Mid Sweden University

1. Research topic 

This paper is part of an ongoing research interest within educational contexts concerning the concept and phenomenon of eco-democracy. The interest stems from the assumption that humans and the more-than-humans, are confronted with ongoing intertwined crises, such as environmental destruction and a lack of confidence in democracy. Furthermore, ecological crises and their consequences are foremost political crises (Orr, 2024) tightly connected with injustice (Martusewicz, 2020). 

While understanding education as a necessary partner for change, education needs to capture tensions arising concerning political dimensions and normativity (Fettes & Blenkinsop, 2023). However, as both ecology and democracy build on refined concepts and links between them are changeable (Peters, 2017) how they merge educationally is of interest. Consequently, the educational approach to environmental education which we propose aims to explore how nature as co-teacher could widen students' perspectives of eco-democracy. 

2. Theoretical framework  

Our thinking is inspired by Wild Pedagogies and the formulated six touchstones as tools to support hope for the future. One of them, Nature as co-teacher, provides a focus on how the more-than-human-world could be actively included in teaching practices (Jickling et al, 2018).  Furthermore, the concept of Wilderness, as wildness, and self-willed land, is important as it provides a focus on how humans and more-than-humans can live and dwell together (Morse et al., 2018). Eco-democracy presupposes an ecocentric worldview where the more-than-humans have intrinsic value and affect democratic processes, which could be enacted through four value commitments, voice, consent, self-determination, and kindness (Blenkinsop & Wilhelmsson, forthcoming).   

3. Methodology  

The research design builds on qualitative exploratory methodology where the empirical data are co-produced in collaboration with students aged 7-12, and the more-than-human. Activities include discussions on eco-democracy and creative expressions using various materials. Follow-up interviews with teachers and students provide additional data. The produced material will be analyzed and created into eco-portraitures (Blenkinsop et al., 2022). Eco-portraiture offers a creative five-step analysis and interpretations within a geographical place that concerns aesthetic and ethical aspects and acknowledges more-than-human perspectives.

4. Expected findings  

This paper contributes by firstly, giving insights on how democracy vis-a-vis environmental crises and injustice practices could be understood through young students and more-than-human relations. Secondly, the study reveals the complexity of students' voices in environmental education, intricately connected with power relations among children, between teachers and students, and between humans and more-than-humans.

5. Relevance to Nordic educational research    

Our research has relevance for the Nordic countries with a tradition concerning democratic education. More specifically for rural northern areas, where sustainability development challenges are complex and pinpoint norms, values, and conditions for living and staying in sparsely populated areas (Kronlid & Wilhelmsson, 2024). Furthermore, our research contributes to introducing one of Wild Pedagogies touchstones as a methodological approach to environmental education.  

This paper begins with crises; environmental, social and democratic. And then it posits that in the midst of these crises there might be an opportunity. One that involves not so much "saving"democracy and sustaining current ways of life but shifting attentions towards potentially creating (re-creating) something different. Something we are calling eco-democracy. There have long been voices, calling for a more environmentally thoughtful form of democracy. After tracing a short discussion of this history including some of the critiques we turn to an exploration of eco-democracy in environmental education. Our argument is that some forms of environmental education are already thinking in more eco-democratic ways without necessarily naming the project as such. In order to do this, we focus on five 'seedlings' of eco-democracy that already exist in environmental education. These seedlings allow us to do two things. First, draw connections to Wild Pedagogies and second draw out four key considerations for environmental educators if they are interested in having more eco-democratic practices: voice, consent, self-determination and kindness. The paper ends with a short speculative exploration of what might happen pedagogically if environmental education were to assume an eco-democratic orientation through honouring voice, consent, self-determination, and kindness. 

The main aim of this paper is to identify and discuss students' and neighboring local actor’s joint value construction within a nature-local actor-student relational matrix.

Considering present eco-social-cultural challenges (Fettes & Blenkinsop, 2023) and planetary boundaries (Oziewicz, 2022) the construction of epistemic and ethical values is key for education as social leverage for a sustainable future (Jickling et. al 2018). It is crucial to understand the practical processes involved in this effect. Hence, scrutinizing how students, nature and local actors collaborate in value construction within the context of ESE is key. Drawing on results from a practice-based research project with three small schools in sparsely populated areas in the middle of Sweden, the paper addresses ESE at the crossroads of formal education and social learning.

