Storied Doctorates: Studying Environmental Sustainability Education Internationally (Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research, 1) 303067505X, 9783030675059

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Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1

Elsa Lee Editor-in-Chief Maria Xypaki Eleni Sinakou María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres Ailim Schwambach Editors

Storied Doctorates

Studying Environmental Sustainability Education Internationally

Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research Series Editor Dennis Beach, Education, Högskolan i Borås, Borås, Sweden

​ his book series presents and discusses topical themes of European and international T educational research in the 21st century. It provides educational researchers, policy makers and practitioners with up-to-date theories, evidence and insights in European educational research. It captures research findings from different educational contexts and systems and concentrates on the key contemporary interests in educational research, such as 21st century learning, new learning environments, global citizenship and well-being. It approaches these issues from various angles, including empirical, philosophical, political, critical and theoretical perspectives. The series brings together authors from across a range of geographical, socio-­ political and cultural contexts, and from different academic levels. The book series works closely with the networks of the European Educational Research Association. It builds on work and insights that are forged there but also goes well beyond the EERA scope to embrace a wider range of topics and themes in an international perspective. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16480

Elsa Lee Editor-in-Chief

Maria Xypaki  •  Eleni Sinakou María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres Ailim Schwambach Editors

Storied Doctorates Studying Environmental Sustainability Education Internationally

Editor-in-Chief   Elsa Lee Faculty of Education University of Cambridge Fulbourn, Cambridge, UK Editors Maria Xypaki University College London London, UK María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres Institute NUTES (Nucleus of Educational Technology for Health) Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Eleni Sinakou Department of Training and Education Sciences, EduBron Research Unit University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium Ailim Schwambach Instituto Superior Ivoti Bairro Vista Alegre, Brazil

ISSN 2662-6691     ISSN 2662-6705 (electronic) Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research ISBN 978-3-030-67505-9    ISBN 978-3-030-67506-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

For each person who believes that through research and education, we can combat environmental degradation and social and economic inequality.

Foreword

 ultiple Personal Research Journeys and Possible M Support Structures A graduate student’s research journey has at least two dimensions. Besides the struggle to plan and conduct a scientific research project, everyday life has to continue as normal. A good supervisor knows that friends, family and hobbies (and the loss of them) are also important to a graduate student and that support is needed in the different academic, practical and personal stages of life and work. This is why the book’s foreword mainly focuses on how academia can help graduate students to develop a clear sense of direction and to organize, plan and report their projects. It begins with some personal reflections that have been inspired by the different stories in the book about lived situations and developments when entering academia. The start of a research journey is often characterized by a mixture of emotions, high stress levels and a reduction in self-esteem that could, if not checked, lead to an identity crisis. If you earlier identified yourself as an experienced and informed teacher or lecturer, you are now faced with a new situation as a novice or beginner in the research part of academic work. Your working life situation suddenly changes from being a teacher and colleague to whom students and peers turn to for advice, to one in which you are expected to follow in the steps of your supervisors (as one of Konrad Lorenz’s goslings) and where your legitimacy and authority are more or less diminished. This ‘fall’ in the academic hierarchy is probably more severe when encountered later in a career path. One of the authors of this book even describes how academia suddenly became unfriendly and how the relations with and feelings for their ‘old’ workplace radically changed. Fortunately, there are often important turning points in the academic journey. You meet peers and can mirror your own experiences and thoughts in their stories. When sharing your stories, you also realize that there are many ways of working through and presenting a thesis and that sometimes even the most carefully chosen paths need to be revised. These encounters are often crucial for a successful and healthy research trajectory. Several authors of this book stress that it is the vii

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responsibility of each individual to stay physically and mentally healthy and that this responsibility cannot be laid on academia. When you have reached your goal – submitted your thesis and survived your viva/dissertation – what has perhaps been a disruptive and challenging research process can be transformed into an exciting and rewarding story of personal growth. As with most stories, it is likely that your personal horizons, your outlook on working life, your own abilities and life in general will be expanded. As these stories describe, being a graduate student is a life-­ changing affair and academia can support both your academic development and rewrite and reaffirm the story of your personal life.

Graduate School as a Way of Collaborating and Developing Most universities aim to build their own research environments. Major research universities can offer graduate students opportunities to participate in research environments where they can develop professionally and individually in close proximity to senior researchers and peers. Smaller and newer universities often have to look for that through collaboration and cooperation, and it is a challenge for smaller research areas to reach a critical mass of senior researchers and graduate students to form a supportive and strong research environment. At a smaller university, a supervisor and a handful of graduate students can sometimes constitute the entire research competence in a specific field such as environmental and sustainability education research. Few universities are able to build these kinds of critical environments single-handed and at a national level; it is, therefore, beneficial for them to look for ways of creating strong research environments through cooperation and collaboration. One way of doing this could be to develop national graduate schools to collect and disseminate knowledge. In 2009, the Swedish Graduate School in Education and Sustainable Development (GRESD) started as a collaboration and cooperation between eight universities specializing in research on education and sustainable development with about 20 graduate students from different disciplines on issues relating to the field. In the first 2-year periods, the students met 4–6 times a year, with each meeting lasting for 2–4 days. Three cross-disciplinary graduate courses were developed and conducted in close cooperation, with each participating university contributing expertise. The courses introduced the students to the research field, different methodologies and academic writing. An international advisory board, which met four times over a 5-year period, was invited to observe the activities and ensure the international academic quality of GRESD. This advisory board consisted of four experienced and internationally recognized researchers from international partner institutions. Their expertise, together with the organization of two international conferences, provided the graduate students with an international experience and outlook on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and ESD research and, perhaps most importantly, direct contact with many of their most important references. The advantages of cooperating with national and international universities in a graduate school are

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many. In a friendly and encouraging environment, graduate students and supervisors are able to meet peers and take on the role of ‘critical friends’ when research is presented and discussed. From a Swedish perspective, this collaborative environment has been both positive and important for the national improvement of the environmental and sustainability education research field, especially as strong academic and socially supportive networks have emerged from these research encounters.

Summer and Seasonal Schools as Important Meeting Places If forming and building national networks and graduate schools between universities proves difficult, summer school activities can be an important alternative for both supervisors and graduate students. Summer schools are often arranged by international networks, special interest groups, or conference strands and can be a product of earlier international collaborations between researchers from different universities. A summer school can be a fruitful opportunity for professional development, for example in order to acquire new skills, such as learning new statistical methods or learning more about new research methodologies. It can also foster personal development, such as sharing research journeys and experiences, common difficulties or successes and acquiring new ideas, perspectives and understandings of your own life and situation as a graduate student. This book is a good example of the result of a summer school and has entailed much preparation and hard work by the authors involved. Some of the authors specifically mention the EERA seasonal school at Homerton College in Cambridge as an important turning point in their research journeys. When meeting other international graduate students at such a school, you will probably find that they form an important peer group with which you can share experiences from different research groups, research environments, networks and international tendencies in the research area, as well as present your ongoing research and receive feedback from others in your research field. A seasonal school is also a good opportunity for graduate students to meet the research area in an international context and gain a deeper and fuller understanding of it through the help and experience of peers and other senior researchers. It is also a way of dealing with the academic loneliness that many graduate students experience. For a week or so a seasonal school becomes a kind of graduate school for those who spend many hours alone trying to fathom things out and is a way of confronting the sometimes lonely life of academia at a local university. In our experience, arranging seasonal schools should be a priority for senior researchers who are interested in developing and structurally building an emerging research area such as environmental and sustainability education.

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Foreword

 etworks as Foundations for Seasonal Schools N and International Collaborations International research networks are crucial if researchers are to meet, present papers and start collaborating. An example of this is the Environmental and Sustainability Education Research network within the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), which is arranged annually by the European Educational Research Association (EERA). The network covers research in Environmental Education (EE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Sustainability Education (SE) and Global Education. The key objective is to facilitate a network of European researchers who critically investigate and discuss the dynamic relations between education, learning, environment and sustainability issues. The network contributes to the conceptual and methodological development of the environmental and sustainability education research field and enhances empirical research in formal and informal educational settings from the preschool to higher education and other adult learning contexts. The research area is wide and includes curriculum issues, whole school approaches, teacher competencies, implementation and policy discussions on the one hand, and learning outcomes and learner participation on the other, including non-formal and informal learning. Every year, a 2-day Emerging Researchers’ Conference precedes ECER.  This conference usually gathers more than a hundred graduate students from different areas of educational research and is a wonderful opportunity for them to present and discuss their research with peers. This means that you can first participate in this conference and then join your network at the ECER conference. Senior researchers from the network review and discuss manuscripts for the Emerging Researchers’ Conference, which gives a diverse and scientific input for the paper presentations and other used formats. The overall objective is to share, discuss, disseminate and advance the newly established environmental and sustainability education area and to promote the development and impact of such research. Sustainability issues, such as climate change, systemic thinking, world trade, the global distribution of wealth and resources, life quality, the quality of the environment, health, intercultural communication and the depletion of natural resources, are all explored in relation to education and learning. Education is therefore a key focus of this network, including the specific approaches to learning and teaching that are relevant when studying complex contemporary societal issues. The research activities and discussions in this network are closely related to the long traditions in educational philosophy, including the role and purpose of education, such as the relation between education as a tool for societal change at large and the development of the informed individual. What makes these educational discussions distinctive is the critical analysis of international and intergenerational aspects of the educational settings and activities. Attention is given to research that challenges traditional educational discourses with a narrow focus on learners’ attitudes and behaviour. Instead, the research that is examined and promoted within this network critically explores the socio-cultural and other contextual determinants that influence learning processes concerning

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sustainability issues in educational settings in all parts of the education system, and at individual, organizational and system levels. In this way, the network engages with wider educational issues, such as participatory approaches, community partnerships, professional competencies, sustainable learning outcomes, policy transfer and organizational learning. From this description, it is clear that the research network primarily focuses on the scientific quality of the research activities. On the one hand, the role of international research networks is primarily to offer graduate students a scientific quality control by means of peer reviews and presentations. On the other hand, personal bonds are formed in the more informal network activities. These bonds are often the prerequisites for more formal, strategic and structured collaborations. At more informal meetings, such as coffee breaks and dinners, ideas for research collaborations and graduate programmes can be conceived. These thoughts are often taken to more formal network meetings to be considered for further development. In this way, research networking, in parallel with ‘rational’ scientific work, becomes a forum in which individuals can meet and share ideas and be a way of enhancing collaboration and research productivity. For graduate students, these encounters with senior researchers who can listen to and address your research questions are inspiring and are also described by some authors as a main personal turning point in their research journeys. The mix of senior researchers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students helps to make different types of collaborations evolve. Senior researchers look for collaborations in projects and applications for funding, while the attendance of graduate students also puts collaboration in doctoral courses, research conferences and summer or seasonal schools in focus. Thus, research networking can benefit graduate students and their supervisors, in that supervisors gain new perspectives on graduate studies and more support in their role, which could improve supervision practices and student–supervisor collaborations. Department of Mathematics and Science Education Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden

Per Sund

Research Fellow Karlstad University Karlstad, Sweden The School of Education, Culture and Communication Malardalen University Västerås, Sweden  November 2018

Louise Sund

Acknowledgements

This book project, entitled Storied Doctorates – Studying Environmental Sustainability Education Internationally, began in the year 2017 after the summer school “Doctoral Studies in Environmental and Sustainability Education: Contextualizing the Process” in 2016, led by Elsa Lee, and gave us the opportunity to start this project by establishing networks and receiving stories from around the world about doctoral journeys and about issues that currently are important on the way to get a better relationship with the planet. Our thanks and appreciation also goes to our authors, who have been patient during 4 years preparing this manuscript.

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Abbreviations

EE EERA ESD ESE

Environmental Education European Educational Research Association Education for Sustainable Development Environmental and Sustainability Education

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Contents

1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    1 Maria Xypaki, María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres, Eleni Sinakou, and Ailim Schwambach 2 Deep Valleys, Dense Swamps, Narratives from a Life-­World of a PhD-Student������������������������������������������������������   13 Margaretha Häggström 3 The Process of Doctoral Studies as a Research Journey in a Sea of Diverse Feelings and Experiences����������������������������������������   25 María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres 4 Believing your Research Can Change the World Helps ����������������������   39 Peter Ogudoro 5 Searching for a Center of Gravity Among Different Cultural, Educational and Epistemological Contexts During My Doctoral Studies ������������������������������������������������������������������   49 Eleni Sinakou 6 Challenges and Trips: The Ups and Downs of My PhD Experience����������������������������������������������������������������������������   59 Christiana Glettler 7 Finding My Own Voice Whilst Researching Students’ Voices����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   71 Ian Ayre 8 Discovering Environmental Literacy: PhD Reflections About My Own Training Process ����������������������������������������������������������   85 Olaya Álvarez-García 9 Slog Through Thoughts and Find the Right Way with Candle Light������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   95 Şule Alici xvii

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10 From the Seed to the Tree������������������������������������������������������������������������  109 Ailim Schwambach 11 Reconsidering ESD Scholarship ������������������������������������������������������������  119 Maria Xypaki 12 Conclusion: An Afterword for Thinking Forwards������������������������������  131 Elsa Lee

About the Editors and Contributors

Editors Maria Xypaki is a distinguished educationist with an interdisciplinary background in sustainable development (international relations, urban planning and education). She is currently the curriculum and public engagement consultant at University College London and a senior teaching fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Her roles involve enhancing student experience and academic practice by leading on the development of cross-institutional projects and services. She has extensively advised on the development of higher education curricula to embed sustainability and inclusivity considerations. Maria’s most recent research interests revolve around community engaged learning and knowledge co-creation with a focus on underrepresented communities. Maria has led on various national and international educational projects and initiatives. She currently pursues her doctorate at the Institute of Education, UCL.  Maria’s publications include: Xypaki, M. (2015). An innovative model of student-led sustainability in higher education. In Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula (pp.  473–495). Springerlink International Publishing. Switzerland; Xypaki, M. (2016). A Practical Example of Integrating Sustainable Development into Higher Education: Green Dragons, City University London Students’ Union. in Local Economy, 30(3), 316–329. Maria has extensively presented in international and national conferences such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Teaching and Learning Conference, Advance HEA, UK.  

Eleni Sinakou is a doctoral researcher in the FWO project ‘Valorizing Integrated and Action-oriented Education for Sustainable Development’ at the Edubron Research Unit in the Department of Education and Training Sciences at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests lie in the fields of environmental education/education for sustainable development. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the teaching practices in environmental education/education for sustainable development of teachers in elementary as well as secondary school. In  

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About the Editors and Contributors

particular, the thesis aims to determine which teaching practice could develop students’ action competence in the framework of environmental education/education for sustainable development. Eleni Sinakou is also a fellow of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Greece. Articles by Eleni Sinakou have been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Environment, Development and Sustainability Journal and Sustainability. María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres is Doctor of Science and Health Education from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was a visiting research student in The Sustainability Education Research Institution (SERI) at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She has a master’s degree in education with emphasis in teaching science from the University del Valle, a specialization in social management at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and a bachelor’s degree in basic education with emphasis in natural sciences and environmental education at the University del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Her latest journals publication is about social actors’ representation and ideologies from a critical discourse analysis, and about analysis of the National Policy of Environmental Education of Colombia. She has co-­ authored of the book Science, Culture and Environmental Education: A Proposal for Educators (2018) in collaboration with Alfonso Zambrano. She is one of the compilers of the book Weaving Relations Between Science Education and Environmental Education in Scenarios of Teacher Training: A Critical and Cultural Approach, in partnership with Edwin Garcia and Laisa Freire, which is currently under process.  

Ailim  Schwambach developed her PhD research (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and did her sandwich PhD at UCL, England. Currently, she works as a high school teacher at Instituto Ivoti, Brazil, and also works as a mentor of environmental education projects for teachers. Ailim is the education and outreach coordinator of APECS–Brazil (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists). She was the Brazilian delegate at COP 21 from UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) – Conference of Parties in France, Paris. Ailim has an interest in environmental education and gender discussions. She has created a project to make young people read more and improve their skills and abilities in science in Brazil. Ailim is author of the book Education for Sustainability: Epistemological Bases, Theories and Examples in the Area of Business Administration (2017).  

Elsa Lee is an educationalist with an interdisciplinary focus and an interest in environmental and sustainability education, climate change education and place-based learning. She spent 10 years teaching science at secondary schools in the UK and Mexico before returning to university for further study. Since completing her doctorate in 2013, she has worked on a number of research council funded research projects seeking to understand human relationships with/in the natural world and their behaviour towards the environment and how this intersects with education. Elsa has used ethnographic research techniques widely, including walking  

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interviews and arts-based research methods. Elsa’s teaching at undergraduate and master’s level brings together these different foci to support students’ explorations of sustainability-related work in education. Elsa is a founding member and convenor of the Environmental and Sustainability Education Research Network for the European Conference on Educational Research and a trustee and deputy director of the charity: National Association of Environmental Education. Recent publications include: Lee, E., Vare, P. and Finlayson, A. (2020) The Ebb and Flow of ESD in the UK. In Green Schools Globally: Stories of Impact on Education for Sustainable. (2020). Springer Nature; Irvine, R.  D. G., & Lee, E. (2018). Over and under: Children navigating terrain in the East Anglian fenlands. In Children’s Geographies, 16(4), 380–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2017.1344768; Lee, E., Walshe, N., Sapsed, R., & Holland, J. (2018). Artists as Emplaced Pedagogues: How Does Thinking About Children’s Nature Relations Influence Pedagogy? In R.  Latiner Raby & E.  J. Valeau (Eds), Handbook of Comparative Studies on Community Colleges and Global Counterparts (pp.  1–24). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­51949-­4_78-­1.

Contributors Şule  Alici has been working as a lecturer in the Early Childhood Education Department at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University in Kırşehir, small city of Turkey. She completed her PhD in September 2018. During her professional life, she has conducted some undergraduate courses, such as drama in early childhood education, school transition to primary education, school experience, practice teaching I–II, visual arts, community service, human rights and democracy, and research project. Moreover, she is dealing with creative drama professionally as a creative drama leader of Çağdaş Drama Institution. Her research areas are: education for sustainable development in ECE, environmental education in ECE, critical/media literacy in ECE, creative drama in ECE, and teacher education in education for sustainable development and critical/media literacy.  

Olaya  Álvarez-García has been working as a university lecturer teaching Environmental Education (EE) in both the Pedagogy and Social Education degrees since 2013. In 2019 she acquired a PhD position in the university department where she currently teaches and investigates. Her main research topic is teacher training in EE and environmental competences. Her thesis aims to discover and analyse the training in EE of primary preservice teachers in Spain. Firstly, this involved analysing the competencies related to environmental sustainability in the degree in primary school education study programmes at Spanish universities. Secondly, she evaluated the environmental competencies of the students in this degree in two comparative studies among universities. In the light of these findings, she developed a series of suggestions for the improvement of the EE training for future primary teachers.  

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About the Editors and Contributors

Ian Ayre is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania, Australia, researching learners and learning for sustainability. His research emphasises the voices of adolescent students and their experiences with ESE, particularly in the secondary school context. Ian’s background is as a secondary school teacher of geography, humanities and English. He has 20 years of classroom experience, predominantly in Queensland, but also in the United Kingdom and Tasmania. When he is not writing, Ian is likely to be found walking in Tasmania’s beautiful natural environments with his family.  

Christiana Glettler received her degree for teaching biology and English in 2006. After working for several years in non-formal education, she started teaching in 2010. Following 3 years of teaching at secondary schools, she transferred to the college of teacher education in Graz. There she is working as a lecturer, educating future primary school teachers. Additionally, she is responsible for the coordination of the ECOLOG Network – a network for the ecologisation of Austrian schools. Between 2014 and 2018, she was a doctoral student of biology didactics at the Karl-­ Franzens-­University in Graz, Austria. She completed her studies in July 2018. Her work focuses on science education and environmental and sustainability education with special emphasis on young children.  

Margaretha Häggström was working as a university lecturer, teaching visual arts and Swedish in the Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, when she acquired a PhD position in the department where she now works. She decided to continue to teach 20% the first 2  years and to be a full-time student/ researcher the rest of the time. Being a full-time PhD student usually takes 4 years in Sweden. A PhD position is a job with a salary thus you do not need extra funding. Her main research subject is pedagogical work and the purpose is to provide knowledge about how to make teaching and learning sustainable, interesting and compelling in order to prevent plant blindness. Particularly, how we may use aesthetic work at school to enhance knowledge about trees. Environmental education varies in Sweden but it is one of four strands that are supposed to pervade all school subjects according to the national curricula. However, teachers are unsure how to implement environmental perspectives and that is one motive to conduct an action research, as I do in two school classes with two teachers. The result of her work may be a contribution to the discussion on how to assist students’ development of ecological literacy. Such input should also be of interest to teacher education programmes.  

Peter  Ogudoro PhD, is a public scholar. He is an alumnus of the Institute of Education, University of Reading, England, where he did his doctoral research, which focused on how Nigeria could use unconventional platforms to democratize and provide access to higher education in the country on a sustainable basis. He is the principal consultant at SMARTCAREERS, a career management organization. He is also the president of Education Advocates, a non-government organization that collaborates with governments and other stakeholders to help underprivileged  

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people gain access to quality education at a cost they can afford. His research interests include career service and sustainable access to higher education, funding of education, effective learning techniques, attitude change, and moral development of children.

Chapter 1

Introduction Maria Xypaki, María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres, Eleni Sinakou, and Ailim Schwambach

This book brings together the diverse narratives of researchers’ personalized stories about the process of doing doctoral research (PhD) in the field of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) and about the life after the completion of such life-­ forming experience. The volume grew out of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) Seasonal School held at Homerton College, Cambridge in the UK, in August 2016. There were two main reasons behind completing this book. First, the increasing importance of Environmental and Sustainability Education. In the face of the Anthropocene, environmental protests around the world, growing inequality, civil unrest and recently the coronavirus pandemic, it becomes obvious that we need more research on ESE. ESE is hailed as an ‘ethical education’ that embraces universal aspects and concepts (Sund and Öhman 2011) with climate change, inequality, health and depletion of natural resources at its center. Second, it is important to understand how we can best support our researchers to do research that so heavily impacts on future generations. How do we inspire the ESE researchers of the future (Lee et  al. 2013)? What are the best incentives and support for M. Xypaki (*) University College London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] M. A. Mejía-Cáceres Institute NUTES (Nucleus of Educational Technology for Health), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] E. Sinakou Department of Training and Education Sciences, EduBron Research Unit, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] A. Schwambach Instituto Superior Ivoti, Bairro Vista Alegre, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_1

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them? What infrastructure should governments and universities develop? The ten personalized stories of our researchers aspire to contribute answers to these questions. Our authors offer a variety of reflections on their career progression and feelings related to their ESE research experience. The stories go beyond the academic to discuss the different ways in which doctoral study in the field of ESE is experienced at the professional and personal level. The authors talk about their feelings of impasse, the difficulty of juggling between research and personal life, the unpredictable nature of research and the lessons they learnt. The book also examines these experiences within different cultural and socio-economic contexts, some more favorable to ESE policy and practice than others. Our contributors are located in Europe, Australasia and Latin America. Some do their research in their country of origin and others conduct their research in a completely different cultural context. The different countries that the authors write from matters because it contextualizes both the process of studying ESE and the way in which ESE is experienced at a time when the world has become increasingly conscientized towards social and environmental challenges. Different disciplinary approaches of ESE are also presented through the different stories. Finally, each chapter is divided into two different periods: one written shortly after the doctoral school and one written more recently when the professional lives of our authors had significantly changed. This revisiting of the narrative after a break provided rich diffractive space for the authors to revisit the impact of their doctorates on their personal and professional lives, and the descriptions of the trajectories of our authors’ career paths are highly instructive. The variation in our authors’ stories allows for different audiences to relate to different narratives in the book. The intertwining of cultural (Eagan et al. 2002) and policy realities with the personal narratives in two different periods of our storied PhDs aims to address issues that can contribute to strengthening and enhancing the community that engages in ESE research. Readers are presented with a comprehensive volume ideal for aspiring ESE researchers, supervisors, policy-makers and practitioners.

 he Importance of Environmental T and Sustainability Education Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) is a multidimensional concept (EERA 2018) that is a combination of educational activities related to ecological, economic and social dimensions; and a transdisciplinary, transgenerational matter of critical pedagogical significance. As described by Schlottmann (2008), ESE is ‘education with the adoption of an ethical framework as its aim’. Besides ESE, there are also other similar pedagogical approaches mentioned interchangeably throughout the book such as Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). EE is about what can be learned from working in, through and

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for the environment (Joy 1998). It is about the value of the environment for education and it encompasses a range of issues including complexity, plurality and critical thinking. ESD (UNESCO 2014, 2019) is about increasing the public awareness of the problems in this field, as well as possible solutions, and it lays the foundations for a fully informed and active participation of the individual in the protection of the environment and the prudent and rational use of natural resources. There is much debate about the exact meaning and interpretation of these pedagogies relating to the environment and we do not claim to have definitive descriptions of any of the various relevant terms used, but we think it is important to set out here how we understand the term ESE and the similar pedagogical approaches that we use in this book. In the time of pandemic, climate change, environmental degradation, rising populism and xenophobia, the diversity and inclusivity of our authors’ stories, aim to inspire other researchers to broaden their horizons and appreciate the importance of intercultural communication and collaboration for the production of research that addresses global challenges. The research that these authors do is challenging and yet urgently needed if humanity is going to be able to negotiate the risks posed by climate breakdown and social and economic inequality. In the next section, we are going to describe some of the ways in which these chapters could be read and we are using the notion of lenses to encapsulate this discussion.

Narrative Lens Across their different contexts, our authors see themselves as the subject of their research, narrating stories about both their personal and academic lives (e.g. Berry 2005; Tillmann 2009). They “self-consciously explore the interplay of the introspective, personally engaged self with cultural descriptions mediated through language, history, and ethnographic explanation” (Ellis and Bochner 2000). In this volume, we use narration because according to Gubrium (2009), narrative inquiry is especially useful in helping researchers to more richly capture how people make sense of their experiences. In this way, we can contribute to the gap mentioned by Payne et al. (2018) about the affectivities in environmental/sustainability education of participants (in our case, doctoral students), permitting recognition of the powerful relationships of aesthetics-ethics-politics in environmental education research. In others fields, we found storytelling as an instructional method, and it is because they recognize the “stories” or “narratives” as method of recapitulating past experiences through the discourse (Labov 1972). These experiences connect readers to authors who can relate (or not) to the personal narratives and can use these to reflect on their own experiences. For example, having stories from different contexts can help aspiring future ESE researchers take practical decisions about how to get bursaries, or how to do an exchange in other countries. The simultaneous mirror/window quality of these narratives provides the reader with a reflective space within which to re-imagine their own life (McCormack 2002). Our book brings the

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storytelling nature of research to the forefront, making research findings more readily interpreted, meaningful, and relevant to our lives (Koch 1995). Research storytelling not only embodies subjective experience but also embraces the knowledge sharing traditions inherent to the different contexts (Kelly et al. 2014).

Country Context Lens The importance of ESE is perceived differently in different countries. There are international policies and guidelines, but they are interpreted and translated by each country according to the local realities (Ball 2011, 2015), and when interpreted and translated, actors enact policies such as discourse (Mejía-Cáceres 2019). As a result, the incentives for ESE research also vary in different national contexts; a reality that has also affected the researchers of this book. Finding funding for one’s PhD, for example, has been a challenge, especially in countries where ESE is not mandatory, i.e. the UK and Turkey. Researchers studying in Belgium, Sweden, Brazil and Australia could more easily access funding, although this is by no means a static situation and is affected by political change. The internationalization of education allows students to do research in different contexts. This can be an opportunity, but also a challenge (Nerad 2014). In our book, many of our researchers have been doing ESE research in a cultural and academic context different to that of their country of origin. This entails learning a different language, new cultural customs and etiquettes and adjusting to potentially different research approaches. It could be assumed that the different policy interpretations in different contexts, also encourage different types of research questions and actions especially when the PhD opportunity is a funded vacancy.

Transdisciplinary Lens Connected to the above, and relevant to the series in which this book is set: Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research is the transdisciplinary character that permeates research in this field. The sustainability crisis emerges from the interconnection between the social and the ecological. It is a complex, multi-level phenomenon with economic, environmental, emotional, social and spiritual implications. It is epistemological, and ontological in nature (Evans 2015). It appears to be necessary to turn to the transdisciplinary approach for ESE research and education as a potential solution that provides a new way to understand and interpret sustainability (Jurgena et al. 2018). Transdisciplinarity implies a new synthesis of the fragmented knowledge and culture (Klein 2015). Therefore, the researcher should be open to cultural diversity, look for cross-cultural understanding and advance equitable international research collaboration (Khoo et al. 2019). Transcultural and transnational perspectives are then presented. The authors are

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doing research in a broad spectrum of themes related to sustainability such as how ESE is employed in formal education, initial teacher training programmes, ESE policy, critical media literacy, access to higher education, and sustainability principles in the higher education curriculum. This research employs thematic analysis and methodologies from several disciplines such as pedagogy, economics, politics, social media and art. The authors approach ESE research from multiple perspectives, including empirical, philosophical, political, critical and theoretical ones. Thus, the book adopts a transdisciplinary perspective in ESE research across the chapters but sometimes, within the chapter itself.

Temporal Lens The chapters of this volume were written in two different periods. For most, this is the period during the process of doing doctoral research (2017–19) and the period after the completion of this endeavor (summer 2020). Understanding how our researchers personally and professionally developed over time through their research experience is important as a way to help potential future ESE researchers navigate through uncharted waters and see the potential for how their stories might progress. Furthermore, time is an important aspect of sustainability in and of itself, and one reason why this is such a critical and urgent endeavor; the sense that time is running out for us to conserve life as it is on Planet Earth is what drives us to research in this area, and why we need to inspire new researchers to take up questions in this field of study. The underlying concern of modern society is that while today most people are enjoying the comforts of economic development, the future generations are on the verge of confronting scarce natural resources and polluted environment and it is our most important responsibility to leave the planet as a self sustainable system providing equal opportunities of survival not only to our future generations, but also to all other species co-habiting with us (Arora 2018). This phenomenon has been termed intergenerational equity and it is inherent to the notion of sustainability. The very word sustain means to support or endure, making a clear connection to something occurring over time. This concept is almost always interpreted as a concern for the welfare of future generations along a range of ecological and social dimensions (Golub et al. 2013). However, it is worth noting that although it is generally accepted that the worst impacts of environmental degradation are yet to come, many humans and other species are already living with problems that can be associated with rising temperatures across the globe. Along these lines, the notion of the Anthropocene, is widely acknowledged as a new epoch of Earth’s geologic history and in the ongoing narrative of humankind’s relationship with the Earth (Zalasiewicz et  al. 2011) where different types of human activity intersect with different components of Earth’s wider system yielding complex spatial and temporal patterns with significant feedbacks (Knight and Harrison 2013;

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Rosenzweig et al. 2008). (Although it is also contested for its universalizing effect on the apportioning of blame across all of humanity in a way that ignores the inequalities and injustices in relation to the inequitable distribution and exploitation of resources and the associated imbalance of impact across ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’). Whilst not all of these issues have been addressed in this book, research about environmental sustainability is inherently time bound through these and other features.

Description of Chapters To write this introduction we used a kind of thematic analysis (Attride-Stirling 2001) in order to identify some key themes that seem to concern our researchers. In the next section we briefly describe these themes and then follows a brief summary of the storied PhD chapters to provide an overview and signposting for the reader. We have not included the foreword and concluding chapters, which form important contextualizing purposes for the book.

