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CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS - 15TH INVITATIONAL SEMINAR ON ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH Edited by Nadine Deutzkens, Katrien Van Poeck, Maarten Deleye, Jeppe Læssøe, Johanna Lönngren, Heila Lotz Lysgaard, Johan Öhman, Leif Östman, Ellen Vandenplas, and Arjen Wals

October 2022

Authors:

Katrien Van Poeck

Ghent University

Maarten Deleye

Uppsala University

Jeppe Læssøe

Aarhus University

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Pedagogical framework of drama for sustainability issues (Ødegaard, 2017)

…

The expanded EYE model (Graphical Design by Floor de Wit)

…

Figures - uploaded by Ronghui Kevin Zhou

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Ronghui Kevin Zhou

Content may be subject to copyright.

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF

CLIMATE CRISIS

15TH INVITATIONAL SEMINAR ON

ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY

EDUCATION RESEARCH

Edited by

Nadine Deutzkens, Katrien Van Poeck,

Maarten Deleye, Jeppe Læssøe, Johanna

Lönngren, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Jonas

Lysgaard, Johan Öhman, Leif Östman,

Ellen Vandenplas, and Arjen Wals

Ghent University – Centre for Sustainable Development

Editors

Nadine Deutzkens, Katrien Van Poeck, Maarten Deleye, Jeppe Læssøe, Johanna Lönngren, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Jonas

Lysgaard, Johan Öhman, Leif Östman, Ellen Vandenplas, and Arjen Wals

Graphic design

Juliane Höhle

Photography

Title page: Callum Shaw, Dominic Wunderlich, Duo Nguyen, Jeremy Bishop, Jessica Ruscello, Kostiantyn Li, Markus

Spiske, Matt Palmer, Shravan K. Acharya

Group picture: Jonas Van Gaubergen

 
CONTENTS 
FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ II 
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 
Katrien Van Poeck & Nadine Deutzkens
 
SUB-THEME 1 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 
SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ............................................................................................................. 4 
Jonas Andreasen Lysgaard & Johan Öhman
 
The Political Economy of Environmental and Sustainability Education: A Terminal Crisis? ................................................... 9 
Zulfi Ali
 
Disentangling Normative vs. Pluralistic Discourses: What Can We Learn from Self-Determination Theory to Make 
ESE More Inclusive? ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 
Murod Ismailov
 
Environmental Education in Brazil: Analysis of Theses and Dissertations and Aspects of Interculturality and 
Decoloniality ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 
Danilo Seithi Kato, Luiz Marcelo de Carvalho, Luciano Fernandes Silva, Romualdo Jos dos Santos, Brenda Braga Pereira & Camila 
Kazumi Kitamura Mattioli
 
The Pluralistic Approach and the Democratic Impasse .............................................................................................................................. 20 
Ole Andreas Kvamme
 
Dramas of Sustainability ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23 
Marianne Ødegaard
 
Has Education for Environmental and Sustainability Education Lost its Radical Edge? ........................................................ 26 
Susanne Ress
 
“NORMATI...” “WHAT?” – NORMATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN HIGHER 
EDUCATION CONTEXTS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 
Ann-Kathrin Schlieszus & Alexander Siegmund
 
Resistance and Didactic Implications for Education for Sustainable Development .................................................................. 32 
Linnea Urberg
 
SUB-THEME 2 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 35 
EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES ................................................ 35 
Johanna Lönngren, Leif Östman  & Ellen Vandenplas
 
Facing Extinction: Educating with Art for Living with the Dead? ......................................................................................................... 40 
Juliette Clara Bertoldo
 
Futures Literacy, Arts, and Sustainability: A Powerful Match? ............................................................................................................... 43 
Petra H.M. Cremers
 
Anthropocenes, Crises and Sustainability: Educating the Temporal Imagination in the Era of Climate Change ..... 47 
Keri Facer
 
Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice: How to Implement, Assess and Detect Transformative Learning 
Approaches? ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 
Lise Janssens & Tom Kuppens
 

 
An Agenda Without End: The Paradoxes of Growth and Sustainable Development for Marginalized Communities 
and the Possible Assimilation and Revision of The ESE Agenda in the Global South ............................................................... 52 
Saransh Sugandh & Mohammad Kaleem
 
“I am not Eligible”: Climate Anxiety Student Coping within University Boarders .......................................................................54 
Oleksandra Khalaim
 
Care in Times of Climate Crisis .................................................................................................................................................................................. 56 
Charlotte Ponzelar
 
Fostering Deep Learning by Uncovering Emotions in Empowerment for Sustainability Processes ............................... 59 
Valentina Tassone
 
SUB-THEME 3 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................62 
THE RELATION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND THE PURSUIT OF SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION.................................................................62 
Katrien Van Poeck, Jeppe Læssøe & Maarten Deleye
 
Ecoportraiture: Researching When the Natural Community Matters ................................................................................................. 67 
Sean Blenkinsop, Mark Fettes & Laura Piersol
 
Transformative Expectations in ESE Research .................................................................................................................................................. 71 
Monica Carlsson
 
Using Social Realist Analysis of Social Learning Value Creation in Organisations Responding to Climate Crisis in 
South Africa ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 73 
Michelle Hiestermann
 
The (Slow) Urgency of Socio-cological Justice in ESE – Listening to Children in Marginalized Positions in ESE 
Research .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 75 
Nanna Jordt Jørgensen & Anna James
 
Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development to Enhance Graduates’ Employability Competencies in 
Kenya ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 79 
Nicholas Mwaura Kinyanjui
 
ESE Research: Moving Towards Enacting Change .......................................................................................................................................... 83 
Sophie Perry
 
Multiple Futures – Anticipatory Competency and Critical Utopian Horizons in Environmental and Sustainability 
Education................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 87 
Nadia Raphael Rathje
 
Environmental Education as Hubris Control: Convivialist Transformation and the Rearrangement of Desires ..... 90 
Claudia Ruitenberg
 
Worlding the World in a Time of Climate Emergency: An Education for ‘Landing on Earth’? .............................................. 93 
Sharon Todd
 
Unlearning in Grassroots Innovations for Sustainability: Rethinking Payment in Community-Supported 
Agriculture (CSA) ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 95 
Laura van Oers
 
Boundary Crossing as an Antidote to the Climate Crisis of the Imagination? .............................................................................. 98 
Koen Wessels, Peter Pelzer & Jesse Hoffman
 
Imagining Aesthetic Approaches in Education: Bruno Latour’s Challenge to Reinvent the ‘World’ ............................... 101 
Danny Wildemeersch
 
The Reception of Education for Sustainable Development in China: A Just Transition? ...................................................... 104 
Ronghui (Kevin) Zhou
 
SUB-THEME 4 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 107 

 
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN ESE RESEARCH AND PRACTICE – SOME OBSERVATIONS AND CONTEMPLATIONS ................................. 107 
Possible New Initiatives to Drive Change for Sustainability: Turkish Context ............................................................................. 114 
Sule Alici
 
Learning to Frame Complex Sustainability Challenges In Place: Exploring Opportunities, Tensions and Trade-offs 
in Educational Approaches to Transformation ................................................................................................................................................ 117 
Gavin McCrory
 
On the Working and on the Researching of Boundaries in Research-Practice Collaborations .......................................... 121 
Jutta Nikel
 
Planetary Urgency, Researcher Reflexivity and ESE Research: Questions Arising from an Initial Exploration of 
Goethean-inspired Phenomenology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 124 
Lausanne Olvitt
 
Explorative Drama Workshops and the Role of Research for ESE Practice: A Comparative Project for Praxis 
Development in Higher Education for Sustainability ................................................................................................................................. 127 
Eva sterlind
 
Environmental Education Research as Ecological Praxis: Ecophenomenological (De)Constructions of a ‘World 
in/of Crisis’ ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 130 
Cae Rodrigues
 
Bridging Boundaries Between ESE and Science Education Research and Practice through Collaborative Learning 
for Climate Justice ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 133 
Emily Diane Sprowls
 
‘Through their Eyes and Ears’: Creating New Knowledge for Climate Education through Co-productive Practices
 ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 137 
Sara-Jayne Williams & Rosamund Portus
 
SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 140 
SEMINAR HOSTS & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE ........................................................................................................................................................ 153 
 
 
 

FIGURES

Figure 1: Pedagogical framework of drama for sustainability issues (Ødegaard, 2017) ...............................................................24

Figure 2: The expanded EYE model (Graphical Design by Floor de Wit) ................................................................................................. 59

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The 15th Invitational Seminar on “Challenges for environmental and sustainability education research in times of

climate crisis” could never have been organised – let alone become what it was – without the much-appreciated

help and support of many.

First of all, great thanks to all participants for their active and engaged input and valuable contributions both in

preparation of the seminar and during the discussions.

When accepting the proposal to host the seminar in Ghent during the previous edition in Stellenbosch in 2018, I

knew that this would only be possible thanks to the help of partners of our SEDwise network. At that time, ESE

research at Ghent University was by far not structurally anchored in a research team and completely dependent on

temporary – and precarious – project-based funding. Without the willingness of Maarten Deleye, Jeppe Læssøe,

Johanna Lönngren, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Jonas Lysgaard, Johan Öhman, Leif Östman, Arjen Wals, and Ellen Vandenplas

to be part of the organisation committee and their commitment to help organising it, there would not have been a

seminar in Ghent. I especially also want to express my gratitude to Jutta Nikel and Lausanne Olvitt who generously

stepped in after some unforeseen circumstances and spontaneously took on indispensable responsibilities during

the seminar.

Thanks to the SEDwise network funding, Nadine Deutzkens could work as a coordinator for the organisation of this

seminar. Her careful preparatory work and follow-up of the organisation committee meetings, all the practical and

administrative organisational work in sometimes difficult circumstances, care and attention for the

applicants/participants and their many emails were more than vital for the seminar’s success.

Many thanks also to Ghent University colleagues Thomas Block, for informing the participants about Ghent

University’s and the Centre for Sustainable Development’s activities on ESE (research), as well as Frederik De Roeck,

Alexander Deveux, and Juliane Höhle for helping to ensure a smooth seminar and taking notes that proved very

helpful for developing this book’s thematic introductory chapters is greatly valued.

Special thanks should definitely be given Wendy Lelievre without whose administrative support the organisation of

the seminar would not have been possible.

Besides academic discussions we also had the privilege to experience a fascinating excursion thanks to Femke

Lootens (Ghent University’s Green Office), Christel Stalpaert (professor and lecturer in Theatre Studies [Performing

and Media Arts] at Ghent University), and Marieke De Munck (arts centre Viernulvier).

Deep gratitude also goes to the Provinciaal Natuurcentrum in Limburg and in particular Johan Lambrix, Herwig

Nulens, Jan Mampaey, Philippe Plessers, and Greet Gommers who provided an unforgettable conclusion to the

seminar with a very much-appreciated optional excursion.

I also wish to thank Jonas Van Gaubergen and Emma Vanpaemel for their creative input and technical support with

the video and podcast recordings respectively.

Last but not least, I would like thank the Ghent University Internationalisation Office (funder of the SEDwise

network), the Research Foundation Flanders, the Global Minds Fund of Ghent University, VLIR-UOS, and the Belgian

Development Cooperation (DGD) for their financial support.

Katrien Van Poeck, host of the 15th Invitational Seminar

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

INTRODUCTION

Katrien Van Poeck & Nadine Deutzkens

This book presents a collection of essays that informed the discussions at the 15th Invitational Seminar on

Environmental & Sustainability Education Research centred around the topic “Challenges for environmental and

sustainability education research in times of climate crisis” which took place in June 2022 in Ghent, Belgium. The

aim of the seminar was to reflect upon the past and present of the research field in times of climate crisis and to

discuss its developments with view to the future.

Since its first edition in 1993, the Invitational Seminar on Environmental Education Research has provided a

dialogical platform for researchers from different parts of the world to discuss vital issues of research development

in the field. As such, the seminar is unique in that it unites ESE researchers to meet and discuss developments of the

field

of ESE research in general, rather than developing

individual

research ideas and proposals as is usually done

at scientific conferences. Thereby, the specific seminar mode enables open, collegial, intellectual exchange with

conversations aiming for depth, richness and engagement. Issues are generally discussed slowly, both during

formally and informally timetabled hours – a sharp contrast with typically ‘fast’ and ‘short’ interactions at other

academic fora. As such, many have experienced the seminar series as a rare and valuable opportunity for a relatively

small and diverse group of active researchers to meet in such a setting.

The 15th edition of the seminar built on this tradition, but also adapted to the changing context in which

contemporary ESE research takes shape. It is the first time that an Invitational Seminar results in a collection of

essays and, in fact, this book reflects and materialises the major change in the organisation of the seminar.

Traditionally, the Invitational Seminar was only open to researchers who received a personal invitation, an approach

driven by a concern for safeguarding the specific ethos of the seminar. However, the field of ESE research has grown

considerably since the start of the seminar series, which makes it impossible to know all potential invitees. During

the 14th Invitational Seminar in Stellenbosch, South Africa, this ‘invitational’ – some would say ‘exclusionary’ –

character arose as a major topic in the debate about the future of the seminar series. Some were wondering if the

seminar series still had any

raison d’être

today, in an ESE research field that has grown and matured and offers

plenty of other settings for academic discussions such as specialised networks at the major educational research

conferences and diverse small-scale scientific networks. On the other hand, however, the specificity of the

Invitational Seminar with its open, deep, engaged, collegial intellectual discussions was still considered very scarce

and extremely valuable. When the Centre for Sustainable Development of Ghent University accepted the proposal

to host a 15th edition in collaboration with partners of the SEDwise network (‘Sustainability Education – Teaching

and learning in the face of wicked socio-ecological problems’), we did so under the condition that we would strive

to open-up the opportunity to participate to all ESE researchers while maintaining the specificity of the traditional

seminar mode.

Thus, for the seminar in Ghent all ESE researchers were invited to submit a proposal in the form of an essay which

raises and discusses critical problems, trends, challenges and issues for the development of ESE research in times

INTRODUCTION

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

of climate crisis. To guarantee the seminar’s collegial and engaged atmosphere, while at the same time bringing

together a variety of different perspectives, we developed a peer-review process to select an international and

intergenerational group of 37 researchers who contributed relevant, high-quality and ‘cutting edge’ essays to

participate in the seminar. Their essays are compiled in this book.

During the seminar, these essays served as a starting point and source of inspiration for our discussions. The

participants received each other’s essays in advance and were invited to read them and formulate questions and

reflections on each other’s writings in preparation of the seminar. The aim was to combine attentiveness to the

diversity of ideas and questions raised in the individual essays with a broader focus on the continuous development

of the research field as a whole. In addition, we wanted to stimulate participants to think future directed while also

taking into account the past and the present of ESE research. Central questions were: What are main challenges,

questions, etc. for the field in times of climate crisis? Are there any problematic tendencies? What sort of knowledge

is lacking and how can we create it? Which theories and methodologies are over- or under-represented? Do we

notice any promising new ways forward – theoretical, empirical or methodological approaches that may lead to

novel pathways for future ESE research and contribute to moving the field beyond its current state of the art? In

addition, sustainability problems and thus ESE research and practice vary within different locales and bring about

different local challenges, developments and approaches. This raises important questions regarding the

transferability of theoretical frameworks, methodologies as well as empirical results

between

and

within

North and

South which requires us to critically discuss developments in ESE research from different standpoints.

The essays presented address the wider challenges for ESE research and practice in times of climate crisis in relation

to four more specific sub-themes. The first sub-theme focuses on the challenges that sustainability education faces

due to the controversies which often surround sustainability issues such as the climate crisis. Ethical standpoints

may prove irreconcilable, facts and knowledge are sometimes contested and fierce political antagonism regularly

arises. Therefore, addressing the controversial aspects of sustainability issues is a pedagogical challenge. In the

second part, emotionally challenging and existential issues in teaching and learning practices are being addressed.

Sustainability problems can cause strong emotional reactions such as feelings of worry, anxiety and ecological grief

as well as existential experiences. The complex challenges this poses for teaching and learning are the focus of this

sub-theme. Part three centres on the relation between education and the pursuit of societal transformation. As

education is continually appealed to for contributing to solving societal problems such as the climate crisis, the role

of education in the pursuit of societal transformation remains a highly debated issue in educational research and is

addressed in the third section of this book. The fourth sub-topic deals with the boundaries between ESE research

and practice. ESE research is usually grounded in an ambition and engagement to contribute to improving ESE

practices. This requires fruitful collaborations across the boundaries between research, education and services to

society. The final part of the book thus attends to the challenges and opportunities of research–practice

collaboration.

In line with the aim of the seminar to approach the research field from a ‘birds-eye’ perspective, these four topics

have been discussed – both within and across subtheme groups – in view of formulating reflections on what has

been done so far as well as recommendations for ESE researchers and future research in the field. The results of

INTRODUCTION

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

these discussions on the four different topics are described in the introductory sections for each of the four parts of

this book.

By distributing this book – and other ‘output’ of the seminar such as a podcast series, graphic recordings of the

discussions in the subtheme groups, and some videos of participants reflecting on their experiences in the seminar

– we want to open up the dialogue about challenges for ESE research in times of climate crisis beyond the seminar

participants. Both our own experiences and the feedback received from participants stressed again the value of

small-scale events and in-depth, informal collegial conversations and thereby confirmed that this seminar series

still has an important role to play in the contemporary ESE research landscape. Many organisers and other

participants also expressed that they felt privileged to be able to take part in this dialogue. After all, in the review

process, we had to disappoint more than half of the applicants in order to secure the small-scale setting. Therefore,

we wanted to ‘give something’ back to those that could not be there. Hence, by distributing the output we hope to

serve a double purpose: reaching out to more colleagues to engage in discussions about the topics addressed, and

drawing attention to the Invitational Seminar as a unique academic setting which deserves also a 16th, 17th, etc.

edition. If you want to be informed about a next edition or might even be interested in participating in the

organization thereof, please indicate this here: https://forms.office.com/r/262DUXFY7A.

