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Ecopedagogy, the Earth Charter, and Manitoba Curriculum, a Critical Content Analysis

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Ecopedagogy, the Earth Charter, and Manitoba Curriculum, a Critical Content Analysis Ecopedagogy, The Earth Charter, and Manitoba Curriculum, A Critical Content Analysis by William Burton A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2019 by William Burton ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 5 Dedication 6 List of Figures 7 List of Tables 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Historical Literary Context 10 Duality 11 Global Crisis 13 Climate change. 13 Ecological devastation. 17 Enclosure of the Commons 18 Provincial Crisis 21 Responses by Manitoba Education 25 Purpose of Study 28 Research Problem 30 Importance of Study 31 Unpacking Terminology 33 Education for sustainable development. 33 Education for sustainable living. 35 Environmental education. 36 Ecoliteracy. 37 Educational Perspectives on the Environment 38 Issues with current practices. 38 New approaches to teaching. 40 Critical pedagogy. 42 The hidden curriculum. 45 The null curriculum. 46 Critical pedagogy and curriculum. 47 Ecopedagogy. 48 The Brundtland Report 54 The Earth Charter (2000b) 56 Discussion of the Earth Charter (2000b). 58 Overview of Studies 60 Studies on the implementation of education for environment. 61 ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 3 Studies on attitudes and behaviours in education for environment. 67 Babiuk and Falkenberg study (2010). 72 Gaps in Literature 76 Chapter 3: Methodology 79 Content Analysis 80 Description. 80 Incorporation of ‘critical’ component. 82 Steps. 84 Manifest content analysis. 85 Latent content analysis. 87 Validity 89 Document Selection 90 Case Study Example 98 Assumptions Underlying the Study 100 Limitations 101 The Researcher 104 Chapter 4: Results 107 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence 108 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence by Curriculum Document 110 English language arts. 110 Technology education. 113 Physical / health education. 114 Science. 115 Social studies. 118 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence by Grade 120 Grade 9. 120 Grade 10. 122 Grade 11. 124 Grade 12. 126 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence by Code 128 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence by Compulsory Versus Non-Compulsory Courses 131 Summary and Analysis of Code Occurrence by Earth Charter Principle 133 Emergent Themes 141 Chapter 5: Recommendations 151 Recommendations from Data Analysis 152 ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 4 Recommendation 1: When undertaking curriculum reform, the Government of Manitoba should create space for a discussion of and application of spirituality within the Manitoba curriculum documents. 152 Recommendation 2: Schools should look to increase their capacity for offering Technology Education courses or skills across grade levels. 156 Recommendation 3: The Government of Manitoba should seek to reform the Grade 9 and 10 Social Studies and Grade 9 Science curriculum. 159 Further Recommendations 162 Recommendation 4: Schools should look to move away from subject-specific blocks of the school day and begin to integrate courses. 162 Recommendation 5: When undertaking curriculum reform, the Government of Manitoba should increase the expectation that students undertake an action component in demonstrating their understanding of content. 166 Recommendation 6: The Government of Manitoba should move towards making Grade 12 Global Issues a compulsory course for graduation. 169 Recommendation 7: When undertaking curriculum reform, the Government of Manitoba should create space for teachers to support authentic real-world application of learning through a project-based approach. 170 Recommendation 8: When undertaking curriculum reform, the Government of Manitoba should reduce the content of curriculum documents and provide space for teachers to make professional decisions. 173 Recommendation 9: When undertaking curriculum reform or development, the Government of Manitoba should use the Earth Charter (2000b) as a guiding document. 