewed interest into the (at times, fickle) relationship between ESE, and the dual worlds of possibility and tension that take place both within, and surrounding, their fields of policy and research.     

Recycling,crafting and learning – an empirical analysis of how students learn with garments and textile refuse in a school remake project

Creative remake assignments using garments and textile refuse are common educational projects to promote environmental and sustainability actions. However, very little empirical research has been carried out on the learning processes of remake projects. In this article, the aim is to examine how students learn with garments and textile refuse when engaging in a remake project. The exploration is conducted in a Swedish crafts class, educational sloyd, as a case. Practical epistemological analysis and the concept of transactant are used to analyse and be attentive to the learning process. The findings show how students transact with the idea of a product, the material’s capabilities and the remake techniques. Further, the transactants show what participates and makes the learning process turn in specific directions, which is further discussed in the paper. Based on this empirical research, we may increase our understandings of how the learning processes is made in the remake project, and that knowledge can help us understand, and thus improve the quality of remake projects in relation to the environmental and sustainability aims.     

Mainstreaming environment and sustainability: an analysis of a master’s in environmental science and a tree-planting project at Chancellor College, University of Malawi

In 2004, Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) was formally launched by UNEP, UNESCO and the Association of African Universities. This paper sets the stage for a critical analysis of ESD by reviewing historical perspectives of conservation in Africa as a means of appreciating the need for African universities to mainstream both environmental concerns and those relating to sustainability. Two case studies from Chancellor College, University of Malawi are discussed to illustrate that good practice in mainstreaming environment and sustainability requires challenges to be refined and knowledge to be extended on an ongoing basis. To analyse the reorientation of the curriculum for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the paper examines the introduction of an Environmental Science Master’s programme at the college and notes how environmental issues are covered. The article also looks at the college’s tree-planting programme in terms of the training, research and outreach involved.     

Wellbeing in school gardens – the case of the Gardens for Bellies food and environmental education program

The article explores the role of the outdoor environment in the Gardens for Bellies Danish school garden program in relation to student wellbeing. It is based on exploratory multiple case study research. The study indicates that the school garden program promotes students’ wellbeing through their positive emotions about being outside in the outdoor environment. Garden activities and their relations with peers, garden educators, and teachers seemed to positively affect students’ self-esteem. Over and above the positive social environment, students’ relations with the natural environment seem also to affect their wellbeing as they develop empathy for animals, insects, and plants. Whether this influences their wellbeing, interpersonal relations, and planetary care in the long run after the program is not, however, documented. Not all students thrive in the open, free, and sometimes chaotic space of the garden. However, the majority of students in the program seem to experience a sense of wellbeing.     

Agency in action – young women and their sexual relationships in a private school

Agency among young women is often understood as fleeting in nature, and studies rarely offer insights into how agency could become a more sustained position. Using data from 54 young women discussing their sexual and intimate relationships, this paper suggests a new way of understanding agency beyond that found in work which stresses agentic practice as resistance or the challenging of dominant expectations and understandings. Instead, through the notion of ‘agency in action’ we begin with young women’s conceptualisations of power. In this study, power was viewed as a resource that is shared between partners, but also a capacity of the self. These conceptualisations offer two new ways of understanding agency in intimate relations – either through ‘reacting into action’ and taking power back; or by ‘starting from’ a powerful position. Central to an understanding of young women’s agency is the role of emotions and recognition of these as motivators for change.     

Who is listening? An examination of gender effects and employment choice in sustainability education in an undergraduate business school

Whilst universities acknowledge the importance of sustainability education, numerous problems exist in relation to the nature, delivery and outcomes of sustainability instruction. Many of these problems arise due to a lack of understanding about students’ perception towards, and knowledge about business sustainability. This article examines gender-specific perceptions of business sustainability issues, sustainability education and the importance students attach to sustainability in their choice of future employer. A paper-based self-complete survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 224 undergraduate marketing students at an Australian University. Factor analysis, T-tests, and multiple regression were used to test the hypothesised relationships. Results show significant differences between the female and male cohorts, supporting all but one of the hypothesised relationships. In addition, gender differences were observed across the constructs predicting employment choice. Implications for teaching practice and future research are provided.     

