Abstract
Emerging from popular education movements in Latin America, ecopedagogy is a critical environmental pedagogy which focuses on understanding the connections between social conflict and environmentally harmful acts carried out by humans. These connections are often politically hidden in education. Ecopedagogy, while being pluralistic, is in its essence defined as a critical, transformative environmental pedagogy centred on increasing social and environmental justice. Its ultimate aim is to find a sustainable balance between the conflicting goals of diverse notions of human progress and environmental wellbeing. This article is based on two comparative research projects. The first was a qualitative study on ecopedagogical models involving 31 expert ecopedagogues in Argentina, Brazil and the Appalachian region of the United States. They were asked for their perspectives on how successful ecopedagogy can be defined within the contexts in which they taught and conducted research. The second study analysed how 18 international expert scholars of citizenship and/or environmental pedagogy from six world continents regarded the ways in which citizenship intersects with environmental issues and the pedagogies of both in an increasingly globalised world, with specific focus on Global Citizenship Education. Results from the first study indicate the following two needs for effective environmental pedagogies: (1) for there to be an ecopedagogical paradigm shift in environmental teaching and research; and (2) for ecopedagogy to be an essential element of citizenship education (and vice versa). This article examines how conflicting processes of globalisation both help and hinder in achieving such a paradigm shift by decentring traditional nation-state citizenship. Results from the second study indicate how critical teaching within and between different spheres of citizenship (e.g. local, national, global, and planetary citizenship) is essential for ecopedagogy (and the ecopedagogical element).
Résumé
L’éco-pédagogie, élément de l’éducation à la citoyenneté : dialectique des domaines mondial/local de la citoyenneté et pédagogies critiques de l’environnement – Née des mouvements éducatifs populaires d’Amérique latine, l’éco-pédagogie est une didactique critique de l’environnement axée sur la compréhension des liens entre conflit social et actes nuisibles à l’environnement accomplis par l’être humain. Ces liens sont souvent passés sous silence dans l’éducation pour des motifs politiques. Tout en étant pluraliste, l’éco-pédagogie se définit dans son essence comme une pédagogie critique et transformatrice de l’environnement, tendant à renforcer la justice sociale et environnementale. Son but ultime consiste à établir un équilibre durable entre les objectifs conflictuels des diverses notions du progrès humain et du bien-être environnemental. Cet article se fonde sur deux projets de recherche comparée. Le premier est une étude qualitative sur les modèles éco-pédagogiques impliquant 31 experts éco-pédagogues en Argentine, au Brésil et dans la région des Appalaches aux États-Unis. Ils devaient exprimer leurs avis quant au degré de succès de l’éco-pédagogie qu’ils pouvaient établir dans leurs contextes respectifs d’enseignement et de recherche. La seconde étude a analysé dans quelle mesure 18 experts internationaux spécialistes de la citoyenneté et/ou de la pédagogie de l’environnement, originaires des six continents, considèrent que la citoyenneté rejoint les questions environnementales et les pédagogies des deux disciplines dans un contexte de mondialisation croissante, avec un accent particulier sur l’Éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale (ECM). Les résultats de la première étude signalent les deux impératifs suivants pour des pédagogies environnementales efficaces : 1) un changement de paradigme éco-pédagogique dans l’enseignement et la recherche sur l’environnement, et 2) l’éco-pédagogie en tant qu’élément essentiel de l’éducation à la citoyenneté (et vice versa). L’auteur examine comment les processus conflictuels de mondialisation à la fois favorisent et freinent ce changement de paradigme en décentrant la citoyenneté traditionnelle de l’État-nation. Les conclusions de la seconde étude indiquent que l’enseignement critique dans les différents domaines de la citoyenneté et entre ces derniers (par exemple citoyenneté locale, nationale, internationale et planétaire) est essentiel pour l’éco-pédagogie (et l’élément afférent).
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Notes
The education-related term praxis was first used by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. He defined it as “reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed” (Freire 2000, p. 126).
Also coined by Paulo Freire, the term “problem-posing” refers to a teaching method which emphasises critical thinking for the purpose of liberation. Problem-posing is an alternative to the traditional model of what Freire terms “banking education”, where the teacher simply pours knowledge into students by lecturing without initiating dialogue, thus devaluing the students’ existing funds of knowledge (Freire 2000).
Snowball selection or snowball sampling is a purpose-oriented method of finding participants for a study by asking the first few directly contacted persons to suggest a few more whom they know to be suitable.
The term political is used here in its critical-theoretical rather than its “governmental” sense.
Globalisation from above indicates top-down processes of globalisation which influence local societies without local democratic decision-making. Processes of globalisation are complex and contextual, forming a contested terrain of processes from above and from below. Globalisation from below centres decision-making locally.
In this article, biocentrism refers to everything on Earth including all forms of life and non-living natural forms and formations such as landscapes and seascapes. The larger universe is also of concern, as it effects Earth.
Personal oral communication with Moacir Gadotti in São Paulo, Brazil (October 2010).
It is important to note that the knowledge and spiritual beliefs of others should not be forced onto a society or individual, but rather other societies’ understandings of Nature were seen as essential in teaching such topics as environmentalism, citizenship and development through biocentric lenses.
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I would like to acknowledge the following funding from the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University: the 2014 Fundamental Research Funds for the Comprehensive Construction of the Discipline of Education.
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Misiaszek, G.W. Ecopedagogy as an element of citizenship education: The dialectic of global/local spheres of citizenship and critical environmental pedagogies. Int Rev Educ 62, 587–607 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-016-9587-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-016-9587-0