Key Themes By coding the stories of our researchers, we developed the below themes that reflect the key challenges, motives, opportunities, thinking and contextual factors that have shaped their research trajectory and we describe these here for readers to help them make sense of key moments in their own doctoral stories. Epiphanic Moment: What has been a common denominator for all researchers is the excitement for their subject. They all describe an epiphany that made them realise that they wanted to dedicate themselves to ESE and these moments are particularly inspiring elements of the stories they tell which will help other researchers make sense of their own motivations to join this field. Variety of Country Contexts and Policy Realities: Depending on the policy realities in the researchers’ context, some researchers had the opportunity to pursue a funded PhD, whilst others had to combine research with work. As a result, some found themselves in a more favorable situation than others. Some researchers also did their research in a country different to their country of origin meaning that they had to familiarise themselves with a new cultural context, whilst becoming fluent in a language different to their mother tongue. Personal and Affective Challenges: Increased stress levels, insecurity and precarity have been a common thread across all these stories, and juggling between family commitments and research, often compromised the wellbeing and progress of our researchers. On the other hand, personal support networks were also a source of comfort and motivation for our storytellers.

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Transdisciplinary Challenges and Opportunities: Difficulties in identifying a suitable methodology, in collecting data and in doing research in ESE, often coming from a different discipline, created challenges for our researchers. These challenges also inspired creative thinking and innovative solutions, driving our researchers beyond their traditional networks of people and disciplinary boundaries and creating new opportunities for them as their careers unfolded. Career Progression and Social Impact: The researchers seem to have been involved in interesting projects after the completion of their PhD and many managed to achieve their immediate career goals soon after the completion of their research. Besides all the uncertainty and stress, all researchers agree that they are happy for pursuing an ESE PhD, as they feel that they contribute to society with their work. Global-Local Context for ESE: The global uprising of young people in protest (Thunberg 2019) in support of the environment demonstrates how much education about climate change and environmental degradation matters. The global efforts to institute the Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2018) and Agenda 2030 further demonstrate the critical nature of ESE research (UNESCO 2014). Intensifying global and local awareness about climate change and environmental degradation has led to an increasing demand for our researchers’ knowledge and skills (mediated by country and policy conditions). The pandemic further unveiled inequalities resulting in even more opportunities for ESE researchers to address them through their work and advocacy, i.e. Black Lives Matter Movement. However, some global challenges stalled some of the ESE research, i.e. researchers working with schools had to pause their activity due to the lockdown. In some cases, the local realities, i.e. rising populism and denial of climate change in many parts of the world, made ESE research harder to pursue.

Summary of Chapters Chapter 2: Deep Valleys, Dense Swamps, Narratives from a Life-World of a PhD-Student Margaretha Häggström was a university lecturer, teaching visual arts and Swedish, at the Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, when she was offered a position as a PhD student at the same department. Her PhD research is interdisciplinary, combining art and pedagogy with environmental and sustainability issues. She investigates peoples’ relationships with forests, trees and other plants. She employs an aesthetic view on sensory experiences of being in the forest. Her PhD story begins with how she came across the PhD position, with the identity crisis she underwent and the experience of an unfriendly academia. Then, she looks at two turning points that helped her further proceed and finally complete her PhD studies.

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Chapter 3: The Process of Doctoral Studies as a Research Journey in a Sea of Diverse Feelings and Experiences Maria Angélica Mejía-Cáceres obtained her PhD diploma in Science and Health Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2019. Maria-­ Angélica presents a self-reflective narrative about how Environmental Education became important throughout her life; from when she was a high school student, through her masters and finally during her doctoral degree. Her chapter has developed under the idea that we are historical and cultural products, and that when entering the PhD world, it is important to recognize those experiences that have contributed to the way we face the different types of education encountered during the process of completing a doctorate. Maria-Angélica uses an analogy in her chapter, which she calls ‘relationship dating’: falling in love, gaining knowledge, coupling, and developing stability. Chapter 4: Believing your Research Can Change the World Helps Peter Ogudoro is a public scholar who was motivated to pursue a PhD by his dream to help Nigeria; a developing country in need of a sustainable approach to the provision of cutting-edge higher education that is accessible to everyone who has the intellectual capacity to benefit from it notwithstanding their socio-economic status. Peter reflects on and shares the troubles, triumphs and new beginnings of his life during his PhD. Chapter 5: Searching for a Center of Gravity Among Different Cultural, Educational and Epistemological Contexts During My Doctoral Studies Eleni Sinakou is a PhD student at the Training and Education Sciences Department of the University of Antwerp. Having completed her first degree in Early Childhood Education and her master’s degree in Environmental Education, Eleni was working as a preschool teacher in Greece. At some point, Eleni found herself at a career crossroad; going on working as a teacher in Greece or pursuing a doctorate in Belgium. Eleni had to face a few challenges when doing her doctorate outside her own country. Eleni had to face different epistemological perspectives and she needed to position herself ontologically and epistemologically. Ultimately, Eleni managed to overcome any communication barriers arisen over the course of her PhD studies and she adjusted to her new academic environment. Chapter 6: Challenges and Trips: The Ups and Downs of My PhD Experience Christiana Glettler is working as a lecturer, educating future primary school teachers at the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, Austria, where she also completed her PhD in 2018. In her thesis, Christiana focuses on science education and environmental and sustainability education with a special emphasis on young children. In her chapter, Christiana unfolds all of the physical and inner journeys that influenced her research trajectory. Starting with some introductory notes and explanations about general aspects regarding the conditions of her PhD, she then reflects on both the challenging and the enjoyable aspects of her PhD experience. Christiana shares her reflections on time management, the importance of networking, her feelings of inadequacy and the power of perseverance.

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Chapter 7: Finding My Own Voice Whilst Researching Students’ Voices Ian Ayre is a secondary school teacher with 20 years of classroom experience, and currently a PhD student in Education at the University of Tasmania. Ian has felt disillusioned and disempowered working as a teacher for transformative ideals such as sustainability in institutions operating under a systemic agenda to maintain the status quo. He felt that through research and policy development he could contribute towards genuine prioritization of sustainability ideals in curriculum and classroom practice. In his PhD research, Ian wanted to hear from the learners in secondary schools about their experiences with the inclusion of sustainability as a cross-­ curriculum priority in the relatively new Australian Curriculum. His research motivation was to bring the voices of young people to the fore. Ian encountered a range of challenges in collecting ethnographic data from secondary schools. In addition, Ian wrestled with researcher confidence and writing inertia in the latter stages of his doctoral story and is actively working to overcome this. Chapter 8: Discovering Environmental Literacy: PhD Reflections About My Own Training Process Álvarez-García, Olaya is a university lecturer, teaching Environmental Education in both the Pedagogy and Social Education Department at the University of Balaeric Islands. She also obtained her PhD degree at the same university in 2016. Olaya’s thesis aimed to discover and analyse the training in EE of primary pre-service teachers who study in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). In this chapter, Olaya reflects on her experiences and her own feelings during the time of conducting her PhD research, which was partially conducted outside her country. This chapter describes the problems and challenges that arose and how Olaya tried to overcome them, as well as the lessons she learnt from this process such as the unpredictable nature of research. Chapter 9: Slog Through Thoughts and Find the Right Way with Candle Light Şule Alici is working as a lecturer in Early Childhood Education Department in Kırşehir Ahi Evran University in Kırşehir, Turkey. She completed her PhD in September 2018. In this chapter, Şule begins with sharing some of the academic experiences that defined her PhD research topic; the intersection between critical media literacy and sustainability. At the beginning, Şule was not sure how to combine these two issues. By defending her ideas in front of her university committee, she was able to review and adjust her dissertation based on the academic feedback. After this process was successfully completed, the next step was to collect data for her research. During this time, unexpected events and misfortunes occurred, but effective time management and endless support from her supervisor circumvented them. After collecting her data and doing her analysis, she reported her findings, finalised her dissertation and moved on to her PhD degree. Chapter 10: From the Seed to the Tree Ailim Schwambach developed her PhD research in Brazil (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and did her sandwich PhD at the University College London

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(UCL). Currently, Ailim works as a high school teacher in Brazil and also as a mentor for Environmental Education projects for teachers. In her chapter, Ailim describes how she decided to start a PhD in Sustainability Education and the challenges she encountered during her PhD trajectory. In order to explain how her personal story unfolds, Ailim uses an analogy of a tree; the Araucaria angustifolia tree, which is most commonly found in the southern states of Brazil, but unfortunately is at threat with only 3% of Araucaria area remaining. Life as well as her PhD starts with a “seed”; to make it into a “tree” many years of study, devotion and development were necessary. Identifying a gap in a scientific field is not easy, but the more you learn, the stronger the roots of your research idea becomes. Chapter 11: Reconsidering ESD Scholarship Maria Xypaki is the Curriculum and Public Engagement Consultant at University College London and a Senior Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Maria is originally from Greece and has an interdisciplinary background in Sustainable Development. She has been living in London since 2010 where she has been working for Higher Education enhancing Teaching and Learning through innovative pedagogies. In her chapter, Maria discusses her role as an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) scholar reflecting on the value of research and practice for embedding ESD into higher education curricula as well as the challenges of ESD professionals. Maria’s research interests revolve around ESD and Community Engaged Learning (CEL) pedagogies. In her most recent research she has been focussing on knowledge co-production and on decolonising the university curriculum. Maria has led on various national and international educational projects and and has received numerous awards for her contribution to education. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the Institute of Education (IoE), UCL, with a co-­supervision from the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, exploring the decolonising  of urban planning curricula through knowledge co-production with Black communities.

References Arora, N.  K. (2018). Environmental sustainability  – Necessary for survival. Environmental Sustainability, 1, 1–2. Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: An analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1, 385–405. Ball, S. J. (2011). Academies, policy networks and governance. In H. Gunter (Ed.), The state and education policy: The academies programme (pp. 146–158). London: Continuum. Ball, S. J. (2015). What is policy? 21 years later: Reflections on the possibilities of policy research. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 36(3), 306–313. Berry, K. (2005). To the “speeches” themselves: An ethnographic and phenomenological account of emergent identity formation. International Journal of Communication, 15(1–2), 21–50. Eagan, P., Cook, T., & Joeres, E. (2002). Teaching the importance of culture and transdisciplinary education for sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 3, 48–66. EERA. (2018). Environmental and Sustainability Education Research, ESER. http://www.eera-­ ecer.de/networks/nw30/. Accessed 19 Feb 2018.

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Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N.  K. Denzin & Y.  S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 733–768). London: Sage. ESD UNESCO. (2014). UNESCO roadmap for implementing the global action programme on education for sustainable development. Paris: UNESCO. Evans, T. L. (2015). Transdisciplinary collaborations for sustainability education: Institutional and intragroup challenges and opportunities. Policy Futures in Education, 13(1), 70–96. Golub, A., Mahoney, M., & Harlow, J. (2013). Sustainability and intergenerational equity: Do past injustices matter? Sustainability Science, 8, 269–277. Gubrium, A. (2009). Digital storytelling as a method for engaged scholarship in anthropology. Practicing Anthropology, 31(4), 5–9. Joy, P. (1998). Environmental education in the 21st century: Theory, practice, Progress and promise (studies). London/New York: Routledge. Jurgena, I., CÁdere, D., & Kevisa, I. (2018). The prospects of transdisciplinary approach to promote learners’ cognitive interest in natural science for sustainable development. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 20(1), 5–19. Kelly, R. P., Cooley, S. R., & Klinger, T. (2014). Narratives can motivate environmental action: The Whiskey Creek ocean acidification story. Ambio, 43(5), 592–599. Khoo, S.-M., Haapakoski, J., Hellstén, M., & Malone, J. (2019). Moving from transdisciplinary research to transdisciplinary educational ethics: Bridging epistemological differences in researching higher education internationalization(s). European Educational Research Journal, 18(2), 181–199. Klein, J.  T. (2015). Reprint of discourses of transdisciplinarity: Looking back to the future. Futures, 65, 10–16. Knight, J., & Harrison, S. (2013). The impacts of climate change on terrestrial Earth surface systems. Nature Climate Change, 3, 24–29. Koch, T. (1995). Interpretive approaches in nursing research: The influence of Husserl and Heidegger. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21, 827–836. Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city: Studies in the black English vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Lee, E., Blackmore, C., & Seal, E. (2013). Research journeys: A collection of narratives of the doctoral experience. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. McCormack, B. (2002). In search of the bull-excellence through enquiry. The All Ireland Journal of Nursing & Midwifery, 2(4), 36–41. Mejía-Cáceres, M. A. (2019). De las estructuras sociales a los eventos comunicativos: formación inicial de profesores de ciencias y educación ambienta en el contexto sociopolitico colombiano. Tesis de doctorado. NUTES. UFRJ. Nerad, M. (2014). Introduction. In M. Nerad, & B. Evans (Eds.), Globalization and its impacts on the quality of PhD education: Forces and forms in doctoral education worldwide (pp. 1–3). Boston: Springer. Payne, P., Rodrigues, C., Carvalho, I., Freire, L.-M., Aguayo, C., & Iared, V.-C. (2018). Affectivity in environmental education research. Pesquisa em Educação Ambiental, 13(Especial), 93–114. https://doi.org/10.18675/2177-­580X.vol13.Especial.p92-­114. Rosenzweig, C., Karoly, D., Vicarelli, M., et al. (2008). Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change. Nature, 453, 353–357. Schlottmann, C. (2008). Educational ethics and the DESD.  Considering trade-offs. Theory and Research in Education, 6(2), 207–219. Sund, L., & Öhman, J. (2011). Cosmopolitan perspectives on education and sustainable development – Between universal ideals and particular values. Utbildning Och Demokrati, Education and Democracy, 20(1), 13–34. Thunberg, G. (2019). No one is too small to make a difference. New York: Penguin Books. Tillmann, L.  M. (2009). Speaking into silences: Autoethnography, communication, and applied research. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 37, 94–97.

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UNESCO. (2014). UNESCO roadmap for implementing the global action programme on education for sustainable development. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000230514. Accessed 20 Sept 2020. UNESCO. (2019). Education for sustainable development. https://en.unesco.org/themes/ education-­sustainable-­development-­esd. Accessed 25 Feb 2018. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2018). Sustainable development goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals. Accessed 20 Sept 2020. Zalasiewicz J., Williams M., Fortey R., Smith A., Barry T. L., Coe A. L. Bown P. R., Rawson P. F., Gale A., Gibbard P., Gregory F. J., Hounslow M. W., Kerr A. C., Pearson P., Knox R., Powell J., Waters C., Marshall J., Oates M., & Stone P. (2011). Stratigraphy of the Anthropocene. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 369, 1036–1055.

Chapter 2

Deep Valleys, Dense Swamps, Narratives from a Life-World of a PhD-Student Margaretha Häggström

Abstract  As a Swede, Margaretha is always close to a forest, even in the cities. In fact, approximately 70% of the land area is predominated by it. When Margaretha had the opportunity to site her research in the forest it felt like a match made in heaven. She decided to investigate people’s relationships with forests, trees and other plants in the light of the notion of plant blindness. Specifically, Margaretha employed an aesthetic view on sensoric experiences of being in the forest. Accordingly, her research is interdisciplinary, combining art and pedagogy with environmental and sustainability issues. In this chapter, Margaretha presents vignettes of her experiences of the two first years as a PhD student in a narrative way. With the intention of bringing meaning to her experiences, the vignettes are reflected through the lenses of phenomenology. Margaretha begins by explaining how she came across the PhD position. Then she examines an identity crisis and the experience of a challenging academic environment. Next, she looks at one turning point experienced at a European Educational Research Association seasonal school in Cambridge through lively meetings with fellow doctoral students. Thereafter, she describes a stressful situation and a second turning point that happened while she was investigating phenomenology, followed by a final paragraph on how to proceed. Keywords  Phenomenology · Doctoral student · Sweden

M. Häggström (*) University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_2

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Once Upon a Time It was a dark afternoon in November and staff at the University of Gothenburg were invited to an information meeting concerning vacant doctoral studentships. For several years, I had wanted a research position, but the subjects had not yet really suited me. One of the positions now advertised was within the project Beyond ‘Plant Blindness’: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world (Sanders 2014). The project included artists, biologists and educationalists from a range of European countries. The international composition in itself was interesting but the most motivating feature was the mix of art, biology, didactics and teacher education included within the project. For the first time, I felt in my bones that this doctoral position would suit me perfectly. I just had to apply for it! The only fly in the ointment was that I am not a natural scientist: I teach visual arts and Swedish. After the presentation, I went home to ponder this position. I discussed it with my friend and colleague and she agreed that this was something special. All the pieces fell into place. “Apply for the position!” she encouraged me. However, I was doubtful due to my lack of scientific qualifications. It takes quite an effort to write a research application. Should I really devote that much energy if I wouldn’t have a chance? I sent an email to a member of the project team and asked: It is necessary to have a scientific background in order to be considered for the PhD position? Or is it enough to be a passionate garden and forest enthusiast, as well as an academic expert in arts and arts education? She encouraged me to apply, despite my misgivings. The day afterward, I ran into another colleague from the department where I work. He had participated in the presentation two nights before. He came up to me and said: “Shouldn’t that PhD position be of interest to you?”. I was surprised as I did not think he knew my interests. “Apply for the position!” he urged me. This resolved my decision and eventually, I did apply for the position. Although I was convinced that I would not get the position, I said to myself: I’m conducting a study anyway, because I wanted to investigate why people come to a specific place in the forest and what they see, experience, feel and think about this place. The overall aim was to reveal people’s relations with forests and trees; thus, I was interested in people’s life-worlds. No sooner said than done. I made a small mailbox, put together a questionnaire and headed off to the forest. After about an hour’s walk, I came to the place I had chosen for my study. An information sign was hung up in a tree, explaining that this was a study carried out by me and that I work at the University of Gothenburg. The mailbox and the survey questions were placed in the same tree so that responses could easily be attached. The study was started. Every Sunday, the mailbox was emptied and there were already responses after the first week, although the questionnaire was placed quite far into the forest, which at times is rather a difficult terrain. I hardly ever meet anyone here, even though I walk here regularly. The questionnaire was hung up between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the darkest month of the year. In addition, this December was cold, and it had been snowing. Therefore, I had no clue if anyone would pass my questionnaire, and

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hence it was exciting. After 3 days, I could not keep myself from looking: I had to go there and empty the mailbox. And there were three answers! It was a wonderful feeling. Eventually, this study became a part of my research application. Maybe it was due to this that I received the position. Three and a half months after the application was submitted, the project leader came and announced that the position was mine. It is a moment I will never forget. Again, was there when I received the news, and it meant a lot to me that she was there and shared this moment with me. We have worked together for quite some time and been there for each other when the time has been rough. She knew how much I wanted this position and she has me encouraged very much. Now, I was so happy and so was she.

The Valley of Identity Crisis This euphoria lasted for almost 8 months. Then suddenly I found myself on my first doctoral downward path – a race to the bottom. I was hit unexpectedly, to me anyway, by an identity crisis. Now that I no longer belonged to my regular colleague team, who was I? When I hardly taught students any longer, who was I? Would I from now on have to resign myself to the role of a student? There were expectations of me to participate in new constellations and scientific fields that were new to me. My whole professional identity was shaken, and a crisis erupted. This was an embodied experience that reveals that my lifeworld was fundamentally changing and that I had a hard time understanding this change, as it happened too fast. Parts of me were still a lecturer identified with the subjects of Swedish and Visual Arts while parts of me were transformed into this doctoral student. At this time, I was going into my first writing period, or what I call my writing-­ bubble. In Sweden, the doctoral student goes through three seminars before it is time to defend the thesis. The first seminar is a planning seminar where the research plan is presented and discussed. This is done in public and with both a moderator and a discussant. Before this seminar, I had to produce a text that would include everything a dissertation text contains except for results and discussion, but on a smaller scale and obviously not in a finished state. It is a bit like undressing: “Look, here I am, me and my first tentative steps into academia”. I do like to be in my writing-bubble. They were lovely weeks. The identity crisis vanished as I wrote because here I felt at home. The very day of research-plan-defending was a sunny and beautiful day. The birds were alert and chirped happily in the morning. People on the train smiled and I smiled back. It was going to be a nice day. I could feel it.

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The Swamp of Planning Seminar Ha! If the valley of identity crisis was a tough place to be then it was because I had never visited the swamp of planning seminar. If you think that discussants, examiners and critical friends within academia have anything to do with friendship, then you are wrong. The word ‘friend’ has a completely different meaning here, and a note of warning should be raised for all doctoral students-to-be. The role of the discussants, examiners and critical friends is difficult to appreciate when you are caught up in the moment of examination. I felt like I was being critiqued in the harshest terms, and it left me feeling shaky and mind blown. Although my colleagues were working to be critical friends, it was hard for me to see past the criticality to the friendliness and consideration that underpinned their analysis of my work. For students entering this world, it is important to find a way to fortify yourself against all of this and I write this story to help you to do that. I was left shaking, I could not think, let alone speak. Yet, afterward some people from the audience come up and say: “You did well”, “It went really well!”, “What a nice atmosphere”. But I could not endure it; I went home as fast as I could and disappeared into the swamp. While wandering about in the dense swamp, tough and frustrating questions pop up: “Are you good enough for this?”, “Are you sure you want to continue?”, “Is it worth it?”. Something within me is answering no to all these questions, and I say to myself: “The academic world is not the place for me”. Being-in-the-world (Heidegger 1962) suggests that we carry the past and address ourselves towards the future but live in the present. It is clear here that I am struggling with who I was before the PhD position, who I am during this process and who I want to become afterward. Far away from the bright, fluffy writing-bubble, I was now crawling in the swamp until I eventually dedicated myself to the healing power of reading, and the swamp slowly disappeared. Interesting academic texts once again caught my interest, and soon I was back to work and made notes. A summer school in Cambridge was before me and time to enter a practical and creative period. Research presentations were to be conducted and relevant images and photographs needed to be found, and I was on track again.

Lively Meetings with Like-Minded But Different Colleagues The EERA seasonal school in Cambridge was a turning point that helped me to distance myself from everyday life at the faculty in Gothenburg. People from different parts of the world participated and all of us were or had been doctoral students. Here I found new critical friends. Everybody was someone here; everyone was seen and heard. Our different projects were discussed, and we received input from all members. We had a great time meanwhile. Everyone had a common basis in education and sustainability, and therefore, it was rewarding to be part of each other’s work conceptually, theoretically and methodologically. The course is still to this day

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the highlight of my PhD journey. The texts we read in preparation gave new dimensions to the field of sustainable development. The normativity of education for sustainable development was deeply deliberated (see e.g. Östman 2010). Our different perspectives were acknowledged without anyone needing to position themselves. At the end of the course, lecturers gathered for a debate in which different approaches, concepts and perspectives were discussed openly and respectfully. The formation of the debate, as well as the content, exposed a more humane side of academia than I had met before. It was an approach I liked and felt comfortable with. Analysing the concept of sustainable development has been an eye-opener to me in the sense that education for sustainable development needs to be different depending on geographical and cultural context, students’ and teachers’ pre-understanding and school curricula and syllabuses. The texts and discussions also helped me to incorporate the concept of sustainable development into the theoretical basis of my study, i.e. phenomenology and an aesthetic point of departure. Bonnett (2013), who was one of the keynote speakers, claims that thinking can never be neutral. When we as researchers gather data, describe things, select what is relevant and what is not etc., we are doing this with a particular intention. From a phenomenological viewpoint, this can be seen as appresentation (Owen 2006), which means that new experiences are associated with our previous experience, and so these processes are never unbiased or impersonal. Bonnett’s text helped me see how the field of sustainability is based on challenging a kind of everyday understanding – or everydayness (Heidegger 1962) – and common sense. As postulated here, the lifeworld is shared and is hence a social and cultural world. Lived experience through the lived body is thus crucial in order to understand each other and to build relations. The notion of being-in-the-­ world (Heidegger 1988) is, as I comprehend it, a fundamental necessity of within-­ ness, i.e. to exist as an environmentally situated individual. Our experiences of the world are made through multiple senses. Consequently, being in the forest is a multisensory experience, which takes into account the aesthetic impressions as well as other kinds of knowledge. The summer school confirmed that. During the course, research methods and different ways of presenting a thesis were discussed. There are similarities between different universities and countries but also some divergence. The doctoral student’s influence on the specific situation and on-going work can be improved in different ways. We discussed the formation of the thesis on the basis of an article by Honan and Bright (2016), which highlights the doctoral student’s right to decide the design according to the methodology. It also highlights the student’s autonomy regarding these issues. The question though is how far the student should go. What might we gain or lose by breaking existing norms? Is the academic world ready for postmodern dissertations? And should one challenge the norms as a doctoral student? Might breaking with normal procedures entail a disservice to me? On the other hand, dissertations could be much more interesting to read if they were individually designed. Visually rich dissertations that use multimodal texts to illustrate developments, concepts and research findings are still rare. Is academia ready for a thesis presented through the medium of film? I doubt it. As a doctoral student, I must learn how to conduct research in a proper manner and master the craft of writing in order to pass exams. Then it might be time

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to challenge conventions, at the risk of being judged as unserious, populist and not academic. But the discussion about different ways of writing a thesis – albeit hypothetically – has been enriching. At least I have begun to present parts of my research by videos and slideshows at conferences. From the response I have received, it is still a rather different approach in academia. Still, my background from the aesthetic field encourages me to think outside the box. However, when a former artist/visual art teacher thinks outside the box it runs the risk of being way out. Last time I was told that I am from a different planet. At the same time, I feel it is necessary to meet in a more respectful way. Academia needs to improve the ways of encountering the other. According to Levinas (1979), accepting the other for its otherness is an ethical decision. Otherness is also essential to our world as a whole if we do not want to reduce the other to the same (ibid).

Unhealthily High Levels of Stress I left Cambridge with a strong positive feeling. New courses to attend and new texts to write were waiting. As mentioned, I like writing, challenging and creative as it is. Writing also involves a large amount of reading, which I appreciate. The procedure of writing articles is, however, new to me, as is the scientific article as a genre: a genre with new pitfalls, difficulties, and opportunities. Last autumn, I was completing my first article, waiting for feedback from my supervisors. Was the article that good? Eventually, I received a response a week before the deadline. And there were quite a few changes required. I could manage if I had had the whole week, but I did not. At the same time, I had to take part in a two-day seminar where I was supposed to present my study. I was determined to present the study using a video clip. I edited the film on my computer in my study and simultaneously wrote the article on my work computer in the kitchen. I ran back and forth between the computers, hustling myself to such an extent that on the way to one computer, I took the vacuum cleaner and ran around a lap hoovering the floor. The film was processing and the article waiting to be written. I tore my hair until I caught sight of myself in the mirror. “What am I doing?” I asked myself. I am writing an article about sustainable development and making a video of how people perceive the forest from a sustainability perspective but going to pieces from stress while doing this. Stop it! This episode demonstrates how we make decisions in specific social contexts. We have the opportunity  – but simultaneously – a responsibility to choose. Since lived experience (Merleau-Ponty 2012) has its horizon directed not only at the past and the present, but at the future, we have to consider what decisions will be best in order to shift from one condition to another. I had to make a schedule to focus on one thing at a time, the most urgent first. The film was completed first, and then I participated in the seminar and wrote the article during the last few days. I asked for extra days for writing and then sent in the text. Puh! From this episode, I learned to never push myself to such an unhealthy stress

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level again and I learned that I can ask for help, like an extension to a writing deadline as I received here. As a doctoral student you still decide what to do, even if it sometimes does not seem that way.

A Turning Point Then it was time to write the next article. In contrast to when I was writing my first article, which was a theoretical-philosophical article, I now had time to collect empirical data through walk-and-talk interviews in the forest. This method was chosen as the most appropriate method since it was conducted in the environment which is in focus for the aim of my research; the forest. It also gives a comprehension of people’s interaction with the environment. However, it might not be the given choice for a researcher to meet with strangers in the middle of the forest and far from civilisation. Nevertheless, the interviews had been exciting to implement and I felt uplifted by how generously people shared their experiences with me. While analysing the interviews, I discovered how to use phenomenology. Thereby I could comprehend the concept of plant blindness from a new perspective. Plant blindness is a central concept within the project that my study is a part of. It is described as a decreased ability to see and appreciate the plants around us, leading to an inability to understand plants and their functions, and to appreciate their aesthetic value, as well as the marginalisation of plants in relation to animals (Wandersee and Schussler 1999). Plant blindness as a phenomenon captured my interest for two reasons; first because it was new to me that the modern human being is alienating herself from “nature” and from plants, and not only urban people. Second, it seems very unlikely that this could happen to Swedish people as there are practically forests and trees everywhere. Much of our culture is related to our natural environment; our literature, lyrics and music and children’s books have strong relations with forest. I wanted to listen to people and their experience regarding plants. I found in people’s statements that traditional school knowledge about plants does not necessarily lead to enhanced concern. Instead, many participants expressed that they have quite a little understanding of plants, but they had strong relations with forests and cared very much about nature. How can it be that, on the one hand, you are concerned about the environment and on the other hand have very little knowledge about plants? How could this be explained in relation to plant blindness? I use the phenomenological concept the natural attitude, which means that we take the world for granted and that the world is there regardless of us (Husserl 2004). The natural attitude is hidden from us and therefore we do not need to think about it. Consequently, plant blindness can be explained; we simply take plants in our surroundings for granted. This realisation became a turning point for me regarding the descriptions of plant blindness. I also realised that I could challenge the anthropological focus of phenomenology by including plants in the concept of the other and take the life-worlds of plants into to account. Once over that threshold, I felt that I could use phenomenology from “my own” perspective. For example, in

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my second study, which is an action research study in two school classes, I use a reversed anthropomorphism. That is, instead of giving plants human epithets, pupils become trees over a five-week period and then write about their transformation. What may such work mean to pupils’ understandings of plants and their life?

Looking Ahead At the time of writing, I have accomplished half my doctorate. It has been disruptive, difficult, challenging, exciting and rewarding. I have changed. Or, expanded my personal horizons. Sometimes, this change has been hard. I look with new eyes at my surroundings, my friends and the meaning of life. What is interesting in life? What is important? Where am I going? Will I be changed forever? These are existential ethical questions as a consequence of lifelong learning. Being engaged in education, I know that learning means change (see e.g. Illeris 2002). It is not necessarily dramatic, but there is probably no turning back. Through new knowledge, you gain new horizons of experience which gives you new horizons of acting, to speak in terms of phenomenology (Husserl 2004; Merleau-Ponty 1976; Heidegger 1962). What does this mean to me as a doctoral student? How will my nearest and dearest look at me now? Am I abandoning my family, friends and work colleagues by this career? These questions concern me from time to time. For instance, when I would rather read a new thesis than watch a new movie. Or when I spend a whole weekend writing instead of hanging out with friends. Or when I attend conferences and summer schools when I should have a vacation during the short summer months. Hopefully, this is just a phase, not my new life.

Addendum Epilogue My doctoral time is over; I received my PhD in January 2020, and much water has passed under the bridges since the doctoral journey started, not the least regarding Education for Sustainable Development. At the Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, at the University of Gothenburg, where I work as a senior lecturer in pedagogy, we have a broad interdisciplinary interest and a multidisciplinary approach within research and education related to sustainable development. We assume that research and education complete each other and our work intends to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the global community, which emphasizes the importance of education. This is also in line with Swedish policy. In 2018, we started an International Master’s programme in Education for Sustainable Development together with several other

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departments at the University. This programme prepares students, not only to respond to local and global sustainability challenges, but also to counteract them and contribute to more sustainable futures. Through my experiences of researching in the field, I have seen how education plays a crucial role in supporting critical inquiry in early school years, and how it can be a positive driving force for transformation towards a more sustainable future (Häggström 2019, 2020a, b). The incentive for evoking young students’ compassion and willingness to act was encountering with disorienting dilemmas.