176 Conclusion 177 Appendix A: The Earth Charter (2000b) 181 Appendix B: Content Analysis Data Chart 188 References 189 ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 5 Acknowledgments A debt of gratitude for the knowledge, support and insight that Gary Babiuk and Thomas Falkenberg have provided to me since the early years of my Bachelor of Education are due. To both of you, thank you for your tireless hard work for the cause of education for sustainability, your questioning of the status quo and pushing for a rethinking of education in Manitoba. Both of you have been a wonderful inspiration for the possibilities open to teachers in this province for using their positions to teach and spread the importance of ecological literacy. Thank you also to Heather Anderson. Though we are just becoming acquainted, that despite you having just concluded your long journey through your doctorate, you were willing to step up when offered the opportunity for joining my committee. Without doubt this thesis is all the better for your knowledge. An acknowledgement to Seven Oaks School Division, a home away from home since 2016. The relationship that you have developed with the community, support and encouragement for new initiatives, programming and approaches to classroom instruction, have made for a vibrant and dynamic work environment. I am proud to work for you. Finally, a huge thank you to Matt Henderson. You took a chance on me by bringing me on board as a founding faculty member of Maples Met School. The conversations around pedagogy, professional development, ecological literacy have made me better teacher and person than had we not met. Whether you realize it or not, you have been an incredible mentor and role model for your tireless and innovative work. I hope that I can continue to work with and learn from you in the years ahead. ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 6 Dedication Without doubt, this thesis would not have reached its conclusion without the love, support and encouragement of my partner, Michelle. Through the weekend mornings at coffee shops, evenings and late nights hunched over my laptop, never once did you question the worth of this endeavour. This work is dedicated to you, Julian and Felix - Dad is trying to do what he can to make the world a little bit of a better place for you to grow up in. ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 7 List of Figures Figure 1 Prairie Climate Centre Atlas 23 Figure 2 Prairie Climate Centre Atlas 23 Figure 3 Education for Sustainable Development Venn Diagram 33 Figure 4 Total Code Occurrence in all Manitoba Curriculum Documents 108 Figure 5 Code Occurrence in Manitoba Curriculum Documents 110 Figure 6 Average Code Occurrence per Curriculum Document Page 111 Figure 7 Grade 9 Code Occurrence by Course 120 Figure 8 Grade 10 Code Occurrence by course 122 Figure 9 Grade 11 Code Occurrence by course 124 Figure 10 Grade 12 Code Occurrence by course 126 Figure 11 Total Code Occurrence in all Manitoba Curriculum Documents 128 Figure 12 Code Occurrence in Compulsory Senior Years Courses 131 Figure 13 Code Occurrence in 16 + 2 Earth Charter Principles 133 Figure 14 Emphasis of Earth Charter Principles in Manitoba Curriculum Documents 136 Figure 15 Total Code Occurrence in Manitoba Curriculum Documents per Earth Charter Section 137 Figure 16 Essential Elements to be Integrated into the Manitoba Curricula 141 ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 8 List of Tables Table 1 The Principles of Ecopedagogy 49 Table 2 The Earth Charter (2000b) 57 Table 3 Codes and Code Synonyms for Content Analysis 84 Table 4 Courses Excluded from Content Analysis and Rationale for Exclusion 91 Table 5 Courses Included from Content Analysis and Rationale for Inclusion 95 Table 6 Earth Charter Section, Earth Charter Principle and Code Occurrence 138 ECOPEDAGOGY, THE EARTH CHARTER AND MANITOBA CURRICULUM 9 Chapter 1: Introduction “Whether you succeed is not even the right question; what matters is that you try to do the right thing. Whether big or small, the act in itself counts” (Berry in Goleman et. al., 2012, p.134) This thesis will argue for the necessity of reconceptualising education in Manitoba to align itself with an increase in knowledge, attitudes and actions towards living sustainably on Planet Earth1. The changes advocated are a response to the widening disconnect between humankind and the natural world and the continued devastation of the planet that sustains us. While predicting what society will look like in future years is challenging, at present what appears more than likely is that our current way of life will be drastically altered by climate change. A response is imperative and beyond due. In Chapter One I will start with an outline of how the industrialized world has impacted the planet in an international, Canadian and Manitoban sense before making links to how Manitoba Education has responded to date. In Chapter Two I will unpack a variety of terminology pertaining to education for the environment, before focusing on ecopedagogy as a philosophical approach to education and the Earth Charter (2000b) as a pedagogical tool for implementing a more critical and effective approach to developing attitudes, knowledge and actions for positive environmental approaches to living. In Chapter Three I will introduce the 1 While the Province of Manitoba also refers to ‘skills’ as a key component of learning,
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