The purpose of the two symposia is to present a range of studies which build on pragmatic philosophy and use John Dewey’s transactional perspective on meaning-making and practical epistemologies for studies of environmental and sustainability education.

Since 2003 the research group SMED (Studies of Meaning-making in Educational Discourses) has been engaged in the development of a methodology for analysing meaning-making processes involving the introduction of different practical epistemologies within environmental and sustainability education. The methodology builds on Dewey’s pragmatic philosophy (Dewey, 1916, 1929, 1938) and especially his concept of transaction (Dewey & Bentley, 1949/1991). This perspective aims to overcome the methodological problems connected with the dualistic tendencies that trouble many other approaches to learning and classroom interactions. Within this approach meaning is not treated as something that exists within things themselves or in the minds of human beings, but is seen as the relations to the environment that is created in the processes of doing and undergoing the consequences of action (Garrison, 2001). Such coordination is not restricted to knowledge but also involves ethical and aesthetical relations to the environment. Learning can thus be investigated in terms of actions, within a set of different practical epistemologies.

This first symposium focuses on the complex ethical issues that are raised today as a result of global challenges such as migration, climate change and inequality, and how these issues are handled within environmental and sustainability education. More specifically the contributions investigate and discuss ethical questions and problems arising from approaches to teaching and learning about for example social justice and the responsibility stemming from our increasingly interconnected lives.

The contributions of the symposium build on John Dewey’s pragmatic approach to ethics (Dewey, 1922, 1932) and illustrates how this approach can be used in empirical studies of peoples ethical and moral meaning-making (Öhman & Östman, 2007; Sund & Öhman, 2014).

For Dewey, ethics are something that exist in and through our actions and are therefore to do with everyday life and always situated in the interface of person and context (Pappas, 2008). In this sense, pragmatic approaches to ethics highlight how morality is situated and contextual, arises in relation to others and takes shape between people. Following Dewey, we cannot identify an ultimate end or supreme principle that can serve as a criterion for ethical evaluation. Thus, if ethics are about reflections of specific situations, it is not something fixed but something we must learn as meaningful reflective practice. This underlines the importance of scrutinising educational practices and the ways in which teachers deal with ethical global issues and how children (and adults) perceive and articulate change, and in particular that change which is related to global environments and climates. 

The first contribution by Öhman is a general introduction to the two symposia and presents the some of the core aspects of Dewey’s transactional perspective and how this perspective within the SMED research group have been transformed into a specific methodology for insitu studies of educational practices.

The next two contributions by Sund & Öhman and Lee illustrate how the transactional perspective is useful in two projects with focus on moral and ethical meaning-making. The methodology employed in these projects resonates strongly with the transactional perspective and Dewey’s theory of ethics in their theoretical underpinnings and determine the approach to research design, data collection and data analysis. The contributions draw on two empirical studies of intercultural exchanges occurring it different projects: namely the Global Journey originating in Sweden and the Pathways Project originating in Cambridge, UK. 

The following contributions constitute the symposium:

Dewey, J. & Bentley, A. F. (1949/1991). Knowing and the known. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey, 1925–1953, (Vol. 16). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Dewey, J. (1916/1985). Democracy and education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924, (Vol. 9). Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. Dewey, J. (1922). Human nature and conduct. An introduction to social psychology. NY: Henry Holt & Company. Dewey, J. (1929/1958). Experience and nature. New York, NY: Dover Publications. Dewey, J. (1932). Ethics. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey, 1925–1953 (Vol. 7). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Dewey, J. (1938/1997). Experience and education. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Garrison, J. (2001). An introduction to Dewey’s theory of functional ‘trans-action’: An alternative paradigm for activity theory. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 8, 275–296. Öhman, J. & Östman, L. (2007). Continuity and change in moral meaning-making: A transactional approach. Journal of Moral Education, 36, 151–168. Pappas, G. F. (2008). John Dewey's ethics. Democracy as experience. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Sund, L. & Öhman, J. (2014). Swedish teachers’ ethical reflections on a study visit to Central America. Journal of Moral Education, 43(3), 316–331.