The interest of Bavarian primary school pupils in geographical topics and methods – selected results of an empirical survey

Interest is a central learning prerequisite for teaching. The article deals with a survey among 1600 primary school pupils in forms 2, 3 and 4 (ages 7–10) in the German federal state of Bavaria who were interviewed on their interest in geographical topics and working methods. They were given a questionnaire including 40 items to indicate their individual interest on a five-point Likert scale. The results show that the subscale ‘natural disaster' generates the highest interest, followed by ‘phenomena of geoscience' and ‘people and peoples'. The interest in all three subscales decreases with increasing age. Furthermore, several gender-specific differences occur. Among the working methods, experimenting, films and computers hold the first three places whilst again showing significant differences concerning age group as well as gender.     

The politics of environmental education: a case‐study

ABSTRACT

The ‘Environment and School Initiatives’ (ENSI) project is an OECD curriculum development project based on a ‘process model’. Eleven OECD countries, excluding the UK, participated in Phase 1 (1986‐8). The author carried out a comparative analysis of case‐studies of this phase, then sought to gain government support for the participation of UK schools in the second phase of ENSI. This article tells the story of his efforts and the responses they met with. The narrative describes and analyses the complex roles and positions taken by government departments, charitable foundations and multinational companies. The negative outcome for the future of the project in England and Wales indicated that the British government were more interested in the construction of politically symbolic acts which publicly signify concern for the environment than with the promotion of effective and educationally worthwhile pedagogies for environmental education.     

Undergraduate students’ ideas about nature and human–nature relationships: an empirical analysis of environmental worldviews

The aim of the study was to gain insight into undergraduate students’ environmental worldviews by exploring their ideas about nature and human–nature relationships. Participants were 29 students from a university in Taiwan. Interviews were employed as the dominant method, while a questionnaire survey was also used to support the sample selection and enhance the understanding of the interview data. Interview responses were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach and revealed a variation of students’ ideas. One key finding was that although the students were generally pro-ecological, their ideas about nature and human–nature relationships seemed to be often a mixture of worldview tendencies typically as follows: (1) humankind is part of nature and subject to natural laws, and thus cannot possibly destroy nature; (2) humankind plays a dominator role in nature, but can be ‘replaced’ by other species; and (3) humankind should take responsibility for nature in order to secure sufficient natural resources and a livable environment for all species, especially humans. Moreover, the students described and explained nature predominantly from a scientific perspective. The educational implications of the findings and limitations of the study are also discussed.     

Monitoring of education for sustainable development in Germany – insights from early childhood education,school and higher education

In Germany, the implementation of the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for sustainable development (ESD) 2015–2019 aims to implement ESD more profoundly within the structures of Germany’s educational system. In this context, a national monitoring has been set up in order to analyze the extent and quality of ESD implementation in all educational areas. The paper contains the results of an indicator-based desk research comprising a content analysis of key documents in three areas of education: early childhood education, school education and higher education over a period of 5 years (2011–2016). Overall, the main results indicate that, at the level of key documents, the goal of a broad implementation of ESD is not yet achieved, while there are considerable differences among the federal states. ESD and related concepts can be found more frequently particularly in documents that are more recent. At the same time, ESD is increasingly predominating other educational concepts such as environmental education. The results are one component of a comprehensive monitoring process of ESD-implementation on the level of documents and offer important insights relevant for further (political) activities aiming at a mainstreaming of ESD.     

Give Them Time – an analysis of school readiness in Ireland's early education system: a Steiner Waldorf Perspective

This paper examines a Steiner Waldorf Perspective to School Readiness and applies that international ideology to educational practice and curriculum policy in modern Ireland. The case for a later school start is championed with strong arguments underpinning the reasons why a later start is better in the long run for children's formal learning capacity and enthusiasm. Current primary school curriculums for the early years are also analysed and catalogued against Steiner philosophical best practice in early learning to promote a child-centred early learning curriculum within the Irish primary educational system.     

Students’ qualification in environmental and sustainability education—epistemic gaps or composites of critical thinking?

In an ‘age of measurement’ where students’ qualification is a hot topic on the political agenda, it is of interest to ask what the function of qualification might implicate in relation to a complex issue as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and what function environmental and sustainability issues serve in science education. This paper deals with how secondary and upper secondary teachers in discussions with colleagues articulate qualification in relation to educational aims of ESD. With inspiration from discourse theory, the teachers’ articulations of qualification are analysed and put in relation to other functions of education (qualification, socialisation and subjectification). The results of this study show three discourses of qualification: scientific reasoning, awareness of complexity and to be critical. The discourse of ‘qualification as to be critical’ is articulated as a composite of differing epistemological views. In this discourse, the teachers undulate between rationalistic epistemological views and postmodern views, in a pragmatic way, to articulate a discourse of critical thinking which serves as a reflecting tool to bring about different ways of valuing issues of sustainability, which reformulates ‘matter of facts’ towards ‘matter of concerns’     