Encountering Disorienting Dilemmas We are all witnessing that life on earth is endangered: global warming, climate change, extinction and pandemics are ongoing threats. Human impact on the ecosystems of the planet has created threats to humans as well as to other beings. At the time of writing, in this peculiar time of pandemic, we are forced to isolate ourselves from each other and fears grew about a prolonged global downturn. Many countries across the world have implemented tough measures, and both countries and industries have been put under strict lockdown, causing a complete halt to key production chains. This poses the potential risk of undermining the foundations of free society and lifestyle. Undoubtedly, we will face a paradigm shift. In the middle of the crisis, there are our children, who need to be listened to and to be given a sense of agency to reduce fear and anxiety. Climate change is one of the issues that children and young people are most concerned about (Ojala and Bengtsson 2019). After completing my PhD, I have been co-operating with staff at a primary school, who engage with sustainable development principles in various ways, including outdoor education. I follow the teachers’ work with the pedagogical approach of Storyline, and how young students respond to environmental issues. So far, we have observed that affective and transformative learning can be an impactful pedagogical approach, which can lead to students’ changing self-image and ways to view the world. I have also seen that when the teachers let their students encountering disorienting dilemmas in a natural environment, such as a forest, the students are given the opportunity to react and act according to the environmental issues. By permitting pupils taking the lead, we may understand what they think about what is happening to the natural environment, their future, and what actions they are able to enforce and bring about. In spring 2022, I will host the 8th International Storyline Conference, together with the principal of the school in my study, at the University of Gothenburg. The theme is Sustainability and Resilience.

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A Paradigm Shift Is Required The paradigm shift that is waiting ahead will require significant abilities, including visioning the future. This is more critical than ever, something that the young Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg has brought to the global environmental society. She is acknowledged through her weekly strikes outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm. The strikes have spread all over the globe, known as Fridays For Future, and take place in over 130 countries. Time Magazine (2019) list Thunberg as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and predicted her to be one of the next generation’s leaders. She says: “the emission curve must be bent steeply downwards, if we are to still have even a small chance of achieving the goals that world leaders have agreed to. Either we go on as a civilization, or we don’t. Doing our best is no longer good enough. We must now do the seemingly impossible. And that is up to you and me” (SR 2020). Maybe, the leaders of the world start to take climate anxiety and young people seriously. We know, that researchers do, and we know that Thunberg inspires young people, not only in Sweden, but around the globe. We also know that there is a need for new perspectives on education for sustainability issues, which many scholars already have emphasized (e.g. Wals 2015; Taylor and Pacini-Ketchabaw 2018; Lindgren and Öhman 2018). Therefore, we have to look at sustainability from various angles with the purpose of challenging preconceptions about what sustainable education might entail and how it should be conducted. Together with my colleague, I am now editing an anthology on the climate emergency we face today, called Relational and Critical Perspectives on Education for Sustainable Development. In this anthology, we have assembled scholars, who together form a group that has the capability of looking at sustainability from various angles, with the purpose of challenging preconceptions about what sustainable education might entail and how it could be carried out.

Exodus Now that the roller coaster course is over, I feel that the ground is more solid than before and I have so much to rely on; new knowledge, new competence and skills, comprehension, familiarisation with science, theoretical frameworks and research methodology. I have become a new me. I feel a greater sense of self-esteem, am more confident, and have a greater voice at work. I have been offered a new position at another university, invited to take part in research and collaborating on courses and writings, and my aesthetic perspective on research and education seems to be sought-after knowledge. I have grown my own resilience through this experience of learning to navigate the other in the academic world. Finally and largely due to my experiences of studying for a doctorate as in the story that I have told here, supported by my institution and supervisory team, I feel that combining art, pedagogy and sustainability has become a respected point of departure in the field of

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education for sustainable development, and I am grateful to those who supported me through this process to arrive as this new and exciting launching pad.

References Bonnett, M. (2013). Normalizing catastrophe: Sustainability and scientism. Environmental Education Research, 19(2), 187–197. Häggström, M. (2019). Students being transformed into trees: Inverted anthropomorphization in order to enhance connectedness to natural environments and plants. In J.  Reiss (Ed.), Art, theory and practice in the Anthropocene (pp. 137–153). New York: Vernon Press. Häggström, M. (2020a). Avantgarde utan auktoritet  – miljöaktivism i en lågstadieklass [Avant-­ garde without authority – Environmentalism in a lower primary class]. Acta Didactica Norden, 14(1), 1–22. Häggström, M. (2020b). Take action! Encountering disorienting dilemmas in order to include the more-than-human world – An act of sustainable thinking. In K. Høeg Karlsen & M. Häggström (Eds.), Teaching through stories: Renewing the Scottish storyline approach in teacher education (pp. 210–232). Berlin: Waxmann. (In press). Heidegger, Μ. (1962). Being and time. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Heidegger, M. (1988). The basic problems of phenomenology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Honan, E., & Bright, D. (2016). Writing a thesis differently. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(5), 731–743. Husserl, E. (2004). Idéer till en ren fenomenologi och fenomenologisk filosofi. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Thales. Illeris, K. (2002). The three dimensions of learning: Contemporary learning theory in the tension field between the cognitive, The emotional and the social. Leicester: NIACE. Levinas, E. (1979). Totality and infinity. New York: Springer. Lindgren, N., & Öhman, J. (2018). A post-human approach to human-animal relationships: Advocating critical pluralism. Environmental Education Research, 25(8), 1200–1215. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1976, 2012). Phenomenology of perception. London/New York: Routledge. Ojala, M., & Bengtsson, H. (2019). Young people’s coping strategies concerning climate change: Relations to perceived communication with parents and friends and proenvironmental behavior. Environment and Behavior, 51(8), 907–935. Östman, L. (2010). Education for sustainable development and normativity: A transactional analysis of moral meaning-making and companion meanings in classroom communication. Environmental Education Research, 16(1), 75–93. Owen, I.  R. (2006). Psychotherapy and phenomenology. On Freud, Husserl and Heidegger. New York: Universe. Inc. Sanders, D. (2014). Beyond ‘plant blindness’: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world. Appendix B. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg. SR, Swedish Radio. (2020). Greta thunberg: Humanity has not yet failed. Summer on P1. https:// sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1535269?programid=2071. Accessed 7 July 2020. Taylor, A., & Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2018). The common worlds of children and animals: Relational ethics for entangled lives. Oxford: Routledge. Thunberg, G. (2019). No one is too small to make a difference. New York: Penguin Books. Wals, A. (2015). Beyond unreasonable doubt. Education and learning for socio-ecological sustainability in the anthropocene. Wageningen: Wageningen University. Wandersee, J. H., & Schussler, E. E. (1999). Preventing plant blindness. The American Biology Teacher, 61, 84–86.

Chapter 3

The Process of Doctoral Studies as a Research Journey in a Sea of Diverse Feelings and Experiences María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres

Abstract  All of us have had meaningful experiences, some within our educational institutions, others outside of them. These encounters provide us with elements that allow us to personalize and modify the educational experience we receive at university. These elements are an accumulation of the experiences we gain from our basic, secondary and higher education, our family experiences, and what we absorb from the cultural industry of the society in which we have grown up. In this chapter, María Angelica presents her experience of doctoral studies, bringing in a perspective that accepts feelings or affections in the process. It helps to understand how environmental education are rooted in her experiences during her studies, from high school until her postgraduate studies: her master’s and doctoral degrees. This chapter has developed from the idea that we are historical and cultural products, and that, when entering the Ph.D. world, it is important to recognize those experiences that have contributed to the way we approach the different types of education encountered while completing a doctorate. Maria Angelica will present this chapter using an analogy, which she calls ‘dating science’: falling in love, gaining knowledge, becoming a couple, and reaching stability, moments which are related to participation in events, exchanges, phases during her doctoral studies. So, this chapter hopes to capture how Maria Angelica makes sense of her experience in her doctoral studies, specifically in relation to environmental and sustainability education. Keywords  Narrative experiences · Analogy · Doctoral process

M. A. Mejía-Cáceres (*) Institute NUTES (Nucleus of Educational Technology for Health), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_3

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From My Comfort Zone to the Travel for a New World To start off, it is necessary to explain that this chapter has evolved many times. I began to write it when I was a Ph.D. student in Science and Health Education in my second year of study, and the whole project of this book was finalized one year after I finished my doctorate. My studies have given me the opportunity to change my mind, my life and I will use this narrative to explain my story, but first, it is necessary to introduce some concepts which guided me in the writing of this chapter. According to Levinson (2006), narratives organize experiences and make them comprehensible through a sequence of events, and it helps to humanize the sciences because narrative structure incorporating human consciousness might be doomed because of epistemological incompatibility. It implies that I am considering doctoral studies as a social practice too. It means that social sciences or other sciences aren’t neutral, and always has intervention in social life as scenario, object or study, or in the social life of the researcher (Bhaskar 1986). Also, I understand science as a cultural product; so, the context, the historic moment, the political moment when research is developed influences the results. It is for this reason, that I will begin my narrative from my high school experience, because it influenced who I am. I describe my story from an emotional and personal perspective. Then, I use the environmental philosophy proposed by Ana Patricia Noguera (2004), who affirms that: The environmental philosophy proposes to understand and thematize how it relates to the relationships of the diversity of moments present in the body-symbolic-biotic, in this nature-culture as a word…The flow of my experiences is only possible thanks to the world of life as a horizon of meanings. (p. 42)

It means that our experiences are made thanks to other humans, and cultures, so our sensibility, framework, and education help us to understand and give meaning to these experiences. Consequently, I will recount moments which had a significant impact on my life, in other words, epiphanies (Bochner and Ellis 1992; Couser 1997; Denzin 1989), it can be times of crises, events, intense situations, memories, feelings (Bochner 1994), in the hope that others reading this story will be able to learn from my experience. I begin my narrative by introducing the events that set me on the path of environmental education. I start with my high school years because childhood experiences in nature are known to determine one’s environmental preferences, competencies and concerns, and it can have greater impact in life (Bixler and Floyd 1997; Chawla 1999, Bixler et al. 2002, Wells and Lekies 2006; Chawla and Derr 2012; Hosaka et al. 2017). Thus, when I was in school in my native country of Colombia, I had a teacher who created an environmental group. Today, I can identify this as a result of the government’s mandatory policy. I participated as a leader in this group without any idea that would one day be the focus of my profession. This participation gave me an interest in social issues, and I decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Basic Education with an emphasis in Natural Sciences and Environmental Education at the University of Valle. There, I had the opportunity to be part of a research group

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where I received an integral education in research. My supervisor taught me about research and the importance to be active by writing papers and giving presentations. More than that, he taught me about the importance of doing my job because I like it and not just for money. He always reminded me that I need to be recognized in my job and this would enable be to be an independent woman. I was attracted to Environmental Education (EE) because it is the bridge between science and social issues. My motivation was further increased when I learned that EE is mandatory by law in all schools (Ministry of National Education 1994), but that the education system has insufficient educative processes for teachers, who are actually responsible for doing the work in EE. Since 1994, all schools in Colombia need to have EE projects as transversal issues in the curriculum, and since 1998, the law was extended to include EE at the graduate level (Mejía-Cáceres et al. 2020). In 2003, it became possible to get a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis on EE. So, I was part of the first cohort with an emphasis in EE. During my master’s in education in Colombia, I had the opportunity to meet a Brazilian professor who was working with cultural diversity and science education at the University of Valle and who had a conference there. Two years later, we worked on a project on the relationship between scientific knowledge and EE. This project was a collaboration between the University of Valle in Colombia and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; it was a result of a collaboration between governments of both countries expressed through the science agencies, such as CAPES (Brazil), and COLCIENCIAS (Colombia), probably in their goal to improve the quality of education, which is one of the goals of sustainable development. After one year of work on the project, I applied for doctoral studies at the university in Rio. I was accepted and I decided to move to Brazil to live independently from my family for the first time. My doctoral study was in the NUTES (Institute Nucleus of Educational Technology for Health) at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. This Institute has excellent teachers, who work from a socially critical perspective, including being critical of political institutions. These characteristics are the principal difference compared with my education in Colombia. My education was scientifically based and involved studies about the epistemology of sciences. This socially critical perspective implied that I studied texts which critique neoliberalism, capitalism, and another forms of globalization of ideologies, not only from a sociological perspective, but also their impact on the educational process. In addition to this, I learnt about the position which proposes to decolonize pedagogy, where philosophies, worldviews, theories, practices that are propose in the Global South are recognized. This involved discussions about European and North American hierarchical impositions and colonization, in opposition to which, the epistemology of the south was developed. When I started my first semester in August 2015, I thought it would be hard because of the language barrier, but after I overcame my fear and I became very active and participated in the discussions and events. My supervisor was a social person with a love of meaningful relationships and cultural exchange; for this reason, I had the opportunity to meet professors from other universities in Rio de

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Janeiro. I found work linked to social movements and EE for communities, projects to integrate the school and the communities. This gave me a lot of experience and taught me another aspect of education, which changed my views about education through formal institutions and made me think about the real life of students in their communities. In other words, it got me to think about non-formal education. Another important factor was my research group that works with critical discourse analysis. This was very challenging for me. In Colombia, I had never studied it and when I started, I learned that it consists of linguistics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, communication and philosophy; and that there is no unique method to apply it. You need to have a real interpretation and build from your knowledge. I studied with a research group where we had lectures on the papers and books of Bakhtin (2002), and Fairclough (2003). But, my research was proposed from an epistemological perspective, it was multiculturalism to critical realism, and I was conceiving an EE in three levels, personal, social and socio-environmental (Sauvé 2002). I wanted my doctoral study to explore the bachelor’s degree in Colombia because EE is part of curriculum, through recognizing the different relationships in the research, such as how pre-services education of teachers contributes to building an individual and collective level knowledge, language and experiences; that materialize through the discourse. These aspects are different in Brazil, because the contact of the students of bachelor’s degree in biology with EE is only through an elective discipline or extension projects. However, I needed to incorporate critical discourses analysis, and incorporate the interests of the research group, like the Fairclough perspective; on the other hand, this perspective only takes a social dimension in the analysis and doesn’t consider personal dimensions. Alternatively, I found that Van Dijk (2008) who conceived discourse as a multidimensional and complex phenomenon, constituted by linguistics, epistemology, interactional dimensions, such as beliefs, attitudes, ideologies, and more. So, my research project was built on my interest in pre-services education of teacher in the Colombian context, the policy as a guide but also as a condition of practices, and a critical perspective. My objective was to characterize EE emancipatory scenarios in pre-service education processes in science, and two specific goals: to recognize the socio-political context that influences the bachelor’s degree in Colombia, and to explore scenarios with greater hegemonic lead and emancipatory scenarios inside the bachelor’s degree. As I mentioned before, my supervisor loves cultural exchange with other groups and for this reason I was part of the research group Gresca of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. I participated in discussions and I presented my research project through Skype. In the first year, I had the opportunity to participate in the EERA Seasonal School: Doctoral Studies in Environmental and Sustainability Education: Contextualizing the Process in the UK, funded by the European Education Research Association, which was the first time that I heard about EERA and ECER. It was an unforgettable experience and I faced the scary situation of having to speak in English in front of a group of people for the first time in my whole life. I met professors who gave me new

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viewpoints and shared their interest in EE with me. At the same time, I met Ph.D. students who were trying, like me, to do the best work with education to help our countries. During the whole experience, I needed to use different languages in order to participate in the diverse scenarios: I needed Spanish, Portuguese and English. These kinds of events are important because a doctoral student can find social support, for example, emotional support, in other students or academicians who help by actively listening, empathizing and showing concern (Nelson and Brice 2008), because the other students or academics experience the same struggles and conflicts themselves (Jairam and Kahl 2012). The opportunity to be recognized by a peer review and sharing a common experience enables doctoral students to learn through interaction. This interaction can continue and, with time, become collaborative relationships; for example, writing a publication, participating in Congress together, conducting research as a visiting student in another university. My story is an example of that, in fact, one part of this chapter was about my stay in Canada experiencing another culture and learning with another research group whom I had encountered at the summer school. As far as cultural and personal experiences go, it was a very rich experience. For the two years that I was visiting, I met with different research groups and scenarios and I could learn about the culture. In Rio, I started to learn how to be a Carioca (a person from Rio de Janeiro). I even got a wonderful extended family and came to understand that, in leaving Colombia, I hadn’t lost my family but instead it had grown. I developed a close relationship with my supervisor who is like my Brazilian sister. I even gained a brother in her husband along with a beautiful nephew and niece. I also gained a Peruvian sister, another Brazilian sister, new parents and grandparents. I started to enjoy running near the sea. I started to like the beach, even if only when the temperatures are above 30 degrees. I learned to dance the samba, forró, and funk (Brazilian type of music). I could continue on about my cultural experiences because I learned many things. To sum up, however, I can say that it gave me a sense of freedom. During my travels in the UK, I learned the real cultural diversity in different countries and realized that my country has a good education system because I know the Colombian peoples’ capacity to accomplish anything. However, our problems are related to corruption and lack of money for education and science. For me, these issues are the main reason for Colombia’s lack of development. In Canada, I learned about their culture, their way of smiling and speaking to strangers, as well as, their problems in the past with the “Residents Schools”, and now, the importance of the indigenous people there. I also learnt what fall and winter feels like. I know that there are many more things that I will come to realize as I move on to the next stages of my career and personal life. After Canada, I returned to Brazil but this time everything was different. I was officially divorced. It had been a full year. I had been published or been part of publications in several papers and books especially in Spanish. I was in a new relationship with someone who spoke neither Spanish nor Portuguese, which meant that I had to speak more English. I also had to learn to balance my studies and life with someone who didn’t fully understand the implications of an academic life.

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The political landscape in Brazil changed all through my doctoral studies. I saw the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff (2015–2016), the election of the next president Michel Temer (2016–2018), and the current president Jair Bolsonaro. I cannot deny that it was hard for me. Firstly, I was afraid because I was working in the field of critical theory and this can be very problematic in political climates where criticims of the state is discouraged. Then, in 2017, the fields of science, education and health were coming under serious attack. The news constantly reported the possibility of scholarships being cancelled. Since I was dependent on a scholarship at the time, this led to a lot of stress and insecurity: what would I do if my scholarship was cancelled? How would I complete my doctorate? Luckily, neither of those fears materialized and I was able to finish my doctorate. Finally, I entered the last stage of my doctorate: completing my thesis. It was necessary for me to isolate myself. So, I left Brazil and went to a small village name Port-Louis in France, where there were few distractions. The biggest concern, however, was finding evaluators. In Brazil, the norm is to have four evaluators; one of whom needs to be from the academic program and another has to be an external evaluator. My supervisor and I decided to take a big risk and contact Teun van Dijk (affiliated with University Pompeu Fabra), who, as I explained earlier, is an established teacher and writer of Critical Discourse Analysis. I discussed the subject of my thesis with him, terrified that he would turn me down on the grounds that my work was not a discourse analysis, which is mainly a linguistic theory, and that I am not a linguist. However, to my relief, he agreed and was one of my evaluators along with a teacher from Colombia affiliated with Universidad Pedagógica de Bogotá, and two Brazilian teachers (affiliated with University Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and University Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro). Finally, the day of my presentation arrived and it was great. On the first of July 2019, I could finally say, “I did it!” and when I heard the evaluation, I realized that I had no reason to be scared. So, my advice is to believe in yourself and you will be successful. Three months after I finished my doctoral studies, I participated in a congress held by EERA in Germany and I was awarded a bursary. For me, participating in this Congress was an opportunity for a cultural exchange and to recognize Latin representation with dignity. Often, we want to have a voice in different spaces, but we lack the resources to advance as much we would like.

Surfing on a Sea of Feelings During the first year of my PhD., I could listen to my partners about their research. Some students just waited for issues assigned by the supervisor. Other students knew on their own what they wanted in their research. In the process, I confirmed that it is necessary to love and enjoy your research because you are starting a new relationship. The project is your new boyfriend/girlfriend. For this reason, I made the analogy with a relationship. It corresponds to the different stages that we live through during our doctorate studies.

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Falling in Love Share your sparkle wherever you are. –Dodinsky

Initially, we are delighted with our chosen project, with the idea that we can create something significant that can have a positive impact on the world. We decide that we are not going to change our initial ideas and that we will stand firm, using the lens through which we look at the world. Sometimes our doctoral project is related to our experience in previous studies/degrees. Before starting our studies, we feel different emotions. When we are searching for the university or the program, we are excited to start and feel euphoria because it is a new adventure. We think about acquiring new knowledge and about doing something that will have a tangible impact. And, if it is in another country or city, the emotions are heightened because we will go a new place or country. So, we will not just gain new knowledge, we will get to know the culture, visit new places, and eat exotic food.

Gaining Knowledge Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art. –Neil Gaiman

As we began, we learned a little more. We were acquiring knowledge from our readings, experiences, debates, courses, and activities; allowing greater immersion in our field of research. Knowledge allows us to attach ourselves to a world vision, a style of thinking and behavior. However, there is a process of matching our initial ideas with that of our new world vision, which in many cases, places us in an existential crisis. This stage can lead to frustration or anxiety in academic and personal dimensions. If you are in another country, you can get depressed and start to doubt why you are there alone. Occasionally, you miss the basic things and just you want to cry. And, if you are strong, sometimes you can write a paper or an essay for your research while you are crying because you are having problems with your family and are feeling sad. Each person lives these stages with different symptoms; you may feel that you want to avoid your research or attend or give a lecture or just write. You might have doubts: is your project is good enough for a doctorate? In addition to all this, there is also the pressure of time, especially if you have a scholarship.

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Please don’t live in isolation. Get new friends. Talk with them. Participate in activities. If you are in another country, learn other sports, languages, and new styles of dancing. It is good to be active. As Delamont (2013) encourages, don’t be a victim. As I explained before, you need to find a positive social support from academic friends who can give you emotional support through empathy, encouragement, and enjoyment, as well as professional support through feedback and assistance for your research; and don’t forget family, who give a different kind of emotional support, such as encouragement, self-esteem building and love; and give a practical support such as gifts, financial support and taking care in general (Jairam and Kahl 2012).

Becoming a Couple Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. –Thomas A. Edison

During this stage you understand exactly what research is. Everything can change from one moment to the next. You understand academic life better and identify the good things and the bad. Now your research doesn’t intend to change the world but the local context. You feel more comfortable in discussions, debates and different academic scenarios. Is it possible to recognize what you are learning during the process? New questions arise such as: How can I maintain the new relationship that I have gained in the process? What can we do together? Anxiety can arise due to the uncertainty of knowing what we can or can’t do.

Reaching Stability Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. –Winston Churchill

Then we enter into a process of stability, allowing our data analyses to help to reaffirm why we are in the field of research and reaffirm that we really love what we have dedicated our time to complete. And then, you begin to think, “what can I do after my studies?” After the final evaluation you feel free!

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Languages and Experiences: Ideas to Get Through the Crisis! We can create an analogy using the five languages of love of Gary Chapman (2002), in the process of doctoral studies: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts/reward (in this case I would call it self-motivation), acts of service (especially in research), physical touch (which we could call materialisation). I consider that if we are on this process, it is because we love what we do (although of course this is not always true for everyone or always true for anyone); as such, we can use the language of love with our fellow students who are also on their own paths. Through words of affirmation, like with every human being, we hope that our work and our contributions will be appreciated and recognized for their successful achievements and actions. When we receive stimulating words, we are very happy and very motivated to reciprocate (Chapman 2002, p. 39).

It is here that we value the effort, work, and dedication with which our research is carried out. Sometimes we give, receive or say to ourselves kind words of encouragement. For example: I can do it, why not, it is possible, I want to do it, I believe in this, I like my research, I need to write to finish fast and in the allotted time. We can find these words when we make a presentation and it gets a good reception, but sometimes the reception is not positive and we have to learn to be resilient. We can think of ‘Quality Time’ as the time we share with colleagues and teachers, when we meet new people and when we can share experiences and emotions related to our field. This allows us to reaffirm what we love. These scenarios provide an opportunity to unite and converse with the other, from another viewpoint of other methodologies. Here, it is so important to build from the diversity. This implies recognizing the difference between actors and their thoughts, building a link between identity, culture, scientific knowledge and nature through symbols; this means building from the differences and creating a new proposal (Mejia-Cáceres and Zambrano 2018). The gifts, I believe, are very personal and vary depending on the needs of the individual. In my case, gifts are associated with challenges, the opportunity to participate in different calls for submissions, having my work appreciated, and when my work is accepted, the feeling of joy I experience. In my case, I know that I need constant motivation. I need to search for something that can give me enough motivation to continue in the research journey. The first present for me was the possibility to participate in the writing of papers at the end of the first semester with my supervisor. The second was participating in the Global Online Course: EE: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Addressing Wicked Problems. This was where I learnt about the summer school, Doctoral Studies in Environmental and Sustainability Education: Contextualizing the Process, funded by the European Educational Research Association, and held at Homerton College at the University of Cambridge. This last gift was very significant for me because it increased my interest to continue the process and make more efforts to learn English so I can participate more.

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Another time, when I was feeling tired and uninspired, the World Environmental Education Conference appeared and of course, I submitted proposals. I thought that an important gift to myself would be to participate in a research group in Canada. I knew about this research group through the summer schools, and I got interested because it dealt with political educative and environmental education, which was a component of my research. So, I wrote asking if it was possible if I could do one semester there. To my surprise, the professor who wrote was very friendly and receptive and gave me the opportunity to share with her not one week but rather the whole fall term. It was an added bonus that I could practice my English and write a paper at the same time. This new adventure as a visiting research student demanded even more effort on my part. Firstly, because I was required to send my project for evaluation showing previous results three months in advance. This meant that I had to present my project for evaluation in August when the schedule was planned in November. On the other hand, I love to travel but I get scared on the airplane when there is turbulence and this trip would require me to fly for many hours. I would also have to speak English, which, at that point, I wasn’t used to doing in my everyday life. However, this only motivated me to do better, so I could learn from my supervisor in Canada, and also create opportunities for future projects. Working on a doctorate in the midst of a global pandemic is an unforeseen challenge but it is vital to find ways to motivate yourself. No one else can do that for you. It’s your responsibility. Especially now as we are witnessing for ourselves the impact we have on nature. Our research in EE and the importance of finding strategies has never been more important. Acts of service remind us that we are all human, and therefore, we must undertake simple actions and gain emotional reward from recognizing and appreciating one another, be it our partners or the people we meet on our journeys. I find the best example of this in my supervisor in Rio de Janeiro, who opened her home to me for a month and a half until she was sure I had received my scholarship. Another example, which was a result of my time at summer school, is the opportunity to participate in this book, not only as an author of a chapter, but as an editor too. Finally, my supervisor in Canada also illustrated this when she gave me a chance although I did not speak excellent English. Experiences that affect us on a personal level just serve to show that we are human. This also means that we are susceptible to changes in our context and the political situation. And the last language, the physical touch, is what I associate with the process of materialization: writing a paper to achieve our objectives, making an educational exchange, being in proximity with other individuals and groups who share our passion. Here, I want to mention that when you do write, do it because you like to and not because the system pushes you. To conclude, the doctorate is part of our story, full of emotions and languages, that if we recognize them, we are able to humanize, even a little, the academic process. Recognize, in your own story, the gift that you receive from other researchers, your supervisor, yourself. Try to have acts of service for others, spend quality time, enjoy your process, because it is temporal, and it is an experience that not all people

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can have. And finally, after you overcome all the obstacles, you can give your contribution to society, and maybe, just that will have enough value. Even if the way is hard because the society doesn’t give science and education their due, it’s important to remember that the environmental crisis is not getting better. We need to continue our research. Through education we can help build a society with a strong environmental culture, a society that changes the socio-­ environmental injustice that many communities face. Our actions, whether good or bad, always have an impact. Why not make sure our actions are good for our planet? A doctorate can help you a develop more knowledge and it can also be used to build a community focus on an objective, for example, to fight against climate change. My doctorate helps me to learn about other cultures, other worldviews. I think it can help to break down discrimination and be more inclusive. I meet people from various parts of the world in conferences, workshops, networking meetings, social events, etc., so I don’t learn only about education, but also about their cultures, the similarities and the differences in our separate realities. This book, too, helps contribute to this breaking of barriers. Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. –Christian D. Larson

Addendum The undertaking of this book and the writing of this chapter was a process that was developed over the course of my doctoral studies. I began in August 2015 and I finally completed it on the 1st of July 2019. In the four years that I was pursuing my doctorate, I was dedicated to it full time because I was on scholarship. I took my doctorate as an opportunity to forge contacts with an international community. In December 2019, I received an invitation by the University of Vechta in Germany to participate as a guest lecturer at the International Week 2020. At the time, I was struggling to find a job, which I believe is the consequence of the current political crisis where science, education, health and the environment are under attack by the government. The invitation reminded me how important it was to have an institutional affiliation, and so, I went back to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and proposed to do a post-doctorate for free. The university agreed and I am currently doing a post-doctorate without a scholarship (another fallout of the attacks on science and education, the political push towards privatization and the pulling of scholarships). However, I love academics and I am still hoping to get a scholarship because a post-doctoral researcher in Brazil is still considered to be more or less a student. My new research subject is Climate Change Education which has recently become a matter of international interest.

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Just as I was beginning my new position, the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone into lockdown thereby generating the need for different educational strategies. However, in the context of the political crisis, sixty percent (60%) of Brazilian universities declined to shift to online courses as the courses were designed to be conducted face-to-face. Universities do not have the capacity to guarantee the participation of all their students; only ten percent (10%) of the academic community would have access. Moreover, the implementation of distance education in Brazil favours privatization and universities have been resisting this push towards privatization. Teachers are required to create video lessons, conduct live online classes, create didactic material adapted to social networks. However, it cannot be considered that these emergency actions, carried out without planning and without intention, can replace schooling (Nicodemos 2020). In this context, our research group and laboratory designed various types of activities in order to stay in contact with our students. For example, we created a workshop group and started a website which would discuss socio-scientific issues. Our first subject was related to pandemics. The next step is to develop content on climate change. Apart from this, I coordinated a course called Climate Change Education which was offered at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the NUTES Science and Heatlh Education Institute (NUTES – its acronym in Portuguese), and in the city of Macaé. Currently, I am doing a literature review on Climate Change Education, because it is a relatively new topic in Brazil and it presents a new opportunity to contribute to the field in this country. On an individual level, I have started a podcast called “Environment and Everyday life” which provides a platform to discuss various topics related to my research and a way to connect to society. It is a multilingual project – each episode is published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English – and tackles a number of topics. It has content on Environmental Education; the first episode reflects on what our household trash says about us. The second episode, ‘Activities for Children and Young Adults’, focuses on how to express needs, environmental problems and alternative solutions using art. The third episode discusses sustainability, critical environmental education, and community-based education. There is also content prompted by the pandemic, such as, how to evaluate the information we receive through social networks, tips on using face masks, and the violence women are facing in lockdown. For certain special topics, I dedicated an entire month to discussing various aspects within the topic. For example, in June, the subject was women’s empowerment, and for August, I chose decoloniality. This podcast was the result of the realization that at the research and academic level, the dissemination of science and the generation of a scientific culture are a given but this doesn’t always reach the general population. When working with Science Education and Environmental Education, there has always been an interest in scientific dissemination, the idea that there is a public understanding of science. This is one of the intrinsic values of democratic societies. Having knowledge helps us to be critical, to make better decisions. Hence, it is important to take the knowledge produced from science and recontextualize it and bring it to society. Therefore,

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I am trying to take contributions from academia and disseminate the knowledge through my podcasts. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. – Jane Goodall

References Bakhtin, M. (2002). Marxismo e Filosofia da Linguagem: Problemas Fundamentais do Método Socio-Lógico na Ciência da Linguajem. Nona ed (p.  2002). Editora Hucitex Annablume: São Paulo. Bhaskar, R. (1986). Scientific realism and human emancipation. London: Verso. Bixler, R. D., & Floyd, M. F. (1997). Nature is scary, disgusting, and uncomfortable. Environment and Behavior, 29(4), 443–467. Bixler, R. D., Floyd, M. F., & Hammitt, W. E. (2002). Environmental socialization – Quantitative tests of the childhood play hypothesis. Environment and Behavior, 34(6), 795–818. Bochner, A.  P. (1994). Perspectives on inquiry II: Theories and stories. In L.  M. Knapp & R.  G. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (pp.  21–41). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Bochner, A. P., & Ellis, C. (1992). Personal narrative as a social approach to interpersonal communication. Communication Theory, 2(2), 165–172. Chapman, G. (2002). The five love languages: Singles edition. Chicago: Northfield Press. Chawla, L. (1999). Life paths into effective environmental action. The Journal of Environmental Education, 31(1), 15–26. Chawla, L., & Derr, V. (2012). The development of conservation behaviors in childhood and youth. In S. D. Clayton (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of environmental and conservation psychology (pp. 527–555). New York: Oxford University Press. Couser, G. T. (1997). Recovering bodies: Illness, disability, and life writing. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Delamont, S. (2013). Escaping the perilous realm: Strategies to succeed as a doctoral student. In Research journeys: A collection of narratives of the doctoral experience. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive biography. Newbury Park: Sage. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Abingdon, England: Routledge. Hosaka, T., Sugimoto, K., & Numata, S. (2017). Childhood experience of nature influences the willingness to coexist with biodiversity in cities. Palgrave Communications, 3, 1–8. Jairam, D., & Kahl, D. (2012). Navigating the doctoral experience: The role of social support in successful degree completion. International Journal of Doctoral Studies., 7, 311–329. Levinson, R. (2006). The use of narrative in supporting the teaching of socio-scientific issues: A study of teacher’s reflections. Interacções, 4, 44–41. Mejía-Cáceres, M.  A., & Zambrano, A. (2018). Ciencia, Cultura y Educación Ambiental: Una propuesta para los educadores. Programa editorial Universidad del Valle. Mejía-Cáceres, M. A., Huérfano, A., Reid, A., & Freire, L. (2020). Colombia’s national policy of environmental education: A critical discourse analysis. Environmental Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1800594. Ministry of National Education. (1994). Decree 1860 from 1994. Colombia.