Theoretical Framework

The paper draws on insights from theorizing the question of the interdependence between epistemic and ethical values in moral philosophy (Norton & Norton 2007, Dewey 1944), pedagogical research (Östman & Almqvist, 2010), and environmental ethics research (Rolston III, 1987). The paper focuses on interactions between students, neighboring local actors, and nature as partners(Merchant 1996) and addresses an empirical question focusing on value-construction in particular socio-geographical locations. The paper also builds on categorial Bildung-theory and critical constructive didactics (Klafki, 2010) 

Methodology/Research Design

The study design is abductive (Wilhelmsson & Damber, 2022), which enables flexible choices of theoretical framework to avoid one-sided analysis and uncritical explanations to study, understand, and explain the construction of epistemic and ethical values in complex ESE practices. Practitioner inquiry is used as methodology enabling teaching as the place of investigation (see Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Finally, an environmental ethical conceptual framework for empirical research on ESE (Kronlid & Öhman 2012) is used. The empirical material are teacher’s reflexive texts and interview transcripts. 

Expected Results/Findings:

The research questions are: What epistemic and ethical values are constructed in the socio-geographical location of rural schools? How are epistemic and ethical values constructed in collaboration between local actors, students, and nature? To what extent do such values enable constructive critique of the intrinsic – instrumental value dichotomy in environmental ethics and ESE research. Expected findings are insights into (a) how socio-geographical locations are engaged in value construction, (b) which values that are being constructed, and (c) how formal ESE and social learning interact in a local actor-student-nature relational matrix.

Relevance to Nordic Educational Research

Research that focuses on small schools in sparsely populated communities is uncommon. Research concerning the potential of the local natural environment as an equally important partner in education is scarce. Finally, interdisciplinary research combining ESE, environmental ethics and philosophy of education are expected to produce results that are specific for the Nordic context.

This paper has two main purposes. The first, more informational, is to introduce, re-introduce, the German-Nordic concept of Bildung to Canadian environmental education. This includes a brief attempt to define, a short overview of its history which stretches back to the Eighteenth century at least, and then an exploration of why and whether Bildung might still have some relevance and value in a post- modern, post-humanist, world filled with social crises and myriad human injustices that need attending to. The second purpose, is more theoretically expansive and experimental, wherein we explore ways this modern humanist concept of Bildung might not only be updated as an educational response to today’s human problems but might even be ecologized. Our reading shows that some of the former has already been considered but that there has been almost no work done on the latter. Finally, as a way to consider practice, we very briefly turn to Klafki’s five Bildung inspired questions for didactical analysis in order to illuminate implications for environmental education. This allows possibilities to emerge in spite of the need for further development.

The main aim of the paper is to discuss students' learning and personal development through developing scientific didactic models in education for sustainable development (ESD) based on rural small school conditions. A partial aim is to present a heuristic research methodology where collaboration between school staff, researchers, neighboring local actors, and the local geographical location contributes to developing ESD theory and practice. 

Considering present eco-social-cultural challenges and respecting the earth's carrying capacity (Fettes och Blenkinsop, 2023) and planetary boundaries (Oziewicz, 2022) education is an important partner (Jickling et. al 2018). Hence, the need to understand practical challenges and to develop didactical tools for teaching and learning is crucial. Accordingly, this paper presents tentative results from a practice-based research project with three small schools in sparsely populated areas in the middle of Sweden.

The project builds on the assumption that schools’ geographical location is important for the kind of environmental and sustainability education that is possible and desirable. Furthermore, whereas place-based education research is common (see Yemini, Engel & Ben Simon 2023), research that focuses on small schools in sparsely populated communities is uncommon. In particular, the paper addresses questions concerning the potential of the local natural environment as an equally important partner in education. Other sustainability factors taken into consideration are how education can address migration into cities, extending formal education to formal-nonformal education in collaboration with neighboring local actors, and how to understand and organize students' learning in such teaching practice context (Miller, 2015; Pettersson, 2017; Wildy, et. al., 2014). Furthermore, those schools often engage in the proximity of the local community, place, and the culture and history of local communities. 

