Schooling and environmental/sustainability education: from discourses of policy and practice to discourses of professional learning

ESD Pedagogy: A Guide for the Perplexed

“…Despite this call, while the curricula have been evolving and responding to the policy discourse, educators are continuing to implement old pedagogies in the service of knew contents of the curricula. Stevenson (2007) pointed out to the ambiguity and "lofty aims" of the ESD discourse. We would like to stress that a lack of clear guidelines with regards to EE/ESD pedagogy contributes to this ambiguity and the lag of practice behind the rhetoric.…”

“…However, this high diversity is perplexing in terms of pedagogical framework of implementation. Stevenson (1987) brought to the center of attention the discoursepractice gap and argued that one of the contributing factors is that issues of practice have been silenced within the discourse of the field (Stevenson, 2007). In line with this claim, we would like to argue that throughout the three decades of EE practices within school systems and the later entree of ESD, the contents of the curricula have undergone profound changes, but the practiced pedagogy has not.…”

“…For others, sustainable development refers to specific objectives, which should be added to those of environmental education ' (p. 18). Stevenson (2007) claimed that over the past twenty years, the discourses of ESD have largely displaced that of environmental education in international policy circles. Scholars debate whether this transition is progressive or regressive.…”

“…Scholars debate whether this transition is progressive or regressive. According to Stevenson (2007) the discourse of ESD creates a broader and more complex agenda than environmental education, which is simultaneously more ambitious and more ambiguous.…”

“…Stevenson (2007) called for transforming the policy discourse into teachers' own discourse of practice, and most importantly, into pedagogical actions.…”