What do we mean by ‘pedagogy’ in sustainability education?

ABSTRACT

Pedagogy is a term used broadly to refer to both how and why an educator influences learning. Given the importance of quality transformative learning experiences noted in the sustainability education literature, the role of an educator’s values, assumptions and philosophy underpinning their educational capability for the provision of learning experiences are also worthy of further investigation. This necessitates a reflection on what is meant by pedagogy in sustainability education literature to support a clearer understanding of its meaning and how it orients educational practice. The term pedagogy is widely used in sustainability education (and related) literature, and yet rarely is the concept defined or explored in detail. This paper intends to fill this gap by presenting arguments for why explicit reflection on the meaning and role of pedagogy in sustainability education is important and highlight some resulting research implications and avenues for further investigation.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability education
• pedagogy
• educational capability
• transformative learning
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.