Ideologies and research in environmental education: beliefs, educational approaches and research methods

Abstract

The focus on environmental education research is at the centre of national/international educational agendas and policies; at the same time, there is a rise in public debate of ideologies/discourses/narratives on environmental issues which, while fuelling interest, may cause new tensions in educational research, which, on the other hand, is required to rigorously and precisely examine ‘discourses over ideas’. The international literature reveals a heated debate on environmental educational ideologies but also a research gap on the complex relationship between the ideologies that underpin the research itself and the educational practices investigated, as both are carriers of ‘worldviews’. Therefore, this work has set itself the following objectives: 1) to identify the ideologies of environmental education research and practice; 2) to investigate the relationships between ideologies and beliefs, educational approaches and research methods; 2) to propose this analysis as a possible heuristic and critical instrument for researchers, in order to reflect and explicate their methodological choices, taking into account the tensions “about worldviews” of which the researches are themselves bearers.