Environmental and sustainability education in the Benelux countries: research, policy and practices at the intersection of education and societal transformation

Abstract

As an introductory article of a Special Issue on Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) in the Benelux region, this paper provides an overview of ESE research, policy and practice in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. It discusses the different contributions in this collection with regard to how the central theme of this issue, the relation between education and societal transformation, is approached in each paper. The main characteristics of the ESE research fields in the Benelux are described in general terms, and placed within the context of how ESE policy and practice are organised in these countries. Next, different conceptualisations of the relation between educational and political spaces reflected in the collection are discussed and the varied contributions to this issue are positioned in relation to three distinguished traditions of approaching the place of democracy in ESE. The authors conclude with commenting on how this relates to different approaches to the research-policy-practice interface.

Keywords:

• Environmental and sustainability education
• policy
• research
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• Luxembourg

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Jürgen Loones, policy coordinator at the Flemish government and member of the Benelux Union working group ‘Education, information and communication about nature and the environment’ for providing them with first-hand up-to-date information about ESE policymaking in the Benelux region.

Notes

1. Some research environments in the Benelux region conduct didactic research in line with the Continental, Northern European tradition where the term (‘Didaktik’) is closely related to the reflexive pedagogic idea of ‘Bildung’. Other are closer to the more narrow and instrumental didactic approach in Anglo-Saxon contexts, focusing on methods, instruction and learning outcomes.

2. Although these authors distinguished the three ‘selective traditions’ based on empirical analyses of educational practices, it also proves a helpful framework to discuss ESE research.