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Nelson, M., & Brice, J. (2008). Emotional and informational social support: Exploring contrasting influences of human resource management innovation. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications, and Conflict, 12, 71–82. Nicodemos, A. (2020). Educação à Distância em tempos de pandemia: uma ameaça ao caráter púbico da educação escolar e universitária?. Jornal da AdUFRJ. n° 1124. 16 de abril de 2020. Noguera, A.  P (2004). El Reencantamiento del mundo. PNUMA, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. IDEA. Manizales, Colombia. Sauvè, L. (2002). Environmental education: Possibilities and constraints. Connect, XXV11(1/2), 1–4. Van Dijk, T.  A. (2008). Text, context and knowledge. http://www.discourses.org/ UnpublishedArticles/Text,%20Context%20and%20Knowledge.pdf. Accesed 20 June 2018. Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments, 16(1), 1–24.

Chapter 4

Believing your Research Can Change the World Helps Peter Ogudoro

Abstract  This chapter documents the conflict I had with respect to the need to undertake a doctoral research project that can be concluded within the prescribed minimum thesis submission deadline and the pursuit of knowledge that can change the world. My doctoral research was motivated by the desire to fulfil the dream of helping a developing country find a sustainable approach to the provision of cutting-­ edge higher education that is accessible to everyone who has the intellectual capacity to benefit from it notwithstanding their socio-economic status. Nigeria, where access to higher education is available to under 20% of aspirants and gross underfunding of research and scholarship has been endemic is the case country. It is the most populous African country and ranks 7th in the world in terms of population. Identifying and understanding the barriers that stand in the way of researchers and change agents in Nigeria is my next project. It is my hope that the result of such an investigation will enable researchers interested in the country’s and Africa’s problems to proactively deal with the challenges that limit how much researchers can use their work to achieve for themselves and society. My research experience so far tells me that a researcher may not be able to change the world overnight but may do so gradually and significantly in the long term. The researcher who will change the world would need to be flexible but resilient. Keywords  Sustainable approach · Experience · Nigeria

P. Ogudoro (*) University of Reading, Reading, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_4

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Introduction Doctoral research is ostensibly the most interesting project I have done prior to the writing of this chapter; and I have done a lot of interesting things over the years. My first job after high school which was as a clerk in a public corporation exposed me to the workings of one of Nigeria’s largest bureaucracies at the time and gave me insight into the barriers that have continued to hinder accelerated development for the country. This job was necessitated by the challenging financial circumstances of my parents which did not permit me to proceed to higher education immediately after high school notwithstanding having the academic credentials, aptitude and interest to do so. The decision in favour of immediate employment was in spite of my family’s conviction that higher education was the plausible route out of poverty. That conviction compelled me to enrol for a professional certification programme in Personnel Management and an Education degree programme in the university while I was serving in the corporation. Being in full time employment while studying for a degree in Guidance and Counselling and Political Science on sandwich basis was quite stimulating for I used my employment platform to test the theories and principles to get a real life understanding of what my professors were teaching me. The enhanced respect and social status my improved capabilities attracted pushed me into more professional certification programmes and postgraduate studies in England. The Master’s degree in Communication for Innovation and Development I did at the University of Reading opened my eyes to how a democratised access to higher education could improve the quality of livelihoods and enrich the ecosystem. I had come from a country where fewer than 20% of higher education aspirants (mostly children of Nigerian elite) were accepted into the higher education system annually with deleterious implications that included examination malpractice (Willot 2011) while the relevant regulatory authority in the country was blocking some unconventional routes some individual aspirants were exploring for access (Oweh 2015). This was in the face of higher education being recognized as a potent weapon in the battle for opportunities on the global stage (Osborne 2013). A combination of my experience as a career advisor now in private practice and my choleric personality suggested that I could, through doctoral research, provide information that could resolve the demand and supply disequilibrium in access to higher education in Nigeria. The stage for me to become a protagonist was set.

The Researcher as a Protagonist People who have lived in lack tend to empathize with the deprived more than individuals who have traveled on smoother routes (Farson and Keyes 2002). As at the time of writing this chapter, my battle against financial insecurity has not ended. I know what it feels like to look forward to going to bed without assurance of dinner.

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I went through that with my parents and alone as a single person many times. I have also experienced the financial gains improved human capital brings through enhanced academic credentials. I eat more wholesome food now and live in a gated community. The evidence available, however, indicates that ultimately, food, shelter and all the other material things we strive for will not guarantee us happiness (Csikszentmihalyi 2008). Immersing myself in a meaningful work that transcended me could be very fulfilling. My doctoral research journey was therefore motivated by the desire to improve the quality of livelihoods of many deprived people in Nigeria, a country that now has a population of over 190 million people and the 7th most populated country in the world (Worldometers 2017). The stories of people such as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have always appealed to me. They saw needs and made personal efforts to meet them. They changed the world; and they did so in their own unique ways. I could too; and through providing young people easy access to higher education. What I achieve in one country could, over time, be duplicated in other countries. Advocating for democratization of access to higher education using the platform of academic research and with the suffix of PhD to my name will make my voice sound louder, so I thought. Obtaining that PhD from Britain, a country that had colonial authority over Nigeria for 60 years and where many of the country’s current political elite earned their university degrees would make my voice even more respectable, I further reasoned. A good number of my friends and clients had also complained to me that doctoral research in my country gets unduly prolonged as a result of some systemic challenges which doctoral students could not control. I searched for doctoral research opportunity for about one year before I could secure admission. One of the universities I applied to could not give me an offer because they could not find a second supervisor for me. The admission officer who processed my admission into the university where I did my doctoral programme advised me to resume ten months later so I could start my programme at a time when most doctoral researchers in the University resume so that I could get the best training and network possible. I could not object to this advice. More so, it gave me the opportunity to save more money towards my programme since I could not find funding for it. I had the strong conviction that I would be able to finish successfully if I could start the project. Most of the self-development projects I had done in the past had a similar history of financial challenge but delivered good rewards in terms of personal enrichment and enhance earning power. I did not expect my doctoral research to be any different. Heroes tend to start their journeys hoping for the best but they generally become heroes because of obstacles. Many make mistakes and some succeed because of their failures (Farson and Keyes 2002). Falling to the valley can provide the lessons that make climbing mountains pleasurable and methodical (Trump 1997). My research journey was to confirm all this.

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The Research Experience I arrived in the United Kingdom from Nigeria for my doctoral work in mid- October, 2013. That was about two weeks behind schedule but not too late for my programme. Funding challenge accounted for the late arrival and was to become a major path of my research narrative. It littered the entire story but helped my research journey in an invaluable way. I completed my work within the prescribed minimum period of three years, got nominated as “Doctoral Researcher of the Year” in my university and was told that I finished well. That verdict came from persons whose opinion on my work should not be taken lightly: my supervisor and my examiners. My project was self-funded. I paid fees as an “International Student”, having come from Africa to study in England. The cost of my doctoral research in terms of tuition and living expenses could pay a worker in my country on minimum wage for 200 years. I also supported my wife and two children back home while my programme lasted. All the efforts I made to secure scholarship for my programme proved abortive. I therefore had to move at a speed that would end the stress for me and my family at the earliest possible time without compromising the quality of my work. My biggest advantage was the very understanding supervisor I had. My supervisor was my supportive guide, pointing me to where the training resources were and highlighting the standards which I had to meet.

Research Training In consultation with my supervisor, I did my Learning Needs Analysis (LNA) in the first week of my doctoral programme which influenced the direction of my training in terms of workshops, seminars and conferences I attended in the course of my programme. The LNA is a personal evaluation individual doctoral researchers in the University do in consultation with their supervisors to identify the knowledge, skills and values they lack but should acquire to enable them meet the prescribed standard of doctoral work. The University of Reading provides the knowledge and skills doctoral researchers need essentially through the “Reading Researchers Development Programme” which the Graduate School of the University designs and deploys. The programme is delivered in the form of workshops facilitated by academics and other resource persons from both within and outside the university. Over the three years I did my research, I attended about 80 of such workshops although the minimum required was not more than 10. The extra mile I went was at my discretion to ensure that I did not have any gap in terms of intellectual tools for the high-quality work I desired to do. I generally turned up for the workshops I booked for on time and made a deliberate effort to take a front seat since I did not want to miss any information. My course mates knew me for active participation in classes. Somehow, I

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derived joy from learning new things even when they did not bear immediate relevance to my research project. My eyes were partly on my objective of public scholarship which made me attend a good number of sessions that focused on soft skills to enhance my emotional and social intelligence which Goleman has written stimulating books about, using the titles Emotional Intelligence (Goleman 1995), and Social Intelligence (Goleman 2007). I also benefitted from a special Leadership Development programme which the Graduate School sponsors annually for about 35 doctoral researchers which represent about 3% of all the PhD students in the university at the point of the training. I understand that one of the major criteria for nomination for the programme was potential for leadership. The opportunity delivered both skills and social capital. The Summer Schools I attended in Norway in 2014, and Sweden in 2016 delivered similar packages. I also had similar experiences in England in 2015 and in Austria in 2016. The Seasonal School that focused on Environmental and Sustainability Education which held in the city of Cambridge in 2016 was in the same class. This book is the product of some of us who benefitted from that summer school. Those summer schools were a major part of my development as a researcher. They attracted participants from all over the world. Professional research groups in Europe provided the platforms for most of the summer schools. Those were very enriching experiences in terms of cultural awareness, self-confidence, courage, presentation skills, social capital development, ability to manage crises, and access to resources for research. I cannot thank the providers of those platforms enough for those opportunities. The speedy completion of my research had a lot to do with those programmes. The methodology I adopted in my research, and my writing skill is largely traceable to those experiences.

Collection of Data My research was largely qualitative even though I mixed my methods because of the kind of data I needed and the subjects and sources from which my data were to come. The study was interested in the career journeys of the study subjects including the factors that influenced their career choices. The study sought to know why the study subjects preferred some career routes and not others. Did their parents, teachers, religious leaders and any other significant persons in their lives impact on their career choices and to what extent? The ecology of their development (Bronfenbrenner 1979) needed to be understood. Such understanding would help in making recommendations on the liberalization of access to higher education in Nigeria. The study therefore adopted constructionist ontology which believes that reality cannot be separated from the backgrounds of perceivers and interpretivist epistemology which arrives at knowledge by giving recognition to the lens of culture people wear when looking at the opportunities in their environment (Crotty 1998).

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Some value-free facts were, however, needed for a quantitative understanding of the equity issues involved in access to higher education in Nigeria. A pragmatic approach that permitted me to triangulate my methods in pursuit of as much breadth and depth as possible was imperative. Questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis were employed to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data that provided the basis for the conclusions reached in the study. The study participants were drawn through purposive sampling from four secondary schools cutting across both the public and private sectors of Nigeria’s education system. I traveled to Nigeria twice in the effort to collect data for the study. The first trip which lasted about one month was to enable me book appointments and get approvals to access research fields. The second was devoted to administering my instruments and analysing the data I collected. The data from interviews involving 4 school counsellors, and 18 leaders of professional bodies, a university and a public examination board illuminated the data higher education aspirants provided this researcher. Respondents who provided both quantitative and qualitative data were drawn from 15 institutions all of which were bureaucracies. Some senior academics and colleagues who critiqued my research plan had doubts about the feasibility of interviewing leaders of those institutions. I was determined to try and succeeded. I had the conviction that those who did not believe in the possibility of my success in this respect were looking at Nigeria with a Western lens. They also did not know enough about the skills I had acquired before embarking my doctoring programme. I took advantage of my advanced soft skills and professional networks acquired through Public Relations and related Management training to obtain interview appointments. The skills and contacts I had acquired through those programmes which my doctoral training workshops honed helped me to go as far as I wanted to go in my investigations. Public Relations skills were particularly helpful, and I would recommend that doctoral researchers in Social Science fields should acquire such skills prior to their field work. The rich data I gathered were good returns on my investment of time, effort and scarce funds as a self-funded doctoral researcher. The focus group discussions and interviews not only provided helpful data for the resolution of the study’s questions, the study subjects and I found the interactions enjoyable. Most of the interviewees who presented images of busy executives ended up granting me more time than I asked for in the appointment request letters I sent to them.

Research Findings The research questions guided my data collection efforts. The study set out to verify the alternative routes to higher education including their current capacities and demand levels. It also sought to know the factors influencing the demand for the alternative routes and the extent to which promotional efforts especially through career service could enhance the demand for professional examinations which did

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not require entrance examinations and could cater for all the higher education aspirants who met the minimum academic requirement for admission. For the year 2015, 97 out of every 100 applicants for higher education spaces in Nigeria wanted a university placement. The total number of applicants for that year was 1,475,600. Only 38,733 (3%) applicants wanted placements in other tertiary institutions such as polytechnics and Colleges of Education. 1,436,867 (97%), wanted university placement. A total of 445 tertiary institutions were available that year. Only 142 (32%) of them were universities. This preference for university education by most higher education aspirants in Nigeria in spite of the limited number of universities in the country ostensibly accounted for the high rejection rate of applicants to higher educational institutions in the country. As at the time of my study, for every 2 applicants who were accepted into the country’s higher educational system, a minimum of 8 were rejected. Given the high graduation rate from secondary schools in the country (which now stands at about two million), the rejection rate will remain on the upward swing, other things being equal. The National Universities Commission (NUC) of the country is, however, hoping to meet the rising demand for university spaces by giving licenses to more organizations to establish and run private universities. Given the low per capita income of the country and the pervasive poverty in the Nigerian society, this strategy is unlikely to produce the desired result. Current evidence suggests that they are not in high demand although the relevant regulatory agencies are reducing minimum academic requirement for admission to encourage higher education aspirants to patronize them (Chima and Iroegbu 2017). Those agencies do not seem to be considering using improved career service to promote the other higher educational institutions that are already in place. Among them are professional bodies that offer licensing examinations and award professional diplomas that are the equivalents of university degrees and the polytechnics and colleges of education which train teachers for the country’s education system. Most of them have been established by the federal and state governments in the country but are largely underutilized. The authorities may be responding to the current understanding in the country regarding higher education. The qualitative data I obtained in the course of my study revealed that most of the significant persons in the lives of higher education aspirants in the country encourage them to insist on direct university education even when the facts suggest that it is an unrealistic route for most of them. Parents stand out among those influencers. The qualitative data I collected revealed that most of them have been brought up to believe that university degree guarantees the good things of life. Even when the evidence in the case of Nigeria and even globally suggests that that belief does not reflect current realities (Brown et al. 2011), they are reluctant to give up such conviction. Evidence from Psychology and psychiatry indicates that change is not a direction most people easily run to, with many preferring to suffer rather than admit that what they have always believed is unprofitable (Peck 1990). Stakeholders have continued to call for a review of relevant policies so that Nigeria can give its citizens easier access to higher education (Thisday 2017). The

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evidence my study has produced suggests that the perception problems that have been at the root of higher education access challenge in Nigeria can be addressed through a pull strategy that will come with new labour laws and education policies as well as promotional efforts that will make stakeholders embrace current realities about career management. The time and resources the country is losing to resistance to change on this matter appears avoidable. The public agencies saddled with the responsibility of getting the country out of the problem are throwing the palliatives they are familiar with at it without significant improvement. Embracing this pull strategy which has the potential to get the country out of the quagmire on a sustainable basis will be a soothing compensation for the troubles I went through to produce the evidence that has informed it.

Troubles, Triumphs and New Beginning The route to my doctoral programme was full of uncertainties and discomfort. The programme, however, offered me exciting times. As I signposted earlier, funding my doctoral research in England while supporting my family which had two teenage children in a private high school in Nigeria was the most challenging project I had ever handled. At some point, the journey was so tough that I formally took two months break from my programme. My funding challenge was rooted primarily in the economic recession that came upon Nigeria soon after I started my programme. The development made mincemeat of my financial plan which promised me a smooth ride. The experience has taught me those lessons we may learn best through experience. I had taught change as an academic concept to students over the years but understood the meaning of uncertainties of the future (Trump 1997) only through experience. My ambition to change the world was also challenged by many academics who were involved in my training. I heard many times from them that doctoral researchers needed to be realistic since they may not change the world and can only go so far. I was not comfortable with that idea since it was the desire to change the world that motivated me to embark on the project. I researched on the idea and learned moderation of the size of my project from it but held onto my conviction that I could change the world with the result of my research. Diffusion theory which has changed the world of Marketing Communication and which my research partly relied on for recommendations on the route out of higher education access crisis in Nigeria is an example of a doctoral study output that has made a major contribution to the development of our world (Rogers 2003). Maybe, academics can learn a few things on how to change the world from Bill Gates and many others who have changed the world after dropping out of college. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of several best sellers including Outliers (Gladwell 2008) has achieved much by disseminating the results of primary studies he did not conduct. I believe that academics can get more returns from their efforts by collaborating with the people in town to push for a

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better world relying on the evidence research produces. Research results alone will not change the world. Their implementation will. This I know because I have changed much since I rounded off my project. I am more efficient and realistic. I am calmer and more compassionate. I understand the world better. My children are influencing their peers more positively. I am helping teachers to be more compassionate. I share my ideas in both the traditional and new media. Two of my books are on Amazon. Many people around me are aspiring to go for doctoral studies. I have gone into public scholarship and designing workshops which I hope to collaborate with others to implement. I am changing the world, starting with people in my circle of influence following the completion of my doctoral research and learning a lot in the process. One of those lessons I have learned is the possibility that people may resist the change your study results may suggest. The problems you want to solve may be the reasons why some of them are wealthy and powerful. People fight to protect their territories. The pace of the change I am provoking is much more modest than I envisaged. I have discovered that the problem may not be the imperfections of my ideas but the unwillingness to lose power on the part of the establishment. Many have gone through this road before me and have lived to see society embrace their ideas for good (Sternberg 2003). I am modifying my campaign strategies in the light of lessons learned. The major lesson learned seems to be that those who desire to win wars especially through scholarship must be willing to lose some battles and that the battles of life do not end with a fulfilling doctoral research journey. Other people’s problems may become yours because of your success. I did not bargain for many of the challenges I met along the way, some of which I highlighted earlier. If I did not believe that my research would change the world for better, I probably would not have finished it. But my professional research journey has only just begun. I want to know and probably, understand why people resist changes that can benefit everyone and serve their own long-term interests. I also want to help Nigeria put in place a system for environmental education and collaborate with others to promote education for sustainable development. The summer school I attended in the city of Cambridge in England in 2016 opened my eyes to the beauty of this branch of education. I consider it a contribution worth making. Nigeria’s current approach to the resolution of higher education access crisis in the country is not sustainable given the evidence my doctoral research has produced. The evidence my research provides indicates that most higher education aspirants in Nigeria can have their aspirations met if professional career service is deployed effectively in secondary schools. The evidence available indicates that this is a sustainable option. Doling out licenses to governments and private sector organizations to establish and run universities is unrealistic in the Nigerian circumstance because of the low-income level of most parents who desire higher education for their children. They lack the means to pay the high school fees private universities charge. The large expanse of land each new university occupies can be put to more profitable use. Future generations may have need for such environments. The country can leverage on technology and the other routes to higher education which are currently

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not being promoted to address the crisis the country is experiencing in access to higher education.

References Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Brown, P., Lauder, H., & Ashton, D. (2011). The global auction: The broken promises of education, jobs and incomes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chima, O., & IroegbU, S. (2017). How private universities forced JAMB to lower cut-off mark. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/08/31/how-­private-­universities-­forced-­jamb-­to-­ lower-­cut-­off-­mark/. Accessed 2 Sept 2017. Crotty, M. (1998). The foundation of social research-meaning and perspective in the research process. London: Sage. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Farson, R., & Keyes, R. (2002). Whoever makes the most mistakes wins: The paradox of innovation. New York: The Free Press. Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New  York: Bantam Books. Goleman, D. (2007). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. London: Arrow Books. Osborne, G. (2013). Autumn statement United Kingdom Parliament. http://www.publications. parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/debtext/131205-­0002.htm. Accessed 13 Dec 2013. Oweh, I. (2015, July 24). Online degrees not acceptable in Nigeria -NUC. Daily Independent. Peck, M.  S. (1990). The road less travelled: A new psychology of love, traditional values and spiritual growth. London: Arrow. Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press. Sternberg, R.  J. (Ed.). (2003). Psychologists defying the crowd. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Thisday. (2017). Jamb Utme: Policy, system should be reviewed. https://www.thisdaylive.com/ index.php/2017/04/26/jamb-­utme-­policy-­system-­should-­be-­reviewed/. Accessed 27 Apr 2017. Trump, D. J. (1997). Trump: The art of the comeback. New York: Times Books. Willot, C. (2011). “Get to the bridge and I will help you to cross”: Merit, personal connections and money in access to Nigerian higher education. African Spectrum Published by German Institute of Global and Area Studies, 46, 85–108. Worldometers. (2017). Top 20 largest countries by population (live). Worldometers. http://www. worldometers.info/world-­population/. Accessed 25 Sept 2017.

Chapter 5

Searching for a Center of Gravity Among Different Cultural, Educational and Epistemological Contexts During My Doctoral Studies Eleni Sinakou

Abstract  This chapter aims to set out Eleni’s research story up to the third year of her PhD studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Eleni grew up in a countryside area in northern Greece and her childhood experiences in nature affected her in choosing the Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) for further specialization, after her first degree in Early Childhood Education. In this respect, Eleni obtained a master’s degree in Environmental Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. During her master studies, Eleni was confronted with the environmental values of others and established her personal ones, which was a strong emotional experience. After completing her master thesis and while already working as a preschool teacher, Eleni found herself at a career crossroad; going on working as a teacher or pursuing a doctorate. At that point, she was presented with the opportunity to do a PhD in ESE in Belgium, which she could not pass up. The chapter focuses on the challenges which Eleni had to face when doing her doctorate outside her own country: the new academic environment, and the different cultural, educational as well as research context within which she had to work and conduct her personal research. Eleni had to face different epistemological perspectives and she needed to position herself, once again, ontologically and epistemologically; a fact that made her incorporate elements from a broad epistemological spectrum in her thesis. Ultimately, Eleni managed to overcome any communication barriers arisen over the course of her PhD studies and she got adjusted to her new academic environment. Keywords  Early childhood education · Emotional experience · Cultural exchange

E. Sinakou (*) Department of Training and Education Sciences, EduBron Research Unit, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_5

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The First Steps Towards a PhD My research trip began when I got a position at a master’s programme on Environmental Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. After I obtained my bachelor’s university degree in early childhood education I had clearly in mind that I wanted to continue my studies in the field of pedagogy. During my bachelor’s studies, I had followed a broad range of courses in educational sciences such as didactics of natural and social sciences, humanities arts as well as many courses on educational psychology, history of education, sociology of education and pedagogy. In other words, any possible subfield of educational sciences that could contribute to a preschool teacher’s professional development. Many of the courses I pursued were accompanied by teaching in class. All of the courses seemed to be very interesting. It is well known that each sub-field in education has a distinct impact on children, society in general and on me as a potential researcher, as well. However, environmental education triggered my attention most, which I explain below. It has long been recognized that childhood experiences have a strong impact on our adulthood (e.g. Paris 2000). Research has pinpointed that experience outdoors during childhood is a factor that affects connectedness to nature that one carries into his/her adulthood (Chawla and Derr 2012; Ewert et  al. 2005; Wells and Lekies 2006; Collény et al. 2017). Collény et al. (2017) add that childhood nature experience is crucial for nature engagement in adulthood, and it also determines the kind of nature exposure those adults look for. Alongside with the literature on the issue, I strongly feel that the fact that I grew up in a village had a strong bearing on my choice as to which research field to follow. I had grown up in a village nearby Thessaloniki that is the second biggest city in Greece. The village hosts a long coastline with several beaches. My family’s home is situated away from the village center and close to the sea. Our activities in the garden, as well as the beach, had an influence on me. I often recall those lovely weekends when together with my parents and my sister used to do the garden chores. We had two dogs that were always standing next to us. My sister and I loved playing with them. We often used to go swimming, walking by the sea with our friends from the neighborhood or gathering seashells and making sand castles on the beach. These experiences made me love nature. Now that I live in a big city, I always try to find any possible opportunity for a short or long trip to the countryside. My childhood experiences with nature had definitely affected me choosing the field of EE/ESD for further specialization. It was not only my childhood experiences that influenced my choice to follow a research path, though. Since my adolescence, I had been expressing a strong desire for research. When I was at school, my favorite course was biology and a course on social research. Looking back then, I know realize that my curiosity to get deeper and deeper to the causes so as to find solutions to problems made me love research as a procedure of analyzing things and situations and then, synthesizing them to end up in a solution. Since the time I got into the department of Early Childhood

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Education I have always been studying with a single goal in my mind; to become a researcher. After my graduation, I succeeded in the entrance exams and thus, ensured a position at EE master’s degree. I am lucky enough that EE/ESD is an interdisciplinary field which allows me to combine the knowledge and skills I have obtained from the bachelor courses. A further reason for choosing EE/ESD was the fact that EE/ESD makes strong attempts to launch new innovative teaching methods inside and outside the classroom. Some of the very first basic principles of EE as established by the Tbilisi Declaration (1978) have influenced the teaching practice in EE/ESD. First of all, EE/ESD is a problem-based approach in regard to today’s as well as future environmental issues. It encourages the active engagement of the students aiming at the cultivation of students’ knowledge, values, attitudes, behaviors, and action- taking skills. Finally, it requires the communication and cooperation of the school with the local community regarding environmental issues. The aforementioned principles point out the innovative character of EE. As mentioned already, Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development is a broad field. Therefore, a researcher can position him/herself in it easily. Another reason for choosing to deepen my insight in EE/ESD is the fact that environmental issues, sustainable development issues or sustainability issues are rather complex and multi-levelled and there are many ways to understand them and consequently, many interpretations as to what an environmental, sustainable development or sustainability issue may entail and how it could be dealt with. I see EE and ESD as distinct, but complementary (McKeown and Hopkins 2003). According to McKeown and Hopkins (2003), EE focuses more on environmental protection, whereas ESD takes into consideration economic and human development related to environmental protection. I feel that EE neglects to some extent social and economic aspects of current issues whereas ESD takes them into account. Therefore, I have chosen to focus on ESD in my PhD thesis and I will come back to this later on. Studying EE/ESD at a master level was an enriching experience in many ways. I attended classes on environmental ethics and philosophy. During the classes, I got to know the environmental values of others and to establish my personal ones. Coming in touch with different views and values can always cause contrasting feelings. Managing the conflicts arising among members of the group was at times challenging. Each of us had a sharply different educational and professional background as well as interests. The class consisted of a wide range of professionals: environmentalists, biologists, economists, ICT professionals, teachers at formal education and program developers/educators in non-governmental organizations. This diversity in the background of the students allowed perspectives from different disciplines to come up during the lessons. Our team was characterized by a broad range of interests: theater, photography, dance, painting, music instruments and singing. We used our artistic interests and skills during the course on Roger’s theory of humanistic psychology (e.g. Roger 1970, 1995; Roger and Couson 1986) and on Lewins’ group dynamics (Lewin 1947; Lewin and Lewin 1948). Based on the aforementioned theories, we had a unique experience of a series of activities aiming at learning ourselves, practicing active listening and communicating with them in

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order to produce a product e.g. a short drama. The activities took place in an environmental education center of a picturesque museum-village on the mountain of Olympus. For the most part, the course was organized outdoors, that is in the forest. That was definitely a strong experience for all the students. The curriculum was imbued with a clear epistemological view, that informed by the critical paradigm. This became clear in the content of the course on research methodology and on the master theses of the students. The critical paradigm in research in education addresses political, social and economic issues that are responsible for political and social structures oppressing the least privileged social groups (Kivunja and Kuyini 2017). Most of the theses applied methodologies, such as action research or critical discourse analysis, typical for the critical paradigm (Robottom 2005; Fairclough 2003). For my master thesis, I have applied qualitative content analysis. Specifically, I analyzed environmental messages conveyed by the Greek children’s literature. During my master’s degree, I sat for an exam as a candidate for a position as a pre-school teacher at Greek public schools. The majority of kindergarten in Greece are public and the only way to get a position at those schools is via exams. The exams are organized by the government and more specifically by the Pedagogical Institute of Greece. Though that was not my “big” dream, I did very well in the exams and ensured a position at a public kindergarten. Working as a preschool teacher and doing a master’s degree at the same time was very demanding. I thought that the situation would get worse when I was selected to teach at a school a lot further away from Thessaloniki. I was sent to Limnos, an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea close to the Turkish border. But I decided to look at the bright side; I was on a Greek island! I was living in the countryside again! I was teaching in a school in a small village and I could see through the window the waves breaking on the shore. Fortunately, at that time, I had only to complete my master’s dissertation. I didn’t have to attend any master courses anymore. I finished writing my master thesis in June of that year. The school year came to an end, too. I was able to return Thessaloniki and defend my thesis. It was at this point of my story when I found myself at a career crossroads; I had to decide to continue to be a preschool teacher or to do a PhD. Once again, an unexpected event sorted out the problem. My husband was offered a job in Ghent, Belgium. The decision had been made and I applied for a PhD in Belgium.