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

SUB-THEME 1

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

Jonas Andreasen Lysgaard & Johan Öhman

The essays in this part focus on how sustainability issues never rest easy within educational processes. There is

always more at play than what is present, and ongoing efforts to turn the great challenges of our time into

manageable chunks of knowledge that can be disseminated through education seems to be at odds with the core

radicality that these issues contain. Through the days of the Invitational Seminar in Ghent in June 2022, these essays

formed the basis of an extended discussion of how sustainability issue raise themselves as controversial within our

field, how we can understand them, but also what that might imply for the continued development of the ESE

research field. A field that is now very much stretching its legs in a continued mainstreaming of the focus on

sustainability challenges, but also seemingly newfound ambition in the research, practice and policy processes

trying to emphasize, and perhaps even address ESE challenges.

MAIN CHALLENGES FOR THE FIELD

In our group discussions and work, based on the diverse range of participant essays, a number of specific research

challenges emerged during the Invitational Seminar:

1. The radical controversial core of ESE practice and research

2. What is not present and which voices are not heard

3. The role of norms and values

These perspectives or themes became the centre of our group’s discussions during the seminar. While a great array

of perspectives and nuances, venues, cul-de-sacs and vistas were touched upon during our diverse processes, the

overall arguments and ambitions underpinning these perspectives shaped both our individual perspectives and

collective approaches and hopes for potential future work.

PROBLEMATIC TENDENCIES

With regard to the radical core of ESE as a practice and research field, discussions highlighted how the current

mainstreaming of sustainability and environmental issues into the broader practices of education and education

research also highlights the constant challenge of dumbing down the insights that the ESE field produces in order

to incorporate them more seamlessly into existing, and at times, backward oriented educational systems around

the world. This should be problematized, critiqued, and potentially fought against with explicit insistence on the

radical critical core of the concepts and traditions at play within ESE research. Critiques of e.g. the UN SDG framework

and its risk of upholding a liberal Eurocentric colonial approach to development, is an example of where the ESE

research field could play a strong role, but not always manages to.

Discussions of that which is not present, and the voices heard less often in ESE research underpinned the wide array

of emerging and critical areas of research that could play a wider and stronger role within ESE research. Post-

colonial and de-colonial perspectives, gender studies, voices from the global south, indigenous knowledge, more

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

than human perspectives, post-humanism, new materialist critiques, critical race studies are examples of vibrant

areas of insights, knowledge and research. These perspectives could play a far stronger role within ESE research in

order to ensure the ongoing worthwhile contribution from our field to both practice and the greater field of

educational research in general, but also challenge pre-existing core conceptualizations within our field and

hopefully help us all move forward. A central discussion was how these radical perspectives relate to the democratic

endeavour of formal education and the tension between normative and pluralistic approaches to education.

Discussions of that which is not here led to considerations of how to bring out those voices, and that approaches to

“represent”, “include” or “link” other cosmologies into existing westernized schools of thought opens up for

problematic potential of toothless appropriation of radically different cosmologies into an already set and often

exploitative existing power structure. One thing is to include different perspectives from emerging, radical or

different approaches, another thing is to actually understand and change how existing research approaches can

often be a part of the reproduction of practices and structures that we deem unsustainable and try to fight against.

These discussions where especially enriched by the voices in the group from the global south and critiques of the

relatively staid and appropriative nature of most research, not only within ESE.

These perspectives and critiques also fed into the theme of the role of norms and values within ESE research. Well

known positions critiquing tendencies towards behaviour modification at times also underestimate the specific role

of norms and values and how these are both present in the seemingly benign wish to pursue sustainable

development, but also act as a deep reservoir of didactical and educational insights into both implicit and explicit

normativity of the field and the related values. These can be framed as universal and uncontested, but do represent

certain perspectives, ideas and interests that need to be brought into critical light, but also challenged from the

many radical and yet unheard voices that are entwined in ESE research and the overall development of our local

and global communities.

OVERLOOKED AND/OR NEW TOPICS

Linking with our proposed themes, it seems that there is little else to our field besides overlooked and rarely visited

radical potentials. While that might seem unfair, the current mainstreaming tendencies and thus also greater

breadth and impact of the ESE field highlights the need for a greater focus on that which is not here and how shifts

in the proposed narratives and cosmologies at play could change how we see the world, but also how we want to

engage with it and potentially change it. Topics are a plenty, but the easy thing to do could also be to reach out and

read into fields that are pushing an expanding continuum of different ways of being in the world and interacting

with it. Interacting with a range of emerging research perspectives could help the ESE field to expand, turn inside

out, revitalize, re-radicalize or perhaps even make research more joyous and expansive for us as researchers: Post-

colonial and de-colonial perspectives, gender studies, voices from the global south, indigenous knowledge, more

than human perspectives, post-humanism, new materialism, critical race studies etc. could be starting points, but

the list should grow indefinitely as ways of disrupting and reimagining our own set trajectories and narratives of

our field and its role in the continued knowledge production around environmental and sustainability education.

PROMISING THEORETICAL, EMPIRICAL AND/OR METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

The participants in the group discussions drew on insights from a wide range of theoretical and methodological

backgrounds. The discussion on different conceptualizations of radicality linked to ESE were e.g. informed by both

recent and classical takes on critical theory and the potential of disclosing underlying agendas, ideologies and power

structures as a key focus of doing ESE research. Post-colonial, de-colonial perspectives and theories dealing with

indigenous knowledge added much to the efforts to rethink the less present or not represented voices in ESE

research. Linking with new materialist, speculative realism and eco-feminism perspectives expanded the discussions

towards more than a long list of ambitions to represent and thorough discussion of what role different cosmologies

and narratives play when dealing with radically different approaches to understanding what knowledge means in

different settings and from different perspectives and how that could expand, revitalize, but also shift and radicalize

ESE research. At the same time, it is also important to problematize the political and ethical assumptions of these

radical perspectives and the consequences of implementing them into ESE research and education.

REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST OF ESE RESEARCH

The “field” and how to understand, navigate, challenge, and build on it was a reoccurring theme during the seminar

and in our group. Knowing the traditions, key developments and discussions within the ESE field was both heralded

as key in continuing the critical expansion of the knowledge and insights that the field encompasses, and as

something that should be used in order to disrupt and re-orient what the field is. At the same time, it was also very

much a part of the discussion how the field is perhaps more than what it used to be. Several of the participants

mentioned the ongoing mainstreaming tendencies within the field. This gives access to new areas and funding

possibilities in policy, funding and practice terms, but it does of course also entail a radical disruption of how we

can consider and understand the field as anything resembling a relatable concept and field of research practice.

According to the participants, the field is neither young nor small anymore. That does not mean that past insights

or the EE/ESD history should be discarded, but it does entail discussion of how we should frame concepts such as

“core insights”, fuzzy borders or truly inter- and trans-disciplinary developments of the late years. The seminar acted

as a constructive framework for discussions related to how we feel part of the ESE field, but also very much part of

other fields and how the overlapping of fields have led to an interesting tendency toward bric-a-brac, assemblage,

hybrid or liquid conceptualizations of the “field”.

SUGGESTIONS FOR A RESEARCH AGENDA & RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ESE RESEARCHERS

It is, again, time to insist on the radical core of ESE research agendas. Not as a political statement, but as an ongoing

deliberation over the perspectives that we as individual researchers and collectives find pressing and unavoidable

when working with ESE challenges. We should not slide into a comfortable position as supporters of a world gone

awry but push new and old agendas linked to the transformative and often political agendas embedded within ESE

research. Constructive discomfort can be a wonderful position to be in as an ESE researcher.

We need to continuously ask others and ourselves what is missing in the field. What voices are not heard, human

and otherwise, and how could we reform, alter or transform our work in order to open up for these voices to be a

central part of the field. A range of post-colonial, gender and new materialist, post-human perspectives serve as

strong inspiration for pushing the boundaries of the field in order to truly engage with pressing ESE challenges that

cannot be pre-empted within neither disciplinary boundaries, nor existing research methodologies or practices.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

The Political Economy of Environmental and Sustainability Education

: A

Terminal Crisis?

Zulfi Ali

In his celebrated 1935 Vienna lectures (Husserl, 1935), Edmund Husserl spoke of the crisis of European

humanity

and wondered whether Europe would recover from the crisis. What Husserl could not have predicted is that nearly

a century later, one arc of the trajectory of the crisis, arising directly from the philosophical ideas and approaches

he warned about, would result in the biggest existential crisis in the form of climate change and biodiversity loss,

impacting not just Europe, but the entire global community.

Following the widely anticipated failure of COP26 (AI, 2021; Ramsay, 2021; Sheather, 2021) to deliver radical

outcomes, two strands of debate are clearly discernible. One, the need for completely new and deeply radical

measures moving forward. There is a realisation that business as usual can no longer be an option. Two, the chances

of humanity surviving this existential crisis and what it would take to make this happen (Read and Samuel, 2019).

For non-scientific academics, this raises a key question pertaining to their role: can ESE contribute significantly to

averting the current crisis through ESE?

Having worked in international development in the Global South for over two decades, my short answer to this

urgent question is no, and I fear that internally, for ESE as a field, the crisis may be terminal. My argument for this

position is two-fold. One: whether we trace the political economy of the ideas driving the destructive trajectory we

are on; whether we look at the historic carbon emissions in relation to who is responsible for our predicament and

who pays the highest price; or whether we consider the agenda setting of actions today; the power relations

between the Global North and South remain colonial/imperial in nature . There is little (and far too slow)

acknowledgement within ESE of even the need to alter these power imbalances, forget addressing them. Unless this

is done, ESE can have little radical impact. Two: even within the field, ESE today is too de-politicised, too de-

radicalised and too disconnected from the social, political, economic, and other drivers that shape the world, for it

to be able to contribute significantly to the ongoing and urgent debates and actions involving environmental and

social injustices globally. This places ESE as a field in danger of becoming irrelevant to the struggles that lie ahead.

I suggest that there are three critical failures of ESE, all related to colonial and neoliberal worldviews, that

structurally prevent it from contributing towards analysing, understanding, articulating and mobilising for action in

radical ways:

One, a failure to critique and challenge the conventional, Western, donor-driven narratives of international

development which inform our understanding of sustainable development, and consequently our approaches to ESE.

While such critiques have been presented in other fields (e.g. Rodney, 1972) (Ahmad and Barsamian, 2000; Csaire,

1950; Chang, 2002; Chang and Aldred, 2014; de Rivero, 2001; Fanon, 1961; Frantz, 1995; Hickel, 2017; Loomba, 2015;

Memmi, 1957; Raworth, 2017; Roy, 2014), and despite calls for considering connected histories (Subrahmanyam,

In this paper I will loosely refer to all variations of such education as ESE.

‘European’ here is a spiritual identity based on ideas and philosophical approaches, not geography. See Kundera, 1986.

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2004) and connected sociologies (Bhambra, 2014) ESE has been slow at incorporating radical perspectives. For

example, the continued use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a major reference point in ESE bypasses a

historical analysis of postcolonial and decolonial histories and asymmetries.

Two, a failure to think beyond and challenge the mainstream narratives of neoliberal capitalism when analysing the

current political economy of the architecture of global decision making. This too has been done in other disciplines,

(e.g. Bourdieu, 2003, 1998; Chomsky, 1999; Harvey, 2007; Picketty, 2014; Roy, 2014) but not in ESE. After all, is it

possible to understand the structural trajectories of the causes of environmental and social injustice crises we face

without challenging the ideologies that are largely responsible for these crises? This renders it near impossible to

go beyond the exploration of cosmetic changes internal to neoliberalism. It also prevents us from contemplating

more humane and sustainable ways of organising society, thereby severely restricting our imaginations and visions

of the future.

Three, a failure to welcome and structurally work with lenses other than the Western, industrial, scientific, consumer

driven, and competitive ones. Again, while there are many ideas arising from other disciplines (e.g. Black, 2010; Davis,

2009; de Sousa Santos, 2015; Norberg-Hodge, 2012, 2003, 2000; Shiva, 1993), ESE has struggled to give due respect

and consideration to other knowledge systems or ways of being. Having largely ignored a long history of

‘epistemicide’ (de Sousa Santos, 2015) and ‘the disappeared knowledge systems’ (Shiva, 1993), we are now in danger

of heading towards a monoculture. ESE is largely parochial and narrow in perspective, often unable to arrive at

multiple, richer and more complex understandings.

Despite this bleak critique of ESE, there may be a way of reversing the deradicalized, depoliticised and tamed nature

of ESE, even within the neoliberal academy. I believe ‘critical pedagogy’ (Antonia Darder et al., 2003; Antonio Darder

et al., 2003; Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1983; McLaren and Kincheloe, 2007) can offer a way forward for the current failures

of ESD. This could happen in at least two ways:

One, critical pedagogy starts by taking sides and this makes it a radical set of ideas that is the need of the times. It

is on the side of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the vulnerable, the colonised and those who face intersections

of discrimination in their daily lives. And it defines educational aims in terms of empowering the oppressed and

resisting structural inequalities. This positions it clearly as a set of ideas developed not to favour the rich and

powerful, but the ‘99%’. Borrowing from this approach of encouraging critical thinking, community and solidarity

(e.g. see Hooks, 2010, 2003) would make ESE relevant and help it counter business-as-usual, status quo thinking.

Two, through the idea of praxis, critical pedagogy presupposes links between theory and practice, as, “all theory is

considered with respect to the practical intent of transforming asymmetrical relations of power” (Antonio Darder

et al., 2003: 15). So, education and activism are intertwined, not separated. In this way, critical pedagogy also helps

us understand that a key purpose of education ought to be to ignite our imaginations in radical ways so that we can

imagine different worlds and generate renewed possibilities (Giroux and Franca, 2019). Seen in this light, critical

pedagogy is the pedagogy of hope (Hooks, 2003). Such a pedagogy would enlarge opportunities for ESE to engage

in hopeful dialogues when considering futures education. As Pierre Bourdieu said: “I have come to believe that those

who have the good fortune to be able to devote their lives to the study of the social world cannot stand aside,

neutral and indifferent, from the struggles in which the future of that world is at stake.” (Bourdieu, 2003).

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References

Ahmad, E., Barsamian, D., 2000. Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting Empire: Interviews with David Barsamian. South End

Press.

AI, 2021. COP26: Leaders’ catastrophic failure on climate shows they have forgotten who they should serve and

protect – humanity at large [WWW Document]. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/11/cop26-

leaders-catastrophic-failure-on-climate-shows-they-have-forgotten-who-they-should-serve-and-protect-

humanity-at-large/.

Bhambra, G., 2014. Connected Sociologies. Bloomsbury, London.

Black, C., 2010. Schooling the world: The White Man’s Last Burden.

Bourdieu, P., 2003. Firing back: Against the tyranny of the market 2 (Vol. 2). Verso, London.

Bourdieu, P., 1998. Acts of resistance. . New Press, New York.

Csaire, A., 1950. Discourse on colonialism. Reprint. NYU Press, 2001.

Chang, H.-J., 2002. Kicking away the ladder: development strategy in historical perspective. Anthem Press.

Chang, H.-J., Aldred, J., 2014. After the crash, we need a revolution in the way we teach economics. The Guardian.

Chomsky, N., 1999. Profit over people: Neoliberalism and global order. . Seven Stories Press.

Darder, Antonio, Baltodano, M., Torres, R., 2003. The critical pedagogy reader. RoutledgeFalmer, London.

Darder, Antonia, Baltodano, M., Torres, R., 2003. Critical Pedagogy: An introduction, in: Darder, A., Baltodano, M.,

Torres, R. (Eds.), The Critical Pedagogy Reader. RoutledgeFalmer.

Davis, W., 2009. The wayfinders: Why ancient wisdom matters in the modern world. . House of Anansi.

de Rivero, O., 2001. The Myth of Development: Non-viable Economies and the Crisis of Civilization. Zed Books.

de Sousa Santos, B., 2015. Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. . Routledge.

Fanon, F., 1961. The Wrethced of the Earth. Reprint. Penguin Books, 1995.

Frantz, F., 1995. Wretched of the Earth. Penguin Books.

Freire, P., 1970. Pedagogy of the oppressed. Reprint. Penguin Books, 1996.

Giroux, H., 1983. Theory and resistance in education: Towards a pedagogy for the opposition. Reprint. Greenwood

Publishing Group, 2001.

Giroux, H., Franca, J., 2019. All education is a struggle over what kind of future you want for young people [WWW

Document]. CCCB Interviews.

Harvey, D., 2007. A brief history of neoliberalism . Oxford University Press.

Hickel, J., 2017. The divide: A brief guide to global inequality and its solutions. . Random House.

Hooks, bell, 2010. Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. Routledge.

Hooks, B., 2003. Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. Routledge.

Husserl, E., 1935. Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man (Lecture delivered by Edmund Husserl, Vienna, 10 May

1935).

Kundera, M., 1986. The Art of the Novel. Faber & Faber, London and Boston.

Loomba, A., 2015. Colonialism/postcolonialism. Routledge.

McLaren, P., Kincheloe, J., 2007. Critical Pedagogy: Where are we now? Peter Lang.

Memmi, A., 1957. The colonizer and the colonized. Reprint. Routledge, 2013.

Norberg-Hodge, H., 2012. Localization: The Economics of Happiness. Tikkun 27, 29–31.

Norberg-Hodge, H., 2003. The consumer monoculture. International Journal of Consumer Studies 27, 258–260.

