Challenging Bias in Ecological Education Discourses: Emancipatory ‘Development Education’ in Developing Countries

This paper uses a critical framework integrating Capability, Feminist and Critical Pedagogic theories to challenge the reductive focus within sustainability discourses on the physical environment, and education’s typical ‘development’ focus on economic growth. The paper presents three main arguments. First, it argues for holistic or ecological concepts of both ‘development’ and ESD, focusing on enlightened political participation, emancipation and social transformation as the basis of ecological sustainability. Second, it challenges the limitation of such agendas to wealthy countries while ‘development education’ thinking applied to poorer countries is almost entirely economic. Third, it explores the political educational mandate that flows from this position. The three arguments are developed by examining successes and shortcomings in emancipatory educational projects in South Africa, Latin America and the Arab world. These projects, previously documented, are analysed using comparative ‘glocalization’ tools to reveal context-specific ways that innovative vertical and horizontal collaboration has created responsive new forms of educationally-mediated politically sustainable ‘development’ – focusing on equality, particularly gender. The analysis shows that educating for ecologically sustainable development based on enlightened and equal political participation has no less a place in ‘developing’ countries than it does in richer ones although constraints, and therefore means, may be situationally distinctive.