Education to build agency in the Anthropocene

Thirty years ago, David Orr, an environmental studies professor at Oberlin College in Ohio, USA, wrote that a constellation of environmental issues, from accumulating hazardous waste to declining biodiversity, are indicators of the environmental crises our planet is facing. Further, he contended, our education system, which emphasizes theories, abstractions, and separations, is part of the problem (Orr, 1994). He went on to suggest that education ought to weave connections, such as between the environment and economics, focus on solutions, and use active learning in the real world as often as possible. He was not the only person to address the importance of education in solving environmental problems, of course, as a long line of environmental educators preceded him. By redefining environmental issues as socio-­ecological, we acknowledge that social elements, such as economics, history, and culture, are intrinsic to the issues and the solutions. Yet Orr’s still-relevant message of discipline-bound education remains a challenge.

The call to enhance relevance and interdisciplinary perspectives within education has been heeded both at the policy level (e.g., the UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development) and in practice (e.g., Enviroschools in New Zealand,¹ Victoria’s Resource Smart Schools in Australia,² Sidwell Friends’ LEED Platinum Middle School in the United States³). Through these and other initiatives, environmental education professionals have created curriculum, provided professional development, redesigned buildings, and evaluated efforts, which have been demonstrated to improve learning outcomes and learner agency in classes and courses. However, we have not yet made sufficient progress at changing the nature of schooling and the educational system in the ways Orr suggests, including incorporating systems thinking, hope, and community or intergenerational action that respects diverse perspectives. More must be done in those realms, and climate change brings a particular sense of urgency in needing to effect such changes in and through education (IPCC, 2023).

A new opportunity

A new opportunity is at our doorstep. If school districts, states, provinces, territories, and nations choose to engage, education could evolve significantly to incorporate much of what environmental educators have been encouraging for the last 30 years. The catalyst for this opportunity is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Science Framework.⁴ In 2025, the focus of the assessment framework will be to test young people’s knowledge about global socio-ecological challenges and their abilities to work toward resolution of those challenges. Just as adding environmental concepts to accountability tests can shift the national, state, or provincial curriculum, this change in the assessment has the power to alter the concepts and competencies to which science education attends in schools. Environmental education can now be meaningfully infused throughout the science curriculum, prioritizing socio-ecological perspectives within and alongside traditional science concepts, and integrating skills drawn from other curricular areas related to student agency and action to address local and global issues.

The OECD conducts research to assist nations in developing policies to enhance well-being and strengthen democracy; PISA is one tool in that effort. Every 3 or 4 years approximately 6,000 15-year-olds complete an assessment in each participating nation, addressing reading, mathematics, and science knowledge and skills, known as competencies.⁵ An estimated 600,000 young people worldwide will take the assessment with a science focus in 2025. The PISA assessment framework is revised every decade to ensure it continues to measure what is important for youth to know and be able to do.⁶ Recent research has shown that students know about sustainability and are concerned with related issues, but do not know how to address them (OECD, 2022). As a result, the OECD asked the expert group undertaking the most recent PISA Science Framework revision to address this gap between environmental knowledge and action.

To do so, the OECD commissioned a panel of environmental science education experts to create a supplement to the Science Framework. Called Agency in the Anthropocene (White et al., 2023), the new environmental framework reflects the need for empowered action-oriented learning in this era of human impacts on planet Earth. This era demands new competencies not traditionally developed through science education, such as the abilities to:

(1) Explain the impact of human interactions with Earth’s systems;

(2) Make informed decisions to act based on evaluation of diverse sources of evidence and application of creative and systems thinking to regenerate and sustain the environment; and

(3) Demonstrate hope and respect for diverse perspectives in seeking solutions to socio-ecological crises (White et al., 2023, p. 16).

These competencies connect to the PISA 2025 Science Framework’s epistemic and procedural knowledge, while also integrating knowledge from diverse sources and disciplines. This interdisciplinary emphasis weaves the connections that Orr desired and promises more transparent inclusion of our impacts in this world.

In typical science textbooks, for example, representations of the water cycle demonstrate water molecules moving between clouds, rivers, and the ocean without also acknowledging that human impact on the system might include generating electricity, flushing a toilet, or floating a ship. The lack of socio-­ecological complexity can be described as the educational practice of simplifying, yet our concern is that the lack of consolidating societal practices results in a lack of clarity about the complete system and resulting human impacts. Competency 1 clearly links human interaction to Earth’s systems, with a focus on the full range of impacts of and consequences for our life on the planet.

