The problem of traditional pedagogies from an environmental justice lens

Understanding the problem of traditional pedagogies in UK secondary schools in the inhibiting of interconnected thinking from an environmental justice lens

Using an environmental justice approach, this analysis examines how traditional pedagogies within education in UK secondary schools inhibit our ability to effectively challenge wicked problems (Lehtonen et al., 2018). It is focused on how interconnected thinking within traditional pedagogies is being impeded, which is recognised as a crucial tool to address and develop an understanding of the complexity and entanglement between wicked problems (Lehtonen et al., 2018). Not only that, but interconnected thinking is fundamental for a more equitable approach, to work towards ensuring we do not reproduce the same harmful structures that wicked problems are rooted within (Stein et al., 2020).  Interconnected forms of thinking recognise that we are entangled within a wider living metabolism (Andreotti, 2018). It argues that we are connected and interdependent with each other and other non-human entities.

Education itself is a critical tool for addressing the wicked problems we face. UNESCO (2021) identifies it as ‘the foundation for the renewal and transformation of our societies’. The construction of knowledge, values and beliefs within education plays a central role in the shaping of our society (UNESCO, 2021).

However, traditional pedagogies within English secondary schools undermine the transformational capabilities of education for a more just and sustainable planet. Stein et al. (2020), state that traditional education forms continue to maintain the denial of our interconnectedness, which they argue to be at the root of the wicked problems we face. One aspect of how traditional pedagogies do this, is through the maintenance of dualist, dichotomised teacher-centred teaching (Lehtonen et al., 2018). Essentially this refers to how, within a school setting, the focus is primarily on the mastery of content, reinforced by the use of standardised assessments. Dualist, dichotomised thinking hinders a student’s ability to think in a holistic way, through separations such as mind-body and human-nature (Andereotti, 2018). The separation of subjects within secondary schools is one aspect through how this is carried out (UNSECO, 2021). Timothy Morton (2010) emphasises the importance of this in the separation of science and art, which suggests there is a separation between subjective experiences and objective reality. Further, the teacher-centred classroom asserts a hierarchy of authority, where knowledge is ‘taught’ to us, through a top-down approach (Andreotti, 2021, Hooks, 1994). It discourages collective learning and fails to recognise that knowledge comes from a variety of forms. The result is an education system that reinforces disconnection, individualism, and a narrow focus on content mastery rather than collective understanding and action.

Therefore, traditional pedagogies within England secondary schools are an environmental-justice problem. Pedagogies do have the capability to create transformational change, however its current inability to do so, means that it is complicit in the deepening of wicked problems. In order to address wicked problems in an equitable way that looks at the roots, interconnectedness is essential. It creates a wider sense of empathy and care, recognising the relatedness between human and non-human entities, and creating the space for a more holistic understanding and approach to wicked problems (Lehtonen et al., 2018). Further wicked problems such as climate change have disproportionate impacts, impacting those who are the most vulnerable and least responsible the hardest (UNSECO, 2021). Finally, as a country built upon its colonial legacies which have constructed the current imbalance of power throughout our planet, we have a responsibility to ensure our education system addresses our complicity and works to build a future which is more just and equitable (Stein et al., 2020)

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Reference list

               Andreotti, V. 2021. The Task of Education as We Confront the Potential for Social and Ecological Collapse. Ethics and Education. 16(2), pp.143–158.

             Hooks, B. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.

             Lehtonen, A., Salonen, A., Cantell, H. and Riuttanen, L. 2018. A Pedagogy of Interconnectedness for Encountering Climate Change as a Wicked Sustainability Problem. Journal of Cleaner Production. 199, pp.860–867.

             Morton, T. 2010. The Ecological Thought. Cambridge; London: Harvard University Press.