Unsettling orthodoxies: education for the environment/for sustainability

Abstract

In this paper I employ Foucault's notion of governmentality to reflect on a debate that occurred in the pages of this journal some 10 years ago. I argue that their exchanges indicate ways in which various positions are engaged in a struggle for dominance in this field, and how particular strategies are used to legitimate and maintain these positions. My purpose is not to propose a new orthodoxy – or even to critique those we have – but rather to raise questions about how the unquestioned ‘that‐which‐is’ of orthodoxies comes to be, and their effects. I also suggest that as environmental educators and researchers, we need to work harder to unsettle more often the taken‐for‐granted in environmental education so that we remain alert to our own easy acceptance of orthodoxies. Without this, we risk our exhortations to those we seek to educate – to think critically, to question assumptions, and so forth – becoming empty rhetoric if we are not practising these ourselves – examining our own, as well as others', assumptions and practices.

Keywords:

• governmentality
• power
• ‘education for the environment’
• Foucault
• environmental education

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the reviewers of this paper for their very thoughtful and detailed suggestions as well as Professors David Saunders and John Fien for discussing this paper with me.

Notes

1. These concerns relate to the various conceptualizations of sustainable development and sustainability (in particular the primacy of the economy and economic development) and the philosophies and ideologies underpinning them, as well as the effects of these on the development of uncontextualized education for sustainability/sustainable development policies and practices.

2. Can all be leaders in the transition to a sustainable future?

3. See Nomura and Abe (2009) on the development of the UN DESD from a political opportunities perspective.

4. For an earlier account, also in Environmental Education Research, see Walker (1997).