Norberg-Hodge, H., 2000. Ancient futures: learning from Ladakh. Random House.

Picketty, T., 2014. Capital in the twenty-first century. Harvard University Press.

Ramsay, A., 2021. World leaders failed us at COP26. But change doesn’t come from glitzy conferences.

www.opendemocracy.net.

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Raworth, K., 2017. Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. Chelsea Green

Publishing.

Read, R., Samuel, A., 2019. This Civilisation is Finished: Conversations on the end of Empire-and what lies beyond.

Simplicity Institute.

Rodney, W., 1972. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Reprint. Verso Trade, 2018.

Roy, A., 2014. Capitalism: A ghost story. Haymarket Books.

Sheather, J., 2021. The conflicts that killed COP26. BMJ 375.

Shiva, V., 1993. Monocultures of the mind: Perspectives on biodiversity and biotechnology. Palgrave Macmillan.

Subrahmanyam, S., 2004. Explorations in connected history: From the Tagus to the Ganges. Oxford University

Press.

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Disentangling Normative vs. Pluralistic Discourses: What Can We Learn from Self-

Determination Theory to Make ESE More Inclusive?

Murod Ismailov

My proposal is related to the Seminar’s following agenda points:

•

What are different local manifestations of and/or ways to handle this challenge? (How) do ESE researchers

approach it differently in diverse local contexts?

•

Is the long-lasting debate about ‘normative’ versus ‘pluralistic’ ESE gaining or losing relevance in the face

of such issues? Or should it be approached from novel perspectives and, if so, which ones?

A multidisciplinary approach involves drawing appropriately from multiple academic disciplines to redefine

problems outside of normal boundaries and if possible, reach a consensus based on a new understanding of complex

situations. I believe that the academic community is now in broad agreement that climate change and sustainability

education are facing very complex challenges. However, one can also notice that ‘multi’ has its limitations and

multidisciplinary initiatives do not always bring ‘all the disciplines needed’ to make the discourse inclusive, and in

the best-case scenario, to have a positive impact on the design of climate change and sustainability curricula.

For example, in January 2022 I initiated a round-table Socratic seminar on the future of climate change education

with a keynote by Professor Walter Leal (HAW Hamburg) and sixteen other prominent scholars of sustainability

education. The panel also included the representatives of UNESCO, UNICEF, and even a climate change advisor to the

government of a small Pacific Island – the most vulnerable place to be during the climate crisis. Although I had sent

invitations to over forty scholars from a variety of disciplines (sociology, psychology, political sciences, linguistics,

etc.), I was not surprised that only those scholars and practitioners who considered themselves ‘technically’ involved

with climate change in their daily practice, accepted the invitation. This I thought was good news for the seminar, I

nonetheless concluded that it was a drawback to making the discourse on climate change education more versatile

and inclusive.

I think that the continuing climate crisis is having a profound impact on what is happening in our classrooms. To

disentangle the intangible threads of multidisciplinary I decided to study social psychology and see how some of its

concepts could help us better understand the future of climate change education and design more inclusive

curricula. One concept which I find particularly interesting, and surprisingly under-researched in the context of ESE

is self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a useful psychological framework to assess how certain teaching designs could

cater to learner inclusion to raise the awareness of diverse groups of students about climate change and the actions

needed to mitigate its impacts. By underscoring

‘the basic human needs and the diversity of ways they are expressed

and satisfied’

(Ryan and Deci, 2017), the theory explicitly supports inclusive teaching practices. Specifically, the

theory focuses on social-contextual factors that foster or hinder students’ thriving through the satisfaction of their

basic psychological needs for

autonomy, competence, and relatedness

. From SDT’s perspective, all students are

inherently prone to learning, mastery, and connection with others (when working to solve critical problems, such as

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climate emergency), but these human tendencies are not spontaneous—they require nurturing conditions, such as

need-supportive teaching behaviors, inclusive structures, and learning environments. When pedagogical designs

effectively satisfy these needs, students are more likely to be motivated to engage in learning activities (Ismailov

and Chiu, 2021). The major challenge is that our students are finding our teaching approaches regarding climate

change fixed and often disengaging, and it is, therefore, important for us to understand how addressing our

students’ psychological needs in the first place could impact the ways they engage with this issue.

Thus, what makes me think so? Gen Z, as represented by 2.5 billion people who were born between 1997 and 2012

and who grew up in a technology-rich environment, is now the world’s largest population cohort (Friedman, 2021a).

A large proportion of this group is attending various levels of education. Their climate activism is good news for our

planet but may not be so good for educators and the long-term education goals. Simply put, given the sluggish

political activity toward CO2 reduction, as was seen at COP26, our students’ growing climate activism and solidarity

are expected to expand dramatically over time. With more students both energized and mobilized through social

media, there is a reason to expect that educational practices will be disrupted at scales never seen before. Also, by

observing these emerging discourses, one cannot but miss the point regarding the declining trust in the

government-run education system in general. Personally speaking, it is not the prospect of youth protest that

worries me most, but the lack of much-needed educators’ voices and lack of climate-centered grassroots-based

pedagogic innovations to display that the teachers are part of the solution.

The teachers of all disciplines and at all stages of education should take their portion of responsibility and use new

approaches to nurturing productive, science-based climate activism that prioritizes robust social action along with

publicly acceptable social rallies. To echo Thomas L. Friedman, to save the earth, along with ‘a few more Greta

Thunbergs and Elon Musks’ (Friedman, 2021b), we also need even more Johan Rocktroms and Sir David

Attenboroughs working with young people in the classrooms.

For now, teachers seem to be losing their ground. I have recently interviewed a dozen of young climate protesters

during Fridays for Future rallies in Tokyo, Japan. To my surprise, every time I was there, I saw a few high school

students. Given the strictness and thought uniformity of the Japanese K12 system, it seemed both surreal and

courageous to observe these students quit their classes and join their older peers, mostly university students. In

private, high schoolers echoed their fellow protesters outside Japan by asking ‘Why should we go to school if we

aren’t sure that we can survive the heat?’ Others voiced frustration with many of their teachers viewing ‘climate

crisis as none of their business.’ One should expect such sentiments to grow stronger even outside more liberal

regions, such as Western Europe.

In my daily practice, I seek to elaborate on these issues by bringing alternative perspectives from other regions of

the world, such as Asia-Pacific where I currently work, or from Central Asia where I grew up and often visit.

References

Friedman, T. L. (2021a). The climate summit has me very energized, and very afraid. The New York Times, November

12, 2021.

Friedman, T. L. (2021b). Want to save the earth? We need a few more Greta Thunbergs and Elon Musks. The New

York Times, November 18, 2021.

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Ismailov, M. & Chiu, T.K.F. (2022). Catering to Inclusion and Diversity with Universal Design for Learning in

Asynchronous Online Education: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective.

Frontiers in Psychology

. 13:819884

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.819884

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E.L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation development and

wellness. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

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Environmental Education in Brazil: Analysis of Theses and Dissertations and Aspects

of Interculturality and Decoloniality

(EArte – State-of-the-Art Project 1981-2016)

Danilo Seithi Kato, Luiz Marcelo de Carvalho, Luciano Fernandes Silva, Romualdo Jos dos Santos, Brenda Braga

Pereira & Camila Kazumi Kitamura Mattioli

As we have reported in some papers, book chapters, congresses, and seminars (Fracalanza et al., 2009; Carvalho and

Silva, 2011; Carvalho and Souza, 2018; Carvalho et al., 2019; Pereira et al.; 2022), an inter-institutional group of

Brazilian researchers has carried out the project “State of the Art of Environmental Education Research in Brazil –

analysis of master’s and doctoral studies - 1981 – 2020 (EArte Project, which means – Environmental Education –

state of the art –) since 2008.

In its heart, the EArte Project entails the construction and maintenance of a database of theses and dissertations on

environmental education in Brazil. Moreover, the objective of this research project is to give a descriptive and

mapping overview of Brazilian Environmental Education Research (EER), regarding institutional, regional, and

educational contexts, such as universities, post-graduation programs, and the regions of Brazil where these research

studies were carried out. Furthermore, the EER databases provide information for researchers interested in more

comprehensive and interpretative studies considering their particular interests

Since 2016 a group of researchers from different Latin-American countries has made an effort towards an

internationalization process of the EArte Project: a network of researchers in environmental education in Latin

America and the Caribbean has carried out a state-of-the-art environmental education research - “EArte Alyc”.

Researchers from Universities in Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile have taken part in this project.

The main objective is to analyze and identify panoramas and tendencies in knowledge production (meta-analysis)

in the field of Environmental Education in the Latin-American and Caribbean territory.

In an effort to open up discussions and dialogues in this seminar related to the subtheme “Sustainability Issues as

Controversial Educational Content,” a brief summary of one doctoral study and two master’s studies, carried out by

researchers linked to the EArte project, were selected. Also, some possible questions and theoretical and

methodological perspectives have been raised from the results of these studies based on the background of this

project. We are mainly interested in investigating the limits and frontiers of the field of EE research, as well as in

knowing what aspects of the dialogues with Afro- Amerindian cosmopolitics can contribute to a decolonial EE

research agenda.

These ideas have led us to follow a research question: what has been produced by researchers in Brazil on

Environmental Education, and are there any decoloniality and interculturality aspects? From this central question

we intent give shape to the environmental discourse, presenting it as dynamic and plural in the current academic

A more detailed history of the project, its objectives, the selection criteria, and classification of documents in the EArte dissertation and

thesis database, the descriptors used in this process, along with other project data, can be found on the project website: www.earte.net.

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production in Brazil through the presentation of three state-of-the-art studies in environmental education produced

in the context of the inter-institutional EArte project.

“SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS AND EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES: AN ANALYSIS OF MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL STUDIES

CARRIED OUT IN BRAZIL (1981-2016).”

In this study, 43 theses and dissertations were examined. Regarding the relationship between educational processes

and environmental conflicts, we have proposed some perspectives considered in the reviewed research which are

explicitly linked to the political dimension of the educational process. Thirteen research studies emphasized that

the educational process could stimulate social agents involved in conflicts related to political actions to face the

challenges imposed by this context; eight emphasized the relevance of exploring the relationship between socio-

environmental conflicts and socio-environmental justice. Finally, eight mentioned the possibilities that open to

practices which point to processes of transformation/social change; seven pointed to possibilities of exploring the

relationship between participation and citizenship.

“ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL STUDIES THAT DEAL

WITH COMPLEXITIES.”

For this study, 20 master’s and doctoral studies have been selected. The purpose of this research was to investigate

meanings that the term complexity assumes in Brazilian master’s and doctoral studies in the field of environmental

education articulating with the field of science education, especially when addressing environmental issues. The

data show that the complex- thinking category was the most frequently used, identified in fifteen of the twenty

master’s and doctoral studies. The category of complex systems was in twelve out of twenty, and finally, the

complexification category was in four out of twenty. These master’s and doctoral studies show a greater

identification with the ideas by Edgar Morin and Enrique Leff. It is considered relevant that these studies focus on

discussions that articulate environmental issues and complexity in a very broad sense. However, even when

considering these contributions, it is suggested that dialogue should be expanded in an exchange with other areas

of knowledge that have traditionally produced papers and books focused on ideas of complexity in a strict sense.

“ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN DOCTORAL AND MASTER’S

STUDIES ON THE EARTE PROJECT DATABASE.”

The data compiled here refer to the results of state-of-the-art research, in which we seek to analyze the relations

between environmental education and environmental disasters in master’s and doctoral studies in EE in Brazil. Five

studies were analyzed and comprised the documental corpus of the research which oriented the content analysis.

Thus, seeking to identify the most relevant topics emphasized by the researchers regarding environmental disasters,

it was possible to propose three categories. It was seen that there is a certain, progressive tendency to consider the

Brazilian and Latin-American reality to be related to intense social, economic, and environmental asymmetry,

establishing an intrinsic relationship between environmental disasters, economic systems, and socioenvironmental

injustice.

SOME NOTES ON META-RESEARCH IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

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Since we have proposed to consider the results of these research studies, herein briefly systematized, we think it

would be helpful to involve controversial issues in our research and educational practices and consider sustainability

and education/environmental education as a discursive field, as an ideological sign and part of an infinite network

of meaning-making processes that is socially and dialogically constructed.

From meta-studies, such as that related to Santos (2019), it is possible to perceive that the meanings and senses

concerning socio-environmental conflicts and educational processes reveal attention to the involvement of different

stakeholders associated with the conflict. Thus, when considering the different voices involved, we are assuming

epistemic plurality and the possibility of intercultural dialogues as a way of overcoming the conflict with a view to

environmental justice. Thinking about EE research that focuses on local socio-environmental conflicts, the inclusion

of the plurality of voices, epistemes, and the subjects’ ontological commitments to overcoming the problem is, in

our perspective, the assumption of a critical interculturality and decolonial research agenda (Walsh, 2010).

Within the scope of Latin America, the pertinence of reflecting on and discussing possibilities for

sustainability/environmental education without falling into the traps of universalization and decontextualized

discourses has been emphasized in order to appropriate loopholes and establish critical dialogues and policies

which contribute to the construction of a democratic and sustainable society based on the principles of

environmental justice. Additionally, the region has a climate that is suitable for opening frank dialogue on

perspectives involving interculturality, blackness, feminism, among other movements. Many of them further

theoretical reflection on practical experiences that lead us to decolonial views, mainly from Latin-American thought,

in times of climate conflicts.

When we analyze theses and dissertations, we seek, in Environmental Education in Brazil and its relationship with

critical interculturality, to question aesthetic elements (theoretical and methodological aspects) of the research and

also find possibilities for carrying out investigations in line with decolonial aspects. In this case, it is important to

emphasize that EE research and its relations with critical interculturality undoubtedly involve the possible dialogues

of knowledge between modern Western Science and Afro-Amerindian cosmopolitics. Thus, Discourse Analysis, in the

dialogical perspective by Bakhtin and his Circle, takes place in the context of a national cooperation project

"Environmental Education in Brazil: analysis of academic production - theses and dissertations" (EArte). This was

the path chosen to debate epistemological aspects of research in EE. We seek to understand how research

appropriates the relationship between traditional knowledge and sustainability, and how this relationship can take

place from a critical intercultural project based on elements of the Brazilian, Latin-American, and Caribbean reality.

References

Carvalho, L. M. & Silva, L. F. (2011). Environmental education practices and socio- environmental conflicts: what can

researches tell us about them? In Annals of the VI World Environmental Education Congress, Brisbane,

Australia.

Carvalho, L. M. & Souza, H. A. L. (2018) Environmental Education Research and Political Dimension: education for

citizenship. In Reis, G. & Scott, J. International Perspectives on the theory and Practice of Environmental

Education: a reader (p. 209-220). Cham: Springer.

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Carvalho, L. M., Megid Neto, J., Kawasaki, C. S., Bonotto, D. M. B., Amaral, I. A., Fernandes, J. A. B. ... & Cavalari, R. M. F.

(2018). Environmental education research in Brazil: some highlights from theses and dissertations,

Environmental Education Research, 24:10, 1447-1463.

Fracalanza, H., Amaral, I. A., Gouveia, M.S.F., Megid Neto, J., Carvalho, L. M., Santana, L. C., ... & Kawasaki, C. S. (2009).

Environmental education research in Brazil: thesis and dissertations. In Annals of the 5th World Environmental

Education Congress, Montreal, Canada.

Pereira, B.B., Silva, L.F. & Santos, J.R. (2022). Environmental Education and Complexity.

Sci & Educ

, 31, 1–20.

Santos, R. J. dos. Conflitos socioambientais e processo educativo: anlise de dissertaes e teses em educao

ambiental (1981-2016). 2019. Tese (Doutorado em Educao) – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, SP,

2019.

Walsh, C. (2010) Estudios (inter)culturales en clave decolonial.

Tabula Rasa

, 12, pp. 209-277.

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The Pluralistic Approach and the Democratic Impasse

Ole Andreas Kvamme

The field of environmental education was established in the 1960s and the 1970s as a response to the emerging

ecological crisis, aimed at changing students´ attitudes and behavior (Hume & Barry, 2015). In the following decades

new contributions emerged that more strongly acknowledged the ideals of liberal education in contrast to the

previous positions that were assessed as instrumental and reductionist with regard to the openness of education

(see e.g. Jickling, 1992; Bruun Jensen & Schnack 1997; Sandell, Öhman, & Östman, 2005; Schlottman, 2012).

Accommodating a manifold of conflicting perspectives emerged as an aim in itself, supported by educational theory

that emphasized the significance of social learning (Wals & van der Leij, 2007). This is a direct link to the problems

in sub-theme 1 in the call to this year´s invitational seminar: ‘Sustainability issues as controversial educational

content’.

In prominent accounts encouraging a pluralistic approach to environmental and sustainability education, democracy

is the central reference and normative premise. In the absence of an objective method, democracy in itself becomes

a norm (Sandell, Öhman & Östman, 2005, p. 169–170). From here follows that the overall purpose of environmental

education is to let “students develop into well informed members of society who take an active role in social debates

on the environment and sustainable development” (Sandell, hman & stman, 2005, p. 173). A similar reference to

democracy also distinguishes other pluralistic accounts (Bruun Jensen & Schanck, 1994; Schlottman, 2012).

In the various contributions, the concept of democracy is frequently embedded in notions of liberal democracy, often

not precisely determined (Jickling, 1992; Bruun Jensen & Schnack 1997), sometimes linked to deliberation (Englund,

Öhman, & Östman, 2008; Schlottman, 2012), to agonism (Sund & Öhman, 2014) or to both (Tryggvason & Öhman,

2019).