The paper builds on categorial Bildung-theory and critical constructive didactics (Klafki, 1995) to enable the importance of personal transformation change and the role of education in mastering the global challenges of an uncertain future (Wilhelmsson & Blenkinsop, accepted; Kvamme, 2021). Simultaneously, critical constructive didactics focuses on educational content and didactics as an intersection between theory and practice (Klafki, 2010). Didactic models are realized to the extent that they are used and tested in teaching practice where the practice is seen as both a starting point and frame of reference for didactic theory (Künzli, 2010). Furthermore, late Klafki introduces “epochal key problems” as important issues that are decisive for the future. This underlines the current and future responsibilities of both teachers and students and the readiness for learning and development that leads to mastering complex sustainability problems (Kvamme, 2021).

The research questions addressed are: 

What challenges and opportunities are constituted in teaching for sustainable development in small schools in sparsely populated areas? 

What are the pluralistic interaction areas for those schools with nature, the local community, and the socio-geographical location?

In what ways does a practical research methodology focusing on didactic models enable a locally relevant education for sustainable development?

Tentative results include:

Insights into how the school engages (and is engaged by) the local community in education for sustainable development.

Didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development, including appropriate skills and attributes, that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission.

A scientifically assessed research methodology that strengthens collaboration and is sustainable over time.

Method

The study design is based on an abductive logic that enables a continuous didactic reflection where theory and empirical evidence are mutually reinterpreted (Wilhelmsson & Damber, 2022). Accordingly, the reciprocal relationship between theory and empirical practice has a given place in the research process. Abduction's flexible choice of theoretical framework avoids one-sided analysis and uncritical explanations. This is favorable for studying, understanding, and explaining the complexity of education for sustainable development. In addition, a rapidly changing society demands the ability to constantly reconsider theoretical explanations in education and teaching.

Practitioner inquiry is used as methodology. Here, teaching becomes the concrete place for the investigation and thus constitutes a context for professional and cultural understanding and development (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). The methodology, which is critical and reflexive, enables the pedagogues' systematic reflection and thus a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice.

The abductive design along with practitioner inquiry ensures that participating researchers and educators collaborate in data collection, activities, and analysis and that these activities also become learning opportunities for participating educators and researchers.

Didactic modeling is used throughout the phases of the project as it consists of three components, extraction (construct a tentative model based on empirical data), mangling (successive and purpose-oriented adaptation of the tentative models), and exemplifying (documentation of the use of the models in analysis and teaching) (Hamza and Lundqvist, 2023).

The empirical material consists of reflexive texts produced in direct connection to the teaching experience and through collaborative workshops, writing exercises, seminars, and interactive lectures in dialogue with participating pedagogues. Documentation from teaching planning and student participation constitutes supplementary material. Data is also collected using structured dialogues about central teaching cases, and in-depth follow-up interviews with a strategic selection of participating teachers and neighboring local actors. The processing of the material takes place with the aim of jointly and critically reflecting on the complexity of, and the change in, teaching practice in collaboration with the local community and the geographical location.

Conclusions

The project produces insights into how schools engage and are engaged by the local community in establishing ESD; research methods and methodology, partnership with small schools, teaching practices that relate critically to the school's commission; how researchers and practitioners can, in collaboration with neighboring local actors, contribute to developing didactic models for locally relevant ESD; identifying relevant skills for participating practitioners and researchers; didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development. 

The three evolving themes imply that locally relevant didactical models that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission in a global context should include collaboration with neighboring local community actors, the place, and nature; significant critical perspectives and student participation for student learning and development; conditions that are constitutive for living and working in sparsely populated communities. 

The preliminary analysis shows that the three themes are interconnected in most teaching activities and teachers' practice-reflections. The themes also comprise individual student perspectives, teaching practice, and the overall purpose of education. Importantly, although the local community needs and needs of the individual in this specific context is underlined the latter is emphasized in teaching practice. E.g. how to motivate students to learn, what kind of knowledge is underlined, and how to achieve specific competencies in this context. Furthermore, the proximity of the local community, and the culture and history that characterize the geographical location, are celebrated at the same time as social norms and values may be challenged through education to fulfill the school's mission.