My PhD Begins Having settled in Flanders, the Dutch- speaking part of Belgium, and having clearly in mind to start a PhD on EE/ESD, I came in contact with my current supervisor at the University of Antwerp. The first step was to introduce him to the academic and professional experience I had already had in EE/ESD.  His scientific interest was close to mine and he accepted me as a PhD student. The first period was not an easy one, though. The first challenge I had to deal with was to get acquainted with the most recent literature and research. In particular,

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I studied recent publications on EE/ESD related to Educational Effectiveness. Educational Effectiveness and especially Educational Effectiveness Research was almost a new research area for me. I first began with some basic general literature to come to terms with this field of research (e.g. Scheerens and Bosker 1997; Teddlie and Reynolds 2000; Creemers 2005; Kyriakides and Creemers 2009; Reynolds et al. 2014). I have soon understood that Educational Effectiveness Research (EER) focuses on the investigation of factors and their interconnections that lead effective classrooms, schools or educational systems. As a research field, it has a very specific theoretical and methodological perspective and it focuses on evidence-based research (Reynolds et al. 2012). The topic of my thesis links ESD with Educational Effectiveness Research (EER). It focuses on teachers’ ESD practices and it aims at finding potential barriers or facilitators that influence teachers’ ESD practices in class. A second challenge I faced was about the meaning given to the concept of Sustainable Development. I had learned, during my master studies, to consider both environmental and social aspects of Sustainable Development. In my first year at the University of Antwerp, I endeavored to come to terms with the holistic approach to the SD concept. Sustainable Development (SD) is often viewed as an integrated concept of three dimensions: the environmental, the economic and the social one (Giddings et al. 2002). Accordingly, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) deals with sustainable development issues, which are not only environmental problems but social and economic ones, as well (e.g. Corney and Reid 2007). A holistic approach to the SD concept is deemed to be important (see for example Sandell et al. 2005; Boeve-de Pauw et al. 2015; Lozano 2006). At the same time, in comparison with previous policy documents which shaped ESD, Agenda 2030 (UN 2015) and the GAP (UNESCO 2014) stress the need for viewing the dimensions of SD in an integrated and balanced way (Sinakou et al. 2019). After all that reading, my supervisors gave me the green light to start with the first piece of research. It was then when I had to face another challenge, that is the format of the thesis. Until then, I had been familiar with the monograph format of a PhD in social sciences. Purely qualitative studies require a monograph PhD. The PhD researcher gets into details and therefore, a monograph PhD is needed (Massey University 2017). My master thesis was a monograph, too. I described the content of children’s literature in detail. A PhD monograph is a book consisting of chapters on literature review, the conceptual and methodological development of the thesis, the analyses, and discussion/conclusions. For my PhD, I had to write a compilation thesis, though. A common practice in Belgium is the compilation thesis. In this type of PhD, the PhD researcher publishes a series of articles. The articles are then compiled in the thesis. Since there was not much literature on how to compile such a thesis, I resorted to many university blogs presenting its characteristics. Previous examples of a compilation PhD helped me a lot and especially, to set the connecting line of the several research pieces. In addition to this, the discussion on the issue during the very first day of ESER Summer School about the format of a PhD thesis in educational sciences was of great help to me. Doing a compilation PhD gives you the chance to get involved with the publication process. This makes my PhD trip more

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demanding and at the same time, more interesting. When publishing your research during your PhD, you improve your skills in writing and submitting articles to academic journals, responding to the reviewers’ comments (Massey University 2017). Moreover, the feedback from peer-reviewers can also influence the design of your next research piece. This first period the communication with my supervisors was a great challenge. Coming from a different educational as well as cultural background, I had difficulty at times in interpreting what they were saying to me regarding my research during our meetings. The major obstacle in our communication at that phase was our epistemological orientation. They had a post-positivist as well as pragmatic view (Creswell 2013) on ESE research while I was coming from a critical education tradition, influenced by my master’s studies. Our discussions on the research design for the PhD made me realize that a post-positivist worldview may match better with my way of thinking. From my ontological point of view, I believe that reality is more or less objective. Yet, I use cognitive schemas to see the world. This makes the way I consider the world less objective (Muijs 2004). In line with my ontological view, my thesis depicts to a certain degree the post-positivist worldview. It aims at revealing causal relations between factors (independent variables) and effects (dependent variables) (Creswell 2013). The factors related to school or classroom practices explain variation in student outcomes. I am, however, influenced by the latest trend of pragmatism. In line with the pragmatic worldview, (a) the ultimate purpose of my research is to find factors that provide positive and/or negative results so as to propose practical solutions and (b) I apply a mixed-design methodology (Muijs 2004; Creswell 2013). The critical education paradigm becomes manifest in my research design. The action component is central in critical environmental education and my research is related to the development of students’ action competence. That was the period I was doubting about my positioning as a researcher. Once again, the ESER summer school was very helpful to me. It gave me the chance to study the literature on epistemology and to recognize the epistemological options I had made for my PhD research and to learn how to interpret epistemological and methodological choices of other researchers. After I had made the research design, I started to conduct the first study. My first study was about academics in the field of ESD conceptions of Sustainable Development. I have conducted a survey with academics worldwide who teach ESD courses to student teachers. The results lead us to conclude that the academics in the field of ESD do not conceive of the concept of SD holistically. There is also a tendency towards social and economic aspects of SD, which may have implications for ESD research and teachers training (Sinakou et al. 2018). Some of the respondents seemed to feel surprised to be asked about their personal conceptions; they expressed their concerns about the study. Some others felt positively surprised and encouraged me to continue my study. My feelings were then mixed. Academics appear to be a difficult target group to approach. Most of them are possibly not used to take part in surveys as the respondent. I was about to finish my first study when the deadline for the ECER conference 2016 was approaching. I was hesitating to apply, and I was doubting whether I was

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ready enough to take part in such a big and important conference. My promotors encouraged me to give an oral presentation. Participating in the conference and presenting my work in front of a big audience was an enriching experience. The feedback I took during my presentation helped me to improve the manuscript of an article I was preparing at that time and to form relevant responses to the reviewers and the editor. My participation in ECER conference in Dublin and in ESER summer school broadened my horizons in regard to ESER (Environmental and Sustainability Research). A field such as global education, citizenship education, outdoor education, socio-scientific issues in science education, place-based education are so close to ESER or even overlap. Needless to say, I met many academics and PhD students and improved my network.

The Rest of My PhD Story In Flanders, it is a commonplace that a PhD student holds a researcher position as a member of a research project. Yet, at the beginning of my studies, I was not a member of any research project. In order to financially support my PhD studies, I needed to look for funding. I was finally granted a scholarship from Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation for Hellenes1 abroad. When I was in the third year of my PhD, I was accepted to work as a PhD researcher on a research project at the relevant Unit at the University of Antwerp entitled “Validation of Integrated & Action oriented Education for Sustainable Development (VALIES). VALIES investigates the effectiveness of ESD in Flanders. One of the priorities of the policy- makers in Flanders for 2014–2019 is the professionalization of ESD practitioners as well as of teachers in formal education. Therefore, policy- makers and research funders foster the promotion of innovative ESD practices (Van Poeck et  al. 2018). Moreover, recent policy documents have been influential for ESD policy, research and practice: UN Decade of ESD (2005–2014), the UNECE (2005) Strategy for the implementation of this Decade and now, the Global Action Programme (GAP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (Van Poeck et al. 2018). Within VALIES, now, I am again focusing on everyday EE/ESD teaching practices in Flanders. The focus of my study is now on the ESD instructional beliefs and practices of teachers and on their impact on action competence in ESD. My PhD thesis in due to be defended in 1 year. I am happy to be a member of this research project and to have the chance to participate in the actual development of the project. I really enjoy working with colleagues who I share the same vision for the future with. Working for this project helps me to get a better understanding of the Flemish educational system. Environmental Education (EE)/Education for Sustainable development (ESD) is not considered as a separate subject area in Flanders. The

 Another word for “Greeks”.

1

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new learning goals for Flemish students explicitly specify goals related to ESD. Thus, the teachers are expected to apply ESD in their lessons. EE/ESD initiatives are supported by a public institution responsible for EE/ESD at school called MOS (Milieuzorg op school)2 as well as by EE/ESD experts from three main education providers organized in networks: (a) government-provided education (gemeenschapsonderwijs) (b) subsidized public schools (by provinces and municipalities) and (c) subsidized free schools, mainly affiliated to the Catholic church.3 Unexpected global circumstances had an impact on my research project and my PhD thesis. During the second year of the research project (2018–2019), global youth movements, which were led by the climate activist Greta Thunberg, influenced the youth and the schools in Flanders. Greta protested outside the Swedish parliament building and inspired a huge environmental movement that demanded actions on climate change. Greta managed to inspire millions of students to join protests around the world. In fact, many schools in Flanders joined the global school strikes. As the team envisaged significant effects of this movement on teachers’ beliefs and practices and on students’ action competence, an investigation of them was planned for the next school year (2019–2020). We, in fact, sought to follow teachers’ practices in March and May of 2020 and then, to measure students’ outcomes, that is their action competence in relation to SD issues. The breakout of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), however, forced the Flemish Government to close all schools in Flanders for 3 months. Under these circumstances, I was unable to complete the research I had planned, and I am currently discussing with my supervisors possible acts to overcome this new challenge.

Conclusion During my PhD, I have endured unique experiences. I have learned a lot which I will take along with me for the rest of my PhD studies. The process gave me the opportunity to get to know new research methods and approaches. During my stay in Belgium, I came in touch with different educational systems and institutional policies. I found out new things about myself such as that I am able to adapt to different cultural contexts and collaborate with colleagues coming from different epistemological backgrounds. And above all, I have learned that each turning in life has its own difficulties and risks. My story in academia so far taught me that I should not be afraid to take decisions that may change my life. To quote Walt Whitman, “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.”. “What your verse will be”, quoting Whitman again, is up to you.

 For more information go to https://www.lne.be/wat-is-mos  For more information on the Flemish education system visit the website of Eurydice https:// webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Belgium-Flemish-Community: Administration_and_Governance_at_Local_and/or_Institutional_Level#The_organising_Bodies

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References Boeve-de Pauw, J., Gericke, N., Olsson, D., & Berglund, T. (2015). The effectiveness of education for sustainable development. Sustainability, 7, 15693–15717. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su71115693. Chawla, L., & Derr, V. (2012). The development of conservation behaviors in childhood and youth. In S. D. Clayton (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of environmental and conservation psychology (pp. 527–555). New York: Oxford University Press. Collény, A., Prévota, A.-C., Jalmea, M.–. S., & Clayton, S. (2017). What kind of landscape management can counteract the extinction of experience? Landscape and Urban Planning, 159, 23–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.11.010. Corney, G., & Reid, A. (2007). Student teachers’ learning about subject matter and pedagogy in education for sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 13(1), 33–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620601122632. Creemers, B. P. M. (2005). Educational effectiveness: The development of the field. In Keynote address presented at the first International Conference on School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Shenyang, China. http://www.rug.nl/staff/b.p.m.creemers/papers. Accessed 30 Sept 2017. Creswell, J.  W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative and mixed- method approaches (4th ed.). London: Sage. Ewert, A., Place, G., & Sibthorp, J. (2005). Early-life outdoor experiences and an individual’s environmental attitudes. Leisure Sciences, 27, 225–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400590930853. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge. Giddings, B., Hopwood, B., & O’Brien, G. (2002). Environment, economy and society: Fitting them together into sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 10(4), 187–196. https:// doi.org/10.1002/sd.199. Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A. B. (2017). Understanding and applying research paradigms in educational contexts. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(5). https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe. v6n5p26. Kyriakides, L., & Creemers, B. P. M. (2009). The effects of teacherfactors on different outcomes: Two studies testing the validity of the dynamic model. Effective Education, 1(1), 61–85. https:// doi.org/10.1080/19415530903043680. Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1, 5–41. https://doi. org/10.1177/001872674700100103. Lewin, K., & Lewin, G. W. (Eds.). (1948). Resolving social conflicts: Selected papers on group dynamics [1935–1946]. New York: Harper and Brothers. Lozano, R. (2006). Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities: Breaking through barriers to change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 787–796. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.12.010. Massey University. (2017). PhD thesis by publication. The New Zealand University. https:// www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Research/Graduate%20Research%20School/Z_New%20 PhD%20Forms/PhD%20Thesis%20by%20Publication%20Dec%202015.pdf?8EBB07C2B 2D729878262EEB8B01685CD. Accessed 30 Sept 2017. McKeown, R., & Hopkins, C. (2003). EE ≠ ESD: Defusing the worry. Environmental Education Research, 9(1), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620303469. Muijs, D. (2004). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS. London: SAGE. Paris, J. (2000). Myths of childhood. New York: Taylor and Francis. Reynolds, D., Chapman, C., Kelly, A., Muijs, D., & Sammons, P. (2012). Educational effectiveness: The development of the discipline, the critiques, the defence, and the present debate. Effective Education, 3(2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415532.2011.686168.

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Reynolds, D., Sammons, P., De Fraine, B., Van Damme, J., Townsend, T., Teddlie, C., & Stringfield, S. (2014). Educational effectiveness research (EER): A state-of-the-art review. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 25(2), 197–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/0924345 3.2014.885450. Robottom, I. (2005). Critical environmental education research: Re-engaging the debate, Canadian. Journal of Environmental Education, 10, 62–78. Rogers, C. R. (1970). Carl Rogers on encounter groups. New York: Harper & Row. Rogers, C. R. (1995). A way of being. Mifflin Harcourt: Houghton. Rogers, C. R., & Couson, W. R. (1986). Freedom to learn: A view of what education might become. Columbus: C.E. Merrill Pub. Co. Sandell, K., Öhman, J., & Östman, L. (2005). Education for sustainable development: Nature, school and democracy. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Scheerens, J., & Bosker, R. (1997). The foundations of school effectiveness. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Sinakou, E., Boeve- de Pauw, J., Goossens, M., & Van Petegem, P. (2018). Academics in the field of Education for Sustainable Development: Their conceptions of sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, 321–332. Sinakou, E., Boeve- de Pauw, J., & Van Petegem, P. (2019). Exploring the concept of sustainable development within education for sustainable development: Implications for ESD research and practice. Environment, Development Sustainability, 21, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10668-­017-­0032-­8. Teddlie, C., & Reynolds, D. (2000). The international handbook of school effectiveness research. London: Falmer Press. UN. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, September 25. New  York: United Nations General Assembly. http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc. asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E. Accessed 30 Sept 2017. UNECE. (2005). Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development. Available: http://www. unece.org/env/documents/2005/cep/ac.13/cep.ac.13.2005.3.rev.1. Accessed November 2020. UNESCO. (2014). Roadmap for implementing the global action programme in education for sustainable development. Paris: UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000230514. Accessed 30 Sept 2017. Van Poeck, K., König, A., & Wals, A. E. J. (2018). Environmental and sustainability education in the Benelux countries: Research, policy and practices at the intersection of education and societal transformation. Environmental Education Research, 24(9), 1234–1249. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13504622.2018.1477121. Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments, 16(1), 41663.

Chapter 6

Challenges and Trips: The Ups and Downs of My PhD Experience Christiana Glettler

Abstract  Pursuing your PhD is always a challenge. In the case of this chapter, the story entailed not only dealing with self-doubt and finding a way through the academic labyrinth, but also several trips both locally and internationally which often turned out to be critical turning points in this story. Starting with some introductory notes and explanations about general aspects regarding the conditions of her PhD, the author then reflects on both the challenging as well as the enjoyable aspects of her PhD from a personal perspective. Her story starts with the initial moments of deciding to go back to university. After more than seven years of working in outdoor education and as a teacher, going back to studying was a challenge in itself. Following this decision, the author describes the process of finding herself in the new, unknown landscape of academia. The  description of the Austrian system regarding PhDs in the field of education is followed by the description of her learning experience during the five year PhD experience. The chapter includes reflections on time management and juggling work and studying, the importance of networking and the significance of having a compatible supervisor. However, her story is also about dealing with feelings of inadequacy, making new friends, discovering hidden talents and the power of perseverance. The story has a happy ending and shows that succeeding in gaining a PhD is not only a matter of being a conscientious student, but it also requires personal growth. Keywords  Teaching · Exchange · Biology didactics

C. Glettler (*) Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Graz, Austria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_6

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Introduction During my first conference as a doctoral student, a professor told me that anybody is capable of writing a thesis with enough perseverance. Back then I thought that he was joking, but now I understand since my thesis quickly became about more than just writing a monograph of 300 pages. My thesis also involved a change that felt like moving to a new country or learning a new language, I had to build a new social network and become a productive member within the new cultural and social context of an unfamiliar academic landscape. This was especially true for my PhD since the Fachdidaktik doctoral programme was still very new and innovative and I was among a select few, studying ESE in Austria. To achieve standard milestones of my PhD, I had to travel to Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, France, England and Denmark within 4  years to attend conferences, network meetings and to meet professors working in related fields. While I was able to see many new places and meet many interesting people, there were plenty of moments of insecurity and seclusion. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let‘s start with a brief introduction of both myself and my research field.

Fachdidaktik – A New Research Field in Austria When I wrote this chapter, I was just concluding my PhD project in Biology Didactics at the doctoral school of Fachdidaktik at the Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, Austria. In Austria, research in the area of pedagogical content knowledge (compare Shulman 1987 for a definition), or as we call it Fachdidaktik, is still a quite new field. Until 2013, teachers aiming for a PhD could either opt for a dissertation project in one of their subject disciplines or a project in general education. Both options entailed additional admission requirements, and afterwards, graduates were often considered second-class, as they are neither specialists in the scientific discipline nor in general education. Only in the last 4 years, with the founding of the doctoral school for Fachdidaktik, it has become easier to work on a PhD project, which is closely connected to the practical aspects of teaching and learning – combining the scientific discipline and the teaching methodology. Considering this development, it is unsurprising, that most students at my doctoral school are in-­ service teachers (part-time or full-time), while studying towards their PhDs. While this is on the one hand due to the fact that most of our research projects are grounded in real-life teaching issues, on the other hand for many of us it is also a necessity. Funding for educational research is very rare in Austria, therefore we need to finance most of our PhD-related costs ourselves. In this respect, my experience is very common. Most of my colleagues work at secondary schools and also do their research with older children. Even though, my original degree is in teaching Biology and English for students aged between 10 and 18 (Austrian Gymnasium), I received the opportunity to work as a lecturer at the college of teacher education in Graz 5 years ago.

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In the College,  I am educating future primary school teachers in Science Education, Environmental Education, and Outdoor Learning. Accordingly, my PhD work focused on Environmental Education and Outdoor learning for young children.

 nvironmental Education in Austria – Finding My E Research Gap Environmental Education has been part of Austrian school curricula for a very long time. Additionally, during the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, an Austrian ESD strategy has been developed (BMUKK, BMWF & Lebensministerium 2008), and the decree, implementing environmental and sustainability education in all educational facilities from elementary education to universities has been renewed (BMBF 2014). Unfortunately, the decree is not very specific. It leaves a great degree of freedom for educators as far as  its implementation is concerned. It very much depends on the motivation of the teacher, if and to what extent environmental and sustainability education (ESE) is part of the everyday practice in Austrian kindergartens and schools. Therefore, it is possible that some children finish primary school without having done any environmental education or even without experiencing any outdoor learning. Learning outdoors is an especially ambiguous issue. While most teachers will agree that learning outside is important, they also find numerous reasons why they cannot do it, i.e., children not having the right gear, bad weather or health and safety issues. When I started my research project, my hope and motivation was very much to raise teachers’ and policy-­makers’ awareness about the importance of ESE. Additionally, I wanted to help overcome the barriers that prevent teachers from going outside with their students. While I have become slightly less hopeful concerning the actual impact my work can  have, I still believe strongly in the importance of research in the field of ESE and the necessity of raising teachers’ awareness.

Getting Started – The First Chapter of My Story My PhD-story started about a week after I had finally decided that I would not pursue a PhD anymore. I was happy in my job, my graduation had already been several years ago and it just did not seem likely that I would go back to studying again. Well, that was what I thought. So, when I was approached about doing a PhD, I was more than surprised. However, I instantly knew that I did not want to say no. Instead, I decided that I would do it if I could write about a topic that I felt passionate about. Initially, I just knew that it would have to be a topic connected to outdoor learning, as I am passionate about being outdoors and have done

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voluntary work with children and young people in an outdoor setting since I was 16. Similarly, I have been interested in environmental issues ever since I can remember, so this was another thread I wanted to weave into my dissertation project. Slowly, the ideas became more concrete and I had to find a supervisor who would approve my proposal. This proved to be tricky in different ways. On the one hand, the creation of the doctoral school of Fachdidaktik that autumn made the question of where to enroll easier. On the other hand, as everything was so new, there was no one at the University of Graz who was qualified to supervise me. I had to look beyond my home university. Luckily, one of my colleagues, as well as a former professor of mine recommended the same person  – Prof. Dr. Franz Rauch, from the University of Klagenfurt. The match could not have been more perfect – Klagenfurt is only 2 h away, and he even lived in Graz. When I looked him up on the Internet, I became more and more excited. He had a background in Biology teaching before starting his career as a researcher and university lecturer. His research projects were closely connected to my areas of interest and he was involved in basically all the important Austrian ESD projects. When we first met, I remember feeling two things – a great sense of enthusiasm about starting a new, exciting period of my life, and profound dread as I realized that I had absolutely no idea whatsoever about how to do scientific research. I knew then, that I had quite a few challenges ahead of me, not yet realizing that the experience would actually also be involving some fun and exciting trips abroad.

I reland, Germany, Slovenia – It Seems to Take Three Trips to Write an Exposé My first destination was Sligo, Ireland. This trip took place more by chance than through any real planning, but proved to be important for my development as a researcher. It was during a network meeting there, that I met several people working in the context of ESE and I got useful tips on how to go about my research project methodologically and where to find suitable literature. I spent the following months buried in research literature and studies on ESD and outdoor learning, gathering materials for my exposé, which is a requirement in the first year of a PhD course in Austria. Even though I had known right from the beginning, what I was interested in writing about, putting this interest into well-worded research questions was a challenge. I guess I wanted to do far too much than what is actually feasible in a PhD and really had difficulties narrowing the topic down. The curriculum of my doctoral school is quite open and leaves room for personalizing it according to our needs. Especially in those early years, there were hardly any mandatory courses and there was nothing in my research area at all. This can be seen as a disadvantage as we have to organize our studies very individually. For me, I guess it would have been really helpful in those early months to have a little more structure. However, it can also be an advantage, as you need to get out there, meet

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different people and get different perspectives. During those months, one of my strategies was to talk to as many people about my research plans as possible. This proved to be very valuable as I was rewarded with new perspectives on my topic, interesting methodological approaches and the hint for my next trip – an international conference on outdoor learning in Germany. Looking back, I have to say that this was probably the coolest, most innovative and interactive conference I have ever attended. It was mainly organised by PhD students in Halle, which made it a very youthful and buzzing event. Even though it was small (around 50 participants), it was international, including researchers from US, Israel, Portugal, Italy and many other countries. Holding true to its name, we spent approximately half of the conference outdoors, exploring the surroundings of Halle and even travelling to the Harz National Park and to Berlin for two days. The quality of the keynotes, the paper and poster presentations was very high, and I could take away useful tips. As I had only just started writing my Exposé, I had not originally planned on presenting. However, everyone was so encouraging that I was persuaded and ended up presenting a – handwritten and hand-drawn – poster of my research. I have to admit that I had not envisioned my first scientific presentation like that, but I guess that’s just life. Despite the obvious lack of preparation, I received very constructive and helpful feedback and went home feeling well prepared for polishing and submitting my exposé. After Germany, my next destination was a little closer to home. I had met a scholar from Slovenia when attending the meeting in Ireland and I was going to Ljubljana to meet. Being able to talk my ideas over helped me put the finishing touches to my exposé. I finally knew what I was going to do. I would do case studies with young children who spend a lot of time outdoors. I would investigate if these children demonstrated skills and abilities, which are called for in the concept of shaping competence (de Haan and Harenberg 1999), thus looking for an overlap between outdoor learning and ESE.

 he Next Chapter – Data Collection, New Trips and Learning T to Cope with Negative Feedback I managed to hand in my exposé pretty much a year after writing my initial research proposal. The first 30 pages of what was supposed to grow into my PhD thesis were finally done. I was proud of myself and excited about the next step – preparing for data collection. I already had the general consent of the two case study institutions – a kindergarten and a primary school. However, I still needed to get the individual consent of the parents of all the children, who would be involved. This proved to be really challenging. I ended up leading many long conversations explaining in detail what I was going to do and that the children would not be forced to do anything they did not want to do. Having  overcome the  challenge  of receiving ethics approval, I spent the next couple of months

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attending courses on and reading about qualitative methodology – learning about interviewing, participant observation, taking field-­notes, how to transcribe and analyse data. I wrote the drafts for the interviews and started working on the questionnaire I intended to hand to the children’s parents. Especially during this phase, I realized just how important a supportive network is – both in personal as well as in professional life. I don’t even recall all the informal conversations about how best to phrase a question, how to develop items, which would actually allow for drawing worthwhile conclusions from the questionnaire and which mistakes to avoid during the interviews. The most challenging part was definitely finding the right wording for the children’s interview guides. I had no idea what questions the children would understand and be able to answer. I had read a book about leading interviews with children, but this only proved semi-helpful. What actually made my work easier is that my neighbour allowed me to test the questions on his young child. Following this test interview, I felt more confident about the questions. I made some changes and most of the interviews with the children from my case  study institutions went well. In the kindergarten though, some children were just not interested in answering my questions, as they simply wanted to do something else. During this time, I was especially glad that I was only working part-time. Otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to juggle courses, interviews, observation appointments and writing up all my notes. Looking back, this was maybe the stage I enjoyed the most. My learning curve was very steep and I really liked conducting interviews and observations. Getting the questionnaires to the parents and back was a little less fun, but I was still full of excitement about reading what they had written. While doing all my data collection work, I also had to prepare for my next trip and my first official presentation. In March 2015, I had the opportunity to present my project at an international conference in Paris. This time, the presentation process was far less spontaneous than the summer before. I had a poster printed at home, I had all my slides prepared and was so nervous that I was surprised that I actually managed to talk at all. Fortunately, only very few people attended my presentation and those who did were interested and encouraging. After successfully presenting my PhD project in an international context twice, I was not nervous when I first presented my work at my home university. This proved to be a mistake. Our doctoral school has the tradition of bringing all students together at the end of the summer semester to present their progress. In my first year, I didn’t present, as I had not even started on my exposé then. In my second year, I was in the middle of my data collection phase and felt quite confident about my project due to the positive feedback I had received until then. I was not prepared for the impact of paradigmatic and methodological differences on how the validity of my work might be challenged,  and so when my study  received quite robust criticism  on these grounds, it was very difficult for me to maintain confidence in what I was doing, and how I was doing it. This seminar left me feeling challenged emotionally and intellectually, and I was not sure how to proceed. Fortunately, I had arranged to meet some friends after the presentation. What was supposed to be a

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celebration for the summer break, ended up in a bit of an intervention, which helped me to process the critique of my work, and allowed me to see the feedback with a little more detachment. We spent the rest of the evening talking everything over and I decided to also talk to my supervisor. Nevertheless, the next couple of months I was full of self-doubt, which resulted in the summer months being far less productive than what I had hoped for. I just did not really know how to continue, as I was unsure of not only my methodology, but also of the whole underlying concept. The “cure” to get me back on track was yet another trip to Germany. I attended a meeting of a group of junior scientists all working on ESD-related projects. What really surprised me and what made this trip so special was that we were among peers – no professors to supervise or give input and feedback. These unique circumstances allowed for a very special atmosphere and allowed me to present without fear of negative  feedback. The discussions were still very thorough and rigorous, but somehow the underlying tone was different. We were all sitting in the same boat. While I had learned important details about research methodology, theory and formal aspects of doing a PhD during my last trips, this time I learned about the less formal aspects. Based on this experience I started to dive more deeply into research about methodological paradigms. This helped me firstly to understand the criticism better and secondly to understand the value of my own methodological approach better. I also learned that paradigmatic differences can sometimes be divisive, and that it is important to consider how your research might be viewed by someone who favours a different methodology to your own. I learned that being able to speak methodological languages that cross disciplinary boundaries makes research accessible to audiences who take different vantage points; and I realised that this knowledge would stand me in good stead to justify my methodological choices. For any new doctoral students reading this story, having this knowledge will make you resilient and able to justify your research choices. While I did benefit in the end from the critique I received and I am a better researcher for it, it was a difficult time for me, and I hope that you can achieve the same learning more easily.

 ontinued Doubt, New Perspectives C and Gathering Momentum In the following autumn, I attended a seminar at my home university during which we conducted a small study of our own from finding research questions until the final publication of the paper. This process was extremely helpful for me as I was now at a stage of my journey where I should finally start writing. Somehow, I had managed to avoid the actual writing process, telling myself that I still had to do a lot of other things first. Additionally, I did not really know how to go about it. I still somewhat suffered from the repercussions of the feedback of the previous

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summer. I felt that my data and my theory did not really match and that I could not start writing until everything fell into place. Encouraged by the professor, who told us that you should write at every stage of your project, I started writing my methodology section. I had thought, that this might be a safe chapter to start with, but I suddenly felt again that everything was wrong. I had the full support of my supervisor, but this was somehow not enough. I was feeling lost. The professor, who taught the research-­seminar, was really helpful during this phase. She made me realize that we all have different approaches to research, to science, to philosophy and basically to life in general. Our personalities and research approaches are very similar, and she opened up new perspectives for me. I realized that in qualitative research it is ok that things change and shift throughout the process. Additionally, when we just did a complete study within a single semester, I felt: “Ok, it’s not rocket science. I can do that too.” However, when I attended the EERA Seasonal School at Homerton College in Cambridge, the following summer, I still had mixed feelings about my project. On the one hand, I knew that I was quite well on the way, but on the other hand I still felt that some things did not quite fit. I was extremely critical of the underlying theories of my project, thinking that in hindsight I would do things differently. Furthermore, the preparation for the course was quite daunting. In Austria, epistemological and ontological issues are not discussed to a great extent. During the seasonal school in Cambridge though, everything became a lot clearer and I realized just how important these issues are. When it was my turn to present my work, I was already feeling better about my project, having found a way to look at it slightly differently applying a pragmatic standpoint. I still voiced all the doubt I had about the theory and was surprised that everybody seemed to think that this was normal. I started to realize that obviously, a PhD project is not going to be perfect. Hearing from people who had recently finished their PhDs and were now working on new projects was really helpful. I finally managed to see things a little more pragmatically and to allow my project to be what it is – a PhD project, a project to learn from.

The Final Chapter When I came home after the school, I was finally able to kick off the writing process. All of a sudden it was flowing. During this stage, a tip from my professor from the research seminar the past autumn really kept me going: “Don’t get it right, get it written”. I tried to keep my perfectionism in check and kept telling myself that I needed to revise everything anyway. That way, step by step, I managed to write over 300 pages in one year. And yes, obviously it took me months to revise, proofread and layout everything. But then, one magic day it was all done. My PhD story had finally found a happy ending.

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Epilogue More than 5 years passed since the moment I first started thinking about writing a PhD thesis and the proud moment of my doctoral graduation. Throughout these years, I have learned about research methods, impact factors and how to keep smiling, while your work is analysed and critiqued. Years, which involved a lot of travelling and meeting interesting people – during conferences and seminars as well as during data collection. Five years of juggling work, private, and student life. Five years of hoping, worrying and sometimes despairing. I sometimes feel that the actual writing of the thesis, which seemed like such a looming task, is only the icing on the cake – a small, and maybe even sweet part of a chapter of my life. It took me over 2 years to feel quite at home in this new country, to speak the language, to fit in. But it was worth every step of the way. My latest trip, during the final stage of writing up the thesis, offered a kind of confirmation, that all of the hard work had paid off. I did a poster presentation during an Emerging Researchers Conference in Copenhagen and won the Best Poster Award. This award and seeing people there I had met during previous conferences or summer schools, finally made me realize that this story, this important chapter of my life, is coming to an end. I am close to reaching the magic words “the end”. And then, as my thesis was completed and I passed my doctoral viva, I was starting to wonder. What would happen next? Where would I go from there? A PhD experience is an one-way trip. There is no going back. There is no final destination. The story goes on. The next chapters are waiting to be written. I’ve faced a lot of challenges during those 5 years, but all in all, they have made me stronger and they have contributed to a doctoral thesis I am really proud of. Just remember, with enough perseverance, you can successfully complete your PhD.

