ERIC Number: EJ1177160
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1350-4622
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Teaching Sustainability in Norway, China and Ghana: Challenges to the UN Programme
Witoszek, Nina
Environmental Education Research, v24 n6 p831-844 2018
The article compares how the UN-initiated education for sustainable development (ESD) has fared in three seemingly dissimilar countries: Norway, a wealthy, 'post-materialist' liberal democracy, Ghana, a developing democratic country, and China, a fast catching-up, centrally-steered economy. The study--based on an analysis of national ESD programmes, schoolbooks and qualitative interviews with teachers and students--discusses some of the pivotal reasons for the decline in ESD schooling in all three countries. It also explores surprising 'archipelagos of pedagogical innovation', as shown by one of the high schools in Ghana. Our conclusions are that, apart from specific, cultural and political contexts which influence ESD, students' socio-environmental literacy in the examined countries has been affected by an ever more pervasive competitive and neoliberal mindset. Further, in all three cases, the agenda of 'sustainable development' suffers from a 'narrative and mythical deficit': a lack of a mobilizing story, the absence of which reduces the attractiveness of sustainability ideals and inhibits their empowering potential.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Sustainable Development, Cultural Differences, Cross Cultural Studies, Developing Nations, Developed Nations, Environmental Education, Teaching Methods, High Schools, Political Issues, Socioeconomic Influences, Neoliberalism, Barriers, Interviews, Participant Observation, Documentation, Secondary Schools
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Norway; China; Ghana
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A