However, none of these accounts address a major challenge with regard to democracy and sustainability: “Given

that virtually all nations of the world have formally subscribed to the goal of sustainable development – and that

the goal is to be realized through democratic means – how well-suited are existing, and normatively dominant,

democratic models and norms for actually achieving the goal?” (Lafferty, 2012, p. 302). The conclusion of the political

theorist William Lafferty is not encouraging, identifying a democratic impasse linked to the existing forms of

democracy and the requirements of sustainable development (Lafferty, 2012, p. 305). His main concern is that liberal

democracies in a globalized world continuously function as communities determined by national borders forming

competitive entities, whereas sustainability requires a notion of community based on ecological interdependence

with an expanded notion of citizenship that incorporates the interests of future generations, the world´s poor and

(possibly) the existential interests of other species.

Here I employ the notion of democratic impasse to explore the contentious issue of normativity within the pluralistic

approach. Significant is how the pluralistic approach in recent contributions has turned increasingly normative. The

educational purpose is no longer just to prepare the students for debate on human conflicts of interest with regard

to environmental issues, but to turn ‘the classroom into a democratic arena for negotiations about how to realise a

sustainable future” (hman & stman, 2019, p. 79). The democratic purpose is maintained, but the discussion is

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explicitly framed as a concern for a sustainable future. Or the educational purpose may be

sustainability

commitment,

“a desire and ability to contribute to a sustainable transformation of our world” (hman & Sund, 2021,

p. 2), echoing the title of United Nations´ Agenda 2030.

Acknowledging the democratic impasse, the expressions of normativity within environmental and sustainability

education should be welcomed. Facing ecological crisis and climate crisis it would be naïve not to acknowledge that

ESE is governed by certain values, fundamentally protecting life on earth. Still, in current world affairs the

democratic impasse referred to above, prevails, deepening conflicts and contradictions distinguishing ESE as an

educational field, premising sustainability issues as controversial educational content. Various aspects of this

situation deserves attention and reflection from the research field in the years to come.

Here I will finally suggest that the values in question may be conceived of as resources for an immanent critique of

current (education) policy, both domestic and international, available for students, teachers and researchers alike

(Kvamme, 2020). The pluralism, conflicts of interests and numerous disagreements – the political dimension, so to

say – enters the stage when values are to be specified, priorities are to be made between various interests and

concerns, when general claims are to be expressed in transformative actions.

References

Bruun Jensen, B. & Schnack, K. (1997) The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education,

Environmental

Education Research, 3

(2), 163–178, DOI: 10.1080/1350462970030205.

Englund, T., Öhman, J., & Östman, L. (2008). Deliberative communication for sustainability? A Habermas-inspired

pluralistic approach. In S. Gough & A. Stables (Eds),

Sustainability and security within liberal societies: Learning

to live with the future

(pp. 29–48). New York: Routledge.

Hume, T., & Barry, J. (2015). Environmental education and education for sustainable development. N. J. Smelser &

P.B. Baltes (Eds.),

International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences

(pp. 733–739). Amsterdam:

Elsevier.

Jickling, B. (1992). Why I don’t want my children to be educated for sustainable development.

The Journal of

Environmental Education, 23

(4), 5–8.

Kvamme, O. (2020).

Recontextualizing environmental ethical values in a globalized world: Studies in moral

education.

PhD thesis, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, retrieved from

http://hdl.handle.net/10852/75162

Lafferty, W. M. (2012). Governance for sustainable development: the impasse of dysfunctional democracy. In

Meadowcroft, J., Langhelle, O., & Ruud, A. (Eds.),

Governance, democracy and sustainable development: Moving

beyond the impasse

(pp. 297–337). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Öhman, J. & Östman, L. (2019). Different teaching traditions in environmental and sustainability education. In Van

Poeck, K., Östman, L. & Öhman, J. (Eds.).

Sustainable Development Teaching. Ethical and Political Challenges

(pp.

70–82). London: Routledge.

Öhman, J. & Sund, L. (2021). A Didactic Model of Sustainability Commitment.

Sustainability 13,

3083,

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063083

Sandell, K., Öhman, J., & Östman, L. (2005).

Education for Sustainable Development. Nature, school and Democracy.

Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Schlottman, C. (2012).

Conceptual Challenges for Environmental Education. Advocacy, Autonomy, Implicit Education

& Values.

New York: Peter Lang.

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CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Sund, L. & Öhman, J. (2014). On the need to repoliticise environmental and sustainability education: Rethinking

the postpolitical consensus.

Environmental Education Research 20

(5), 639–659. DOI:

10.1080/13504622.2013.833585

Tryggvason, Á. & Öhman, J. (2021). Deliberation and agonism. Two different approaches to the political dimension

of environmental and sustainability education. In Van Poeck, K., Östman, L. & Öhman, J. (Eds.).

Sustainable

Development Teaching. Ethical and Political Challenges

(pp. 115–124). London: Routledge.

Wals, A. E. J. & van der Leij, T. (2007). Introduction. In Wals, A. E. J. (Ed.),

Social learning towards a sustainable world.

Principles, perspectives, and praxis

(pp. 17–32). Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

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Dramas of Sustainability

Marianne Ødegaard

One of many challenges for environmental and sustainability education is to engage students in realistic

transdisciplinary issues where they can use and develop their agency and emotional reactions for dealing with

sustainability dilemmas. With this proposal, I wish to raise the discussion of how role play and other drama activities

can contribute to different levels of students’ involvement in sustainability, and offer a theoretical frame work of

sustainable drama that can be used in transdisciplinary contexts. Classroom experiences and research projects

underpin the framework.

The themes of sustainability in the science education curriculum have often been embedded in socio scientific

controversies. Being both a science educator and a drama educator, it was natural for me and my students to develop

role plays and drama activities to contextualize the controversies and make them more personal and less abstract.

By simulating and enacting real life situations students showed empathic involvement in roles of stakeholders in

the context of complex decision-making processes involving ethics and risk-taking in socio-scientific issues. These

experiences have later guided me in studies of drama and science and the development of a frame work for dramas

of sustainability.

Occupied with sustainability, Leinweaver (2015) emphasizes the strength of storytelling. He refers to three types of

stories that have been told for generations; the big or mythic stories that help people make sense of the mystery of

life and the wonder of being; the middle stories that shape civilization and educate about the organization of society;

and the little stories of individual lives and personal exploration and meaning making. Likewise, young people

experience the complexity of sustainability on different levels; a personal individual level; an interpersonal socio-

cultural level; and an overriding symbolic level, which corresponds to stories of sustainability.

I have outlined a framework of role play and drama activities based on levels of complexity and sustainable

storytelling (See figure 1):

•

Little dramas

: On a personal level there are little stories of the individual and how they explore their lives

and make their choices. What values and facts influence their actions? Small role plays with individual role

cards accentuates the individual’s perspective and provides space for discussion and practicing decision-

making based on values, ethical considerations and facts.

•

Middle dramas

: On an interpersonal and sociocultural level, middle stories of

us and them

and with a focus

of explaining power relationships, organization of society and how culture shapes our collective senses is

exercised through plenary role plays. With a common arena, where students enact different stakeholders,

collective decision-making and processes of international agreement can be practiced.

•

Big, symbolic dramas

: The big stories of sustainability are on a symbolic or mythic level. They raise

important questions and shape our imagination about what is possible (and impossible) in the world. What

do wicked problems like climate change mean for our lives? Creating presentational dramas, students can

explore and express meaningful issues, confusing affections and concerns with artistic means (Ødegaard &

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Øiestad, 2002). By using classical literature, like Ibsen’s dramas, as resources, they can relate epic questions

to their own modern lives and thoughts of a sustainable future.

In order to illustrate the levels, I have provided examples from classroom studies where scientific facts are linked

to and influence affections and actions for instance during ethical decision-making processes. One case study on

developing a symbolic drama with the help of classical literature is also presented.

Figure 1: Pedagogical framework of drama for sustainability issues (Ødegaard, 2017)

STUDIES OF SUSTAINABLE DRAMA

And the Water turned to Blood

In a small role play (little drama) with role cards, small groups of five students (age 16) played out a situation of a

family dinner where the nearby river turns out to be invaded by poisonous algae that indecently colors the water

red. This affects the family members in different ways. One gets sick after bathing, one has his trade as a pig farmer

threatened, one is studying the algae in her master’s degree, the local tourist guide is afraid of the lack of visitors

and a fisherman fears for the fish. The study revealed (Kristoffersen, 2021) that the complexity in the situation

initiates high order argumentation using both scientific facts and ethical considerations, critical thinking and socio

scientific reasoning.

Climate lawsuit

Parallel to a real-life lawsuit where environmental NGOs sued the Norwegian state for their continued oil

production, a science class in upper secondary (age 16) simulated a similar lawsuit as a plenary role play (middle

drama). All students were assigned different roles in the court (judges, defence counsels, prosecutors, NGOs, state

representatives, witnesses etc.), and they were required to use visual representations (pictures, models, graphs etc.)

to underpin their statements. Nybråten (2018) found that the role play encouraged discussions where the students

could build on each other’s knowledge to create a broader understanding and integrate a manifold of perspectives

considering the problem in question.

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Sustainable Ibsen

A drama class in upper secondary school (age 17-18) is observed while they develop a symbolic drama about

sustainability. The framing narrative is a dystopian fiction story that involves three plays of Henrik Ibsen. The

students’ mission is to relate the plays to sustainability issues and change the endings in order to explore optimistic

and positive sustainable actions.

The little drama (described over) and contemporary issues as school strikes, are used to some extent as part of the

drama making process, aiding the students to further explore their Ibsen roles. The relationships between facts,

affections and action are in focus as the students try to determine the turning points of the plays. The case study

examines how the students use Ibsen’s plays as lenses to reflect on our modern world in the era of climate crisis

(Øiestad and Ødegaard, in progress).

DISCUSSION

Role play can provide inclusive contexts for socio-scientific issues where students’ different voices enrich the

learning activity. In order for students to incorporate the complexity of sustainable development issues, they engage

in bodily experiences in educational drama. I hope to discuss how relevant my framework of dramas of sustainability

can be for practice in the classroom and for research.

References

Kristoffersen, (2021)

Role play in Science, A tool for educating citizenship?

Master thesis. Oslo: University of Oslo.

Leinweaver, J. (2015) Storytelling for Sustainability. Deepening the Case for Change. Oxford: Dõ Sustainability.

Nybråten, (2018) Role play and representations as tools for working with socio-scientific issues Master thesis at

University of Oslo.

Øiestad & Ødegaard,(in progress)

Oslo, January 2040 – Ibsen for a better future.

Project description.

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Has Education for Environmental and Sustainability Education Lost its Radical Edge?

Susanne Ress

What happens when radical traditions of thought and practice go mainstream? Realizing that human-nature-

relations of extraction and exploitation cannot go on forever lest humanity destroys the foundation of its very own

wellbeing and survival on earth has been a nagging noise in global politics for more than 50 years, not the least

since “The Limits of Growth” report has been published by the Clube of Rome in 1972. On its heels, many eco-

educational initiatives followed (Overwien, 2015), which generated a rich and highly diverse potpourri of theoretical

and practical approaches to environmental and sustainability education (ESE) over time (Sauv 2005), including

pioneering ideas of eco-literacy (cf. Orr, 1992), eco-philosophy (cf. Jickling, 1991; Hoffmann, 1994), environmental

and health education (cf. Kellen-Taylor, 1998), collectivity and cooperation (cf. Heller, 2004). Coming from a point

of radical critique against economic growth as the highway to development, environmental scholars and

practitioners alike insisted on the interlinkages of ecological and social issues, paving the way for the three pillars

model of sustainability, which provides the widely shared basis for thinking about education for sustainable

development (ESD) today (Purvis, Mao, & Robinson, 2019). Yet, particularly those valuing the counter-hegemonic

agenda of early-day environmental discourses and activism increasingly doubt that contemporary ESD efforts can

foster the kinds of learning needed to alter current trajectories of multispecies extinction. Critical ESE scholars, for

instance, fear that ESD policies and programs too easily dismiss innate tensions between economic and ecological

objectives, and instead privilege technical, market-oriented solutions over critical inquiry, cultural and emotional

attachment, or political action (cf. Jickling and Wals, 2008; Berryman and Sauv, 2016). Posthumanist and political

ecology critiques point to the perseverance of dualistic worldviews that leave colonial logics of

(occidental/white/male) domination over the earth’s commons unscrutinized although they are at the core of

irreversible climatic changes (cf. Lloro-Bidart, 2015; Komatsu Rappleye and Silova 2020; Ress et al., 2022). Moreover,

most of ESD’s rationalities are firmly embedded in industrial- technocratic-democratic imaginations of climate

change-induced materialities, positionalities, and solutions that do not easily align with youth’s realities in diverse

ecologies (Kendall et al. in progress). Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions, resource extraction, air and water

pollution, and food system degradation (collectively referred here to climate change and environmental

degradation, or CCED), continue unchecked. In short, the radical changes envisioned at the beginning of ESE have yet

to materialize. What is more, some argue that these radical ideals have been co-opted by ESD discourses (Tulloch

2013). Has ESE lost its radical edge? If so, how can it be regained?

Many ESD-approaches reflect human-centered, utilitarian earthviews rooted in economic development imperatives

and dominionist assumptions about human superiority over other beings. Conceived within neocolonial economic,

social, and political constellations, these efforts often omit power relations central to CCED. On the one hand,

environmental education efforts (i.e. in schools) largely occlude discussion of capitalist systems of exploitation.

Instead, they place responsibility for causing and mitigating CCED firmly on individuals, who have to adopt

modernist-scientific technologies and behaviors (in Ghana and Malawi, Ress et al., 2022) or eco- friendly lifestyles

(in Germany and Finland, Centeno et al., in progress; Ress and Pltz, in progress), ultimately translating CCED into

“problems of the self” (Komatsu et al. 2020, 303). These earthviews reconfigures ecologies as homogeneous and

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consumable. Students are often taught that non-human-non-living life-forms have no meaning beyond their

immediate economic and reproductive use. Students learn to think about other living creatures as a source of food

or energy rather than as kin (Haraway 2016), and to think of non-living landscapes as having no meaning at all.

Cattle—once a source of poetry and co-species evolution—become ‘beef-on-the-hoof’ (Livingston 2019). One tree

can be cut for wood and another replanted for future human use because it is not thought of in its particularity, as

a cedar or pine, as companion, shelter, comfort, cospecies’ homes, or other possible meanings significant in human

and non-human lives. Teaching materials rarely give space to modes of meaning-making (e.g., spiritual and ancestral

practices, indigenous healing approaches, local leadership and land tenure, historical gathering and planting

practices) that lay outside colonial, developmentalist, understandings of human-earth relations.

Education in the anthropocene is deeply political. It requires holistic approaches to knowledge and power and

radically different understandings of what it means to be human if we are to live well with earth (Common Worlds

Research Collective, 2020). If education about CCED is going to be transformative, it will have to address how CCED

is intertwined with local and global politics of cultural alienation, supremacism, and unsustainable growth (Selby

and Fumiyo 2014). It will have to problematize the hyper-focus on individual learning, finding new ways of thinking

about relationality and context. The international ESE/ESD community has long been driven (discursively and

materially) by ‘a single idea of modernity’ (Machado de Oliveira, 2021), which in practice has long been friable,

leaving earth’s ecologies in ‘capitalist ruins’ (Tsing, 2015), and forcing us to look at education differently, less to

create “even better” programs, but to capture how teaching and learning is taking on completely new forms (e.g.,

digitalization), which require much more daring and radical questions. This essay seeks to provoke conversations

around a deeper reading beyond one’s horizon to form alliances with today’s vanguard radicalism present in

Indigenous collective experiences (cf. Kimmerer, 2013; Machado de Oliveira, 2021), critical black (feminist) (cf.

Imarisha, 2015; Amsler, 2019; Murphy, 2021), and decolonial thought (cf. Liboiron, 2021), valuing difference, dialogue,

and conceptual curiosity as a crucial (scholarly) step to revive ESE’s radical potential.

References

Amsler, S. (2019). Gesturing towards radical futurity in education for alternative futures.

Sustainability Science

(4), 925-930.

Centeno V., Ress S., Plotz, E., & Soursa, S., Responsibility for sustainable development, A cross- curriculum study of

secondary school textbooks in Ghana, Malawi, Finland, and Germany.

Sustainability

Common Worlds Research Collective (CWRC). 2020. Learning to Become with the World: Education for Future

Survival. In UNESCO Futures of Education Report. July 2, 2021.

https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org/en/library/learning-to-become-with-the-world- education-for-future-

survival.

Heller, C. (2003). Dsir, nature et socit: L’cologie sociale au quotidien. Montral: Les ditions cosocit.

Hoffmann, N. (1994). Beyond constructivism: A Goethean approach to environmental education. Australian Journal

of Environmental Education, 10, 71-90.

Imarisha, Walidah. (Ed.). 2015. Octavia's Brood: science fiction stories from social justice movements. AK Press.

Jickling, B. (1991). Environmental education, problem solving, and some humility please. Trumpeter, 8(3), 153-155.

Kellen-Taylor-, M. (1998). Imagination and the world: A call for ecological expressive therapies.

The Arts in

psychotherapy

(5), 303-311.

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CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Kendall, N., Fridson-Ridenour, S., & Ress, S. Gendered experiences of environmental change and schooling in Sub-

Sahara Africa. Submission planned for Gender and Education.

Kimmerer, Robin W. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of

Plants. Milkweed Editions.

Liboiron, M. (2021).

Pollution is Clonialism

. Duke University Press.

Lloro-Bidart, Teresa. 2015. “A Political Ecology of Education in/for the Anthropocene.”

Environment and Society

6 (1): 128–48.