Addendum I finished writing this chapter in 2018, shortly after my doctoral viva. In the 2 years that have passed since, a lot has changed for me personally and professionally. While at first no obvious changes were apparent – I continued working at KPH, the college for teacher education in Graz, I didn’t get a pay rise or a new, bigger office – everything seemed to be more or less the same. However, over the last 2 years gradual changes have led to me taking on a lot more responsibilities and developing a new professional persona. The biggest change was probably, that after years of part-time employment, I got a full-time permanent position last year. This change obviously brought new responsibilities. I am now the co-head of the department for mathematics and science, the spokesperson for sustainability on the campus and responsible for three research projects in the areas of sustainability and outdoor education. I am also the only lecturer in our master’s degree course with a doctorate in science didactics, so I have

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several students to supervise for their master theses. So, my role has changed quite quickly from having a supervisor to being a supervisor. My new responsibilities also include that I have to deal a lot more with policy makers – something I wished for during writing my thesis, but which proves a lot more taxing than  what I had expected as far as the situation of ESE in Austria is concerned. Sustainability and environmental education have definitely received a big boost in the last few years mainly through the launch of the SDGs and especially thanks to the Fridays 4 Future movement. In Austria, efforts to implement ESE and environmental education into school curricula had only been partly successful,  before Greta Thunberg’s youth movement. Currently, however, the new curricula for the 6–10-year-olds and the 10–14-year-olds are being revised and both ESE and environmental education with both ESE and environmental education having a prominent place. This will hopefully lead to more teachers taking up these important approaches in their classrooms. Furthermore, all universities are tasked to do more towards reaching the SDGs. In the so-called Uni-Netz (university net) project, every university is responsible for one of the SDGs and has to develop suggestions on how to put SDGs into practice. Our college is involved in the group working on SDG 4 – education. Thus, I have been very busy working in different task forces and teams and giving presentations both locally, nationally and also internationally. My home university has also recently included sustainability in its mission statement, and we are currently working on several issues – from optimising recycling to developing in-service training courses – to get closer to reaching the SDGs. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has thwarted some of the activities, planned for this semester, such as a lecture series on climate change, bringing together all Styrian universities or a focus day on sustainability practices at our college. Looking back on those last 2 years, none of it would have happened without my doctorate. First of all, obviously the formal qualification has made it possible for me to be at the position where I am right now, but apart from that, the whole doctoral experience has definitely been a game changer for me. Everything I have learned in the 5 years of doing my doctorate are experiences I can draw from, whether it is the ability to defend my work in front of a panel of experts, to know when is the best time of day to do some writing, where to find research literature or simply how to stay fit and healthy during a conference. However, the most important thing are the networks. I still rely strongly on the network I built during my doctoral programme which continues to grow with every research proposal, every keynote presentation and every review I am asked to write.

References BMBF. (2014). Grundsatzerlass Umweltbildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. BMUKK, BMWF, Lebensministerium. (2008). Österreichische Strategie zur Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung.

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De Haan, G., & Harenberg, D. (1999). Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung. Gutachten zum Programm (Booklet no. 72). Bonn: Bund-Länder Kommission für Bildungsplanung und Forschungsförderung. Shulman, L.  S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.

Chapter 7

Finding My Own Voice Whilst Researching Students’ Voices Ian Ayre

Abstract  Ian’s research story began long before he formally commenced as a PhD candidate in an Australian university. Convinced of the potential role of education in bringing about the transformational change needed in society that could lead to more ecologically sustainable and socially just future, Ian became a teacher, and taught in high schools for almost two decades. However, he increasingly felt disillusioned and disempowered working for such transformative ideals in institutions operating under a systemic agenda to maintain the status quo. It was at this low point that Ian encountered people and research centres working to bring about change through academic research and policy development. It felt as though many years of experiences had led Ian to this point as he applied for, and was accepted into, a scholarship PhD in the research area of education for sustainability. Sustainability had recently been given unprecedented status in the new Australian (national) curriculum as a cross-curriculum priority, and he wanted to hear from the learners in secondary schools about their experiences with this curriculum-wide inclusion of sustainability learning. Ian encountered a range of challenges in collecting ethnographic data from secondary schools, including a large number of ‘gatekeepers’ and ethical considerations, varying degrees of engagement and ambivalence from the adolescent participants, and issues of representation in keeping the student voices at the centre of the study. In addition, Ian wrestled with researcher confidence and writing inertia in the latter stages of his research, and is actively working to overcome this, not least for the research participants who entrusted him with their stories and experiences. Keywords  Secondary schools · National curriculum · Sustainability · Australia

I. Ayre (*) Anonymous University, New South Wales, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_7

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The Story Behind the PhD Story Just as all doctoral research experiences are unique, all candidates have individual ‘backstories’ or pre- research experiences and histories that led them to commence a PhD. Personally, my overarching purpose in undertaking this research project is to contribute in some small way to the transformation of society towards a more sustainable future. I have held values I would consider consistent with the concept of ‘sustainability’ since I was in the final years of secondary school, or slightly older than the student participants of my research. These values led me, after undergraduate university, to work for a Queensland NGO dedicated to environmental conservation. I moved directly from this to study education with the explicit intention of becoming a high school teacher and specialising in environmental education. I was convinced that, in wanting to be part of the movement for a more sustainable and just future, education was the field possessing the greatest transformative potential. The values and perspectives that I have brought to this research can be divided into two categories – personal values and professional educational experience. Becoming a father 10  years ago added an extra dimension and personal poignancy to values developed throughout my upbringing. Many of the depressing projections relating to humanity’s unsustainable trajectory reference the middle of this century, the year 2050, as the benchmark for describing the disconsolate social and ecological consequences of a “business as usual” path. It was a sobering realisation that in the year 2050, my child would be the same age I was at the commencement of my PhD project. While this is undoubtedly a self-referential, anthropocentric perspective, the relatability of this epiphanic moment encompasses my concern for humanity more broadly and for the non-human biological community with which we share the planet. The professional educational influences I brought to this research are rooted in my own teaching experience and my perceived failure to achieve the potential of education for sustainability in classrooms and in whole-school environments, despite my commitment and enthusiasm for seeing its principles realised. My motivation for engaging in doctoral studies was to make a contribution to what I have perceived, in my professional educational career, to be a long-term failure to embed transformational environmental and sustainability education (ESE) into Australian formal schooling. As mentioned, sustainability is now a curricula priority in the Australian Curriculum, but education for sustainability (EfS) is demonstrably not a priority in secondary schools (Kennelly et  al. 2011). When I chose to become a school teacher and environmental educator 20 years ago, I believed, and still believe, that education, at least of a certain type (Orr 2004; Sterling 2001), is key to addressing current socio-ecological crises and transitioning to a better future. Nevertheless, after almost two decades of attempting to ‘make a difference’ as a passionate and enthusiastic advocate of sustainability education in secondary schools, I felt drained, frustrated and disillusioned. A serendipitous meeting with an early career academic at the University of Tasmania, with a reasonably similar background and value set to my own, changed my outlook. Through numerous conversations, I shifted from a

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sense of defeat and helplessness to seeing the empowerment of engaging with the systemic failures of sustainability education through academic scholarship and its potential to influence educational policy. Acting on his encouragement to apply for a newly advertised PhD scholarship in the ESE field, I put myself forward as a potential candidate and was ecstatic when I was selected. That academic became one of my doctoral supervisors, along with his University of Tasmania colleague. The fact that I would be working with and learning from two academics who shared my passion for education for sustainability was a major incentive and motivator to undertake what I knew would be a challenging few years.

Research Intentions Having made the decision to choose engagement and empowerment over a sense of professional resignation, I began to seriously consider what I was hoping to achieve. When I began my doctoral research, I had at least three aspirations. I wanted to have an impact on the policy-praxis divide, I wanted to achieve that by addressing a silence in the literature and providing a voice for the perspectives of the learners themselves (Rickinson 2001), and thirdly, I intended to access these adolescent student voices through innovative and novel data collection techniques (see, for example, Brooker and Macdonald 1999; Fielding 2004; Grover 2004). Three quarters of the way through my PhD, I have consternations around how successful I have been able to be across all three aims. This is evident as I look back across the different stages of my PhD story. When I commenced the PhD, I used to grossly over-simplify what I envisaged would be “three years” of the PhD ‘project’ by thinking in terms of three distinct phases fitting (reasonably) neatly into 3 years: Year 1, the framing and development of the study, based partly on a real emphasis on a review of the literature; Year 2, obtaining research ethics approval, negotiating access to study sites, and significantly, gathering the study data; and Year 3, analysing the collected data and writing the dissertation. When my research plan met the ‘real world’, I encountered a range of difficulties I had not even imagined.

Research Realities I think the first year, more or less, went fairly close to plan. Full of enthusiasm, I immersed myself in literature. My supervisors expressed a degree of nostalgic envy for what they described as a luxury of being completely engrossed in the latest research and being able to read broadly and deeply. They impressed on me the understanding that being able to devote so much time to reading and contemplative thinking was an academic privilege that is generally not experienced again in ordinary academic life. It was a serious suggestion that my academic supervisors would

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also be learning from me in that initial year. I did make the most of the first year, eagerly absorbing where and how the ESE field had moved since completing my Master of Environmental Education 15 years earlier. Of course, there were unexpected turns, but by and large I “arrived” at the culminating event of Year 1, the Confirmation of Candidature, feeling reasonably certain and confident. My oral presentation of my research and its future direction was well received by an audience of academics and peers. I remember feeling a real sense of reaching a significant milestone and, ‘downed tools’ for the summer break to become full-time solo home dad for the 2 months of school holidays feeling that all was under control. However, Year 2 did not go as planned. Towards the end of my Confirmation of Candidature presentation, I had stood in front of a slide containing a Gantt chart that confidently (in hindsight naively and hopelessly optimistically) placed me in schools beginning to collect data by the end of February, just a couple of months into Year 2. But as the year progressed, my neat timeline ran headlong into something called reality: the reality of a Research Ethics Committee, the reality of how long it actually takes to negotiate with a series of ‘gatekeepers’ to gain access to schools for the purposes of research, and the reality of working with busy adolescents focused on many different things, none of which was my study. Interacting with the University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) saw the documentation and plan for accessing research participants requiring several changes and re-submissions. But HREC was only the first of a number of boom-gates I had to raise before I could progress. Separate applications were then needed for permission to conduct research in Department of Education schools and Catholic schools. No one, it seemed, had any appreciation of my sense of exigence. I was not able to move forward to the next stage, completely and frustratingly at the mercy of other people and agencies for whom my research and I were very low priorities. Eventually waved through that boom-gate, I was immediately faced with the next set of gatekeepers, the school principals. Just getting them to answer my introduction and request to meet seemed impossible, followed by a long wait period to get a space in their diaries so that I could present the research plan and invite their school to be involved. With school-level agreement at four sites obtained, another few months passed as principals sought teachers who would be interested and prepared to participate. What followed was another set of meetings with this next level of gatekeepers, the classroom teachers, and another delay before being given time in front of students themselves. This felt stressful at the time. With so much already invested in getting to this point, suddenly it was down to a very brief ‘pitch’ as a one-off chance to secure adolescent-student research participants. Except, of course, being engaging enough to interest them in my study was not enough. A final gatekeeper, their parents, remained beyond my direct contact. Obtaining their compulsory consent required letters and consent forms to be taken home in the bottom of school bags, and – the really difficult part with 13- and 14-year olds – signed and returned to their teachers. Maybe this should have been foreseen and predicted, but I didn’t even begin to interact with my student research participants until the second half of Year 2. This is a personal story of course; everyone’s experience is unique,

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but it seems to me that a common theme across candidates’ second year is one of blown-out timelines and frustrations with the ‘uncontrollable’. When I did eventually have everything in place in order to proceed  – all the boom-gates raised – I suddenly found myself flat-footed. Having been frustrated for so long to reach this point, I suddenly hesitated. I held back from throwing myself into the data collection. There was an intimidating sense of “this is it! I’ve got one shot at this. What if I mess it up? What if my interview schedule isn’t perfect for eliciting the sort of data I’m after?” The advice from other candidates just slightly ahead of me at this point was, “just get in there and get started”, and they were right. I had reached a point, that is reportedly common among candidates, where it all suddenly feels too real, that the limited but absolutely crucial phase of actually collecting data was upon me and all of a sudden I felt a sense of being unprepared and a concern that I needed to tweak my data collection instruments just a bit more first. In retrospect, I learnt that it is a process, and reflexivity will see methods changed and refined as the data collection proceeds. I remember a supervisory meeting soon after I had begun data collection in earnest. My supervisors were once again enthusiastic about this phase of my research. I was told that “this is the fun part”, and that some candidates stay in the data collection phase longer than they should, or need to, because it captivates you. There is a sense of truth in that. There is also knowing when you have ‘enough’ data, and the temptation is always to feel that you need ‘more’. Having said that, now that I am through it, I did enjoy the dialogical stage of the research. I appreciated the opportunity to engage one-on-one with young people in schools in a role different to that of a teacher, and the focus groups were especially enjoyable and elicited valuable insights. What was difficult about the data collection phase, however, was reconciling axiological, ontological and methodological emphasises with the constraints of conducting research with adolescents in schools.

Finding the Right Methodological Approach As mentioned previously, two of my primary drivers and intentions of my research were to access often-silenced voices of learners, and to do so with original and innovative data collection methods. Accessing the authentic voice of the student participants was one of the core ontological perspectives influencing the design of the study, as well as one of the biggest challenges. Even while collecting data, I felt a sense of apprehension about authenticity and representation of these youth voices. I was researching with young participants who were undergoing sociological and personal changes of adolescence. The participants were still living lives dominated and largely controlled by relationships with adults in positions of authority, by parents or guardians at home, and by teachers at school (Farrell 2005). I was fully conscious that as a researcher – a 40 something year old man – coming into the formal school environment, where power relationships are very real – for all intents and purposes, I was a teacher. I felt successful in cultivating friendly, trusting

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relationships, but as much as I worked on building this rapport, I could never truly be an ‘insider’ in the world of these young people aged between 12 and 15 years. So, in overcoming adult-centred interpretations of student voice and power issues, I considered it essential to permit the adolescent students to speak about their experiences and perspectives with their own voice, not to speak for them. Deep consideration of the values and perspectives concerning young people and their position within research had already led me to a methodological approach and a research design that was influenced by, and attempted to respond to, these values. Methodology, much more than simply a description of how a researcher goes about “gathering the data”, is inextricably linked to epistemological considerations. It is a theoretical and philosophical approach to research that is the foundation of the researcher’s choices of matters such as what and/or who to study, where to study, what knowledges and research traditions to draw on, what to include and exclude, what counts as data and why, relational and ethical concerns, and how to represent the findings. For these reasons, I wrestled with methodology a great deal, because I wanted to ensure that the data I collected in my research authentically, and with a high level of trustworthiness, would help me to engage successfully in my research questions, in terms of representation of young people, dealing with those power issues, and also bring a criticality to the investigation. I know I wasn’t alone as a new researcher in suffering a feeling of being overwhelmed and confused with the smorgasbord of methodologies available within the qualitative school. I read about, and considered to varying degrees, ethnography, critical ethnography, action research, grounded theory, naturalistic inquiry, ethnomethodology, phenomenology and hermeneutic phenomenology. What emerged out of my methodological and epistemological contemplations was to pursue a research study that adopted a critical constructivist epistemological perspective. Critical constructivism extends constructivism’s position by incorporating a critical theory perspective. Critical theory contends that social problems – which is essentially what the lack of sustainability is – are often the result of groups in society being constrained by social structures and processes that they themselves construct and maintain. The purpose of critical theory is not merely to understand situations and phenomena but to change them (Carr and Kemmis 1986), and that is what I am interested in. That intention is entirely consistent with the transformative and critical nature of education for sustainability. Within that epistemology, I believed that the methodological approach most consistent with the value judgements I was bringing to the research was critical ethnography. While it is embedded within conventional ethnography and therefore sharing some common characteristics, critical ethnography has fundamentally distinctive features, including an added research task of empowering participants by giving more authority to their voices. It also attempts to use knowledge for social change by modifying consciousness or invoking a call to action. Where ethnography “asks what is”, critical ethnography “asks what could be” (Thomas 1993). Ethnography is useful when studying a group offers understanding of a larger issue. The ‘group’ would have spent significant time together and share certain values, beliefs and language (Creswell 2008, p.  473). Students in a secondary school fulfil such

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criteria, and ethnography has become reasonably common in educational research (Carspecken 1996).

 econciling Researcher Perspectives and Methodology R with Data Collection Realities All that epistemological and methodological justification was very clear to me. However, obstacles to this methodological approach emerged early during the negotiations with schools for access. Whereas I envisaged an ethnographic study that would involve me spending large amounts of time in the schools, visiting classrooms, observing learning activities inside and outside, talking informally with research participants and spending lunch in the staffrooms talking with teachers, the secondary schools were not prepared to accommodate such a constant and deep level of interaction. Indeed, the leadership of one of the participating schools proposed having me sit in an interview room for just 1–2 days, having participating students come from their classes one after the other for an interview, after which I would leave the school with my data. This unacceptable situation was negotiated to allow much greater access, but it underscores the practical and ethical difficulties of conducting a critical ethnographic study with minors in high schools, including the reluctance of school principals, at least in Australia, to permit loosely bounded access to school sites for an extended period. The adolescent participants and their voices are at the heart of my study, and the struggle to reconcile what I wanted to achieve with what school gatekeepers were allowing is a significant part of my research story. Research involving children or minors has also been expressed as a continuum, ranging from ‘research on children’, and ‘research with children’, to ‘research by children’ (Barratt Hacking et al. 2013). Hart (1992) represents a continuum of the extent of active participation of children in research as an eight-rung ladder. The approach I have taken is at the “more child centred” end of each of these spectrums, but does not purport to be research involving the early adolescents as co-researchers. I came to my research with an acknowledgement that, as Lanham (2008, p.  440) contends, children are “always Othered” in research, and that in a reflexive spirit, adult researchers must address this challenge by relating to children as fellow human beings. Principles brought to the research include that “children are themselves the best source of information about matters that concern them” (Kellett and Ding 2004, p. 165), that students themselves desire a deeper engagement throughout their education (Kushman 1997) and that in overcoming adult-centred interpretations of student voice and power issues, “it is essential to employ a methodology that allows youth to speak from, and be appreciated for, their own perspective” (Barron 2000, pp. 44–45). My desire and intention to elicit the young adolescents’ authentic experiences with sustainability learning by interacting with them in age-appropriate and

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innovative ways that would allow trust and confidence to build was dealt a blow by the conservative, cautious approach that school administrations took to ethnographic research. Consequently, I ended up using fairly conventional data collection methods with these young people. The suite of methods I employed included a short, qualitative survey, individual semi-structured interviews, a photo-voice task in their own time, followed by a second photo elicitation interview to discuss their photography, and finally a focus group involving all of the participating students from each of the schools. Whilst experiences differed across the four schools that took part in my research, my instincts were that many of the adolescents who volunteered to participate were, at times, telling me what they thought I wanted to hear. I acutely felt Tinson’s (2009) assertion that, “researching with young people can be complex, not least because of what young people are prepared to divulge and the extent to which the young people engage with the research and the researcher.” At one school, however, the low level of interest among the 15-year-old participants was palpable. There was an unmistakeable sense that the students from this one school and class were participating only out of the respect and esteem they clearly felt for the teacher who had sought research participants on my behalf. Although it was not the neat, conveniently-bounded data consistently collected across the four secondary schools that I had planned for, I still got to the beginning of my third year with a significant collection of data from my interactions with the students, as well as teachers and principals. I had interviews, photos, surveys and focus groups transcripts from 36 adolescents attending four different schools.

Connecting with an International Community Having collected the research data, I made slow progress for 6 months in making sense of what I had, how I was going to analyse and represent it, and in translating this all into writing. At this point of hesitation, one of my ESE mailing lists drew my attention to a summer school program being held in Cambridge, funded by the European Education Research Association. It was promoted as a unique event specifically designed for doctoral candidates in the environmental education (EE) and sustainability education (SE) field. Both my supervisors and I felt it was difficult to envisage a more valuable experience at that particular stage of my PhD research. The summer school was intending to challenge participants’ ontological and epistemological perspectives, discuss critical theory and eco- criticism (which was relevant to my own theoretical framing), and question methodological approaches in EE/SE research. I grappled hard with the decision to attend this summer school on the other side of the world. I wondered whether I could justify the environmental impact of global travel, paradoxically in the name of furthering sustainability. Nevertheless, I did decide to travel to the UK; it is fortunate that I did, as I found immeasurable benefits in broadening my ESE community to include some inspirational researchers, both established and emerging, who all shared my passion for meeting the global sustainability challenges through academic engagement.

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Finding My Voice I travelled from the UK back home to Australia armed with inspiration, some fresh ideas, and valuable feedback on my project from respected authorities in the ESE field. And yet, at the very point where I should have felt equipped to proceed with confidence, I found myself wracked with a crisis of confidence, plagued with constant doubts about all elements of the project, from the quality of my data, to feeling lacking in the necessary skills to analyse that data, to questioning the depth and rigour of my writing. Instead of sending my supervisors writing as I produced it, I hid my work behind excuses, waiting for it to be ‘perfect’ and fully formed as chapters before sharing. I felt as though time was closing in on me. With practical limitations to the length on my working day, I would often reach the time for collecting children from school in the mid-afternoon not having achieved anything of substance. The weeks likewise started to feel as though they were flipping by without progress, and psychologically I started to experience mental block. Yet another week of failing to produce a significant chunk of writing, rather than spurring me on to speed up progress, produced the opposite in the form of an anxiety-fuelled paralysis. I have come to appreciate that my psychological state is actually a common affliction for doctoral researchers (Cooksey and McDonald 2011). I am fortunate to have supervisors who are attentive not only to the academic aspects of my candidature, but my well-being as a person. I worked through strategies with them to tackle the inertia and procrastination that was accompanying my stress. The first step to becoming productive once again was to take stock of what I had already achieved, and celebrate the considerable distance already travelled. Secondly, I devoted time in my schedule to physical exercise. I do not pretend to grasp the neuro-emotional-­ physical interactions, but I cannot overemphasise the difference that regular exercise – something I had almost completely omitted from my life for 3 years – made to my sense of emotional well-being, motivation and mental alertness. Finally, I have adopted a pragmatic, action-oriented approach to getting the writing of my research completed (Peters 2000). I have sought out a couple of academic allies in addition to my supervisors and am interacting with them as critical friends. It is a basic, common sense approach, but I have now broken up the dissertation into what feels like manageable chunks, with firm deadlines for each section of each chapter. My new motto is ‘momentum not perfection’. Perhaps most importantly was refocusing my consciousness on the fact that dozens of adolescents have entrusted me with their perspectives, and that I need to find my voice so that theirs can be heard. As the chorus of wicked socio-ecological problems around the world grows increasingly louder, I am finding renewed motivation in my conviction that education for sustainability, whilst possessing immense potential for transformational change in our world, is not currently achieving this potential, and that the student voices in my research need to be heard as they could provide some contribution to a reimagining of sustainability learning. This is the

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prospect that is giving me optimism for myself, my research and the ESE community as I move forward to PhD completion in the coming year.

Addendum I finished writing this chapter in late 2017, expressing an optimistic belief in the final paragraph that, despite the difficulties experienced, I expected to complete my PhD in the coming year. Unfortunately, I am in the unique and unwelcome position of being one of the contributing authors not to have finished and graduated. There are reasons for this situation, and it is my hope that briefly outlining them may be illuminating for others considering a higher degree by research. I will also reflect on the changing ESE landscape in Australia since writing my chapter, because there can be no escaping the fact that the delay in completing my research has had consequences in terms of policy significance and influence. The factors contributing to my thesis remaining incomplete are numerous and varied. Without straying gratuitously into personal circumstances, my family and I moved to Brisbane, Queensland, for family reasons at the end of 2017. I knew that being 1600 km from my institution and changing my status from internal to external would be challenging in terms of maintaining engagement, and so it proved to be. Reciprocal library arrangements with a major university in Brisbane, and successfully obtaining a tutoring role in an education unit at another Brisbane university, maintained a semblance of continuity for several months. However, personal circumstances and financial imperatives obligated me take a full-time teaching job in a Brisbane high school from May 2018 through until the end of 2019. This involved negotiating a very extended Leave of Absence; essentially my doctoral research was put on ice for 2 years. During this period, I lost my supervisory team as both academics returned to their native lands to take up new positions. I also lost my collegial PhD candidate support circle, as friends who had begun PhDs at the same time as me completed and graduated. This was not only a psychological blow, but significantly the end of invaluable sharing of ideas, critical reading of sections of each other’s writing, and the immeasurable moral support and understanding of a group that shared the unique experience of doctoral research. I’m not sure that there is ever an “easy” (or easier) stage of life in which to pursue a PhD, but at any stage taking on doctoral study requires a significant sacrifice of personal and professional life. One of my original supervisors described to me how they essentially locked themselves away in a remote cabin for the final 6 months of writing up. In middle life, such large blocks of uninterrupted time are often unrealistic, with children, family and the necessity of working all representing impediments to the ability to claim months of sole-focus for writing. Sacrifices are made not only by the candidate, but by everyone in their life orbit. At the end of 2019, my family reversed what we thought had been a permanent move and relocated back to Tasmania. In spite of the family challenges that had

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uprooted us and moved us interstate, there was a shared belief that if we didn’t return, I would never complete my PhD. I am fully aware of the sacrifices the rest of my family have made over many years to allow me to complete a doctorate in ESE, and while more than one academic has observed that not every PhD journey ends with a PhD, I am determined that mine will. I sought out two new supervisors who are interested and invested in my research and are keen to see me through to completion. At the beginning of this year, 2020, my eldest child started high school. They are attending one of the four high schools that participated in my doctoral research. At my child’s commencement ceremony, one of the young people who “entrusted me with their perspectives” 5 years ago stood at the podium to address the audience as the school captain. It was a poignant moment. When I had involved them as a research participant during 8 months of data collection in 2015, they were the same age and stage of high school – in Year 7 – as my own child. I had never entertained the possibility that they might complete high school education before I was able to meet with them (and their fellow student participants) and provide detailed findings and demonstrate the central contribution of their ‘voice’ in the doctoral research. I resolved right then to complete my thesis before the end of the seniors’ school year so that going back to the youth who were a part of the research would still be possible. Within weeks of this resolution, Covid-19 had already taken hold in Australia, as it had across the globe. While not as devastating in human costs here as it has been in many other parts of the world, the pandemic led to the closure of schools for a number of months. My 2020 timetable for completion was cast aside once again as I became the home-schooling teacher for my primary school aged children. The exceptional circumstances of the pandemic prompted my university to allow even more leave. As I write, the clock has started ticking again, with the administrative deadline for completion extended into the first half of 2021. So what are the implications regarding the ESE policy situation in Australia? When I commenced my PhD six and a half years ago, the Australian Curriculum was still relatively new. For the first time, separate state curricula had been replaced with one common curriculum for the whole country. The inclusion of sustainability as one of three cross-curriculum priorities (ACARA 2013) that are intended to be embedded across all learning areas was the cause of considerable interest and excitement amongst environmental educators and ESE researchers. The global context also lent itself to making research in this field timely and relevant. The UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was concluding as my study commenced, and there was attentiveness in many countries, including Australia, as to how this initiative would be taken forward. Unfortunately, what has occurred in Australia during the past 5 or so years has been a decline in emphasis – both top-down and within schools – on the advancement of sustainability through curriculum, to the extent that many academics conclude that education for sustainability is “neither a priority nor cross-curricular” (see for example, Barnes et al. 2019). This is certainly borne out in my own research. Professional development has not occurred, and in the absence of strong policy

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driving it forward, schools have largely let ESE slide in favour of mandatory and assessable elements (Salter and Maxwell 2016). Schools’ and teachers’ lived experience is that the much-heralded cross-curriculum priority of sustainability has quietly, but inexorably, slipped away from conversations and planning. The three cross-curriculum priorities, which include sustainability, have been targeted by opponents since their inception, occupying what Brennan and Widdop-Quinton (2020) describe as “a perennially precarious space in the emerging Australian Curriculum.” There has been promotion from certain elements of ditching the cross-­ curriculum priorities (ACARA talk explicitly about ‘de-cluttering’ the curriculum as a driver of the current review processes), and although this hasn’t (yet) happened, conservative opponents of sustainability’s inclusion in the Australian Curriculum would be satisfied that in 2020 any transformative intentions have been largely neutered. What this means for my research is that a ‘relevancy window’ has been closing as the last 5 years of stalled progress ticked by, even as climate change challenges and effects have accelerated. Voices conveying the vital need for sustainability to regain the potential offered by its ‘priority’ inclusion in the Australian Curriculum are desperately needed, and there are no more potent voices than those of the current generation of youth in schools today (Cook-Sather 2020), as global youth protest movements, with Greta Thunberg as an inspirational figurehead, have proven. The relative systemic weaknesses of the implementation of sustainability as a cross-­ curricular priority in schools juxtaposes starkly with the change young Australians are wanting and demanding (Tebbel 2019), even as their Prime Minister responds by proclaiming that there should be “more learning in schools and less activism”(The Guardian 2018). This is why my research matters, and why I am more determined than ever to complete despite the obstacles that I have described and have those youth voices heard by policy decision-makers, both here in Australia and globally through the network that being involved in this book project has opened up to me.

References Barratt Hacking, E., Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Barratt, R. (2013). Children as active researchers: The potential of environmental education research involving children. In R.  Stevenson, M. Brody, J. Dillon, & A. Wals (Eds.), International handbook of research on environmental education (pp. 438–458). New York: Routledge. Barron, C. L. (2000). Giving youth a voice: A basis for rethinking adolescent violence. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. Brooker, R., & Macdonald, D. (1999). Did we hear you?: Issues of student voice in a curriculum innovation. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31(1), 83–97. Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: Education, knowledge and action research. Lewes: The Falmer Press. Carspecken, P. F. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. New York: Routledge. Cooksey, R., & McDonald, G. (2011). Surviving and thriving in postgraduate research. Prahran: Tilde University Press.

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Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education International. Farrell, A. (2005). Ethics and research with children. In A.  Farrell (Ed.), Ethical research with children. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Fielding, M. (2004). Transformative approaches to student voice: Theoretical underpinnings, recalcitrant realities. British Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 295–311. Grover, S. (2004). Why won’t they listen to us?: On giving power and voice to children participating in social research. Childhood, 11(1), 81–93. Hart, R. (1992). Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship. Innocenti Essays, 4. http:// www.unicef-­irc.org/publications/pdf/childrens_participation.pdf. Kellett, M., & Ding, S. (2004). Middle childhood. In S.  Fraser, V.  Lewis, S.  Ding, M.  Kellett, & C.  Robinson (Eds.), Doing research with children and young people (pp.  161–175). London: SAGE. Kennelly, J., Taylor, N., & Serow, P. (2011). Education for sustainability and the Australian curriculum. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 27(2), 209–218. Kushman, J.  W. (1997). Look who’s talking now: Student views of learning in restructuring schools. Portland: Northwest Educational Regional Laboratory. Lahman, M. (2008). Always othered. Ethical research with children. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 6(3), 281–300. Orr, D. (2004). Earth in mind: On education, environment and the human prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press. Peters, R. L. (2000). Getting what you cam for: The smart student’s guide to earning a Masters or PhD (Rev ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Rickinson, M. (2001). Learners and learning in environmental education: A critical review of the evidence. Environmental Education Research, 7(3), 207–320. Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education: Revisioning learning and change. Dartington: Green Books. Thomas, J. (1993). Doing critical ethnography. Newbury Park: Sage. Tinson, J. (2009). Conducting research with children and adolescents: Design, methods and empirical cases. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers.

