Making the case for A-level biology residential fieldwork: what has nature got to do with it?

This article provides an up-to-date list of reasons for teachers to create a case for residential fieldwork. The list was developed as part of a project examining ‘learning journeys’ of inner-urban school visits to residential field centres in England. Uniquely, it draws from the perspectives of students and teachers in light of the changes to A-level biology assessment. As resourcing constraints following the COVID-19 pandemic threaten fieldwork, this evidence-based case shows that residential visits are more valuable than ever. It is argued that, amidst the post-pandemic ‘catch up’ discourse and by putting ‘nature’ at the centre, field visits can work even harder for the benefit of urban students

‘What counts’ as climate change education? Perspectives from policy influencers

Recent civil action has called for ‘more!’ climate change education but ‘more’ of what and why isn’t there already ‘more’ in our schools today? Climate change education is guided by policies that are formed, and influenced, by a range of people working across multiple organisations. ‘Policy influencers’ are therefore important as their views, and the views of their organisations, shape education. This article discusses views of policy influencers in England on what climate change education is or should be. Considering these perspectives alongside current policy and the research literature enables policy shortfalls to be identified and alternative approaches to climate change education to be explored

Environmental Education-Related Policy Enactment in Japanese High Schools

Over the past decade, Japan’s rich tradition of environmental education-related policy has shifted to encompass international discourse concerning global competition and education for sustainable development. In view of this shift, this article explores environmental education-related policy enactment from the perspective of high school teachers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 experienced teachers and were analysed using the environmental education-related conceptual lenses of Lucas (1972) and Stevenson (1987, 2007). The findings suggest that the current policy enactment in Japanese high schools features a narrow interpretation of environmental education that emphasises knowledge acquisition and overlooks the development of practical skills, attitudes or democratic citizenship. This case study highlights the necessity that, for a progressive environmental education to become established, policymakers must find a way to balance local knowledge with the demands of international organizations, paying particular attention to curriculum ideology, policy competition and the teachers’ voice in policy creation

‘Standing back’ or ‘stepping up’? Exploring climate change education policy influence in England

This paper explores the nature of climate change education-related policy influence in England at a time when public consciousness about the need to accelerate climate change action was heightened, and as the 2018 climate strikes gathered momentum around the world. Informed by Foucault's concept of ‘governmentalities’, and using data generated through 24 exploratory interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, we examine the extent to which influential individuals were advocating for policy change. We discuss the nature of policy influence with particular reference to the ‘stances’ that individuals adopted relative to climate change education policy influence and noting a common tendency exhibited amongst participants which was a tendency towards ‘deference’. Coupling our insights with theorisations of dissent, we consider how ‘infra-political dissent’ could support key individuals to ‘step up’ and influence for more effective policy relative to climate change education, and to other areas of education or environment policy

Working with external partners to support climate change education through a focus on design

In this paper we reflect on the opportunities and potential pitfalls encountered when schools work in partnership with external organisations. To illustrate wider issues, we examine the implementation of a pilot project aimed at introducing the role of design in the context of climate change in the primary setting. Our data comprise observational field notes of activities in situ, interviews with participating teachers, focus groups with children, and interviews with designers who led the activities across five different schools in England. In reviewing the data, we highlight the need for partners to build upon each other’s skills, genuinely co‐creating activities and co‐leading lessons. Most importantly, we call for all climate change initiatives to be grounded in children’s realities and provide ample opportunities for children to be agentic

Conceptualising HE educators’ capabilities to teach the crisis: towards critical and transformative environmental pedagogies

This article aims to help conceptualise the capabilities that educators in higher education (HE) have to incorporate concerns about environmental breakdown in their day-to-day teaching. A common view amongst those in the academic literature is that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are failing to rise to the challenge presented by the unfolding environmental crisis. While agreeing that those in HE must do more, this article critically examines the assumption that such action can be easily enacted by HE educators. Our analysis employs the capabilities approach (CA) to illuminate the challenges surrounding HE educators’ agency to teach the crisis in their day-to-day practice, and to consider what would be needed to provide them with genuine opportunities to do so. We argue that access to the growing number of teaching resources about the environmental crisis is a necessary but insufficient condition for supporting HE educators’ capabilities to teach the crisis. For a fuller understanding of what is required to support the agency of HE educators, attention must be paid to the diverse combination of factors that shape HE educators’ opportunities to develop and enact critical and transformative environmental pedagogies in their disciplinary and institutional contexts. Drawing on the extant academic literature and with reference to a fictionalised case study we examine how HE educators’ agency is mediated by a range of personal, material and social factors. Our analysis focuses especially on the role played by social factors, including the influence of: dominant epistemological, methodological and disciplinary norms; prevailing institutional policies and practices, and; administrative and management cultures within and across HE. After discussing the importance that deliberation has in supporting educators’ agency and the development of novel forms of critical and transformative environmental pedagogy, we conclude by suggesting that in many cases enacting such pedagogies will involve confronting dominant forms of power, culture, policy and practice, within the academy and beyond