Additionally, the practitioner inquiry includes pedagogues' systematic reflection and a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice that implies an imbalance between researchers and practitioners. Practitioners question if their teaching practice are correct and struggle with theoretical perspectives. Hence, researchers´ efforts to contextualize theory into teachers' practice is important. In addition, the work is time-consuming.

References

Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L. (2009) Teacher Research as Stance. The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research, Susan E. Noffke, and Bridget Somekh (Red), s. 39–49. SAGE Publications.

Fettes, Mark & Blenkinsop, Sean (2023) Education as the Practice of Eco-Social-Cultural Change. Palgrave Macmillan Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45834-7

Hamza, K &Lundqvist, E. (2023). Mangling didactic models for use in didactic analysis of Classroom interaction. I Lizogate, F., Klette K., och Almqvist, J. (2023) (red) Didactics in a Changing World. European perspectives on Teaching, learning and the curriculum. (s 103–121). Springer Nature Switzerland: 

Jickling, B., Blenkinsop, S., Timmerman, N. & De Danann Sitka-Sage, M. (2018). Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene. Springer International Publishing AG. 

Klafki, W. (1995). Didactic analysis as the core of preparation of instruction (Didaktische Anlyse als Kern der Unterrichtsvorbereitung). Journal of Curriculum Studies, 27(1), 13-30. Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In, I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Kvamme, O. (2021). Rethinking Bildung in the Anthropocene: The case of Wolfgang Klafki. Theological Studies, 77 (3), a 6807, 1-9. Künzli, R. (2010). German didactic models of re-presentation, of intercourse, and of experience. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a Reflective Practice. The German Didaktik Tradition (pp. 41-54). Routledge. 

Miller, P. (2015). Leading remotely: exploring the experiences of principals in rural and remote School communities in Jamaica. (Case study). International Journal of Whole Schooling, 11(1), 35. 

Oziewicz, M. (2022). Planetarianism Now: On Anticipatory Imagination, Young People’s Literature, and Hope for the Planet. In: Paulsen, M., jagodzinski, j., M. Hawke, S. (eds) Pedagogy in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90980-2_12

Yemini, M, Engel, L. & Ben Simon, A. (2023): Placebased education – a systematic review of literature. Educational Review, DOI:10.1080/00131911.2023.2177260

Wilhelmsson, L. & Blenkinsop, S. (accepted). Ecologizing Bildung: Educating for the eco-social-cultural challenges of the twenty-first century: Canadian Journal of Environmental Education. Volume 23.

Wilhelmsson, L. & Damber, U. (2022). Abduktion som alternativ i didaktisk forskning. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 4, ss. 180-202 

In this presentation I will bring forward one strand of our recent work done in relation to living within the Earth's carrying capacity. Themes/frames that arose in our analysis and that have important implications for outdoor education in particular. We have called this strand the 4 C’s: community, change, critical, care/coeur. Each will be described in turn with a focus on the outdoor educator. 

This presentation arises out of work done in response to a SSHRC (Canada’s research granting agency) “knowledge synthesis” grant. Therein we set out to provide scholars, activists, educators, and policy- makers with a wide-ranging review of the current state of education for eco-social-cultural change. The starting point for our work was to acknowledge the following: 

that the ecological crisis is the consequence of entrenched attitudes, discourses and behaviours in many “modern” human societies; that modern educational traditions, processes and institutions have played a key role in fostering and reinforcing these cultural traits; that these same structures and processes are implicated in myriad forms of social inequity and injustice therefore, learning to live with Earth implies far-reaching, systemic educational transformation. The project had three main components: A review of contemporary philosophical and theoretical work that critiques damaging or limiting assumptions and practices in mainstream education systems and points towards ways of being, thinking, valuing, acting, learning and teaching that are more consonant with the goal of living in harmony with Earth; A review of generative and transformative educational practices, including outdoor education, scattered throughout both formal and informal educational systems, with the goal of bringing these disparate practices into conversation with each other in the context of a shared project of eco-social-cultural change; A review of current work on systemic social change, with a particular focus on how outdoor education might be a part thereof.