In a recent mailing, SEEd has said that it "is wanting to explore what it can contribute to the question about pedagogy and ESD", and it asks "some very basic questions:
- What can we say about pedagogy and ESD/global learning?
- What theories and for what purpose have different types of pedagogy been advised or tested?
- What types of pedagogy are in practice and with/by whom?
- What would be useful to explore to further this area of work and enable a better narrative to influence further change/take up of ESD/global learning?"
My initial response has been to suggest starting with the twin propositions that
- “there are no pedagogies specific to ESD” and
- “all pedagogies can be thought of as appropriate to ESD”
testing these ideas out. This is because I tend to think about pedagogy only when I have taken audience, objectives and context into account. What do you do?
Responses
Hi Bill, I like the argument about pedagogies, and think we keep on coming back to this idea that good ESD is pretty well always also good education.
I am not sure it is necessarily always true that the opposite is always the case, however.
I do think, however, that there is something intrinsic to learning about change [sustainable or otherwise] which calls for particular pedagogies. The argument goes, it seems to me, that if the world is changing and our understanding of it is constantly evolving, then that calls for 'continuous responsive' learning ... rather than learning which assumes fixed and unchanging bodies of knowledge [of the 2+2 = 4 variety].
I probably nicked that argument from you, anyway, and certainly did so with the idea of 'continuous responsiveness.'
So, we are back to the usual pedagogical suspects: the development of critical and creative thinking skills, questioning, enquiry learning, collaborative skills, the introduction and exploration of a variety of perspectives etc. All good education, but not the only good education. All good education for change, certainly. And all a crucial part of ESD, but not exclusive to it.
It seems to me that there is something intrinsic to learning about change [sustainable or otherwise] which calls for particular pedagogies. The argument being, that if the world is changing and our understanding of it is constantly evolving, then that calls for 'continuous responsive' learning ... rather than learning which assumes fixed and unchanging bodies of knowledge [of the 2+2 = 4 variety].
I probably nicked that argument from you, anyway, and certainly did so with the idea of 'continuous responsiveness.'
So, we are back to the usual pedagogical suspects: the development of critical and creative thinking skills, questioning, enquiry learning, collaborative skills, the introduction and exploration of a variety of perspectives etc. All good education, but not the only good education. All good education for change, certainly. And all a crucial part of ESD, but not exclusive to it.