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What Makes Environmental and Sustainability Education Transformative: A Re-Appraisal of the Conceptual Parameters

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  • Niranjan Casinader

    (Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia)

Abstract

As with all educational policy and practice, Environmental and Sustainability Education, if it is to be effective and meaningful, has to be designed and implemented in ways that reflect twenty-first-century circumstances, which are characterized by a globalized society in which cultural diversities amongst individuals and populations have become increasingly more complex and prominent. Using a conceptual and philosophical analysis of the research and policy literature, this paper contends that current ESE tends to be trapped within a restrictive monocultural definition of sustainability that does not reflect the different cultural perspectives towards sustainability that exist across global populations as a whole. It further argues that if ESE is to become truly transformative for students, ESE teachers need to develop a transcultural capacity as part of their professional expertise, one that is more aligned with the reality of a more culturally diverse population and student body. Only then can transformative and effective ESE pedagogies be developed that relate more closely to the socio-political context in which students of today will live.

Suggested Citation

  • Niranjan Casinader, 2021. "What Makes Environmental and Sustainability Education Transformative: A Re-Appraisal of the Conceptual Parameters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-10, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:5100-:d:547827
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maarten Hajer & Måns Nilsson & Kate Raworth & Peter Bakker & Frans Berkhout & Yvo De Boer & Johan Rockström & Kathrin Ludwig & Marcel Kok, 2015. "Beyond Cockpit-ism: Four Insights to Enhance the Transformative Potential of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Tim Strasser & Joop de Kraker & René Kemp, 2020. "Three Dimensions of Transformative Impact and Capacity: A Conceptual Framework Applied in Social Innovation Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-40, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brian P. McCullough & Jamee A. Pelcher, 2021. "Instructor–Student Mentoring: Strengths of Transformative Sustainability Learning and Its Direct Application to Impact Industry and Curricular Refinement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, September.
    2. María-Carmen Ricoy & Cristina Sánchez-Martínez, 2022. "Raising Ecological Awareness and Digital Literacy in Primary School Children through Gamification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-19, January.

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