Spreading the culture of sustainability: eco-pedagogy at school between old and new educational paradigms

Abstract

The contribution aims at reflecting on the significance today attributed to the
environment and environmental education in the school.
It is important to consider the environment from the perspective of the pedagogy of the person, and therefore to interpret it as a factor of education and not just as a place where education takes place.
Indeed the school, too, should be the spokesperson of eco-pedagogy seen as ecological humanism, that is to say, education of the person for the construction of balanced and respectful relationships with materials, resources and living beings that constitute the Earth environment and allow man to find the possibilities of a sustainable development. The environmental education in the school thus exceeds both the scientific-intellectualistic vision and its reduction to sporadic outdoor school trips in contact with nature.