Sharing Good Examples, Then What?

Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Educational Sciences 17 Sharing Good Examples, Then What? Investigations of Contingency and Continuity in the Scaling-of-ESD-Activities-as-Learning MARTIN MICKELSSON ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS ISBN 978-91-513-0859-3 UPPSALA urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-401063 2020 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Humanistiska teatern, Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3C, Uppsala, Friday, 6 March 2020 at 13:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Professor Rob O’Donoghue (Rhodes University, Environmental Learning and Research Center). Abstract Mickelsson, M. 2020. Sharing Good Examples, Then What? Investigations of Contingency and Continuity in the Scaling-of-ESD-Activities-as-Learning. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Educational Sciences 17. 172 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0859-3. This thesis aims to contribute to a deepened and nuanced understanding of scaling in environmental and sustainability education (ESE) research, specifically, to develop a conceptual framework for engaging with issues of scaling in policy and practice regarding education for sustainable development (ESD). Three research objectives are formulated. The first objective is to develop analytical methods drawing on transactional learning theory for conducting empirical investigations of meaning making concerning educational content in scaling processes. This objective is achieved through an iterative participatory research process including, scaling researchers and practitioners, resulting in the development of the conceptual framework of Scaling-ESD-Activities-as-Learning (SEAL). The second objective of the thesis is to examine how workshop participants’ experiences and agency create conditions for the scaling of educational content in ESE. The objective is achieved through analysis of written reflections from scaling practitioners, reports on scaling ESD-activities and participatory research workshop discussions. The third objective is to investigate how educational content interplay with environments, such as natural and social environments, when scaling educational activities in ESE. This objective is achieved through analysis of the initial stages of scaling an ESD-activity and analysis of ESD-activities that have progressed to later stages of scaling. Four studies address the three research objectives: in three of the studies, empirical data was generated through participatory research workshops in Sweden, South Africa and Ecuador (Paper I, II, IV), while in one study empirical data was generated through a case study of an ESD-course in Southern Africa (Paper III). Drawing for its theoretical foundation on John Dewey’s transactional approach to learning, the thesis emphasises the importance of considering experience and aspects of contingency and continuity in learning processes. The results of the thesis show that approaching the scaling of ESD-activities as learning enables the identification of conditions for scaling that is characterised by deep and meaningful improvement of practice, sustainability over time along with the ability to evolve when faced with changing circumstances. The thesis contributes to ESE research with temporal perspectives on the scaling of ESD- activities, i.e. by considering contingency and continuity in the scaling process, maintaining the relevance of ESD-activities over time and through changing circumstances. Furthermore, by considering multiple, on the face disparate, scaling efforts as part of the same scaling event, the thesis highlight how each iteration of scaling an ESD-activity can constitute learning opportunities for further developing the activity at hand. Keywords: Sustainable development, environmental and sustainability education, scaling, scaling-up, implementation gap, learning Martin Mickelsson, Department of Education, Box 2136, Uppsala University, SE-750 02 Uppsala, Sweden. © Martin Mickelsson 2020 ISBN 978-91-513-0859-3 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-401063 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-401063) List of Papers This thesis is based on the following papers, which are referred to in the text by their Roman numerals. I Mickelsson, M., Kronlid, D. O., Lotz-Sisitka, H. (2018) Consider the unexpected. Scaling ESD as a matter of learning. Environmental Educa- tion Research (published). I proposed the idea for the paper with comments from David. I generated the data. I analysed the material and Da- vid and I wrote the paper together with comments from Heila. II Mickelsson, M. Danielsson, A. (2018) Scaling and subjectification in an ESD educational project Journal of Education for Sustainable Develop- ment (published). I proposed the idea and generated the data for the paper. The analysis was done collaboratively between Anna and I. I wrote the paper with comments from Anna. III Mickelsson, M., Mandikonza, C. (2020) Projecting change: scaling of the change project approach in Southern Africa. Environmental Educa- tion Research (under review). I proposed the idea for the paper. Caleb and I together generated the data. I analysed the material and wrote the paper with comments from Caleb. IV Mickelsson, M. (2020) "I think it works better if we have an example to help us": experiences in collaboratively conceptualizing the scaling of Education for Sustainable Development practices in South Africa. Envi- ronmental Education Research (in press). I proposed the idea for the paper. I designed the research, generated the data. Furthermore, I analysed the material and wrote the paper. In the analysis and writing processes, I have received peer review from colleagues. Reprints were made with permission from the respective publishers. List of Concepts The list of concepts presented below is intended as a quick reference to cen- tral concepts in the thesis. As such, the list does not present exhaustive defi- nitions but is intended as a support in the reading of the thesis. • Scaling, the chosen theoretical and analytical concept of this research project, denoting the multi-dimensional increasing of the impact of ESD- activities that is the focus of this thesis. • Spreading, a generic and collective term for the varied approaches that focus on one or a few dimensions of increasing the impact of ESD- activities, including ‘up-scaling’, ‘scaling-up’, ‘scaling out’, ‘replica- tion’, ‘expanding’, ‘rolling out’ and ‘growing’. • Multi-dimensional spreading, the multi-dimensional process of, for example, ‘mainstreaming’ or ‘implementing’ of ESD-activities that in- clude educational and learning theoretical approaches to ‘spreading’. It is used as a shared concept for the approaches taken by the four PhD studies described in Chapter 4 and discussed further in Chapter 9. • Scaling process, a transactional learning process characterised by contingency and continuity in terms of scaling needing to have some degree of progressive change, i.e., be a scaling of an educational content rather than the development of an entirely new activity. This process involves the selective content of an ESD-activity that can gradually change and transform over time. • Environing conditions, the spaces and places [what is usually referred to as environment] that have become enmeshed in experiences and practices. Environment is used as a state of becoming, integral to persons’ experiences. • Contingency and continuity, a joint process in which change in the world is characterised by inertia, things neither wholly remains the same nor immediately changes. It is possible to track a change in which continuity is the condition for contingency and contingency reveals the continuity through the oncoming adjustment that accommodates new circumstances, rendering it continuous with what came before. Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 15 1.1 Education for Sustainable Development ......................................... 18 1.2 Outline of the thesis ......................................................................... 20 2 Framing the thesis: five myths of scaling ............................................... 22 3 Aim and research objectives ................................................................... 24 4 Previous research .................................................................................... 25 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 25 4.2 Spreading ESD-activities in ESE research ...................................... 26 4.3 Politics of scale and policy mobility studies in ESE ....................... 26 4.4 Adult education and dissemination ................................................. 29 4.5 Research on the scaling of ESD ...................................................... 30 4.6 Four critical studies on the multi-dimensional spreading of ESD .. 34 4.6.1 Perspectives on structures involved in spreading of ESD- activities ............................................................................................... 35 4.6.2 Perspectives on processes and encounters in the spreading of ESD-activities ...................................................................................... 37 4.7 Summary ......................................................................................... 41 5 Theory ....................................................................................................

Load more