Sustainability and Environmental Education across Place, Culture and Community

Dear Colleagues,

Mother Earth is currently facing many environmental concerns such as loss of biodiversity, water, air, and soil pollution, deforestation, and climate change. As our environment changes, it is crucial to become aware of the problems that surround us and seek appropriate ways to protect our planet. The role of education in achieving sustainability and protecting the planet is unquestioned. According to the UNESCO 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, “access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems” (UN, 2019).

Environmental and sustainability education (ESE) aims at examining and emphasizing the origins and sources of current problems and seeks a new vision of education that empowers people of all ages and communities to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future and developing environmental stewardship. ESE emphasizes democratic processes, acknowledges diversity, and promotes peace, equality, and justice. As such, it is human-centered, involves communities, and encourages critical thinking, action, and collaboration.

This Special Issue of Education Sciences seeks to bring together wide-ranging research to assess, lighten, and debate whether, when, and how ESE empowers a learning society for sustainability through quality education and how it contributes to a better world and to more environmentally responsible citizens. This Special Issue aims to encourage dialogue between researchers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners on the opportunities and challenges that ESE brings into play in different contexts (e.g., countries, cultures, or communities) at the theoretical, methodological, and practical levels.

Both conceptual and empirical papers are welcome in this Special Issue. Extended versions of conference papers (with at least 50% different contents and undergoing a new peer-review process) are also eligible and welcome.

References:

Chawla, L., & Cushing, D. F. (2007). Education for strategic environmental behavior. Environmental education research, 13(4), 437-452.‏

Chawla, L. (2008). Participation and the ecology of environmental awareness and action. In Participation and learning (pp. 98-110). Springer, Dordrecht.‏

Greenwood (formerly Gruenewald), D. A. (2008) A critical pedagogy of place: from gridlock to parallax, Environmental Education Research, 14:3, 336-348

Gruenewald, D.A. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32, 3–12.

Gonzalez-Gaudiano, E. (2009). What does environmentally educated citizenship mean? In E. Gonzalez-Gaudiano & M.A. Peters (Eds.), Environmental education: Identity, politics and citizenship (pp. 53–62). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Gonzalez-Gaudiano, E.J. (2006). Environmental education: A field in tension or in transition? Environmental Education Research, 12, 291–300.

Heimlich, J. E. (2010). Environmental education evaluation: Reinterpreting education as a strategy for meeting mission. Evaluation and Program planning, 33(2), 180-185.‏

Jickling, B., & Wals, A.E.J. (2008). Globalization and environmental education: Looking beyond sustainable development. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40, 1–21.

McKeown, R., & Hopkins, C. (2003). EE ≠ /ESD: Defusing the worry. Environmental Education Research, 9, 117–128.

Palmer, J. A. (2002). Environmental education in the 21st century: Theory, practice, progress and promise. Routledge.‏

Stevenson, R. B., & Dillon, J. (2010). Engaging environmental education: Learning, culture and agency. Sense Publishers.‏

Stevenson, R.B. (2006). Tensions and transitions in policy discourse: Recontextualizing a decontextualized EE/ESD debate. Environmental Educational Research, 12, 277–290.

Stevenson, R. B., Brody, M., Dillon, J., & Wals, A. E. (2013). International handbook of research on environmental education. Routledge.‏

Tilbury, D., & Stevenson, R. B. (Eds.). (2002). Education and sustainability: Responding to the global challenge. IUCN.‏

Wals, A. E. (2014). Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: a review of learning and institutionalization processes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 62, 8-15.‏

Wals, A. E., Brody, M., Dillon, J., & Stevenson, R. B. (2014). Convergence between science and environmental education. Science, 344(6184), 583-584.‏

Dr. Iris Alkaher
Guest Editor

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• Environmental education
• Education for sustainability
• Environmental activism
• Environmental citizenship
• Environmental literacy
• Multicultural Environmental Education
• Place-based education
• Critical pedagogy of place
• Place attachment
• Transformative education for sustainability
• Outdoor education
• Ecological risk education
• Climate change education
• Connectedness to nature
• Environmental identity
• Human–environment relationship
• Socio-ecological systems