Machado de Oliveira, V. (2021). Hospicing modernity. Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social

activism. Berkely, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Orr, D. (1992). Ecological literacy: Education and the transition to a postmodern world. Albany: State University

of New York Press.

Purvis, B., Mao, Y., & Robinson, D. (2019). Three pillars of sustainability: in search of conceptual origins.

Sustainability science

(3), 681-695.

Ress, S., Kendall, N., Fridson-Ridenour, S., & Ampofo, Y. (2022). Representations of humans, climate change and

environmental degradation in African school curricula.

Comparative Education Review, 66

(4)

Ress, S. & Plotz, E. Klimawandel und Weltanschauungen in Schulbuchern. Ein facherubergreifender Vergleich zur

Darstellung von Mensch-Natur-Verhaltnissen in deutschen Schulbuchern. Zeitschrift fur Internationale

Schulbuchforschung.

Selby, D., & Kagawa, F. (Eds.). (2014). Sustainability frontiers: Critical and transformative voices from the

borderlands of sustaina

Tsosie, Rebecca. 2007. "Indigenous People and Environmental Justice: The Impact of Climate Change."

U. Colo. L.

Rev.

78: 1625.

Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins.

Princeton University Press.

Tulloch, L. (2013). On Science, Ecology and Environmentalism.

Policy Futures in Education, 11

(1), 100–114.

https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2013.11.1.100

Ziigwanikwe, (Katy Bresette), Chris Caldwell, Eric Chapman, Opichi (Robin Clark), Rob Croll, Gregory J. Gauthier, Jeff

Grignon, et al. 2019.

Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu

. Great Lakes

Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin.

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“NORMATI...” “WHAT?” – NORMATIVE QUESTIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXTS

Ann-Kathrin Schlieszus & Alexander Siegmund

Sustainability issues such as climate change often cause controversies. They consist of wicked socio-ecological

problems and complex systemic entanglements which are difficult to discern. Fake-facts and science-based

knowledge are sometimes hard to unravel. Besides the fact that scientific knowledge can never be neutral, as it is

always socially constructed and culturally embedded in the value and belief system of its time (Berger et al., 2018),

the opinions on the political implications of scientific knowledge about climate change are highly controversial. The

different sub-aims of a climate-friendly and sustainable development of our world may compete or even impede

one another (Spaiser et al., 2017). The priorities we set depend on our values and are shaped by our biographical and

cultural background, by the societal discourses of our time and place, by our experiences and interests, etc. People

can therefore speak of a sustainable development and envisage very different aims and proceedings individually.

Related to this issue, the question of the role we assign to education in creating a more sustainable world arises (cf.

Jickling, 1994): How can and should education contribute to a sustainable development of our society? Should it

encourage learners to engage and behave in a sustainable way in the sense of what Vare and Scott (2007) call

“education

for

sustainable development” (ESD 1)? If so: What is sustainable behaviour? And how can we avoid the

risk to instrumentalize learners? Or should education rather enable learners to think critically and make their own

judgements in the sense of an “education

sustainable development” (ESD 2)? How then to support learners in

developing such skills? And how to cope with positions which are not compatible with fundamental democratic

values, human rights, etc.?

As environmental and sustainability education (ESE) is intrinsically linked to normative questions, the underlying

normative assumptions need to be explicitly addressed by ESE practitioners. This is getting more and more

important, as the field of ESE has become increasingly mainstreamed during the last decades. Explicitly addressing

normative questions is especially important for higher education lecturers engaged in ESE, as they prepare future

experts and decision makers for their work in manyfold societal fields. But why is it important to talk explicitly

about the normative base of sustainability-related topics? If lecturers do

not

address the normative underpinnings

of the topics and their teaching, students may reject to get involved with such topics. Furthermore, existing dominant

perspectives may be perpetuated, which is one reason for current unsustainable development (Mulder, 2010). Yet, if

values are addressed in a discursive and reflexive way, students will feel less urged to justify their (possibly deriving)

normative positions and will be more open for a deep study of topics related to sustainable development (Singer-

Brodowski, 2019). This can be the starting point for transformative learning experiences which have the potential

to alter existing meaning perspectives and open up new horizons for our future (Mezirow, 1997).

Regarding normativity in ESE in higher education institutions, there are a lot of questions which are not yet explored

exhaustingly. One reason might be that values may be a conflictual point particularly in higher education, as many

lecturers have a double role researcher-lecturer and adopt a positivist view on knowledge. They feel bound to the

ideal of a neutral, objective science, which is one of the central epistemological ideals of modern Western science,

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and try to uphold the idea of a clear separation between facts and values which was proposed by Max Weber at the

beginning of the 20st century (Schneider et al., 2019). This may influence whether they as lecturers adopt

(supposedly) neutral positions or whether they take clearly normative standpoints and encourage critical

discussions upon these with their students. Therefore, examining the meaning and the ways of dealing with values

in ESE especially in higher education contexts is interesting and can open up new perspectives to ESE research and

practice.

On a theoretical level, further research could be done to examine the following questions: How do lecturers

understand normativity in the context of ESE? What kind of normativity and how strong normativity can be allowed

for in formal education? (How) Do the perspectives differ between the Global North and Global South? Which are

challenges or opportunities coping with normative aspects in teaching? Which topics are especially controverse or

closely linked to values? Which are the most crucial values underpinning ESE? If the core values related to ESE differ

between different persons, is there a common normative core of ESE? Are there values which all can agree on? And,

on the other hand, which are the most controversial values related to ESE?

On a practical level, it would be important to have a closer look at questions like: How do ESE practitioners deal with

values in their teaching, especially in the field of higher education? (Why) Do they think this is important? How does

the educator adopting more pluralistic or more normative standpoints influence what learners learn? How can the

discussion about norms and values catalyse critical reflection? How can educators help learners to scrutinize their

own normative orientations as well as widely spread societal values which may be one reason for current

unsustainable development? How can they support critical discourse and encourage controversial discussions in

higher education classes? How can they cope with students’ emotions when discussing contentious topics which

touch the essential of what we are?

Discussing these questions could not only contribute to the further elaboration of an important topic in ESE on a

theoretical level, but it could also help to identify inhibiting and enabling factors for the design of open and reflexive

learning environments in ESE teaching. This could foster transformative learning experiences in higher education

courses, which may lead students as designers of our future societies to a more open, creative and reflexive way of

addressing sustainability problems.

References

Berger, P. L., Luckmann, T., & Plessner, H. (2018). Die gesellschaftliche Konstruktion der Wirklichkeit: Eine Theorie

der Wissenssoziologie (27. Auflage). Fischer: Vol. 6623. Fischer Taschenbuch.

Jickling, B. (1994). Why I don't want my children to be educated for sustainable development: sustainable belief.

The Journal of Environmental Education

(4), 5–8.

Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative Erwachsenenbildung. Grundlagen der Berufs- und Erwachsenenbildung: Vol. 10.

Schneider-Verl. Hohengehren.

Mulder, K. F. (2010). Don't preach. Practice! Value laden statements in academic sustainability education.

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

(1), 74–85.

https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371011010066

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Schneider, F., Kly, A., Zimmermann, A. B., Buser, T., Ingalls, M., & Messerli, P. (2019). How can science support the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? Four tasks to tackle the normative dimension of sustainability.

Sustainability Science

(6), 1593–1604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00675-y

Singer-Brodowski, M. (2019). Pldoyer fr einen reflektierten Umgang mit Normativitt in der Hochschulbildung

(fr nachhaltige Entwicklung).

VSH-Bulletin

(2), 20–24.

Spaiser, V., Ranganathan, S., Swain, R. B., & Sumpter, D. J. T. (2017). The sustainable development oxymoron:

quantifying and modelling the incompatibility of sustainable development goals.

International Journal of

Sustainable Development & World Ecology

(6), 457–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2016.1235624

Vare, P., & Scott, W. (2007). Learning for a change: Exploring the relationship between education and sustainable

development.

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development

(2), 191–198.

https://doi.org/10.1177/097340820700100209

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Resistance and Didactic Implications for Education for Sustainable Development

Linnea Urberg

Humanity faces the greatest problems of our time, with mass extinction, climate emergency, and the disruption and

breaking point in the relationship between nature and society. Nevertheless, there are large groups in society that

resist so-called ‘sustainable habits’ and ‘sustainable identities” that could be seen as the mainstream sustainable

development discourse. I argue that we need new tools, theories and empirical research to understand youth

resistance to education for sustainable development and the potential of didactics to address this resistance.

Climate scepticism and resistance against the discourse of sustainable development are not only found in schools

and among young people but even world leaders express their doubts. When the United Nations’ climate report by

the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was published in 2013 both the US President at the time

Donald Trump, who had called climate change a “hoax” before, as well as Australian Prime Minister dismissed its

results (Ogunbode, Doran, & Bhm, 2020). Resistance and contradictions are expressed not only against but also

within the discourse of sustainable development. In her speech to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres,

Katowice 3/12, 2018, Greta Thunberg states: “So we cannot save the world by following the rules, since the rules

need to be changed”. It can be said that Greta exercises resistance within the discourse since she does not find its

practices to be suitable to solve the issues at hand. The resistance may also be based on a difference in antagonism

between groups, with some groups justifying the cause of environmental problems on the grounds that the root

causes lie in our current social, economic and political systems and in the worldviews, institutions and lifestyle

choices that support them (Fien, 1993b). Young people's resistance to sustainable development and to measures

implemented to increase sustainability is reflected in the social debate and in educational practice. To act on climate

change and sustainability can therefore not only be regarded as an agreement on a government level. It requires an

understanding of the resistance that takes place within educational spaces and to get familiarised with the logic

sceptic young people express to engage them in issues that affect the common future and climate change. Youth

resistance is a blind spot where student engagement has been taken for granted. Johan hman and Marie hman

(2012) conclude that there are risks in harmonising the concept and management for sustainable development and

that the subject's ideological tensions and conflicts of interest may be neglected. Louise Sund and Johan hman

(2013) suggest that we need to rethink the ESD field to reveal the political dimension and unmask it to re-politicise

education for sustainable development. Didactic strategies are required to reverse the resistance and be able to use

its resistance potential. Environmental psychology research can explain the psychological mechanisms of resistance

and there are studies that indicate how political perceptions and sociocultural factors can generate and influence

resistance (e.g., Krange, Kaltenborn, Hultman, 2019; Ojala, 2013; 2019; Grønhøj & Thøgersen, 2011). There is a lack of

didactic approaches, theories, and guidelines for dealing with resistance. Didactics can be seen as a process involving

learning, socialisation, and subject creation. Through the process, meaning making or meaning creation can take

place (hman, 2014). A meaning offering becomes relevant based on the processes of learning and socialisation that

explores, and didactics can offer tools and recommendations for addressing resistance constructively.

I suggest that young people's resistance can be theoretically understood through Pierre Bourdieu's forms of capital

but with the addition of environmental capital (see e.g., Karol & Gale, 2004). The environmental capital may coincide

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

with cultural capital and describes the objective resources for sustainable actions and habits. Youth resistance is

understood here through Pierre Bourdieu's concept of capitals, most notably the notion of symbolic capital which

implies recognition of the individual’s aggregated capital by the social milieu. The theory highlights resistance as

an effect of the involuntarily or voluntarily elimination of an individual or group's environmental capital by the

social field (Bourdieu, 1977, 1994/2014). The theory can offer strategies for dealing with the increased polarisation

around sustainability issues and consist of a ground for how education systems and teaching methods can deal with

the complexity of sustainability issues in relation to young people's resistance. A blind spot that is urgent to explore

is what concrete didactic methods can be operationalized and recommended to locate and respond constructively

to resistance.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1994/2014) Raisons pratiques. Sur la thori de lction: Praktiskt frnuft - bidrag till handlingsteori.

Svensk versttning: Gustaf Gimdal & Stefan Jordebrandt. Editions du Seuil, Daidalos AB: Gteborg

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice [Elektronisk resurs]

Grønhøj, Alice & Thøgersen, John (2011a). Action speaks louder than words: The effect of personal attitudes and

family norms on adolescents’ pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33, 292-303.Doi:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.10.001

Karol, J., & Gale, T. (2004).

Bourdieu and Sustainability: introducing 'environmental capital'.

Paper presented at the

AARE, Melbourne

Krange, L, Kaltenborn B.P, & Hultman ., M (2019) Cool dudes in Norway: climate change denial among conservative

Norwegian men,

Environmental Sociology

, 5:1, 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2018.1488516

Fien, J. (1993a). Education For the Environment: Critical Curriculum Theorising and Environmental Education.

Victoria: Deakin University Press.

Fien, J. (1993b).

Environmental Education: A Pathway to Sustainability

. Geelong: Deakin University Press.

Ogunbode, C.A., Doran, R. & Bhm, G. (2020). Exposure to the IPCC special report on 1.5 °C global warming is linked

to perceived threat and increased concern about climate change. Climatic Change 158, 361–37.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02609-0

Ojala, M. (2019). Knslor, vrden och utbildning fr en hllbar framtid: Att frmja en kritisk knslokompetens i

klimatundervisning. Acta Didactica Norge - tidsskrift for fagdidaktisk forsknings- og utviklingsarbeid i Norge.

Doi: 10.5617/adno.6440

Ojala, M. (2012). How do children cope with global climate change? Coping strategies, engagement, and well-being.

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32, 225–233. Doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.02.004

Ojala, M. (2013) Emotional awareness: On the importance of including emotional aspects in education for

sustainable development (ESD). Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Vol. 7 (2) s.167-182.

Doi:10.1177/0973408214526488 Ojala, M. (2012b). Regulating worry, promoting hope: How do children,

adolescents, and young adults cope with climate change? International Journal of Environmental and Science

Education, 7(4), 537–561.

Sund, L. & hman, J. (2014). On the need to repoliticise environmental and sustainability education: Rethinking the

post-political consensus. E

nvironmental Education Research,20(

5), 639–

659.https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2013.833585

hman, M. & hman, J. (2012). Harmoni eller konflikt? En fallstudie av meningsinnehllet i utveckling utbildning

fr hllbar.

NorDiNa, 8

(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.5617/nordina.359

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES AS CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

hman, Johan

(2014).

Om didaktikens mjligheter : ett pragmatiskt perspektiv.

Utbildning & Demokrati 2014,

vol

23, nr 3, 33-56. Doi:10.48059/uod.v23i3.1023

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

SUB-THEME 2

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND

LEARNING PRACTICES

Johanna Lönngren, Leif Östman & Ellen Vandenplas

Severe and far-reaching sustainability problems can cause strong feelings of worry, anxiety and ecological grief.

They can be experienced as existential in the sense of putting our mode of being, attitudes towards life and the

meaningfulness of our lives at stake. During the seminar, the discussions related to this theme were based on an

understanding of the complex challenges for teaching and learning posed by emotional reactions and existential

experiences in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Before and during the seminar, the following

questions served as prompts for reflection:

• How can educators prepare for recognising and coping with such existential experiences?

• How can ESE research succeed in providing guidance for tackling the challenges posed by emotional and

existential experiences? Where does ESE research fall short in providing such support?

• To what extent is the growing attention for the emotional dimension of ESE blurring the differences

between a psychological/therapeutic and a pedagogical/didactical approach?

• What theoretical and methodological challenges need to be tackled for investigating (how students and

educators cope with) emotions and existential experiences in ESE?

• Which theoretical approaches may be useful to progress ESE research on this topic?

• How are these issues perceived and dealt with in different areas of the world?

We started the seminar discussing overarching issues that were prominent in many of the essays accepted for this

theme. First, many of the essays focused on negative emotions, such as climate anxiety. This observation led us to

reflect on the boundary between pedagogy and therapy: Who should have which responsibilities for emotions and

existential experiences in different ESE settings? How far does the responsibility of teachers stretch in helping

students and pupils deal with these experiences? And what could be a pedagogical approach to emotions and

existential experiences in ESE? Second, several essays stressed the importance of arts- and drama-based

pedagogical approaches and we discussed why and how such approaches could be particularly fruitful for dealing

with emotions and existential experiences in ESE. Third, the essays raised important questions regarding which

theories and methodologies could be fruitful in researching emotions and existential experiences in ESE.

As we started our discussions, we experienced a need to (a) define how we want to use the terms

emotion

and

affect

, both of which carry multiple meanings depending on which research field they are used in,

and (b) better

understand how emotions and existential experiences may be related in ESE research and practice. Regarding the

first point, we agreed on a tentative conceptual framework that emphasized the distinction, but also the connection,

between affect and emotion. We conceptualized affect as “a body’s registered sensation of a moment of existing

relationally, interactively, in the world” (Gould, 2010, p. 27) which we, later, can reflect upon. Affect is thus a bodily

experience that takes place before we are aware of it. Once we start to reflect upon affect, it is

transformed

into

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

emotions. This transformation occurs through cognition and involves social, cultural and linguistic sense-making.

Thus, we conceptualized emotion as affect that is made meaningful in a specific socio-cultural context. Regarding

the second point, we reminded each other to consider both emotions and existential issues in all discussions as the

two concepts are related but not synonymous: existential issues often come with emotions, but not every emotional

experience/expression is related to existential issues. We did not reach any concrete conclusions regarding how the

two terms are/should be related in ESE and we suggest that this question merits more research.

In addition to the topics recognized at the beginning of the seminar, several topics emerged as central during our

discussions. One of them was the importance of affect and emotions in climate change education, which has been

shown by several ESE researchers (e.g., focusing on climate anxiety and the importance of constructive hope, Ojala

et al., 2021). In connection to climate anxiety, we also discussed the role of care in education. Acknowledging that

teachers can never be therapeutical experts, we concluded that care (rather than therapy) should be central in ESE.

In fact, care for students, the world and all living beings are necessary elements not only of working toward

sustainability, but also of ESE teaching and learning.