References of Addendum ACARA. (2013). The shape of the Australian curriculum, version 4.0. Sydney: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Barnes, M., Moore, D., & Almeida, S. (2019). Sustainability in Australian schools: A cross-­ curriculum priority? Prospects, 47(4), 377–392. Brennan, M., & Widdop-Quinton, H. (2020). An ethical re-framing of curriculum for sustainability education. Curriculum Perspectives, 40, 105–110. Cook-Sather, A. (2020). Student voice across contexts: Fostering student agency in today’s schools. Theory Into Practice, 59(2), 182–191. Salter, P., & Maxwell, J. (2016). The inherent vulnerability of the Australian Curriculum’s cross-­ curriculum priorities. Critical Studies in Education, 57(3), 296–312. Tebbel, C. (2019). Now or never. Australian Educator, Spring, 103, 20–22. The Guardian. (2018). Scott Morrison tells students striking over climate change to be ‘less activist’. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-­morrison-­ tells-­students-­striking-­over-­climate-­change-­to-­be-­less-­activist Published online. 26 Nov 2018.

Chapter 8

Discovering Environmental Literacy: PhD Reflections About My Own Training Process Olaya Álvarez-García

Abstract  In this chapter, Olaya describes the journey trajectory that she followed during the development of her thesis. It is narrated according to her own experiences and feelings during the time she was doing her research. It also tries to show how during this process some problems and challenges arose and how she tried to overcome them and what she learnt from these. Olaya’s personal experience reveals that in the end, there is nothing predictable when you conduct your thesis research. This chapter is the narrative of the personal and academic story of a PhD student; her experience and lessons learnt can serve as a guidance for other doctoral students. Olaya begins this chapter discussing how she entered the world of education and research, her childhood experiences and her subsequent academic training. She also narrates how her work experience motivated her to start her  research in Environmental Education (EE). Then, she explains how the literature review of her thesis led her into a conceptual framework in EE that was totally new to her, namely that of environmental literacy. This concept laid the foundation for Olaya’s research. Olaya completed her research and training outside her country of origin, which is really central to her PhD story. In her conclusion, Olaya describes what she learnt as a result of the completed process. The chapter ends with a brief summary of Olaya’s research. Keywords  Experiences · Environmental education · Literature review

O. Álvarez-García (*) University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_8

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The Beginning of the Journey My doctoral experience began in 2008; a year after I had finished my 5-year bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science at a public university in Madrid (Spain). Before the inclusion of Spain in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), degrees in my country were classified as either 5-year degrees or 3-year degrees. Five-year-degree students could access a PhD programme without completing  a master’s degree beforehand. However, inclusion into the EHEA in 2010, and compliance with the Bologna Agreement, meant compulsory completion of a master’s programme prior to PhD admission for all students. Right at the end of my bachelor’s degree, I decided to go into the world of education. My father was a teacher of Physics and Chemistry at high school. My mother was a teacher of Primary Education. More than once, I witnessed the debates that my parents were holding with their friends and colleagues at home. I observed the enthusiasm with which they were trying to improve educational outcomes in their professional practice. This had a decisive impact on my motivation as far as my professional future was concerned. I also liked teaching. I was, and still am, excited about Environmental Education (EE). I think teamwork is rewarding, i.e. working with and for the people. One of the first  times I put some of my environmental ideas into practice was during my undergraduate studies. There was an elective course in the major called “Environmental Education” which allowed me to carry out an intervention at the university campus. It was quite a success, and this was my first incentive into following that path. At the end of my studies in Environmental Science, I started training as a secondary school science teacher. I felt I wanted to know more about education and science. I worked as an environmental educator until I decided to do my doctorate. I continued working as an environmental educator during my PhD, especially during the Advanced Studies Diploma, which encompassed the first piece of research required in my PhD programme. In fact, I worked as a teacher in EE during the development of my thesis and continue to do so today. Moreover, now that I have defended my dissertation, I have to combine work as an associate professor at university, with my work as an environmental educator. In Spain, the academic degree at a university involves both research and teaching. I have been lucky enough to be a teacher. However, not in very good working conditions, practically since I started to work on my dissertation. Being an associate professor in Spain means being a part-time instructor who holds a parallel job in the same field you are teaching. The salary of an associate professor is low, and you end up having little time to dedicate to research. Above all, throughout my work experience, I felt I needed to find a personal project that would help me build up personal reflections based on empirical knowledge. That is how I started my journey in the Doctoral Programme in Environmental Education. I was born in Barcelona, but I grew up in Madrid. My doctoral programme was based on a university collaboration; so in 2012, I chose to move to the Balearic Islands, Spain. I had good references about the university there. The

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three-week intensive initial training programme was developed in the National Centre for Environmental Education (Spain). Living together with my fellow doctoral students was a very enriching experience, because it allowed me to expand my understanding about EE and how it was developed in each region. It was the start of a journey that, after many wanderings, doubts, successes and failures, has led me to build up an academic life of my own-hopefully a professional one as well-and to settle in an island, which I sometimes love and from which I sometimes want to flee away.

The Journey’s Course The analysis of reality, my beliefs and my personal experiences led me to establish primary school teachers as the subject of my dissertation, due to their role in the promotion of EE among students. The primary education stage in the Spanish educational system is obligatory and, due to its own organisational structure (less compartmentalised, less content-loaded and more interdisciplinary), it is a level in which a global and holistic teaching model is developed; a stage which offers more facilities to embed environmental values and behaviours. In Spain, EE in school has been slightly disregarded in as much as educational regulations are concerned. It has been generally allocated within non-formal contexts, relegated to areas of work outside the school itself, which promote among students a certain degree of environmental awareness that is actually developed through the cooperation of teachers and environmental educators working in non-­ formal educational contexts. Probably, the teachers' lack of specific training in EE and the difficulties of a curriculum constrained by and focused on other seemingly more essential subjects such as maths, Spanish, foreign languages, social science or natural science, explain the state at which EE finds itself today at Spanish schools. This setting, along with both my personal and work experience within the educational world, was what prompted me to further investigate the situation of EE in Spain, to describe the state of EE within Spanish higher education in relation to the initial training of primary school teachers, and as a consequence of the changes introduced in Spanish Degrees after the EHEA reform. I think the school has been and still is-, although with a decreasingly prevalent role, an excellent environment and setting for teaching and learning not only knowledge, but also values and responsible attitudes. In this context, higher education should play a fundamental role in training future professionals who can promote these values through the performance of their work. Initiating a piece of research requires knowing the evidence and the doctrinal corpus of your subject matter which conform the groundwork that will allow you to shape the line of research you intend to follow. In my case, it was a question of establishing the state of the art of EE for teachers in training, based on the search and analysis of relevant information in relation to this subject matter, so as to reflect the existing knowledge – mainly empirical evidence –as well as pre-existing ideas.

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And thus, I inquired about the concept of “Environmental Literacy” (EL), which has been one of the theoretical pillars of my research. I carried out a bibliographic review in an attempt to obtain a panoramic photo with which to rediscover what had already been said about the subject matter I was investigating. It was also the way to inquire about the main research published on the subject, its authorship, the results achieved, and the geographic context in which it had been carried out. Moreover, it was also useful to know the main theories and hypotheses that currently prevail on this subject; the methodologies and methodological instruments that had been used, and which were more adequate for the matter under study. On the basis of the concept of EL, I carried out a 3-stage systematic review following on the steps of authors Higgins and Green (2011): implementing a coherent search strategy to look for documents; determining the criteria for selecting among all retrieved documents those to be considered instrumental; and finally, analysing these selected documents based on clear, rigorous and precise dimensions and criteria. As a result of the retrieved literature’s analysis, I obtained the following conclusions, which were essential to guide the research work developed subsequently. Firstly, the results of the different pieces of research carried out in relation to the EL of teachers pointed out to the undeniable role of teachers and their correct training in EE as a tool with which to environmentally educate future citizenship, as already shown by some international organizations such  as UNESCO (UNESCO-UNEP 1976, 1978, 1989, 1990, 1995). That is to say, my intuition and my belief about the teaching staff were right. Secondly, the review allowed me to observe and take as a working example the Anglo-Saxon context, especially that of the United States, where I discovered the importance that has traditionally been given to this training among future teachers, especially through the work of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) (Simmons 2007, 2010 ; NAAEE 2010; Hollweg et al. 2011). Outside the USA, scholars in European and Middle Eastern countries, have also worked and reflected on this training, although perhaps less extensively; therefore, my research could pioneer, or at least be relevant in terms of contributing to common scientific knowledge. In as much as the trajectory of the research is concerned, I observed that, although there was a more theoretical corpus (such as the work developed by the NAAEE) there were also several works that have tried to demonstrate empirically the real situation of the future primary teachers (Goldman et al. 2006; Pe’er et al. 2007; Yavetz et al. 2009; Muda et al. 2011; Tuncer et al. 2009, 2014; Teksoz et al. 2010; Timur et al. 2013). In the course of this review I observed that, in most cases, questionnaires had been applied as a methodological tool with which to evaluate, using different study variables (knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, etc.) the degree of EE formation of education students. Therefore, I got some hints on how to instrumentalise the methodology of my research and on how to develop my methodological tool. First reflection on the development of a thesis: the bibliographic search is fundamental to guide the course that it must take.

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This nevertheless was just the beginning of the work. At this point I had the framework of my research, but I had to continue studying these previous works in my research topic and expanding my knowledge around it. At this time, I had the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to participate in a research  residency in Mexico. I decided to apply and was fortunate enough to be accepted. I was able to conduct research for 4 months in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Although things were a little complicated due to the situation of insecurity and violence in the country at that time, I was able to participate in a seminar of EE organized by the UNESCO Chair that focused in analysing the different currents within EE. So, I began to reflect on the paradigm of my research. Also, I learned how EE was integrated in the context of formal education in Mexico. I began to reflect on whether my own research was permeated with the holism that characterizes EE. During my residency, I tried to develop a comparative study on teacher training in EE between Spain and Mexico, but at that moment a social crisis broke out in Mexico as a consequence of the murder of a group of education students, and thus access to the study sample was limited by the numerous strikes that were carried out. In spite of this, and after some failed attempts, I got my data. As it tends to be the case in many a journey, this triumph notwithstanding, the course of my research changed, and my dissertation followed a different path. In the end, the comparative study that I was to carry out was within my own country, among Spanish universities. Why? The reason was no other than to be able to know in depth the reality of my country. Initially, I thought it was crazy to make this change, but later on I realized that this research made more sense. Second premise to keep in mind when doing a thesis: there is nothing watertight, the course of the thesis can change during its development and according to the learning acquired throughout its process. Half a year after my return from Mexico, I got an Erasmus doctoral scholarship to continue my research in Greece. This research context resembled more the context of my own research. Firstly, because Greece was a Mediterranean country with a similar set of social interactions. Secondly, because my research was already developed enough so as to discuss the methodology with fellow researchers and compare the results obtained. It was also a moment to absorb other experiences in the practice of EE that prompted me to reflect on how teacher training should be reoriented in EE in my own country. It was also a productive stage academically, in which I wrote journal articles, something that was really rewarding and especially important for the later defense of my thesis, as it added value to it. And even though my backpack was loading up, I felt that I should keep on loading it with experiences and knowledge. At that time, my university offered me the chance of attending a training in Cambridge, UK and I thought I should try it. And that is how I continued to reflect on my research work. This training helped me share doubts and ideas among peers, as well as receive criticism about my work from EE experts from different universities in Europe. Although at this point my work was already in the last stages, the seminars I attended led me to vouch the research I had developed. Also, the presentation of my research to my colleagues, gave me critical ideas that later helped me prepare the defense of my thesis. Third

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lesson learned on the process of a thesis: share the work done, between peers or experts, to discover its shortcomings and its virtues.

The End of the Journey: The Backpack Is Full I finished the thesis in 2016, after almost 3 years of work. The concept of EL, which I came across through my bibliographic research work, established, among other conceptual frameworks, the basis of my research. In addition, the research residencies and the different trainings I enrolled in, contributed to build up my research work. The searching of documents was carried out by consulting the main scientific databases in the field of Education: The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and multidisciplinary academic databases such as Web of Science (WOS) and SCOPUS.  For the localization of documents in Spanish, the REDINED and Dialnet databases were consulted. The search was limited only to the location of academic articles. The search strategy was quite generalist, considering as a key word for the search “environmental literacy”. The search fields were essentially based on the requirements of each database, the title and the abstract of the documents. This bibliographic research demonstrated there was unsatisfactory EL levels between primary preservice teachers. Likewise, some sociodemographic variables (such as gender, habitual residence, outdoor activities…) or training variables, such as the branch of studies, could influence the degree of EL of subjects. This led me to think that in my case the situation could be similar, a low initial teacher training EL; and also helped me to determine which variables to analyse in order to determine the environmental competences that teachers should achieve in initial training, as well as those factors that could influence this high or low level of competence: gender, training, personal experiences… Proceeding from this analysis a questionnaire was designed and validated to assess the Environmental Competencies (EC) of primary preservice teachers, following previous studies I read as a result of the bibliographic research on the field. As in the end, after my stage on Mexico I had decided to focus on the Spanish context, I developed two comparative studies using the questionnaire as the tool to data collection. Throughout the thesis process and after its completion, I had the opportunity to publish some academic articles that could give visibility to my work and with which I could contribute to inform the scientific community about some novelties related to the formation on EE of teachers in initial training (Álvarez 2013; Sureda et al. 2013; Álvarez-García et al. 2015, 2017, 2018a, b). I did not only learn at an academic level, nonetheless. The result of the whole research process has finally led me to know myself, to construct my academic and professional profile  in a certain way. But also, to acquire certain skills that have helped me learn about other issues related to my daily life. This process has led me to value my abilities and try to overcome difficulties. When I started my PhD training, I did not know some of the theoretical aspects of EE

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since my background was more indebted to its praxis. Neither had I deepened my knowledge of some of the methodological techniques that can be used to develop an educational research during my bachelor’s, because I came from a science discipline (Environmental Science Degree), nor had I conducted such an exhaustive bibliographic search before. I have acquired all these skills thanks to the process of research. Also, during the development of my thesis I had the opportunity to live in other countries. I did two research residencies prior to the PhD completion: in Mexico and Greece. I had always travelled for pleasure, especially around Europe; and had been on a few trips with friends. I was used to exploring other cultures. But I had not been aware of the personal growth encompassed in immersing yourself for a period of time into a cultural and academic context different from that of your  country of origin. Developing a thesis is not trivial. Not only because of the time that should be devoted to reading and studying the scholars and theories surrounding the object of study, but also due to the insecurities and difficulties that come to you. The first difficulty I had to face was to properly delimit the topic I wanted to investigate. I think that in this process, you have to be pragmatic. It is important at this point to carry out a systematized bibliographic search. But the exchange of ideas and experiences in other universities and with colleagues is equally important. In other words, carrying out research and doing training residencies in other countries to fill our backpack with a load that, after all, does not weigh are complementary. I think a PhD thesis is a long-term personal project in which you must be patient and persistent. The process sometimes feels like being in a tunnel that seems to have no exit. It sometimes feels like an impediment that you must carry along for years. But a thesis, in the end, supposes an entire process of academic and personal learning that I think is worth experiencing.

Addendum At the time I started narrating this research journey, I was just finishing my PhD.  Upon completion, I combined my job as associate professor, a part-time instructor position, with the job of environmental educator. Less than 2 years later, I was lucky enough to be offered a ful-time position at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), where I started my academic journey. This time, I worked as environmental technician at the university’s environmental office for almost 2  years. In September 2019, I finally became a lecturer and researcher at the UIB. I had my doctorate for almost 4 years until I achieved full time employment at the university. As it was described at the previous story, the path has not been easy, but after following it, I am finally working in a role that matches my qualifications. When I started my PhD research, I carried out a bibliographic review where I first heard about the concept of environmental literacy (EL). I was assessing preservice teacher environmental competences considering EL as the basis of my research. It was before 2015. At that time, the so called Environmental Education (EE) was in

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dialogue with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It was the Decade of Sustainable Development Education (DSDE). Since then, I have been studying in depth this research topic from a theoretical perspective, but also from the perspective of praxis. I carried out two educational innovation projects to develop environmental literacy among primary preservice teachers. I also had to consider the new context that was being conformed which currently underpins education for sustainability: Agenda 2030. In fact, this was the frame by which these type of projects in innovative education are fund. On the other hand, I decided to do my bachelor’s degree in environmental science, because I felt really aware about environmental problems and the importance of education as one of the tools for their solution. One of those problems was climate change. Although it was not my research focus, it was an important topic when considering teacher training in EE, which was my main research topic. In fact, I obtained some interesting information about it when developing my PhD research: the lack of knowledge in climate change of preservice primary teachers. Then, after the Paris Agreement in 2015, a new research context was set up for EE and gave support to some findings of my PhD research. The global context was highlighting the importance of sustainability for mitigating climate change. In addition, youth climate change movement provided me with the last push I needed in order to defend this line of research from the academic perspective. I started to review studies in education for climate change and I found a new concept that started my research topic: climate change literacy. This concept bases its theoretical framework on understanding the causes and consequences of climate change and the willingness to take action to try to address it (Mochizuki and Bryan 2015). Some research suggests that the knowledge available on this issue among teachers is inadequate (Anyanwu et al. 2015; Herman et al. 2017; Miler et al. 2012); on the contrary, others point to good knowledge, but the need to increase attitudes as well as their pro-­ environmental behaviors (Karami et al. 2017). However, there is a predisposition on the part of teachers to work on this topic with students (Johnson et al. 2008). In addition, there are studies that point to the positive impact that this training on climate change has for both teachers and students (Shea et al. 2016). As a result of this curiosity, I also begun participating in an interdisciplinary research group in climate change, where I promote climate change education, specifically through training. I also participate in a research project about social representation of climate change, as a further step for promoting climate change literacy. I am aware that my personal research project has changed orientation as I was growing in the academia, but also, as the social and political context around EE was changing. Nevertheless, I have never abandoned my belief in teacher training education as one of the tools for achieving an environmentally educated society. When I started my PhD there was an uncertainty career path for me. But since then, I am researching in a topic I believe in. Furthermore, I have ensured a research position in my university and I can finally say now that the initial sacrifice of the PhD worth it.

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References Álvarez, O. (2013). A necesaria alfabetización ambiental do profesorado en formación. AmbientalMENTEsustentable, 1(15–16), 7–18. Álvarez-García, O., Sureda-Negre, J., & Comas-Forgas, R. (2015). Environmental education in pre-service teacher training: A literature review of existing evidence. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 17(1), 72–85. https://doi.org/10.1515/jtes-­2015-­0006. Alvarez-Garcia, O., Sureda-Negre, J., & Comas-Forgas, R. (2017). Diseño y validación de un cuestionario para evaluar la alfabetización ambiental del profesorado de primaria en formación inicial. Profesorado. Revista de currículum y formación del profesorado, 22(2), 309–328. https://doi.org/10.30827/profesorado.v22i2.7725. Alvarez-Garcia, O., Sureda-Negre, J., & Comas-Forgas, R. (2018a). Assessing Environmental Competencies of primary education pre-service teachers in Spain: A comparative study between two universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(1), 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-­12-­2016-­0227. Alvarez-Garcia, O., Sureda-Negre, J., & Comas-Forgas, R. (2018b). Evaluación de las competencias ambientales del profesorado de Primaria en formación inicial: estudio de caso. Enseñanza de las Ciencias. Revista de Investigación y Enseñanzas Didácticas, 36(1), 117–141. https://doi. org/10.5565/rev/ensciencias.2338. Goldman, D., Yavetz, B., & Pe’er, S. (2006). Environmental literacy in teacher training in Israel: Environmental behavior of new students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOEE.38.1.3-­22. Higgins, J. P. T., & Green, S. (Eds.) (2011). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Version 5.1.0. The Cochrane Collaboration. http://www.training.cochrane.org/ handbook. Hollweg, K.  S., Taylor, J.  R., Bybee, R.  W., Marcinkowski, T.  J., McBeth, W.  C., & Zoido, P. (2011). Developing a framework for assessing environmental literacy. https://cdn.naaee.org/ sites/default/files/devframewkassessenvlitonlineed.pdf. Accessed 5 Sept 2015. Muda, A., Ismail, N. S., Suandi, T., & Rashid, N. A. (2011). Analysis of cognitive and affective component of environmental literacy of pre-service teachers from institute of teacher education Malaysia. World Applied Sciences Journal, 14(1), 114–118. North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). (2010). Excellence in environmental education: Guidelines for learning (K–12). https://cdn.naaee.org/sites/default/files/ learnerguidelines_new.pdf. Accessed 4 Sept 2015. Pe’er, S., Goldman, D., & Yavetz, B. (2007). Environmental literacy in teacher training: Environmental attitudes, knowledge and behavior of beginning students. Journal of Environmental Education, 39(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOEE.39.1.45-­59. Simmons, B. (2007). Standards for the initial preparation of environmental educators. NAAEE. http://www.ncate.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Fm%2FqA4uarLk%3D&tabid=676. Accessed 3 Sept 2015. Simmons, B. (2010). Guidelines for the preparation and professional development of environmental educators. http://resources.spaces3.com/e42d12db-­f327-­46ca-­94c2-­647060d23e74.pdf. Accessed 3 Sept 2015. Sureda, J., Oliver, M. F., Catalán, A., Comas, R., & Álvarez, O. (2013). Las competencias para la sostenibilidad ambiental en los planes de formación inicial del profesorado de primaria. Informe de recerca, 4, 1–37. Teksoz, G., Sahin, E., & Ertepinar, H. (2010). A new vision for chemistry education students: Environmental education. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 5(2), 131–149. Timur, S., Timur, B., & Yilmaz, S. (2013). Determining primary school candidate teachers’ levels of environmental literacy. Anthropologist, 16(1–2), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/0972007 3.2013.11891335.

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Tuncer, G., Tekkaya, C., Sungur, S., Cakiroglu, J., Ertepinar, H., & Kaplowitz, M. (2009). Assessing pre-service teachers’ environmental literacy in Turkey as a mean to develop teacher education programs. International Journal of Educational Development, 29(4), 426–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2008.10.003. Tuncer, G., Boone, J. W., Tuzun, O. Y., & Oztekin, C. (2014). An evaluation of the environmental literacy of preservice teachers in Turkey through Rasch analysis. Environmental Education Research, 20(2), 202–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2013.768604. UNESCO-UNEP. (1976). The Belgrade Charter. Connect, 1(1), 1–9. UNESCO-UNEP. (1978). The Tbilisi declaration. Connect, 3(1), 1–8. UNESCO-UNEP. (1989). Cultura básica ambiental para todos. Connect, 14(2), 1–8. UNESCO-UNEP. (1990). Environmentally educated teachers: The priority of priorities? Connect, 15(1), 1–3. UNESCO-UNEP. (1995). Environmental education: Quo vadis? Connect, 20, 1–2. Yavetz, B., Goldman, D., & Pe’er, S. (2009). Environmental literacy of pre-service teachers in Israel: A comparison between students at the onset and end of their studies. Environmental Education Research, 15(4), 393–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620902928422.

References of Addendum Anyanwu, R., Le Grange, L., & Beets, P. (2015). Climate change science: The literacy of Geography teachers in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. South African Journal of Education, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v35n3a1160. Herman, B.  C., Feldman, A., & Vernaza-Hernandez, V. (2017). Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(3), 451–471. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10763-­015-­9706-­6. Johnson, R.  M., Henderson, S., Gardiner, L., Russell, R., Ward, D., Foster, S., & Eastburn, T. (2008). Lessons learned through our climate change professional development program for middle and high school teachers. Physical Geography, 29(6), 500–511. https://doi. org/10.2747/0272-­3646.29.6.500. Karami, S., Shobeiri, S. M., Jafari, H., & Hendi, G. N. (2017). Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards climate change education (CCE) among lower secondary teachers in Tehran, Iran. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 9(3), 402–415. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijccsm-­04-­2016-­0043. Miler, T., Hollan, J., Valek, J., & Sladek, P. (2012). Teachers’ understanding of climate change. In Z. Bekirogullari (Ed.), International conference on education & educational psychology (Vol. 69, pp. 1437–1442). Mochizuki, Y., & Bryan, A. (2015). Climate change education in the context of education for sustainable development: Rationale and principles. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 9(1), 4–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973408215569109. Shea, N. A., Mouza, C., & Drewes, A. (2016). Climate change professional development: Design, implementation, and initial outcomes on teacher learning, practice, and student beliefs. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 27(3), 235–258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-­016-­9456-­5.

Chapter 9

Slog Through Thoughts and Find the Right Way with Candle Light Şule Alici

Abstract  Throughout this chapter, Şule will share some of her academic experiences, focusing on how she determined her Ph.D., research topic, the changing circumstances during her Ph.D., how she overcame these unexpected events, some of the adaptations, and reviews related to her Ph.D. based on these conditions, and how she finally reached the end. Initially, Şule will provide information about her master thesis, since the experiences that she had during this study shape the research topic, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and sample for her dissertation. This chapter will relay the chance Şule had to observe and to make informal dialogues with teachers in their real instructing environment. These encounters throw light on how to construct in-service training for PhD research. Moreover, during causerie with parents, Şule perceived that they expressed concern about children’s excessive media usage. When she considered all these outcomes, she decided to focus on ESD and critical media literacy (CML) as a dissertation topic; however, she was not sure how to combine these two issues. The second step was to search the theoretical background initiates. The third step was to defend her study in front of the committee and the fourth step was to review the dissertation based on the feedback of the committee. After this process was completed, the next step, not only the most exciting but also stressful, was to collect the data. Throughout this step, unexpected events and many misfortunes occurred, but effective time management and endless support from her supervisor circumvented them. After completing the data collection period, came the most vital part of the study data analysis. The last step will be to report the findings, finalize the dissertation and then happily procure the Ph.D. degree. Keywords  Early childhood · Education for sustainable development · Experiences

Ş. Alici (*) Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Kırşehir, Turkey © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_9

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Introduction Before starting to tell my PhD story, I want to give information pertaining to my country’s perspective on Environmental Education (EE) and/or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD); and the situation about EE and/or ESD in my country’s educational system. Afterwards, I will elucidate my dissertation in terms of methodology, literature review, and advice for emerging researchers. The chapter will be completed with information about my educational and academic background.

EE/ESD in Turkey In my country, there is no regulation about mandatory environmental education. On the other hand, there is a law in Turkey’s 1982 constitution (still prevails) stating that “everyone has the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment. Protection of environmental health, prevention of environmental pollutions, and development of the environment are the State’s and every citizen’s duty”. One year later, this law is enacted and declares that “protection of environment and prevention of environmental pollution from the inappropriate usage of natural resources to waste management”. Moreover, in 2004 Turkey legitimatized the agreement of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In 2006, a change about environment law’s aim was made as “it is provided to protect the environment, which is the common component of all living beings based on sustainable environment and sustainable development principles”. Turkey also signed the Kyoto Protocol and accepted to make regulations according to this protocol with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s decision. In light of these changes, although since 2004 the concepts of environment, sustainability, and sustainable development have been placed in elementary curriculum, there is no specific course targeting environment/ sustainable development/sustainability. All these concepts are given in different courses (science and technology, social studies, life studies) and time to time in elementary education. When we look at early childhood education (ECE), a curriculum about EE/ESD has not been developed in ECE in Turkey. Only special days and weeks in the curriculum consist of the concept of the environment (Alici 2013). Further, some schools can implement some extracurricular programs such as Eco-schools or TEMA kids which are conducted by non-governmental institutions. While in Eco-­ school programs, schools can design and implement their own activities based on program requirements. In the TEMA Kids program, there is a prepared program including activities. Teachers in participating schools are required to apply some of these throughout the academic year.

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The First Spark! I decided to work on my dissertation topic after the experiences I gained throughout my Master’s thesis. In my master thesis, I worked with six-year-old children, their parents and teacher on Recycle (including composting), and Reduce and Reuse (3Rs). Recycle (related to the economic aspect of ESD) refers to how “waste materials can be remade into something valuable”, Reduce (related to the environmental aspect of ESD) means “doing more with less” and Reuse (also related to environmental aspect of ESD) is “finding new uses for old things”. The Master’s research consisted of three phases  – pre-implementation, implementation, and post-­ implementation  – and took 4  months. When I was applying the implementation phase; I saw that the early childhood teacher of the class where the study was conducted knew little about or was not aware of ESD.  While interviewing her, she stated that if she was informed about these things that were applied by me, she could carry out the activities related to ESD in her class. She also added that she observed the impact of my implementation on her children’s knowledge, awareness, attitude and behavior related to ESD. Additionally, she highlighted that she warned her children about the same issues related to garbage, such as keeping their environment clean, especially the classroom. However, she realized that these warnings could not work until this study was conducted. To her, the children easily adapted to the process because of the activities’ structure, such as child-centered, hands-on and minds-on learning, including creative drama, games, storytelling, field trips, etc. After this interview, I decided to study with early childhood teachers for my PhD because, in my opinion, they are the ‘locomotives’ of putting the principles into practice in educational systems. Additionally, if they were knowledgeable about ESD and how to integrate into their activities, they could raise an informed and conscientious generation, thus cultivating potential future action. What’s more, I also had the chance to observe in-service training periods of teachers and talk to them about its effectiveness. They actually informed me that these trainings were not effective because of the lack of real implementation with children. After gaining knowledge about any content through their in-service training, they could not receive direct feedback from the training instructors while and/ or after implementation. Thus, they would not be sure whether they were applying the learned things correctly and effectively. They declared the most fundamental deficiency of the in-service training pertained to there being no implementation part in actual learning environments and no aim to meet real/existing needs and/or desires of teachers. Reviewing all of these considerations in my dissertation, I give recommendations for in-service training to ensure planning and implementation to target teachers’ needs and continue interaction and communication with them after the training until they feel themselves comfortable whilst applying their activities. When it comes to the story of the critical media literacy (CML) (Garcia et al. 2013; Kellner and Share 2007; Torres and Mercado 2006) part of my dissertation, essentially the motive of focusing on this issue derives from my observations and

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parents’ feedback and reflections. To illustrate, parents mostly complain about their children’s heavy usage of media and media tools, and they cannot find any solution for this situation. Although media usage looks problematic and undesirable, in this century we cannot escape adapting technological developments because these developments also make our lives easier. We as educators and academicians also utilize media and media tools to make our courses more interactive. At this juncture, the correct and effective usage of media and media tools in our lives (daily, social and professional) becomes an agenda. This agenda leads us to consider the CML concept, which targets the development of critical understanding of relationships among audiences, information, and power and skills on “analyzing media codes and conventions, abilities to criticize stereotypes, dominant values and ideologies, and competencies to interpret the multiple meanings and messages generated by media text” (Kellner and Share 2007, p.4). Additionally, the research indicates that young children in early years are particularly exposed to media and media tools due to parents being unaware of CML (Vandewater et  al. 2007). On the other hand, Ballantyne and Packer (2005) emphasize that media would be a more effective tool for children in their early years to be made aware of ESD. Overall, based on the experiences I determined to focus on ESD, CML and teacher education in early childhood field.

Typical Components of PhD Research Having covered how I came to focus my research on ESD and CML, we will now focus on the other noteworthy elements of my research story. The first of the crucial components that I had to decide was methodology, and literature review was the second. Post-positivist inquiry/approach shapes this study’s methodology. In the post-positivist inquiry, for Lather (1991), there are three paradigms; namely, ‘understand’, ‘emancipate’, and ‘deconstruct’. Each paradigm specifically includes some terms that have been utilized as frames’ references for exploring the social reality. The ‘understand’ paradigm covers Interpretative, Naturalistic, Constructivist, Phenomenological, Hermeneutic reference frames; the ‘emancipate’ paradigm involves Critical, Neo-Marxist, Feminist, Praxis-oriented, Educative, Feirrian, Participatory research, action research; and ‘deconstruct’ paradigm includes Post-­ structural, Postmodern and Post-paradigmatic diaspora. My study encompasses some parts of the “understand paradigm” (such as Interpretative and Constructivist), and the “emancipate paradigm” (e.g., Critical, Participatory research and Action research). Based on the post-positivist approach, a case study of the qualitative research type was utilized in my research to determine the existing situation about ESD and CML in early childhood learning environments before and after professional development training (PDT) as stated by Patton (1990):

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Qualitative inquiry is highly appropriate in studying process because depicting process requires detailed description; the experiences of process typically varies for different people; process is fluid and dynamic and participants’ perceptions are a key process consideration (p. 95).

