Jonas Andreasen Lysgaard

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reclaim “Education” in environmental and sustainability education research

AU - Sund, Per

AU - Lysgaard, Jonas Greve

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Without contextualization and explicit links to centuries of relevant educational theories, research presentations at conferences risk appearing disconnected from teaching method development or evaluation. Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), is a highly vibrant research area, benefitting from the work of hundreds of scholars all over the world. The aim of this paper is not to belittle the work done by ESE researchers. On the contrary, the quality of ESE research is evident in the various journals covering the field. Rather, this is an appeal to researchers to exercise vigilance in their claims, and to avoid focusing only on outcomes when participating in conferences. Normative statements instructing students or the general public on how to behave, or how not to behave, can be both unethical and undemocratic. We argue that ESE research can avoid such issues of normativity by incorporating elements of, and insights from, educational philosophy.

AB - Without contextualization and explicit links to centuries of relevant educational theories, research presentations at conferences risk appearing disconnected from teaching method development or evaluation. Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), is a highly vibrant research area, benefitting from the work of hundreds of scholars all over the world. The aim of this paper is not to belittle the work done by ESE researchers. On the contrary, the quality of ESE research is evident in the various journals covering the field. Rather, this is an appeal to researchers to exercise vigilance in their claims, and to avoid focusing only on outcomes when participating in conferences. Normative statements instructing students or the general public on how to behave, or how not to behave, can be both unethical and undemocratic. We argue that ESE research can avoid such issues of normativity by incorporating elements of, and insights from, educational philosophy.

KW - Education for Sustainable Development Research

KW - Environmental Education Research

KW - sustainability

KW - education for sustainable development

KW - Environmental education

KW - Miljø- og klimapædagogik

KW - Samfund/samtid

U2 - 10.3390/su5041598

DO - 10.3390/su5041598

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5

SP - 1598

EP - 1616

JO - Sustainability

JF - Sustainability

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 4

ER -