We also discussed the importance of acknowledging affect and emotions in all education, but especially in relation

to sustainability and climate change education, to counteract the dominant policy and cultural discourses stressing

cognitive processes and learning outcomes (e.g., Hufnagel, 2017). Thus, we saw an urgent need for offering

alternative ways of perceiving and approaching learning – involving not only knowledge and competences, but also

affect and emotions. In other words, we need to understand learning as involving both bodily and cognitive

processes and resulting in outcomes that include bodily as well as intellectual dimensions.

Another topic raised and discussed in detail focused on the opportunities and risks of addressing and “provoking”

affect, emotions, and existential experiences. Many significant and life changing moments involve strong emotional

and existential experiences and, therefore, provoking strong affect and emotions in safe environments could have

many positive pedagogical consequences. For example, it could create strong engagement for sustainability and

lead to transformative learning. It could also trigger reflection and changes in how one views personal and societal

ways of living and working together. Further, explicitly dealing with emotional and existential experiences, students

and teachers can develop a common language for talking about, making sense of, and dealing with these

experiences. However, addressing and provoking strong emotions may also involve risks since students are asked

to reveal themselves, not only as students, but as

whole persons.

Students are asked to make themselves

vulnerable

in front of their peers and teachers, which could lead to painful (or even traumatic) experiences. Finally, such an

educational practice may create situations in which certain emotions and existential experiences are manipulated

to achieve certain desired (according to dominant social, political and economic values) learning outcomes.

Acknowledging these risks, we emphasized the importance of making didactically and ethically wise judgements

regarding whether, when and how to address and/or provoke emotions and existential experiences and when and

how to seek help from professionals trained in psychotherapy. We also stressed that we need more research on

teachers’ willingness and capabilities to make these judgements and on how such judgements are

already

made in

different educational contexts today.

Finally, much of our discussions centered on

how

we can research emotions and existential experiences in ESE.

Importantly, we identified challenges related to researching complex emotional experiences and interactions solely

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

based on psychometric instruments (e.g., measuring achievement emotions or emotional intelligence). Rather, to

research how teachers and students bring their whole persons into ESE classrooms and informal learning situations,

we need to draw on, combine, and develop diverse theories and methods, a task that needs to be prioritized in the

coming years. Together, we may thus be able to paint a colorful and multilayered picture of the complex roles that

emotions and existential experiences (can) play in ESE teaching and learning.

In conclusion, we identified a huge, mostly unexplored, potential for ESE research and practice when it comes to

understanding and promoting students’ emotional and existential experiences of sustainability challenges – and

how educators can leverage these experiences for transformative learning. As a starting point for future research

in this field, we offer the following tentative theoretical and empirical questions:

1. How can/do teachers deal ethically and educatively with evoking and provoking affect and emotions in the

context of ESE?

2. How can we empower students as individuals and groups to attend to, reflect upon, and make meaning of

the affects and emotions?

3. How can we understand the risks and opportunities of enabling the (whole) person to emerge in the ESE

classroom?

4. What are the pedagogical challenges and opportunities in confronting existential experiences?

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

References

Gould, D. (2010). On Affect and Protest. In J. Staiger, A. Cvetkovich, & A. Reynolds (Eds.),

Political Emotions: New

Agendas in Communication

(pp. 18–44). Routledge.

Hufnagel, E. (2017). Attending to Emotional Expressions About Climate Change: A Framework for Teaching and

Learning. In D. P. Shepardson, A. Roychoudhury, & A. S. Hirsch (Eds.),

Teaching and Learning about Climate

Change: A Framework for Educators

(pp. 59–71). Routledge.

Ojala, M., Cunsolo, A., Ogunbode, C. A., & Middleton, J. (2021). Anxiety, Worry, and Grief in a Time of Environmental

and Climate Crisis: A Narrative Review.

Annual Review of Environment and Resources

(1), 35–58.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Facing Extinction: Educating with Art for Living with the Dead?

Juliette Clara Bertoldo

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,

The Little Prince

We must live well with the dead if we are to live well at all.

Margrit Shildrick (2020, p. 178)

The last male northern white rhino died in 2017 (Vitale, 2019). Raised in captivity, the 45-year-old rhino named Sudan

passed away on the dusty floor of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya. The singularity of Sudan’s death

abruptly reinvokes the abysmal loss of tens of thousands of species going extinct every year, at a rate 1000 times

higher than the average rate of extinction (Kolbert, 2014). We are entering the sixth mass extinction of a different

nature than the preceding five, for it is almost entirely man-made. This unprecedented anthropogenic mass-death

phenomenon does not only concern the loss of individual living organisms, but the destruction of long-evolving life-

sustaining relationships between and across species. Not only are these formations breaking apart in vast number,

but entire modes of feeling, thinking, acting, and being are debilitated, some lost forever (Tsing & al., 2017).

The deathscapes of the Anthropocene do not exempt humans – ‘they ripple, they spread and we’re all implicated in

them’ (Rose & van Dooren, 2009, para.48). The vast diversity permeating the living world, which inspires awe and

creative response, is presently accompanied with a feeling of drastic devastation. Youth are denied from

experiencing and learning with the animal and plant lives and their lush habitats that move into extinction. To learn

about the community of beings and ecosystems that contribute to and support life is a to learn about an inevitable

experience of loss and death (Affifi & Christie, 2019). With this comes the realisation of all that will never be known,

that which will remain forever missing, misunderstood, or interrupted before it could come into being. Hence, while

the world is bursting into absences, growing-up ceases to merely be an educational matter. It becomes an existential

conundrum of learning how to survive in the midst of this absence, as we are all ‘being overtaken by processes that

are unmaking the world that any of us ever knew’

(Rose, 2013, p.208).

This concern raises urgent educational questions, in particular for those who compel educators to consider

sustainability, environmental priorities, and, as Todd (2020) articulates, to reflect on youth’s affective and

existential worries in confronting a perishing world. Drawing specifically on ‘climate sorrow’, she asks whether

education can become a site for youth to ‘stay with’ difficult feelings about the future by enabling them to develop

a living relationship to the more-than-human world in the present?’ (p.3). My own concern in this paper emanates

from Todd’s question, and is an invitation to think specifically about those often overlooked relationships between

what lives and what has passed.

Within a relational ontology, I situate these questions on death and correlated existential concerns from the

standpoint of posthumanism (e.g. Braidotti, 2013; Haraway 2016) and environmental humanities, drawing

specifically from emerging philosophies of extinction (e.g. Rose, van Dooren & Chrulew 2017; Heise, 2016, Grusin

2018). In line with these theorists, I too resist the thick dividing split between life and death for rethinking death in

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

non-normative and more-than-human terms, thus not merely as non-existence or lack, but as a place of generativity

for re-membering those who have been, literally, dis-membered. Thus, my intention is not to define what death

or to prove the existence of other-worldly creatures, but to explore the kinds of relationships that may be afforded

between these different ‘modes of existence’ (Despret, 2021, p.7). Indeed, the way we live in the present is affected

by the way that others – human and non-human – have died before us, and by the way that we ourselves shall die.

In other words, we are ‘interwoven into a system in which we live and die

with

others, live and die

for

others’ (Rose,

2011, p.32). From this perspective, our sensibility to what has died may inform the way we will defend the rest of the

living – a line of thought that Education and Sustainability Education Research (ESER) is well positioned to explore.

In fact, if one of ESER’s endeavours is to support students in feeling part of a rich multi-layered world for learning

how to care and cope in front of the massiveness of the environmental genocide, then acknowledging the deep

interconnections we have with those lives left behind is to my view integral to such educational process.

My wish with this proposal then is to open a discussion for ESER on the possible pedagogical practices involving art

drawing from contemporary visual arts practices to explore these issues (see, e.g. Bertling, 2021); the possible ways

for thinking about death pedagogically, creatively, affectively, and sensuously. The following are some of the

questions I am grappling with: How shall we engage our imagination so as to reach into these death places, while

learning to ‘stay-with’ (Haraway, 2016) the emotional turmoil they engender? What worldly acoustic are we left

with when the singing of an entire bird species ends? In what ways does the disappearance of Sudan the Rhino

transform the sensible perception of our students’ sensate world? How can we see the crossovers that connect their

deaths with our lives? ‘How do we keep our heart open to a dying earth’ (Affifi & Bertoldo, pers.comm.)?

In raising these question here, I propose, as an initial impulse, that aesthetic experiences may offer something

different to address the reality of harrowing and complex ecologies of death (Affifi & Christie 2019). Because art in

general does not shy away from those difficult feelings, while simultaneously giving rise to creative renewal, it

holds the potential to approach death as a generative force. Art history provides an infinity of examples in this

regard, from classical representations of death (e.g. vanitas paintings and funerary art) to contemporary art, often

raising ethical and political issues in questions of mortality (Townsend, 2008). More specifically, contemporary

environmental art, casting suspicion on human-exceptionalist conceptions of death while blurring the contours

between the living and non-living (e.g. Radomska 2020; Yoldas, 2015) covers ground worth of exploration for the

present purpose. With this in mind, artistic experiments might stir desire for actively speaking-with/dancing-

with/painting-with

those who have never been known, ‘for retracing connections to the ones we have lost, creating

stories and meaning, and keeping the ecology alive’ (Affifi & Bertoldo, pers.comm.). A space for dwelling in relation

with those ‘absent presences’ (Shildrick, 2020), whereby sensing ecological grief and experiencing beauty are part

of that same process that can heal the fractures of fractured relations precisely because it does not deny them.

Indeed, the ecology of emotions and related existential inquiries are complexly tied to death and the deceased

other: the wounds, the suffering, the pains and joys engendered, move alongside one another, each swirling to their

own rhythms, flowing in and out of one’s life in unpredictable ways, uncontained by linear temporality. So, how

would those pedagogies, – ones that allow for polarities to exist together, and respond to the integrated

complementarity in things – look like? That is the

raison d’être

of this proposal: a call for progressing research on

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

such pedagogical opportunities for relating and responding ethically

to those absent presences in the midst of

what sometimes might feel – for young people and their educators – the remains of a diminished past lingering

toward a vanishing future.

References

Affifi, R. & Christie, B. (2019). Facing loss: pedagogy of death.

Environmental Education Research

(8), 1143 – 1157.

DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2018.1446511

Bertling, J. G. (2021). (Com)postmodernity: Artists Cultivating a Lust for Mortality,

Art Education

(4), 51-57.

DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2021.1905435

Braidotti, R. (2011).

Nomadic Theory: The Portable Rosi Braidotti

. New York: Columbia University Press.

Braidotti, R. (2013).

The Posthuman

. Oxford: Polity Press

Despret, V. (2021).

Our Grateful Dead : Stories of Those Left Behind

. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Grusin, R. (2018). After Extinction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press.

Heise, U. K. (2016). Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species. Chicago, IL and London: The

University of Chicago Press.

Latour, B. (2017)

Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on the New Climatic

Regime, Cambridge, Polity Press.

Kolbert, E. (2014).

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Todd, S. (2020). Creating Aesthetic Encounters

the World, or Teaching in the Presence of Climate Sorrow,

Journal

of Philosophy of Education, 00

(0), 1—16. DOI:

10.1111/1467-9752.12478

Tsing, A. L., Bubandt, N., Gan, E., & Swanson, H. A. (Eds.). (2017).

Arts of living on a damaged planet

. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press.

Radomska, M. (2020). Deterritorialising Death: Queerfeminist Biophilosophy and Ecologies of the Non/Living in

Contemporary Art,

Australian Feminist Studies

(104), 116-137, DOI: 10.1080/08164649.2020.1802697

Rose, D. B. (2011).

Wild Dog Dreaming: Love and Extinction

, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

Rose, D. B. (2013). Anthropocene Noir.

Arena Journal

(42), 206-284.

Rose, D. B. and van Dooren, T. (2009). ‘Death of the Disregarded in the Time of Extinctions: the Ecological

Humanities and Unloved Others’,

Violent Ends: The Arts of Environmental Anxiety, National Museum of

Australia, Canberra, 11 June

Rose, D.B., T. van Dooren and M. Chrulew (2017),

Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death and Generations

, New

York: Columbia University Press.

Townsend, C. (2008).

Art and Death

. London: I. B. Tauris.

Vitale, A. (2019). ‘What I learned documenting the last male northern white rhino’s death’, in

National Geographic

Vanishing Issue.

Yoldas, P. (2015). ‘Ecosystems of Excess’. In H. Davis & E. Turpin (Eds.),

Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters among

aesthetics, politics, environments and epistemologies

(359–370). London, UK: Open Humanities Press.

The body of scholarship mobilised here and in my wider work withdraws from an understanding of ethics understood not in terms of

adherence to an abstract moral code but to building conditions for affirmative relationships.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Futures Literacy, Arts, and Sustainability: A Powerful Match?

Petra H.M. Cremers

EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

With the aim of actively addressing complex sustainability problems, higher education programmes are embracing

key sustainability competencies such as critical thinking, anticipation and self-awareness (Pacis & Van Wijnsberghe

2020, UNESCO 2017). However, focusing on competencies alone may not be enough, as overwhelming emotions such

as fear and anxiety can contribute to action-paralysis, numbness and denial in relation to climate change (Van

Boeckel 2021). Also, the phenomenon of ‘blinding insights and lock-ins’ can cause people to “become so stuck in

their own often taken-for-granted and normalized ways of thinking and acting that they fail to see how this colours

their judgment and narrows possibilities" (Wals and Peters 2017, p. 47). Therefore, it is critical for education and

research to explore how to overcome, as Larsen (2021) puts it, “the blind resistance to change and the poverty of

imagination” and to foster students’ (and teachers’!) hope and resilience.

FUTURES LITERACY AND ARTS-BASED METHODS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE ENGAGEMENT

Potentially useful concepts and educational strategies for discovering new possibilities and thereby fostering hope

and resilience in the midst of complexity and uncertainty are Futures Literacy and Arts-based methods for

transformative engagement (Pearson et al 2018).

Futures Literacy

One possible way to challenge our ways of thinking and acting is to develop Futures Literacy (FL), the capability to

use and imagine multiple futures for different purposes and contexts (Larsen, Kæseler Mortensen & Miller, 2020).

FL stresses the importance of approaching the future not only from a perspective of planning and preparation, but

also in a more explorative way. This is what Miller (2018) describes as being able to walk on two legs. As Peterson

et al (2020, p. 46) explain: “We ought to also take a step back and look for emerging phenomena that do not make

sense yet. […] If we let go, examine, or deconstruct certain assumptions about the future, we may become aware of

biases or strongly held beliefs we were taking for granted, and we may open up for spontaneity and other

unforeseen possibilities”.

Diversifying the ways we view the world can help us to overcome fear of change and to welcome uncertainty and

novelty as a resource for creativity and imagination (Larsen et al., 2020). In the words of Bergheim (2021), when he

reflects on acquiring FL as a capability: “even if starting from a deep-seated fear of the future, new hope, new

confidence and new action can emerge”.

Arts-based methods for transformative engagement

Learning to view the world in new ways is a process of transformation, a shift in mindset, values and awareness of

oneself (Mezirow 1991). At a collective level, transformation can be manifested by a shift in cultures or systems

The author would like to thank Jitske Gulmans, Loes Damhof, Elles Kazemier (UNESCO Chair Futures Literacy) and Jan van Boeckel

(Research Group Art & Sustainability) for their valuable contributions to this essay.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

(Merriam & Kim 2012). It changes

who

we are and

how

we are. A change in who we are involves identity work:

forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening or revising our self-meaning (Alvesson & Willmott 2002, p. 626). How

we are refers to being in and relating to the world we live in (Biesta 2020). Horlings (2015) describes this inner

transformation in relation to sustainabilty as ‘change from the inside out’ and refers to this as ‘the inner dimension

of sustainability’.

Research suggests that arts and arts-based practices are particularly well-suited for exploring such inner-

dimensions (Horlings 2017; Kagan 2012). Making and sharing artefacts enables processes of playful experimentation

and ‘thinking with our hands’ (Sheridan et al 2014). This, in turn, can facilitate and trigger individual and collective

sense-making and knowledge creation (Groth 2017). Biesta (2020 p. 119) provides yet another perspective: “… art is

not simply a bridge towards the world, but perhaps, first of all, a way through which the world can enter into

dialogue with us […] if, that is, we let art teach”.

ESE RESEARCH

How can ESE research provide guidance?

Current research on FL, for instance at the UNESCO Chair Futures Literacy at Hanze University, focuses on the design,

facilitation and impact of educational interventions, based on theories of transformative and collective learning and

identity work (Kazemier et al 2020). Currently the Chair investigates the relationship between FL as a capability and

the Key Competencies for Sustainability.

Other researchers focus on the use of arts-based methods in relation to sustainability education, such as Jan van

Boeckel with the research group Art & Sustainability at Hanze University (van Boeckel 2021), Natalia Eernstman at

Plymouth College of Art and Arjen Wals at Wageningen University (Eernstman et al 2021). The Copenhagen Institute

for Futures Studies is launching an Arts & Culture Focus Area in relation to Futures Literacy (Larsen 2021).

However, the interrelationship between FL, arts-based methods and ESE has got little research attention so far.

Based on the above, the hypothesis seems justified that they can strongly enhance one another especially with

respect to the development of learners’ inner sustainability. Research could shed light on the way in which, and to

what extent FL and arts-based methods can be integrated in the design and facilitation of ESE activities.

Theoretical and methodological challenges

When studying transformative (learning) processes, two methodological challenges can be identified (among

others). The first one is that a transformative learning process often is a journey that lasts longer than the designed

educational activities or experiences within a training programme. Moreover, the journey is likely to be different for

every participant and a large part of the learning process will be emergent, depending on activities or situations

that the learner engages in or encounters in everyday life. This makes it difficult to capture learning when it occurs.

