Contextualisation of Universal Norms – Sustainability Norms in Curriculum and Strategy Documents

Author(s):

Ole Andreas Kvamme(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 11 A, Norms in Policy and Curriculum

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-A105

Chair:

Jutta Nikel

Contribution

Introduction

United Nations has for several decades acknowledged the life-threatening hazards caused by insustainable human activities (1972, 1987). The challenge for substantial change has been identified as a pedagogical challenge: ‘School and education has become a key to implement the necessary changes this challenge demands of the global community” (United Nations 1992).

The project here proposed explores ethical implications this challenge represents for school and education, making moral education in Norwegian lower secondary school (8^th – 10^th grade) the concrete foothold, and curriculum documents in a Norwegian school context the material to be examined.

Education for Sustainable Development

The pedagogical strategies launched by United Nations has been named Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), where sustainable development is uniting concerns of the present and of the future: “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (United Nations 1987). A break through for ESD within the UN context was UN General Assembly´s 2002 proclamation of 2005-2014 to be a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). UNESCO has been responsible for the following up, with national strategies being developed throughout the world. The concept of sustainable development is disputed and ambiguous, being criticized for an anthropocentric bias and for placing too much faith on development (Bengtsson and Östman 2013). In this project my interest is the implementation of the UNESCO strategy. For this practical reason the United Nations´ concept of Education for Sustainable Development is maintained.

The ethical challenge and Moral Education

Education for Sustainable Development has an ethical dimension calling for moral responsibility (Sandell, Öhman, Östman 2005, Curren 2009). The ethical dimension is clearly expressed in the core values in the Framework for the UN DESD International Implementations Scheme which are all formulated as norms. Here two of these norms are given attention, namely the commitment to intergenerational responsibility and the respect and care for the greater community of life (UNESCO 2006), representing major challenges for ESD.

The ethical dimension of Education for Sustainable Development is not limited to a single school subject, but should be integrated in all school subjects. Still a focus on the ethical dimension of Education for Sustainable Development draws a specific interest to Moral Education in Norwegian School and what role Moral Education plays in the implementation of ESD. In Norway the students are especially concerned with values, norms, moral responsibility and ethical theories in the school subject KRLE (Knowledge of Christianity, Religion, Philosophies of life and Ethics). This school subject is consequently here given special attention, within the broader national curriculum.

The time period to be studied is defined by Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, i. e. 2005-2014. A summary of the endeavors made in Norway is given in a recent article (Andresen et al 2015) demonstrating how natural science is in forefront implementing ESD in Norway and how many of the most dedicated teachers are natural science teachers. This observation supports the relevance of analysing the maintainance of the ethical dimension in the curriculum concerning the implementing Decade for Education for Sustainable Development.

On the background given above the research question is:

How are the ESD norms of intergenerational responsibility and respect and care for the greater community of life expressed in the Norwegian curriculum during the period of Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, with special regard to Moral Education?

Method

The project is theoretically anchored within critical hermeneutics (Ricoeur 1981: 63-100, Ricoeur´s critical hermeneutics and qualitative pedagogical research, see Claesson, Hallström, Kardemark and Risenfors 2011). The importance of the presuppositions of the researcher as interpreter is emphasized, problematizing the contribution she or he performs (Alvesson and Sköldberg 2009). In accordance with the perspectives of Ricoeur the significance of the analysis of structure and patterns in the data material is acknowledged (explanation) as a precondition for the interpreting activity (understanding). The importance of historical and political context is underlined. Theoretical perspectives from Seyla Benhabib, representing the third generation of critical theory, are brought into this methodological frame, enabled by Ricoeur´s active mediation between hermeneutics and critical theory. From Benhabib (2006, 2011) the formulation democratic iterations is conceptualizing the contextualization of universal norms within national contexts (see also Sporre 2015, and Expected outcome below). The data material is first of all the syllabus of the lower secondary school subjects of Knowledge Promotion Reform from 2006 (The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training 2006), secondly the strategy documents developed for the national implementation of Decade for Education for Sustainable Development in Norway (Strategisk plan, Utdanning for bærekraftig utvikling 2006-2010, The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training 2006), revised in 2012 (Kunnskap for en felles framtid. Revidert strategi for utdanning for bærekraftig utvikling 2012-2015, Ministry of Education and Research 2012).

Expected Outcomes

The project is part of a PhD project concerned with universal norms and contextualization in Education for Sustainable Development with an emphasis on Moral Education (cf. above mentioned Benhabib, for universal norms within Sustainable Education, see Sund and Öhman 2014). As such the PhD project is a contribution both to philosophy of education and to the didactic field of Moral Education. In this part of the PhD project the contextualization of the two sustainability norms are studied within the context of the Norwegian curriculum. The hope is that the part proposed here may contribute to the understanding of Moral Education and to the interdisciplinary practice of Education for Sustainable Development both within a national and international educational context. At the same time this part is contributing to the critical reflection of universal norms which characterizes the project as a contribution to philosophy of education.

References

Alvesson, Mats and Kaj Sköldberg. (2009) Reflexive Methodology. New Vistas for Qualitative Research. London:Sage. Andresen, Mari Ugland, Nina Høgmo and Astrid Sandås (2015). “Learning from ESD Projects During the UN Decade in Norway", in Jucker, R., R. Mathar (ed.), Schooling for Sustainable Development in Europe, (6): 241-255. Bengtsson, Stefan L. and Leif O. Östman (2013). “Globalisation and education for sustainable development: emancipation from context and meaning”, Environmental Education Research (4): 477-498. Benhabib, S. and R. Post (2006). Another Cosmopolitanism. Oxford: Oxford Scholarship Online. Benhabib, S. (2011). Dignity in adversity. Human Rights in Troubled Times. Oxford: Polity Press. Claesson, Silwa, Henrik Hallström, Wilhelm Kardemark, Signild Risenfors. (2011).“Ricoeurs kritiska hermeneutic vid empiriska studier”, Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige (16):18-35. Curren, Randall (2009). “Education for sustainable development: A philosophical assessment”. The Journal of the Philosophy of Education, (18): 1-68. Ricoeur, Paul (1981). "Hermeneutics and the critique of ideology". In Ricoeur, Paul. Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 63-100. Sandell, Klas, Johan Öhman and Leif Östman (2005).“Education for Sustainable Development. Nature, School and Democracy". Lund: Studentlitteratur. Sporre, K. (2015). In search of human dignity: essays in theology, ethics. Münster: Waxmann. Sund, L. and J. Öhman (2014). "On the need to repoliticise environmental and sustainability education: rethinking the postpolitical consensus". Environmental Education Research. 20 (5), 639-659. Official documents: Ministry of Education and Research (2012). “Kunnskap for en felles framtid. Revidert strategi for utdanning for bærekraftig utvikling 2012-2015.” URL: https://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dokumenter/kunnskap-for-en-felles-framtid/id696562/ (seen 20 December 2015). Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (2006). “Strategiplanen for utdanning for berekraftig utvikling 2005-2010”. United Nations, Environment Programme (1972). Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. URL: http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=97&articleid=1503 (seen 10 January 2016). United Nations (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. URL: http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf (seen 20 December 2015). United Nations (1992). Agenda 21. URL: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf (seen 10 January 2016). UNESCO (2006). Framework for the UNDESD International Implementation Scheme, URL: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001486/148650E.pdf (seen 15 December 2015).

Author Information

Ole Andreas Kvamme (presenting / submitting)

University of Oslo, Norway

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