Session Information
27 SES 02 A, Comparing, Combining and Fostering Conceptual Framework in Didactics (Part 1)
Symposium to be continued in 27 SES 03 A
Contribution
The political dimension of environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) has got a renewed interest during the last couple of years, although the interest in the political dimension in environmental education goes far back. If one scrutinize the writings on the political in EE and ESD it becomes obvious that there exists both similarities and differences regarding what is meant by the political in a teaching context. Thus, the question comes up: what do we mean by the political within the context of EE and ESD. This situation creates ambiguities and probably confusion not least amongst teachers (Tan & Pedretti, 2010). The purpose of this article is therefore to present a categorization – a didactical typology – of the different situations that the political can emerge in a teaching practice. In doing so we will take the departure in the Wittgenstein-inspired work done by Öhman & Östman (2008) where they present a typology, which they call ethical tendency (see also Wittgenstein, 1993). The Wittgenstein-inspired approach used here means that the political and politics are regarded as expressions of a particular human tendency— the political tendency—that is observable in communication. The human conditions refers to situations where we make value judgements that concerns community affairs, where there exist conflicting alternatives and where the judgement is connected to political action, where the political refers to an inclusion and exclusion in relation to the different conflicting alternatives. The didactical typology is created out of analyses of video-recorded lessons. The empirical analyses suggest that the political tendency appears at least in four different kinds of situations, which we name Political moment, Political deliberation, Political reflection and Political norms. Political moment concerns situation where the students are making an inquiry of immediate, strong emotional and embodied experience of undecidability (Mouffe 2013). Political deliberation is a practice where the procedural aspect and rational arguments are emphasized (Englund, Öhman & Östman, 2008). In political reflections the students are involved in a rational, systematic and general enquiry about the reasons for our political actions. Political norms occurs when students are taught or told the correct way of handling a specific political issue or situation. We discuss the diverse learning conditions and educational content regarding the political in these situations.
References
Englund, T., Öhman, J. & Östman, L. (2008). Deliberative communication for sustainability?: A Habermas-inspired pluralistic approach. In Gough, S. & Stables, A. (Eds.): Sustainability and security within liberal societies: Learning to live with the future, (pp. 29-45). London: Routledge. Mouffe, C. (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically, London: Verso Tan, M & Pedretti, E. (2010) 'Negotiating the Complexities of Environmental Education: AStudy of Ontario Teachers', Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 10: 1, 61 — 78 Öhman, J. & Östman, L. (2008). Clarifying the ethical tendency in education for sustainable development practice: A Wittgenstein-inspired approach. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 13(1), pp 57–72. Wittgenstein, L. (1993). A lecture on ethics. In J. C. Klagge & A. Nordmann (Eds.), Philosophical occasions 1912-1951 (pp. 37-44). Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett.
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