The second challenge is that researching transformation is often a transformative learning process in itself (Merriam

& Kim 2012). Reflective activities in an educational programme can be part of the learning process and at the same

time yield data that provide an insight into the impact of the learning activities or experiences. The challenge is how

to capture these reflections in such a way that it benefits the learners as well as the research.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

The overarching questions here are: What would be an appropriate methodology for really capturing the

transformation of inner sustainability and how can this be related to the designed and emergent learning activities

or experiences?

Possible research pathways

Exploring our hypothesis that FL, arts-based methods and ESE could enhance one another, along with the

development of appropriate research methods could potentially yield powerful educational strategies for

maintaining hope and developing resilience. And this, in turn, could make a difference for our planet. As Jane Goodall

puts it: “Hope involves envisioning the future while recognizing the inevitability of challenges. It enables us to keep

going in the face of adversity” (Goodall & Abrams 2021, pp. 8, 26-27).

References

Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate

individual.

Journal of Management Studies

, 39(5), 619–644

Bergheim, S. (2021).

Futures. Open to Variety. A manual for the wise use of the later-than-now.

Frankfurt am Main:

ZGF Publishers.

Biesta, G. (2020).

Letting Art Teach

. Arnhem: ArtEZ Press.

Eernstman, N., Pearson, K.R., Wals, A.E.J., Bjurström, Å.E. & De Vrieze, A. (2021). Designing Collective Artist

Residencies: Cultivating imaginative disruptions and light-heartedness in times of gravity.

Airea: Arts and

Interdisciplinary Research

, 2021, 3, 17-34.

Goodall, J. and Abrams, D. 2021.

The book of hope. A survival guide for an endangered planet

. UK: Penguin Random

House.

Horlings, L. (2015).

Not the end of the world full stop The inner dimension of sustainability: personal and cultural

values

. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14 (163-169), p. 165.

Kagan, S. 2012.

Toward global (environ)mental change: Transformative art and cultures of sustainability.

Berlin:

Publication Series Ecology, Heinrich Boll Foundation, 21.

Kazemier, E., Damhof, L., Gulmans, J. & Cremers, P.H.M. (2021). Mastering futures literacy in higher education: An

evaluation of learning outcomes and instructional design of a faculty development program.

Futures

, 131.

Larsen, N. (2021). Futures studies need to Break with the False premise Of short vs. Long-term Thinking. In:

Scenario

, issue 62, 45-46. Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

Larsen, N., Kæseler Mortensen, J., & Miller, R. (2020).

What is Futures Literacy and why is it important?

Accessed 14

September 2020 https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-

why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8.

Merriam, S. B., & Kim, S. J. (2012). Studying transformative learning, what methodology? In E. W. Taylor, & P. Cranton

(Eds.),

The handbook of transformative learning. Theory, research and practice

. New Jersey: John Willey & Sons,

Inc.

Mezirow, J. (1991).

Transformative dimensions of adult learning

. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Miller, R. (2018).

Transforming the Future: Anticipation in the 21st Century.

London: Routledge.

Pacis, M., & Van Wijnsberghe, R. (2020). Key sustainability competencies for education for sustainability: Creating a

living, learning and adaptive tool for widespread use.

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher

Education, 21

(3), 575–592.

Pearson, K.R., Backman, M., Grenni, S., Moriggi, A., Pisters, S., Vrieze de, A. (2018). Arts-Based Methods for

Transformative Engagement: A Toolkit. Wageningen: SUSPLACE.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Peterson, C. (Ed.)Using the future.

SCENARIO

reports # 03. Embracing uncertainty, improving decision-making and

democratising tomorrow, 50-55. Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

Sheridan, Kimberley. M., Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, Breanne K. Litts, Lisa Brahms, Lynette Jacobs-Priebe, and Trevor

Owens. 2014. “Learning in the making: A comparative case study of three makerspaces.”

Harvard Educational

Review

84, no.4: 505–531.

UNESCO. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals. Learning objectives. UNESCO.

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444.

Van Boeckel, J. (2021).

I would still plant my apple tree. On Earthbound, the program of the research group Art &

Sustainability.

Groningen: Hanze University of Applied Sciences.

Wals, A.E.J. & Peters, M.A. (2017). Flowers of resistance: Citizen science, ecological democracy and the transgressive

education paradigm. In A. König, & J. Ravetz (Eds.),

Sustainability science: Key issues

. London: Routledge.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Anthropocenes, Crises and Sustainability: Educating the Temporal Imagination in the

Era of Climate Change

Keri Facer

The invitation to this seminar invokes a particular temporal frame – the ‘climate crisis’ with its image of temporal

rupture – as a starting point for inquiry. Other seminars and events invoke the challenges of the ‘anthropocene’ (a

new temporal marker) or invite contributions to the creation of sustainable ‘futures’ or social ‘transformations’. The

language we use to think about the entangled ecological, climactic, economic and political problems we face is

drenched in temporal references and structured through distinctive temporal frames such as ‘ten years to save the

planet’. Ideas about time are central to questions of emotion and affect in teaching and learning practices and

different temporal frames - urgency, delay, apocalypse, regeneration – generate powerful emotional registers for

considering questions of personal and social agency in the context of climate change (Theme 2). Ideas about time

and change are also at the heart of concepts of ‘transformation’ and indeed, transformation without a concept of

time, is impossible (Theme 3).

My argument here is that we now need to turn our attention towards understanding how these and other temporal

frames structure and delimit the nature of the problems we present to students as well as to the as-yet unexplored

potential for working with diverse temporal frames as a means of opening up new sites of dialogue and collective

agency.

To provide some rationale for this approach:

How we think about time - and use time to think with - matters. Our temporal imagination shapes our understanding

of how the world works and our perceptions of how and whether it might change (Adam, 1990). For example: if we

think of speed or slowness as a marker of success; if we see the world as moving along a trajectory where some

people are ‘ahead’ or as a place of many different parallel ways of becoming; if we imagine the future as a site of

novelty or a repetition of what has already happened; if we think with the timescale of a single life or the deep time

of generations - all these temporal frames influence who and what we value, direct our attention in particular

directions, and tell us particular stories about our relationship to other people, species and times (Adam & Groves,

2007; Mbembe, 2001; Nanni, 2012). As Norgaard has demonstrated, these temporal frames are particularly important

in determining whether and how we pay attention to questions of ecological crisis and climate change (Norgaard,

2011). Conflicting temporal frames also underpin conflict over climate change (Hulme, 2017); and what Bastian calls

our ‘fatal confusion’ about how to ‘tell the time’ in the era of ecological crisis, is significantly impeding our collective

capacity as a species to respond to the ‘slow emergency’ of climate change (Bastian, 2012).

People don’t all think about, experience or use time to think with in the same way (Adam, 1998; Birth, 2012;

Chakrabarty, 2008). Different historical, social and cultural conditions position people (sometimes violently) in very

different temporalities (experiences of time) and tempos, some living accelerated lives, others lives of enforced

waiting (Sharma, 2014). Equally, our temporal imagination is influenced by the social and cultural resources – the

media, education, cultural and artistic representations and daily conversations – available to us (Zittoun & Gillespie,

2016). This means that our temporal imagination is both amenable to influence and education and is situated in

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

particular historical and cultural conditions, and so is subject to change as conditions change (Adam, 1998). There

may even be a time lag, in which the ways of thinking about time that we have available to us are less than useful

for the historical and cultural conditions in which we find ourselves. This, indeed, is what the cultural theorist

Margaret Archer argues in her analysis of changing modes of reflexivity over different historical periods. She makes

the case that the forms of individualised calculative predictive rationality (such as cost-benefit analyses, forecasts

and modelling) that worked in the relatively stable conditions (for some) of European modernity, are not adequate

for contemporary societies of rapid change, feedback loops and critical uncertainty (Archer, 2012); see also (Giddens,

1994).

This gap between temporal imagination and historical and cultural conditions is nowhere more evident than in the

social and political response to the questions raised by human induced and rapid climate change. Confronted with

a deep-time ethical phenomenon, involving the interactions of multiple species over many different timescales,

demanding a balance of responsibility between present and future generations, with conflicting pace and speeds of

impact for different populations, our societies and our politics have struggled (Yusoff, 2013). Learning to live in these

new conditions, therefore, requires a fundamental transformation of the temporal imagination (Ghosh, 2016).

A new research agenda is required, one that is able to move towards both theoretical and empirical gains in

exploring how we might work (and play) with time in ways that are adequate to these conditions. Theoretically, we

need a much more elaborated language and conceptualisation of time in education. Here we can draw on the

emerging philosophy of time in education (for example, the work of (Aldaheff Jones, 2017) as well as the rich thirty

year history of Temporality Studies. Empirically, however, we have a very long way to go. We need a better

understanding of how time is ‘taught’ in schools – both formally, within curriculum and informally, through the

timescape of the institution. There is also a case for an experimental practice that develops new ways of ‘telling the

time’ and which might draw on public arts practices such as the

Clock of the Long Now

to Olafur Eliasson’s melting

icebergs at the Paris Climate Summit to the planting of the

Future Forest

outside Oslo.

Taken together, these theoretical, empirical and experimental trajectories are needed if we are to educate a

temporal imagination adequate to reframing ‘the era of climate crisis’ in ways that cultivate both dialogue and

opportunities for personal and collective agency.

References

Adam, B. (1990).

Time and Social Theory

. Polity Press.

Adam, B. (1998).

Timescapes of Modernity

. Routledge.

Adam, B., & Groves, C. (2007).

Future Matters: Action, Knowledge, Ethics

. Brill.

Aldaheff Jones, M. (2017).

Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education Rethinking the temporal complexity of

self and society

. Routledge.

Archer, M. (2012).

The Reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity

. Cambridge University Press.

Bastian, M. (2012). Fatally confused: Telling the time in the midst of ecological crises.

Environmental Philosophy

(1), 23–48.

Birth, K. (2012).

Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality

. Palgrave Macmillan US.

https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137017895

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Chakrabarty, D. (2008).

Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Hist

orical Difference. Princeton University

Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691130019/provincializing-europe

Ghosh, A. (2016).

The Great Derangement: Cliamte Change and the Unthinkable

. University of Chicago Press.

Giddens, A. (1994). Living in a post-traditioanl society. In

Reflexive Modernization

. Polity Press.

Hulme, M. (2017).

Why We Disagree About Climate Change

. Cambridge University Press.

Mbembe, A. (2001). Time on the Move. In

On the Postcolony

. University of California Press.

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520917538-001

Nanni, G. (2012).

The colonisation of time: Ritual, routine and resistance in the British Empire

. Manchester

University Press.

Norgaard, K. (2011).

Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life

. MIT Press.

Sharma, S. (2014).

In the Meantime: Temporality and Cultural Politics

. Duke University Press.

Yusoff, K. (2013). Geologic Life: Prehistory, Climate, Futures in the Anthropocene.

Environment and Planning D:

Society and Space

(5), 779–795. https://doi.org/10.1068/d11512

Zittoun, T., & Gillespie, A. (2016).

Imagination in Human and Cultural Development

. Routledge.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice: How to Implement, Assess and Detect

Transformative Learning Approaches?

Lise Janssens & Tom Kuppens

The UNESCO Berlin declaration of 2021 states that the time to act and react for sustainability and climate action is

now (UNESCO, 2021). Education for sustainable development (ESD) plays a critical element of supporting the

transition to a sustainable future (Gómez et al., 2015) and the approach of transformative learning (TL) is mentioned

as the way forward to teach and learn for sustainability (UNESCO, 2021). As defined by Morrell and O'Connor (2002),

transformative learning causes a profound structural shift that dramatically and permanently alters our way of

being in the world. It is a process that results in a significant and irreversible change in how a person experiences,

interacts and conceptualizes the world (Hoggan, 2015). The process starts with a trigger that creates a disorienting

dilemma, i.e. an emotional feeling that creates a strong enough irritation, transforming a first stable situation into

a semi-stable state. When the situation feels safe enough, the learner has access to more resources like creativity

to meet the challenges and to move on to a new stable state (Förster et al., 2019). However, integrating the approach

of transformative learning in education is challenging and requires educational reforms (Joubert & Slabbert, 2017).

But educational systems worldwide are complex, rigid and strongly traditional; therefore, change within a school

setting is not easy (Kovacs, 2018). At the moment, there is an urgent need within the research domain of

transformative learning to focus on ‘how’ creating ‘the change’ in educational systems , ‘how’ to teach in a

transformative way, how to recognize transformative moments in teaching/learning and ‘how’ to assess these

practices. Until now the approach of transformative learning is mostly only theoretically addressed and data on

cases or promising examples are limited (Joubert & Slabbert, 2017). This gap forms a significant boundary between

research and practice. Therefore, future research should focus on the implementation of transformative learning in

practice, recognize transformative situations and build up a common understanding on how to assess the impact of

this pedagogical approach. Time and space are necessary to address, reflect and recognize opportunities to

transform. The assessment and recognition of transformative learning causes however a disorienting dilemma on

its own for the research field (Searle et al., 2021). Questions like ‘How to embody assessment within transformative

learning’, ‘ How to recognize transformation in (or even out) the classroom?’, ‘What do we want to assess?’, ‘How to

determine what to assess?’, ‘How to capture the whole process of transformative learning in assessment?’ and ‘What

link could exists between assessment of the impact of transformative learning approaches and the evaluation of

schooling practices?’ pop up. Some research exists on how to ‘measure’ or investigate parts of the transformative

learning process like critical and reflective thinking (Savicki & Price, 2021; Taylor, 2017) but capture not the whole

process. Furthermore, up to know mostly qualitative approaches, for example narratives, interviews, journal

writings, are used in research to detect the outcomes of transformative learning. Some exceptions are the ‘Kember’s

Critical Reflection Questionnaire’, the ‘Learning Activity Survey, the ‘Transformative learning Survey’ and the ‘VALUE’

rubric’, which use a quantitative approach to assess the impact of TL (Romano, 2018). However, they all have severe

limitations: they cannot be used without additional qualitative instruments, they only capture parts of the process

without detecting a whole transformation or they lack construct and factorial validity. Furthermore arts or better to

call it creative expressions (as the focus is on the process of expressing emotions and feelings rather than the output

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

of the art itself) could also play an important role in both education and researching transformative learning

approaches for sustainability. A central question here is what can be learned from and by ‘art’?

If research wants to overcome the black box, the discussion on how to do this needs to start now. Overcoming these

barriers and discussing the questions above can cause a positive ripple effect regarding the implementation and

recognition of promising examples. This can move the field ‘forward’. Ones it is clear how we can ‘measure’ the

impact of transformative learning and detect transformative approaches in learning, it is also more easy to detect

and learn from the promising examples. Ultimately this can contribute to ‘the change we want’.

References

Förster, R., Zimmermann, A. B., & Mader, C. (2019). Transformative teaching in Higher Education for Sustainable

Development: facing the challenges.

GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society

(3), 324-326.

Gómez, F. U., Sáez-Navarrete, C., Lioi, S. R., & Marzuca, V. I. (2015). Adaptable model for assessing sustainability in

higher education.

Journal of Cleaner Production

107

, 475-485.

Hoggan, C. D. (2015). Transformative Learning as a Metatheory: Definition, Criteria, and Typology.

Adult Education

Quarterly

, 57-75.

Joubert, J., & Slabbert, J. (2017). Facilitating transformative learning: supporting students experiencing unique

challenges.

Support for Learning

(2), 180-194.

Kovacs, H. (2018). Change, challenge, transformation: A qualitative inquiry into transformative teacher learning.

CEPS Journal

(3), 99-118.

Morrell, A., & O'Connor, M. A. (2002). Introduction. In: Expanding the boundaries of transformative learning: Essays

on theory and praxis.

Edited by E. O’Sullivan, A. Morrell, M.A. O’Connor. New York: Palgrave

, 15-20.

Romano, A. (2018). Transformative learning: A review of the assessment tools.

Journal of Transformative Learning

(1).

Savicki, V., & Price, M. V. (2021). Reflection in transformative learning: The challenge of measurement.

Journal of

Transformative Education

(4), 366-382.

Searle, M., Ahn, C., Fels, L., & Carbone, K. (2021). Illuminating transformative learning/assessment: Infusing creativity,

reciprocity, and care into higher education.

Journal of Transformative Education

(4), 339-365.

Taylor, E. W. (2017). Critical reflection and transformative learning: A critical review.

PAACE Journal of Lifelong

Learning

(2), 77-95.

UNESCO. (2021).

Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO World Conference on

Education for Sustainable Development

. Berlin: UNESCO

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

An Agenda Without End: The Paradoxes of Growth and Sustainable Development for

Marginalized Communities and the Possible Assimilation and Revision of The ESE

Agenda in the Global South

(Observations from Western and Central India – Banswara, Rajasthan & New Delhi)

Saransh Sugandh & Mohammad Kaleem

While climate change and the impending as well as continuing changes in our natural world necessitate a reaction

of doom-and-gloom, especially in younger population groups, there are parts of the global south that are already

reeling under ruinous changes- man-made as well as natural that continue to make rural and urban communities

vulnerable. These impacts are most acutely felt by children. The agenda of education everywhere has been updated-

sustainability and its many dimensions are definite talking points but the irony of it all perhaps often goes

unnoticed, when children of migrant parents and daily-wage labourers learn about sustainability practices through

mobile non-formal structures as their parents toil in the sun, pushed to the edges of a city or rural habitation in the

name of development. Land is being acquired across the southern economies, especially in countries like India, with

growing energy demands. The intention is to build solar parks as well as develop Nuclear power plants, usually in

the rural expanses. As cities grow, they need land to build landfills and water-treatment plants among several other

kinds of amenities. In both situations land is being acquired in poorer peri-urban regions and land that is classified

as “wasteland” in rural areas. Most of this acquisition is done by the government- even when it is being carried out

for private interests, the negotiations are often led by the government bodies. A lot of this “wasted” land in question

serves lower caste and lower-class population groups, nomadic and indigenous communities.