Disentangling school leadership and its ties to instructional practices – an empirical comparison of various leadership styles

This paper investigates the direct and indirect ties between various leadership styles, namely, instructional, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership, and the instructional practices of teachers by applying a structural equation model. For this purpose, we analyzed survey data of n = 3,746 teachers from 126 schools collected by the Hamburg school inspection in Germany between 2012 and 2015. The underlying model is based on Leithwood’s framework for guiding research on leader effects on learning and instruction. First, the results show that a bi-factor model seems to be the best measurement model. Next, it is shown that mediating variables are influenced by a leadership core as well as by different leadership facets. Third, we found that for influencing complex instructional practices like cognitive activation with challenging content, a combination of leadership styles is most promising, while for classroom management instructional leadership is the only and, thus, the primary determinant.     

Examining the role of social relationships in the association between neuroticism and test anxiety – results from a study with German secondary school students

The current study investigates the mediating role of student–student relationships (SSRs) and teacher–student relationships (TSRs) in the association between neuroticism and test anxiety. Gender differences in these associations were examined. A total of 513 adolescent girls and boys from secondary schools in Berlin, Germany completed questionnaires on test anxiety, personality and quality of SSRs and TSRs. As expected, the results of group comparison analysis indicated that girls showed higher mean levels of test anxiety and neuroticism as compared to boys. Furthermore, negative correlations were observed between test anxiety and TSR for girls only. Structural equation modelling revealed a positive relationship between neuroticism and test anxiety, which was mediated by the SSRs, but not by the TSR. The results highlight the importance of a high quality SSR for both girls and boys, especially as this relationship was found to mediate the association between neuroticism and test anxiety in schools and therefore might contribute to lower anxiety in learning environments. Practical implications of these findings are outlined.     

The role of narrative in culturally responsive literacy education – a collaborative project in U.S. and Palestinian preschools

This one-year collaborative study examined the role of narrative in promoting new forms of culturally responsive literacy learning in two contrasting international preschool contexts. The qualitative project was carried out by a U.S.-based teacher educator and a Palestinian-based teacher educator who examined the benefits of culturally responsive children's literature, child-centred and open-ended questions, narrative-based dictation and art activities, and co-constructed stories between parents and children. The findings indicate that small-scale changes in the use of narrative in literacy pedagogy can strengthen the classroom as a literacy community, foster culturally valued modes of thinking that deepen children's connections to stories, and strengthen children's engagement with a culturally responsive sense of aesthetic representation. The study's implications emphasise the power of narrative to deepen young children's engagement with literacy in contrasting international settings, and the productive role of cross-cultural collaborative research to diversify current definitions of high-quality early literacy education at the global level.     

Learner identities in vocational education and training – from school to apprenticeship

The aim of this paper is to describe changing learner identities and trajectories of identification that take place among vocational education and training (VET) apprentices in Norway. This paper describes 23 young, male VET students’ learner identities in compulsory school (age 7–15) in comparison to their learner identities in VET apprenticeships (age 18–21), based on analyses of a set of biographical interviews about their schooling experiences. More specifically, the analysis describes changes in interviewees’ learner identities in their transition from school to apprenticeship. The analysis reveals that their narratives of being a student in school involved wounding educational experiences, such as negative student-teacher relationships, and feelings of failure and disengagement. At school, the participants’ learner identities were positional identities created in the shadow of the figured world of school, leading the students to individualised withdrawal. The narratives of their apprenticeship was characterised by a sense of belonging, feelings of equality to peers, independence and adulthood. The ‘adult working man’ identity is a disguised learning identity, in that it breaks with the wounded learner identity of the ‘failing student’ and thereby creates opportunities for active learning for apprentices, both as individuals and members of communities of practice.     

Emotions and values – a case study of meaning-making in ESE

With an interest in the role of emotions and values in students’ meaning-making in Environmental and Sustainability Education a case study was carried out in a Swedish school-class with students, 12 years of age. During a six-week thematic group-work focusing environmental and sustainability issues related to food, the students were observed and interviewed in their daily school practice. The results are presented here through narrative reporting, and analysed with the use of Dewey’s theoretical perspectives on experience, distinguishing three phases in a process: a start, an activity phase and a closure. Martha Nussbaum’s theory of emotions is used to assist in the understanding of emotions and values. The study reports on active and independent meaning-making processes in students’ group work. The results provide examples of students’ meaning-making experiences and the role of emotions and values in them, indicating that more of values are formed and expressed in the concluding phase.