Annual Report 2013, Istanbul

"Contributions of Environmental and Sustainability Education to the European Educational Research Landscape"

This inaugural symposium in Istanbul September 2013 was presenting and discussing research within a new network, Environmental and Sustainability Education Research Network, situated in the ECER network structure, which is a part of the EERA organization. This symposium had three aims. Firstly, to give examples and show the diversity of research made within this new, but fully fledged, research field of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE). Examples from classroom studies, higher education, international comparisons, policy-studies on national and international level were mixed with outlooks regarding the development of the whole research field in international perspectives. Secondly, the aim was to show the quality of the research made through examples from projects using different types of quantitative and qualitative methods, and supported by well-developed theories with starting points in various traditions in educational philosophy. Thirdly, there was a wish to invite educational researchers from all over the world to join in open discussions of the future development of research in ESE. We proposed to discuss how this new network can contribute to the development of ESE research, both generally, and within ECER, but also more specifically how we complement other international ESE networks.

The symposium consisted of two 90 minute sessions where the first session has four research examples with two in the second session. There was generous space for open discussion on how this new network can contribute to the development and maturation of the ESE research area.  Discussants provided in-depth feedback on presentations, with the audience also playing a vital role in the scrutiny of the research presented in the symposium. A pre-network meeting was planned at the end of the second session.  This should comprise an open discussion about the future directions of ESE research and was preceded by three short key-note presentations. The aim of these diverse presentations starting in classroom practice, higher education and the possibilities in the research field itself, was to give some background to how the field has evolved up to this contemporary stage, to present challenges, weaknesses, and strengths, and to generate ideas for the discussion.

We are delighted to be a part of European educational research within ECER.  If you have a general interest in education focusing on international and intergenerational perspectives or a specific interest in concepts such as: sustainability, sustainable development, environmental education, climate change, educational policy, curriculum, theory and practice, or competence development we welcome you to this symposium to help us further in the development of this new ESE research network!