While in the rural areas, such an acquisition leads to direct displacement and a necessity to migrate to earn

livelihoods, in urban areas, it leads to a notable decline in the quality of life due to an impact on the quality of water

and air. Children continue to attend educational facilities available in the region. The primary and secondary

educational facilities or the temporary non-formal educational structures follow the state defined curricula. India

has a notable legacy in the domain of environmental education, something that was mandated by the Supreme

Court of the country in 1991, coincidentally just a year before the country opened its door to the world through the

policy of economic liberalization. The conflict between the desire to conserve nature and sustainable indigenous

practices and the need for economic growth has persisted- as pointed out the burden often falls on the poor and

marginalized. India is following the global initiatives to integrate the Environmental and Sustainability Education

initiatives into its curricula but how successful is it in acknowledging and reflecting on the struggles of its own

people?

For example, the competency-based approach of Education for Sustainable Development talks about the need to

instill and bring out capacities of critical-thinking and anticipatory thinking but how realistic is it when basic

provisions that a welfare state must provide for go missing? Could approaches based in theatre and movement help

bring out some of the trauma that such populations groups are experiencing? Could it become a way to channelize

the frustrations and offer the necessary healing before one talks about the possible route of action for the future?

What indigenous knowledge and practices could be relied on to bring out their authentic experiences and build a

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

path for both- resistance and growth? A certain decolonization from the western articulations of Sustainable Growth

and an awareness of class-caste struggles located in the lived realities of global south is necessary for a fair and

equitable growth and creation of opportunities through educational processes and systems. Through our work in

the formal as well as non-formal educational system in the peri-urban areas of Delhi and Rural Rajasthan, we would

like to share and co-create further, based on our lessons on the subject.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

“I am not Eligible”: Climate Anxiety Student Coping within University Boarders

Oleksandra Khalaim

In 2021, the first massive survey investigated attitudes of young people from both Global North and Global South to

future under climate change threats (Hickman et al., 2021). It is indeed not surprising that two-thirds of them regard

their future as “

frightening

”, under the climate urgency we face. The consequences have been constantly

intensifying, and it has finally been proven that humans are responsible for a huge list of environmental damages

on the Earth resulted by anthropogenic climate change (IPCC 2021).

What is the role of universities acting for sustainability transformations (Verhoef & Bossert, 2019) through ESE, in

climate anxiety coping of their students? Are higher educational institutions and specifically student health services

working towards the transformation of climate/eco anxiety attitude from “

a chronic fear of environmental doom

”

(according to its classical definition stated in Clayton et al. 2017) to an empowering complex of emotions that help

to form an adaptive response to climate threats (Comtesse et al. 2021)?

The recent research in Sweden (Rothe, 2021) claims that universities do not meet climate anxiety of student youth

properly, leaving it beyond own responsibility. Students often do not feel eligible to address student health services

with climate related anxiety cases. Moreover, our own recent observations show that student health services of top

ten most populated universities in Sweden do not mention climate/eco anxiety in their website publications

(Khalaim & MacQueen, 2022). Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) test that help students identifying

depression and anxiety states in their life routine appeared to be recommended by half of them to students, but its

efficiency in identifying climate/eco anxiety states remains doubtful. Another communality for analyzed student

health service webpages was the prioritizing study-related cases rather than working with students’ stress or

anxiety in general. The question here is if students and student health services can distinguish study related anxiety

out of climate change related one, as well as general one, especially if either studies or private life (in case of

ecological civil activism, for instance) is related to climate change topic?

Even though the problem of climate anxiety remains novel and is only entering general health care practices

(Pihkala 2021), more information should be available for students in university health services to “legitimize”

climate/eco anxiety related inquires. The problem of climate anxiety that exists de-facto within university walls

should be recognized de-jure as well. New interdisciplinary groups should be created, protocols and educational

practices of students’ emotional support should be developed, as well as peer support system involving

ecopsychological expertise should be organized in higher educational institutions, together with continuing

education for teachers on coping techniques in relation to ecological emotions (Pihkala 2020). But first and

foremost, university administration should publicly accept the mission of taking eco / climate anxiety problem out

of a “shadow zone”.

Moreover, emotional work within climate change education can be regarded as a part of the “inner sustainability”

concept that is based on “

encouraging scholars and practitioners to intentionally cultivate their inner worlds to

strengthen inner resources necessary for addressing sustainability challenges

” (Ives, Freeth & Fischer 2020). Some

universities in Sweden have already started integrating it into their program documents: for example, Karolinska

Institutet provides an extra focus on inner sustainability as a part of its Strategy 2030, in order to “

highlight the

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

potential of inner worlds when it comes to inspiration, mental-, emotional- and spiritual health, insights, focus and

problem-solving

” (KI official website, 2022).

Given the wider perspective and importance of climate related mental health, researchers emphasize a necessity of

further evidence base development to determine social and infrastructural resources in order to train the next

generation of “Climate Mental Health Specialists” (Susteren & Al-Delaimy, 2020). Climate change education should

go hand-by-hand with psychotherapy aimed effective work with emotions related to environmental topics in a

university classroom. Most likely, global climate change will remain with us in the upcoming years; it means a high

need of new datasets and further studies on “ecopsychiatry” (Cianconi, Betrò, and Janiri 2020) in higher education,

to support the academic community in these uncertain and vulnerable times.

References

Cianconi P, Betrò S and Janiri L (2020) The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health: A Systematic Descriptive

Review. Front. Psychiatry 11:74. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00074

Clayton S., Manning C. M., Krygsman K., & Speiser M. (2017) Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts,

Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica.

Comtesse H., Ertl V., Hengst S.M.C., Rosner R., & Smid G.E. (2021) Ecological Grief as a Response to Environmental

Change: A Mental Health Risk or Functional Response? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18, 734.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020734

Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, E. R., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & van Susteren, L.

(2021) Young People’s Voices on Climate Anxiety, Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon.

SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3918955

IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working

Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [MassonDelmotte,

V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell,

E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University

Press.

Ives, C.D., Freeth, R. & Fischer, J. (2020) Inside-out sustainability: The neglect of inner worlds. Ambio 49, 208–217.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01187-w

Karolinska Institutet. Inner Sustainability (2022) https://staff.ki.se/inner-sustainability [Accessed 28 March 2022].

Khalaim O. & MacQueen J. (2022) Student health services’ work in top 10 Swedish universities in relation to “global

pandemic” of climate anxiety among youth. Proceedings of the Development Research Conference (DevRes)

‘Transforming development research for sustainability’ [in press].

Pihkala P. (2020) Eco-Anxiety and Environmental Education. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10149;

doi:10.3390/su122310149

Pihkala P. (2021) Eco-anxiety and Health Professionals. University of Helsinki.

https://www.academia.edu/46963277/Eco_anxiety_and_Health_Professionals [Accessed 28 March 2022]

Rothe L. (2021) Ecovillages as Destinations - Potential of Educational Tourism for Coping with Climate-Anxiety.

Degree project. Uppsala University.

Susteren Lise and Al-Delaimy Wael K. (2020) CHAPTER 14. Psychological Impacts of Climate Change and

Recommendations. \\ W. K. Al-Delaimy, V. Ramanathan, M. Sánchez Sorondo (eds.), Health of People, Health of

Planet and Our Responsibility https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31125-4_14

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Care in Times of Climate Crisis

Charlotte Ponzelar

"I often talk to people who say, ‘No, we have to be hopeful and to inspire each other, and we can’t tell [people]

too many negative things’ . . . But, no — we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to

tell, then what should we do, should we spread false hope? We can’t do that, we have to tell the truth."

Greta Thunberg

What if the truth hurts?

What if our initial concern, the driver behind educating ourselves about the climate crisis simply develops into

anxiety leaving us paralyzed, hopeless and in despair? We have all the facts. We have all the knowledge. We

understand what is at stake. We want to run, and still, we are exhausted before we are able to move.

As the title of this year’s seminar, climate activists around the world, climate scientists and any type of media

coverage about environmental hazards suggest: ‘we don’t have time’ and ‘our house is on fire’. We are not talking

about a problem for which there is a solution. We are talking about a crisis that leaves most people learning about

its severity in shock with emotional, cognitive or even physical and behavioral reactions that can be associated with

symptoms of trauma (Clayton & Karazsia 2020).

Issues regarding the emotional dimensions of ESE and questions of ‘who takes responsibility for our trauma’ and if

this question would be fruitful to ask have continuously accompanied me after my studies in Environmental

Communication (M.Sc.) and during my work as a course coordinator (CC) at CEMUS

. At CEMUS students are hired as

CCs to develop and facilitate freestanding university courses following an educational model of student-led

education. It encourages CC-students to break free from traditional teacher-student hierarchies and to take charge

of their own and ‘their’ students learning trajectories. Myself, together with my colleagues and students were

empowered and supported to challenge conventional ideas about teaching and learning, which led to me asking

today:

What if it is not the knowledge that leaves us hopeless but the way we are left with it that makes us feel helpless?

By now, researchers, teachers, course coordinators and students might be aware of emotional responses to

existential questions (e.g. Wu et. al 2020) but are barely equipped with resources nor knowledge to respond to it.

While educational institutions should keep an eye on the students’ readiness to learn which is influenced by their

well-being (Keeling 2014), a common response to this issue is that teachers cannot take the role of therapists. Other

authors criticize an infantilization of students when assuming the need for emotional support since they should be

treated as mature adults that can take care of themselves (Barnett 2010). I wish for us to realize that not only

students but also researchers and teachers are in this crisis together and that it demands for learning communities

in which we do not feel alone with the struggle - no matter our age or position. We might question our being in the

CEMUS is the joint Centre for Environment and Development Studies between Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural

Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

world, our identities and relationships, and even question the questions we are asking.

As much as we care for this world, we must learn taking care of ourselves while taking care of others.

Barnett (2010) argues for a therapeutic university in times of uncertainty and calls it a feasible utopia which I

suggest we should scrutinize further in ESE research and beyond. My learning and teaching experiences (see Ishihara

et al. 2021), and reflections on readings about relational understandings of sustainability (e.g. Walsh et al. 2020,

Facer 2016, Care et al. 2021, Barad 2007, Haraway 2004, Wamsler et al. 2018, Hooks 2003, Macy & Johnstone 2012)

make me believe that we can create learning environments where there is space for climate sorrow (Todd 2020),

where the learning community can hold insecurities through strong relationships (Bergdahl & Langmann 2021) and

without threatening the pedagogical role of educational institutions.

Together with my colleagues and the ESE network, I wish to explore these relationships and how learning

environments can foster community with the notion of care as potentially fundamental in the everyday. This interest

touches upon various sub-themes of this year’s invitational conference, but mostly engages with the quest of

acknowledging and responding to ‘

emotionally challenging and existential issues in teaching and learning

practices’.

The following questions illustrate different layers, tensions and levels of how an inquiry into the matter can unfold:

•

What does it mean to explore relationships that come to the surface in education and research practice: the

relationships towards ourselves, each other, and the world around us?

•

What is the role of the student and the pedagogical responsibility of the teacher in creating a learning

community that nurtures care, in which we can openly share vulnerabilities?

•

How can the university (incl. academia) establish time and space, hence, structurally allow to be agile in

situations that demand for listening, slowness and care?

•

Where are boundaries between the psychological and pedagogical role of educational institutions and its

actors? But more importantly perhaps, where does the ESE research community stand in response to this

question?

•

How can we methodologically and emotionally marry the urgency to act with wise deliberate slowness? In

relation: How can we focus on solutions while also grieving what is lost?

•

And as a way to approach these questions: What is there to be unlearned?

References

Barad, K. (2007).

Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning

duke university Press.

Barnett, R. (2010).

Being a university

. Routledge.

Bergdahl, L., & Langmann, E. (2021). Pedagogical publics: Creating sustainable educational environments in times

of climate change.

European Educational Research Journal

, 14749041211005618.

Care, O., Bernstein, M. J., Chapman, M., Reviriego, I. D., Dressler, G., Felipe-Lucia, M. R., ... & Zaehringer, J. G. (2021).

Creating leadership collectives for sustainability transformations.

Sustainability science

, 1-6.

Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety.

Journal of

Environmental Psychology

, 101434.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Facer, K. (2016). Using the future in education: Creating space for openness, hope and novelty. In The Palgrave

international handbook of alternative education (pp. 63-78). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Haraway, D. J. (2004). The haraway reader. Psychology Press.

Hooks, B. (2003).

Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope (Vol. 36)

. Psychology Press.

Ishihara, S., Tommasini, A., Ponzelar, C., & Livmar, E. (2021). “Student-led education for a better world?” Reflections

in conversation.

Högre utbildning

, 11(3).

Keeling, R. P. (2014). An ethic of care in higher education: Well-being and learning.

Journal of College and

Character,

15(3), 141-148.

Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012).

Active hope: How to face the mess we're in without going crazy

. New World Library.

Todd, S. (2020). Creating aesthetic encounters of the world, or teaching in the presence of climate sorrow.

Journal

of Philosophy of Education

, 54(4), 1110-1125.

Walsh, Z., Böhme, J., & Wamsler, C. (2020). Towards a relational paradigm in sustainability research, practice, and

education.

Ambio

, 1-11.

Wamsler, C., Brossmann, J., Hendersson, H., Kristjansdottir, R., McDonald, C., & Scarampi, P. (2018). Mindfulness in

sustainability science, practice, and teaching.

Sustainability Science

, 13(1), 143-162.

Wu, J., Snell, G., & Samji, H. (2020). Climate anxiety in young people: a call to action.

The Lancet Planetary

Health

(10), e435-e436.

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

Fostering Deep Learning by Uncovering Emotions in Empowerment for Sustainability

Processes

Valentina Tassone

Empowering students to care for a world in crisis is more than a noble proposition. It is an urgent matter of focus

in sustainability-oriented higher education (UNESCO, 2015). Increasingly, it is acknowledged that climate challenges

and the search for a more sustainable world can be emotionally charged (e.g. Pikahla, 2021; Martiskainen and

Sovacool, 2021), that therefore emotions are important to consider in education (Verlie, 2019), and that they are

connected to students experiences of (dis)empowerment (e.g. Jones, 2021). However, the literature falls short on

exploring how to facilitate processes of empowerment for sustainability that include the emotional dimension. This

essay focuses on addressing this point by presenting and reflecting upon the use of the expanded EYE model for

facilitating emotion-inclusive deep learning processes of empowerment for sustainability.

Tassone et al, (2017) and Tassone and Wals (2014) have elaborated the EYE (Educating yourself in Empowerment) 4

Sustainability model, which supports processes of empowerment. This EYE model draws from notions of

psychological empowerment (e.g. Zimmerman, 1995) and transformative learning (Mezirow and Taylor, 2009). The

EYE, see Figure 1, is represented by green eye-glasses and is

four dimensional

. Implementing the EYE in teaching

practices implies engaging students in: reflecting on sustainability-related worldviews, facts, and practices

(

understanding dimension

); connecting to sustainability challenges that matter to them and exploring their

aspirations, dilemmas and personal agency (

awakening dimension

); positioning themselves and considering

structural factors and available resources, in their quest for a more sustainable existence (

positioning dimension

);

creating and implementing a real-life personal initiative in order to contribute to a sustainability challenge within

their own sphere of influence (

enacting dimension

Figure 2: The expanded EYE model (Graphical Design by Floor de Wit)

EMOTIONALLY CHALLENGING AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PRACTICES

CHALLENGES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION RESEARCH IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

This essay presents an expansion of the EYE model. This expanded model includes a fifth dimension, the

emotions,

as an integral part of empowerment for sustainability processes. The

emotional dimension

is represented by the

TAO symbol (the yellow circle) in Figure 1. This expanded EYE model can be employed when designing whole-courses

and is integrated in the teaching practices in various courses at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).

There are

three questions

I would like to engage the reader with, and which are only partly explored in the literature

addressing empowerment, emotions and sustainability. For each question, I share

reflections

based on my

observations during the six credit WUR course “Empowerment for Sustainability” which I have designed according

to the expanded EYE model and which I teach, in collaboration with invited co-teachers.

What teaching and learning approaches can help students to explore their experienced emotions in

empowerment processes?

This question is hardly explored in literature. My observations suggest that

creative approaches such as arts-based, reflective and contemplative teaching and learning approaches

(e.g. Pearson et al., 2018) are conducive to uncovering the

emotional dimension

in deep empowerment for

sustainability processes. Storytelling, photography, dialogue conversations, theater, and contemplation in

nature, are all examples of teaching approaches that were implemented in the course presented above,

and helped students to connect to their emotions and brought depth to the learning process. The evoked

emotions also drive the development of arts-based students initiatives (

enacting dimension

). Examples of

those initiatives can be found here.

To what aspects of the empowerment process are emotions connected?

Emotional experiences, in the

context of (dis)empowerment and sustainability, are not only related to students (lack of) agency,

engagement and action, and to (climate-related) sustainability concerns. My observations suggests that it

is valuable to uncover emotional reactions in connection to each and all of the four dimensions of the EYE.

An example, in the

understanding & positioning dimensions

: during class, students are invited to give a first

emotional reaction while looking at the image of a word-cloud mapping multiple ways to interpret

sustainability

Linda said she felt confused, lost and disempowered by those different interpretations of

sustainability, she would have hoped for a more clear-cut definition at least within the course; Mark,

however, experienced a sense of curiosity and felt open and empowered to investigate those differences

and see where his ideas would fit in. Sharing those emotional reactions can support deep learning