Competencies 2 and 3 support efforts to work toward more holistically exploring socio-ecological challenges, evaluating possibilities, considering how others have solved similar challenges, and building action competence in oneself and with others. This may involve educators teaching systems-thinking perspectives and skills, encouraging deliberative discussions about diverse perspectives, and facilitating community action projects. Traditional science education or nature study will not meet these competencies; the PISA 2025 Science Framework provides an opportunity to encourage teachers, educational administrators, and policymakers to re-think and adjust the entire curriculum to educate citizens of the future. OECD is supporting education that takes an interdisciplinary approach to deeply exploring socio-ecological challenges from a variety of perspectives and applying skills to affect community change.

Achieving agency in the Anthropocene through developing these competencies links science education to many other learning areas in ways that focus on the reality of the world around us. The expectation is that 15-year-olds are able to demonstrate competence to live in this world. They could learn about climate adaptations in geography, project population numbers in mathematics, or develop civic engagement skills during language arts. Indeed, the 2025 PISA Science Framework provides support for effectively infusing environmental and sustainability education into most disciplinary learning experiences across primary and secondary schools, if school administrators and educators can leverage it appropriately.

For consideration

An often-claimed challenge of PISA is the degree to which the competencies can be effectively assessed through the multiple-choice survey and non-cognitive questionnaire. Aspects of hope and efficacy are more likely to be assessed through the non-cognitive questionnaire, but as the multiple-choice items improve, they can be used to address a variety of competencies. The assessment designers are tasked with designing, testing, and refining items so the data gathered from the 92 participating countries can provide meaningful outputs and give policymakers, curriculum designers, and researchers the opportunity to compare educational approaches and policies within and among nations. This may also enable more effective decision-making about what works and what needs to be changed, from classroom practice to curriculum, as well as in future PISA Science Frameworks.

This environmental focus in the PISA 2025 Science Framework also provides opportunities for environmental education researchers and practitioners. Through the framework, the emphasis that OECD has placed on systems thinking, diverse perspectives, intergenerational learning, and agency provides new justification for research proposals to explore these topics. As a community, we can summarize the existing research on these elements and assist schools in implementing helpful strategies. Action competence, service learning, and civic engagement must have a vital role in the curriculum and school practices because they enable young people to explore and actively engage in local issues with their community. The overwhelming need to reduce climate anxiety and encourage climate action can be supported through programs that encourage students to analyze solutions, learn from success stories, achieve their own small wins, and cultivate hope. New research can better understand the characteristics of educational programs that enable teachers and students to contribute to local action through intergenerational and respectful practices.

A call to action

This is a call to action for environmental education practitioners and researchers to contribute to reimagining science education and, indeed, all education, to become fit for the future by meeting the challenge of building agency in the Anthropocene. There are ample current crises with which to work, such that communities and all forms of expertise can be engaged. Instructional materials and pre/in-service education can be revised to support teachers, school leaders, and school communities in navigating what environmental educators have been promoting for decades. Non-formal educators and community organizations can provide resources to identify local socio-ecological challenges, address questions, provide strategies and tools, and facilitate student learning. OECD’s recognition of the importance of developing agency in the Anthropocene among today’s youth presents an unparalleled opportunity, and with it comes the responsibility to lead schools and communities into informed, inspiring, and engaged education that transforms learning and communities through agency and action.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://enviroschools.org.nz/

2 https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/energy-efficiency-and-reducing-emissions/resourcesmart-schools

3 https://www.sidwell.edu/about/environmental-stewardship/green-buildings/green-building-detail/∼board/green-buildings/post/middle-school

4 https://pisa-framework.oecd.org/science-2025/

5 https://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/pisa-participants.htm

6 The PISA Science Framework retains some competencies one would expect a science curriculum to address, such as (1) Explaining phenomena scientifically. Reflecting the mission to use skills, the framework includes: (2) Researching, evaluating, and using scientific information for decision making and action. Growing worldwide concerns about misinformation, disinformation, and the rise of social media lead to an emphasis on critical thinking, through competencies such as: (3) Constructing and evaluating designs for scientific enquiry and interpreting scientific data and evidence critically.