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Introduction

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Education, Community Engagement and Sustainable Development

Abstract

Environmental education has been at the centre of international and national policies of sustainable development for the last several decades, and has stimulated significant debate regarding both its inclusion in educational programming and proposed methods for implementation. Research has given critical attention to diverse theories and practices of environmental education, but has tended to take a narrow focus on specific curricula and policies or on activities within strictly defined sites such as classrooms or natural areas. The field has also largely been focused on discussions and initiatives in industrialised countries, and neglected to explore perspectives, policy and practice elsewhere in the world. In contrast, this chapter introduces a research study based on anthropological fieldwork that explored environmental education and learning in the community of Monteverde, Costa Rica. In particular, the research set out to both explore initiatives taking place in formal education, in programmes organised by non-governmental organisations, and through engagement in public education spaces, as well as the relationships between them and the wider community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Throughout the book, I use the terms ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ with caution because such categories are highly problematic, and often inaccurate (cf. Sachs 1999; Rahnema and Bawtree 1997; Grillo and Stirrat 1997). Nevertheless, both terms are commonly used in contemporary discussions of global relationships and provide a useful way of highlighting the inequalities that are often a feature of them.

  2. 2.

    See, for example, numerous resources on the websites of the UK’s Council for Environmental Education and the North American Association for Environmental Education.

  3. 3.

    Given this sensitivity to the role of both formal and informal education in social transformation, it is perhaps surprising to note that anthropological research has yet to devote sustained attention specifically to environmental education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Development Education Research Centre Institute of Education, University of London, 36 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD, UK

    Nicole Blum

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  1. Nicole Blum
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Blum, N. (2012). Introduction. In: Education, Community Engagement and Sustainable Development. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2527-0_1

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