Environmental education researchers as environmental activists

Abstract

This article is a reflective account of a researcher’s journey whilst embarking on a study which was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Learning from feminist writings, where researchers have shared stories and explored notions of insider/outside, academic/activist, the central argument of the article is the development of an activist approach to environmental education research. The article draws on a doctoral research study which was a critical ethnography of a school and community engaged in a socially critical approach to environmental education.

If I had tried to enter

I may have never been invited

If I had seen the cracks

I may have fallen in

If I had seen your tears

I may not have cried with you

If I had strained to hear

I may not have heard your voices

If I had sought the one true story

I may have never known

If I had watched your struggle from a distance

I may have never shared your pain

Reflective prose, Researcher’s Personal Journal, September 1994