In other words, it is too difficult to describe the place of ESD and CML in activities implemented by a teacher in the early learning environment by using quantitative data collection methods because each teacher and class have their own realities. The multiple realities can easily be described, however, by a qualitative approach. In this study, “one shot” in-service training was given in light of The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (ICMPG) (Clarke and Hollingsworth 2002), but time to time researcher and teachers came together before and after implementing their activities. This means that the interaction between researcher and teacher continued throughout one semester as advised by designers (Clarke and Hollingsworth 2002) of this model. For them, this is a nonlinear model (continuing interaction and multi-­ entries) and places emphasis on the complexity of professional growth via elucidating the multi-aspects of growth through distinct domains (external domain, personal domain, the domain of practices and domain of consequences). Change in a domain causes change in others domain via reflection and enaction mediating processes. When it came to literature that I used to construct my research, at first, I focused on Ecological System Theory (Bronfenbrenner 1979, 1994). Bronfenbrenner describes this theory with nested layers, like the Matryoshka doll. In this model, there are five layers from innermost to outer; namely, ‘microsystem’, ‘mesosystem’, ‘exosystem’, ‘macrosystem’, and ‘chronosystem’. The child is at the center of this model – the microsystem (such as family and teacher). The microsystem is encompassed by the mesosystem (e.g., preschools), followed by the exosystem (i.e., media), the macrosystem (e.g., ideologies of cultures), which is held by the chronosystem (i.e., sociohistorical events and time). While analyzing my data, I realized that Bronfenbrenner’s theory could not fit my study’s ESD perspective with its solid lines, nested circles, one–directional influence, and anthropocentric view. Afterwards, I started to investigate how I could adapt this theory with an ESD perspective. I discovered Stanger (2011)‘s article, and McCrea and Littledyke (2015)‘s book chapter related to adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s theory based on ESD.  I decided to use an ECEfS Adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Approach as proposed by McCrea and Littledyke (2015). In this adaptation, the strict layers are changed with segmented/broken ones, nested circles to a more organic-looking one, and one-directional influence to two-directional relationships. Essentially, ESD covers the whole model, and instead of a human at the center of this model, it is human living and learning. Further, the literature on Media Literacy (ML), which refers to “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of forms” (NAMLE 2009, p.1), was more elaborative than that of CML, especially on how individuals’ ML competencies and levels can be identified. Hence, in the dissertation, I combined the literature on CML and ML during analysis of the data.

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Moreover, I determined to utilize ICMPG suggested by Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002) to explain the reason for in-service training and its impact on my participants more meaningfully and effectively. All in all, I can advise that if you had a question in your mind, you should not give up making research until finding the answer(s). I think the dissertation is always open to improvement until it is presented.

To Put all the Things into the Same Bowl: Challenges In the light of above-mentioned information, it can be stated that my study consists of two main parts – namely ESD and CML – and my target group is early childhood teachers with a focus on their implementations of ESD through CML in their own classrooms. To explore how to combine these parts under one theoretical umbrella, I scrutinized the literature. Based on my close examination, I discerned that ESD and CML have already shared a similar theoretical background, pedagogy, and education (critical theory and pedagogy; and transformative education). These are constructed on the same synergies, such as “activism”, “critical discussion”, “inquiry based learning”, “inequities and injustices in the society gender equity, peace, Indigenous people”, “produce/create alternative” and “participatory and collaborative project”. These intersection points are shown with the ACITPIPP Model which was developed by Alici in 2018 (see Fig. 9.1 in Appendix). Moreover, as mentioned before, ESD and CML are banded together via ECEfS Adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Approach. Additionally, I specified the research questions in order to guide planning for data collection to determine the existing situation about ESD and CML in early childhood learning environments and teachers’ knowledge or awareness of ESD, and competencies and levels pertaining to CML. Based on my literature review, I comprehended that I can get meaningful and effective data by using qualitative data collection methods. Therefore, I decided to use interview, document analysis, and field notes as data collection instruments. Before starting to collect my data, I presented my proposal to my committee (consisting of three academicians). One of them was my supervisor, and the others came from other departments, and their research interest was ESD and CML. After the successful defense process, I reviewed my proposal based on my committee’s feedback. For instance, one of my committee members proposed that I could utilize Stimulated Recall Interview (SRI) to convey the existing situation about ESD and CML in early childhood learning environments. I researched this data collection method; about how to use it effectively throughout the data collection process. In light of my research, I perceived that SRI advised by O’Brien (1993) is the most effective way to determine teachers’ teaching behavior in depth. Based on this method, teacher courses are videotaped to reflect two different perspectives in the classroom – i.e., both students and teacher. After that, teacher and researcher watch the video together, and the researcher asks questions to understand the learning process conducted by the teacher.

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On the basis of this knowledge, I prepared to stimulate recall interview questions, and I was ready to collect my first part of the data, which was one of the most stressful and exciting parts of my PhD story. After the dry-run sessions for each teacher, I started to gather actual data over a semester. I had some difficulties during this process, particularly with actualizing the validity of data collection procedure as proposed by Lyle (2003). I tried to arrange the interviews within 2  days after video – recording; however, sometimes I could not. At that time, I video-recorded a new activity and made an interview with a teacher based on the new recording. After overcoming these difficulties, I analyzed the data to determine the existing situation and whether there is a need for in-service training or not. The data analysis indicated that teachers were not knowledgeable about and aware of ESD (what ESD and its pillars are, which issues/topics are related to ESD), and their CML levels remained basically at medium. For instance, they thought that only environmental issues were pertaining to ESD. Further, they did not have any experiences related to designing and applying activities targeting ESD through CML in their daily and monthly plans; nor which methods, strategies, and assessments can be used. After these outcomes, I decided to plan and conduct PDT for teachers, and I made the second presentation in front of the committee to share the development and changes in my dissertation. Afterwards, I implemented 10-h PDT based on ICMPG. The most challenging moment occurred while designing PDT, since I wanted teachers to experience how activities/plans/lessons target ESD with all pillars (environment, economic and social & cultural) and can be designed and implemented through CML.  For this reason, I started to examine which issue(s) of ESD is most appropriate for this purpose. I chose global warming/ climate  change related to all ESD pillars because there are different views about whether global warming exists due to human activities or not. Additionally, when we analyze the messages in media/media tools, teachers can quickly realize how media can manipulate the knowledge about global warming. Indeed, I reached my aim, as the teachers stated that they could not be sure about global warming in the media without first researching it. This was the crucial moment for PDT. After effective PDT implementation, my last data collection session occurred, and the same data collection instruments as that of the first were used. Throughout this process, I observed teachers’ implementations pertaining to ESD through CML via video-recording and watched these recordings together, comparing strengths, and areas in need of improvement. I also gave feedback while planning activities related to their training. In other words, the interaction and communication between researcher and teachers continued for a semester. After completing the last data collection, the data analysis period began again. When I was writing the abstract of my story, I started data analyses. Afterwards finishing my data analyses, I began writing my results and updating the other chapters of my dissertation (introduction, literature review and method). While writing results, I also tried to find the most meaningful presentation style for my results. This period was also very stressful yet exciting because it seemed like the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel also because of the beneficial feedback I

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received after sharing my progress (an official presentation) with the committee. Based on their feedback, my dissertation takes the last shape and I am close to the defense phase.

Possible Outcomes of the PhD Journey EE/ESD generally has been applied only as temporary projects (in the existing curriculum) in Turkey. Thus, it is too difficult for teachers to apply activities about ESD because in the curriculum the majority of the related objectives are associated with only the environmental aspect of ESD mostly focusing on knowledge and awareness, less on skills, and little on attitudes and behaviors. After completing my study, I felt that I could change my participants’ and early childhood educators’ minds about what ESD is, what ESD’s pillars are, which topics are related to ESD, and what CML and its strategies are. While teachers started to implement their own activities in their own classes, I observed that they could apply what they learned at in-service training to their activities. After completing the in-service training, some of my participants desired to carry out a one-week or one-month project. This was very pleasing because, at the beginning of my study, I did not plan to make “action research”. However, based on my teachers’ needs, I could make an adaptation in my study. The adaptation was difficult and stressful for me from time to time, especially while determining data collection time with SRIs for each teacher, since I worked with seven teachers. However, it was achievable with effective time planning. By means of this research, the teachers could be more active than that which I had initially planned. It was a wonderful and exciting experience for me, since they wanted to play an active role as activists in their schools, as desired in ESD and CML’s pedagogical and educational background. During this process, I appreciated the teachers’ tenacity, self-abnegation, openness to new ideas related to ESD and CML, and creative thinking style, and I was glad to work with them.

Clink vs. Flick Points When I consider my ongoing PhD story, four turning points took place in this period. One of them was to explore the data collection method, including both observing and interviewing – specifically, ‘stimulated recall’ interviewing, because this method was exactly appropriate for my aim and finding the answers to my research question. By means of this data collection method, I had a chance to observe the existing situation of learning environments in early childhood education in terms of ESD and CML before and after the PDT. It was especially after PDT that teachers could make some adaptations and revisions while planning and implementing their activities based on our formal and informal meetings. To put it another

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way, this method was useful in terms of not only the researcher but also participants because both of them could criticize themselves with regard to their weak and strong sides. The second turning point occurred while preparing PDT focusing on ESD with all pillars through CML after the analyses of the first data part. I decided to construct and apply PDT on global warming to indicate how different perspectives related to global warming are represented in the media. However, in my country, there are few documents advocating that there is no human-based global warming, making it difficult for me to find documents, films and videos belonging to antagonists’ views. Instead, I have had to translate English fragment of the film and videos into Turkish. This situation leads me to research reasons why there is such lack in Turkish sources I learned that my country has already accepted that human-based global warming exists as a government, at least in its agreement with the Kyoto Protocol in 2009. Thus, opposing ideas are rare in my country. This situation could demonstrate how governments impact what the people can/cannot think/state. I decided to share this situation with my participants and take their views. Many different views came from my participants. Another turning point of PDT was to determine which days and times would be more appropriate for teachers, since, in September 2016, the seminar period endured only 7 days, and my five-day training covered most of it. Hence, teachers were not eager to participate in PDT. I convinced them to specify an extra time for PDT, and not to decelerate their preparation for the new academic year. The fourth turning point was the outcome of the discussion with my professor (co-advisor) in Brisbane, Australia where I was a visiting scholar for 6  months. When we were talking about my data analyses, she proposed that I classify the teachers’ activities on ESD and CML that I observed from basic to advanced. She advised to find appropriate criteria for basic to advanced levels according to the articles sent by her. This classification was very useful for me while comparing the findings before and after PDT. Whilst forming the criteria for each level, I met new codes that were also important for my data analyses. I changed my code book and analyzed my earliest data in comparison to the new. The latter was related to the theoretical background of my study related to ECEfS Adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Approach as mentioned above in the section related to literature.

PhD Student Tested with Obstacles (!) One of the most important barriers for my study was to find participants, because in Turkey early childhood teachers are overloaded; thus, there were few who wanted to be involved in my research. Not to mention, most teachers do not like being observed by an unfamiliar person because it is difficult to be evaluated in this way, and they did not desire intervention in their implementation or activities. In addition to this, children could lose their attention because of an unfamiliar person with her

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cameras and tripods in their classes. In this circumstance, the teacher might not be able to maintain children’s attention and set classroom management. Teachers also generally do not want to appear awkward in front of the ‘expert’. Owing to these reasons, it was difficult for me to convince teachers to participate in my study. Nevertheless, I determined to gain support from the volunteer teacher(s) to find and persuade the other teacher (like snowball sampling). At the beginning of my study I planned to apply convenience sampling, but my study’s sampling type transformed to snowball sampling. After we started to study with the volunteer teachers, the other teacher had a chance to observe the process, and they stated that after learning the process would be conducted like this, they would be volunteers.

Last Words Overall, when I reconsider my whole story up to now, I want to give some advice to the researchers who intend on embarking on a PhD. Initially, in this process I learned to be patient and calm, since time to time the events do not go as planned. Under these conditions, you have to think and create alternatives in a shorter time. I quickly understood that you should always have B, C, D… plans in your mind in case of these kinds of problems. You should not throw in the “towel” in your PhD process, but, rather, stay motivated. If you are calm, you can establish new connections quickly and reach the end. To be calm, you can distract your mind with hobbies (playing an instrument, dancing…etc.), social activities (meeting with your friends, going to the cinema/theater…etc.) and sports (jogging, swimming, running…etc.). Additionally, being flexible is a valuable asset. I found that the direction of my study could be shaped even during the collecting of data and implementing training. You can modify your theoretical background to the direction that your data analyses point. Last but not least, know that you will also develop personally along with your dissertation and become a more experienced researcher, because each challenge that you face can lead to improvement in your educational, academic and professional life. I am very pleased that along with the development of my PhD, I too have seen my personal growth.

Addendum When I started to write this chapter in 2017, I was at one of the prominent universities in Australia as a visiting scholar to work on PhD data analysis under the supervision of one of the doyenne professors at Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) research area. The final version of the chapter was written in 2020, 2 years after I had received my doctorate.

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Since 2018, I have been working as a lecturer at the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, a newly established university in Turkey. In other words, while writing the chapter, I have maturated not only academically but also professionally thanks to what I experienced throughout the research process. During this period, I became a participant of international and national book writing projects with two chapters on ESD and teacher education in the Turkish context and introducing ESD and its implication in Early Childhood Education (ECE) to early childhood pre-service teachers. Two new projects continue on pre-service teachers’ understanding of ESD issues. In 2019, Sustainability in Early Childhood Education Special Interest Group (SIG) connected with the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) was established. I have been a social media coordinator of the group. Since 2020, I have also been one of the co-convenors of this group. Moreover, as a Sustainability SIG, we have started to work on a special issue of the prestigious journal. I also have the responsibility of this project as one of the co-editors of the special issue. Throughout needs assessment and the implementation of PDT which were two crucial stages of my PhD, I re-understood that critical pedagogy should be taken place while designing and conducting ESD practices to make early childhood teachers aware of ESD issues and to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge. Further, for transformative learning, individuals could approach problems related to sustainability via critical lenses. For critical pedagogy, individuals start education within a familiar context. Otherwise, they cannot internalize the learning process, and thus, there will be no transformation. In light of these experiences, I determined to focus more on critical theory and pedagogy while constructing and conducting research on ESD comprehension. Hence, my colleague and I have done two new projects through a critical perspective with early childhood pre-service teachers’ ESD practices and understanding of SDGs. I also realized that when individuals make their own projects as action researchers, they could interiorize the values related to their projects. Thus, I integrated sustainability into each of my courses and allowed the pre-service teachers to plan and implement their own activity and/ or daily plans related to sustainability in each of my classes. In this way, they could understand that each subject can easily be connected with education for sustainability. Moreover, while implementing their activities/ plans, they could have a chance to observe their outcomes. Additionally, in some courses such as community service, I provoked students to collaborate with NGOs (e.g., The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats) to make people (teacher, parents, friends) and children aware of ESD issues. To actualize this, students developed their own projects and then reported their results. I think one of the most critical changes at the global level within 3 years is the protests in many countries (such as Chile, Iran, Sudan France, USA …etc.). Protesters want to raise awareness to take their countries’ attention to the lack of their politics related to some issues (i.e., inequalities in gender, income, race) and to change them as soon as possible. After these protests, my colleague and I planned to make

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pre-service teachers aware of human rights and democracy via opening an elective course. Throughout the course, pre-service teachers have taken an active role, especially designing and implementing their own projects on human and children’s rights. Finally, I am now slightly distanced from my doctorate, and on a full-on working tempo. However, one of the most significant values my PhD study instilled in my life and work is to identify the real gaps and needs of ESD in teacher education -in terms of subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge-, new approaches for ESD, cross-cultural and longitudinal studies. Therefore, in the following years, I plan to develop national and international projects to meet the gap and needs of this research area with the support of colleagues not only from Turkey, but also from other countries.

Appendix

ACITPIPP

ESD

CML

Activism Critical pedagogy/Critical discussion Inquiry-based learning Transformative education and progressive-active involvement Problem-solving Inequities and injustices in the society poverty, gender equity, peace, etc. Produce/create alternative Participatory and collaborative project

Fig. 9.1  The ACITPIPP Model derived from the intersection points of ESD and CML. (Alici 2018)

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References Alici, S. (2013). Recycle, reduce and reuse education for kindergarten children, Unpublished master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Alici, S. (2018). Investigating the impact of professional development on Turkish early childhood teachers’ professional growth about education for sustainable development through critical media literacy. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Ballantyne, R. R., & Packer, J. M. (2005). Promoting environmentally sustainable behavior through free – Choice learning experiences: What’s the state of the game? Environmental Education Research, 11, 281–295. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models on human development. In International encyclopedias of education (Vol. 3, 2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier. Reprinted in Gauvain, M. & Cole, M. (Eds), Reading on the development of children (2nd ed., pp. 37–43). New York: Freeman. Clarke, D., & Hollingsworth, H. (2002). Elaborating a model of teacher professional growth. Teacher and Teaching Education, 18, 947–967. Garcia, A., Seglem, R., & Share, J. (2013). Transforming teaching and learning through critical media literacy pedagogy. Learning Landscapes, 6(2), 109–124. Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2007). Critical media literacy, democracy, and the reconstruction of education. In D. Macedo & S. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 3–23). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Lather, P. (1991). Deconstructing/deconstructive inquiry: The politics of knowing and being known. Educational Inquiry, 41(2), 153–173. Lyle, J. (2003). Stimulated recall: A report on its use in naturalistic research. British Educational Research Journal, 29(6), 861–878. McCrea, N., & Littledyke, R. (2015). Young children sampling sustainable learning as healthier me. In N. Taylor, F. Quinn, & C. Eames (Eds.), Educating for sustainability in primary schools (pp. 45–63). Boston: Sense Publishers. NAMLE (National Association for Media Literacy Education). (2009). Core principles of media literacy education in the United States. NAMLE. http://www.namle.net/core-­principles. Accessed 2 Dec 2014. O’Brien, J. (1993). Action research through stimulated recall. Research in Science Education, 23(1), 214–221. Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park: Sage. Stanger, N. R. G. (2011). Moving “eco” back into socio-ecological models: A proposal to reorient ecological literacy into human developmental model and school systems. Human Ecology Review, 18(2), 167–173. Torres, M. N., & Mercado, M. D. (2006). The need for critical media literacy in teacher education core curricula. In D. Macedo & S. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Media literacy: A reader (pp. 537–558). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Vandewater, E.  A., Rideout, V.  J., Wartella, E.  A., Huang, X., Lee, J.  H., & Shim, M. (2007). Digital childhood: Electronic media and technology use among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-­1804.

Chapter 10

From the Seed to the Tree Ailim Schwambach

Abstract  Trying to find solutions for environmental issues was always one of Ailim’s main goals in life and responding to environmental problems has been a big challenge since she started teaching in 2003 until now. Teaching at elementary school was a free way to help this idea grow, but it required an academic approach to make this dream possible. Life starts with a seed; to make it to a tree many years of study, devotion and development were necessary to realize this aim. Identifying a gap in a scientific field is not easy, but the more you learn, the stronger the basis of your research idea becomes. During this process she encountered the paradox of balancing economic development with environmental integrity. To understand the whole process, it was necessary to consider the environmental, but also the economic way of analyzing human impact. As the field was being fertilized, the bud started showing the first colors. But then the big challenge began: organize the whole process by applying proper scientific methods into meaningful units that in the end would unfold a coherent story. In order to explain how this narrative developed Ailim makes an analogy using a tree, specifically the Araucaria angustifolia tree, which is most commonly found in the southern states of Brazil, but unfortunately is at threat with only 3% of previous Araucaria area remaining. Keywords  Education · Sustainability · School · Brazil · Environmental issues

Brazilian School System and Study Location Brazil has an education system composed of Childhood Education (0–5 years old), Elementary School (6–14 years old) and High School (15–17 years old) after which some students go to university. There is also a special mode called Youngster and Adult Education (YAE), directed at students over 15 years old who have left the traditional school system for different reasons. This mode is normally offered at night because these students usually work during the day. A. Schwambach (*) Instituto Superior Ivoti, Bairro Vista Alegre, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_10

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The author was teaching in public and private institutions but it was in the first that she became a ¨real¨ teacher. It was a profound experience in her professional life where she worked with people in conditions of extreme poverty and living with violent conflict and really encountered the importance of economic stability and development.

Research Field at University The Seed (Fig. 10.1) Trying to find solutions for environmental issues was always one of my main goals in life and responding to environmental problems has always been a big challenge since I started teaching in 2003 until now. Teaching at elementary school was one way to help this idea grow but it required an academic approach to make this dream possible. Life starts with a seed; to make it to a tree many years of study, devotion and development were necessary to realize this aim. Identifying a gap in a scientific field is not easy but the more you learn, the stronger the basis of your research idea becomes. In order to explain how this journey was developed she will make an analogy using a tree, specifically the Araucaria angustifolia tree, which is most commonly found in the southern states of Brazil but unfortunately is at threat with only 3% of previous Araucaria area remaining (Müller-Starck and Schubert 2001). The study was conducted in the city where I live and teach. It is located in the southern state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, which has borders with Argentina and Fig. 10.1  Picture of Araucarias’s seed

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Uruguay. It is a small city with a population of approximately 25,000 inhabitants, mostly descendants of German and Japanese immigrants. The city is surrounded by a significant amount of green areas. According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), my city is one of the top 100 cities in Brazil with regard to the Human Development Index (HDI). As in the rest of the country, the majority of students here attend public schools. The city also has one private school with students from different socio-economic backgrounds as it provides a limited number of study grants to some less wealthy students.

Environmental Education as a Law in Brazil As a result of the UNDP report and other landmarks based on environmental issues, this theme has entered the discourse on public agenda in many nations. Interest has also increased following political pronouncements acknowledging the evidence of global warming (Gifford et al. 2009). It is interesting to observe that in Brazil the ecological thinking style began its journey associated with the environmentalist movement (González-Gaudiano and Lorenzetti 2012). Regarding environmental policies in Brazil, the Ministry of Education decreed the Resolution nr. 2 from 02 June, 2012, which establishes the national curricular guidelines for Environmental Education (EE). These guidelines should be followed by the entire education system, including Elementary Education and Higher Education institutions, and instruct on the implementation of the Federal Constitution determination and of Law nr. 9.795 from 1999, which details the EE and institutes the National Policy for Environmental Education (NPEA). Article 1 of this law describes the principle of Environmental Education and its relationship with sustainability as ‘the processes by which the individuals and the collective build social values, knowledge and skills towards the conservation of the environment, a public common property which is essential to the quality of life and its sustainability’. One of the objectives of this law is to ‘stimulate a critical, purposeful reflection on the inclusion of Environmental Education in the formulation, execution and evaluation of teaching institutions pedagogical and institutional projects so that the Environmental Education concept, as an integral part of the curriculum, surpasses the mere distribution of the theme about the other components’ (Brasil 2012).

Brazil is the fifth biggest country of the world (IBGE 2017) and it has more than 5000 municipalities within 27 states in different regions. Contrasting realities can be found throughout the country in terms of type of environments, socio-economic strata and types of communities, some of which even have difficult access to basic services such as school. This diversity imposes significant constraints to implement the educational strategies and actions proposed by the National Educational Plan,

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which determines that Environmental Education must be worked in the elementary school and in the High School in accordance with the National Curricular Parameters (PCNs). In Brazil, the PCNs constitute the reference guide to the pedagogical program of all schools.

Fertilize the Ideas for the Seed Talking with academics and non-academics was an interesting way to fertilize the ideas I needed for my seed to grow. And during this process I encountered a paradox: the threat to the environment comes from the economic system that supports human development and survival; to understand the whole process it was necessary to consider both views, the environmental and also the economic way of analysing human impact. For the latter it was important to find when this consumerism starts. The literature points to the second half of the twentieth century as a period of extreme consumption of products and production of waste in the form of left overs and packaging. Harman and Hormann (1990) now began to refer to people as consumers rather than citizens. The concept of sustainable development arises as a possibility to ensure socio-political changes that would not compromise the ecological and social systems that sustain the communities. At present the term sustainability appears in several current dialogs and discourses, be it on the internet, in newspapers and/or advertisements of companies attempting to ingratiate themselves with their consumers by ‘showing’ how sustainable they are. Sutton (2004) points out that Sustainable Development is the capability of maintaining things or qualities that involve the physical environment (natural and biological environments). Sustainability requires changes that must occur not only in individuals, but also in organizations and society, all of which are each other’s products and producers. In such a process Environmental Education has been shown to play a fundamental role to attain sustainable development (Blum 2008; Sauvé 1996; Vare and Scott 2007). The paradigm that concerned the economic way of analysing human impact, thus considered the environment and its preservation itself, had to be balanced and what could be the path to discuss it? Thinking about this issue, Environmental Education seemed a good path to prepare students to understand, through critical thinking, the concept of sustainability and its relation between economy and nature itself. Once I had an understanding of how the world is growing and the consequences of taking all the resources from it and the knowledge that there is a law in my country supporting this, the seed had been fertilized and was ready to grow.

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Being a Teacher and a Researcher: Was It Possible? Teaching science for almost 15 years made me curious to research how my students understand the notion of sustainability in products that claim to be ‘ecologically correct’ and what they think about sustainability and environmental problems from the city they live in. To be working and studying at the same time was difficult, but it was also a way to be close to my field of interest. Although it was a challenge separating the roles of teacher and researcher, at the same time it opened my eyes to different points of view, helped to clarify my goals and made me aware of some analysis I needed to do. So, in conclusion it was possible. Working with quantitative analysis is the option of many PhD students, but I chose qualitative data to do my research due to the fact I wanted to talk with these people and let them express themselves by using focus groups as my methodology. Nowadays qualitative research is widely used for scientific research and is constructed in a continuous fashion between data collection and interpretation (Denzin and Lincoln 1994).

Small Tree Growing (Fig. 10.2) Discussing ideas, scheduling meetings with your supervisor, asking your friends and family and talking with non-experts of your field about your research are good ways to check if you are being clear about your steps. There were so many thoughts and questions running through my mind and sometimes I struggled to put them into words. It was always helpful to have a notebook so that I could make some notes and ideas that came to me on the tube or the bus weren’t forgotten. In order to write your research you need to have one or more good questions that will steer your narrative. In my case, I read that the United Nations launched the period from 2005 to 2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) and although it is Fig. 10.2 Araucaria’s sprout

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hard and far-reaching, it touched many people across the world, including Brazil. I was especially interested in what the students said about knowledge, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. As a result to that, some questions arose: –– What do students know and where have they learnt about this theme? –– What can we learn from youngsters and adults about the current situation we find ourselves in? –– What conception do youngsters and adults have of sustainability? –– Do they also understand what consumption is and what they consume? As the field was being fertilized, the bud started showing its first colors.

Shadow of This Tree (Fig. 10.3) To assist the small tree in growing, it was necessary to avoid distractions. Isolation and focus would be crucial if I wanted to see the Shadow of this Tree. As a user of social networks it was important to avoid allowing this to be a distraction. During my journey, I found out about some competitions for masters and PhD students, for example Science Slam, where you can show your research through short videos and promote your research to the general public. I made an informal three minute video about my thesis. It took me a long time but it was a fantastic

Fig. 10.3  Araucaria’s adult tree

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experience to do a synthesis about what I had been researching and I was selected as one of five national finalists and went to Rio de Janeiro to present my project. For several years we have had a program in Brazil called Science without Borders. It was created in 2011 and is a large scale nationwide scholarship program primarily funded by the Brazilian federal government. The program seeks to strengthen and expand initiatives in science and technology, innovation and competitiveness through international mobility. The program is a joint project of the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) through their respective funding agencies - CAPES and CNPq. Thanks to support from CAPES I had the opportunity to study in London for four months at UCL – Institute of Education.

London, Amazon Forest and Collected Seeds The opportunity to study in London has enormously enhanced my academic journey and connected me to other tree branches. I made new friends, improved my English and developed my understanding of what a globalized world is. For those, like me, that are not English speakers, it is very complicated to write in English, although is the best way to present your research to the world. Our native language, Portuguese, is not understood by most of the academic community. Writing and publishing in English is the best way to tell people about your research and who you are. I took part in another competition related to sustainability which was organized by IRD- Institute of France and CIRAD, again making a short video about my research. I was selected as one of the five finalists and ultimately I won the second prize and a trip to Amazon rainforest. I travelled by boat for 15 days, lacking basic comforts, but it was an interesting way to see how people live, to see the enormous forest and the biggest river in the world: the Amazon, and I was able to write a bit more of my thesis.

Spread These Seeds and Make the Forest Bigger (Fig. 10.4) After this long journey I finished my thesis having almost cried an “amazon river” due to the stress of writing and deadlines. Now it was time to spread the seeds, talk to children, young people and teachers and that’s the best way to give to society some of the answers you found during your research, and many questions too. Going to the Amazon opened my mind to the significance of Brazil’s environmental diversity and made me realize how widely we need to spread these seeds and make the forest bigger. To make the forest bigger it was necessary to focus on writing, with some isolation but also to have some fun. The path was almost better than the end. I could tell

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Fig. 10.4  Araucaria’s seed spread by the bird called “Azulão” (Cyanoloxia brissonii)

my students and colleagues that I survived, that there is life after a PhD and that a new journey is just going to start what the “Azulão” (Cyanoloxia brissonii) bird does: spread the seed to fertilize other places, to make other trees grow up and be connected in order to have a big forest.

Addendum When I started to write this chapter in 2017, I had finished my viva and written the last version of my thesis. I was teaching at the same place I am right now and the good thing about being working at the same university and high school is the fact that I have respect and freedom to travel when I need to. The final version of the chapter was written in 2020, two years after I had received my doctorate. During the last few years I have been writing this chapter, I have come to realise more and more that everything takes time to grow. I had planted more than 600 Araucaria’s trees, the ones I compare with my PhD ideas through this chapter. Being a teacher and studying Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is spreading seeds and ‘and then waiting for them to grow’. In the case of the Araucaria, described in this chapter, we need to wait up to fifteen years for the pine nuts to mature. I have been heavily involved in voluntary work in scientific dissemination with the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), but one realises that after years of study the financial return is something quite important. I need to be honest in contextualizing the current moment that we live in Brazil. We are facing big cuts in the scientific area, few job offers, and a pandemic that has further reduced the prospect of jobs and sufficient income.

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For more than a year, I have been presenting a radio show targeting a wide audience. Every Monday I present matters related to sustainability and provide tips about how to be more sustainable in everyday life. I work on Education for Sustainability with these listeners. Here in Brazil, Education for Sustainable Development is formulated in a newly approved document, the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC). Throughout the country, learning objectives and skills have been established from young children to the end of high school, ‘which in my view’, was a great step toward the standardization of education in Brazil. In 2019, I was selected among 50 researchers from around the world to go to Germany as a visiting researcher. I had the expenses covered and plenty of ideas to start a postdoctorate, which I still haven’t found the courage to do. These are the advantages that we have as researchers; the opportunity to travel and meet other researchers from around the world. Some fruits of the work did not take so many years to mature. My big dream to go to Antarctica materialized this year, 2020. I was invited to record a documentary about global warming and present the research conducted in the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, which has been inaugurated this year. This invitation has been the fulfillment of a great ambition, and one of the goals that I achieved after so many years of scientific dissemination: talking about the preservation and care of the oceans and animals that inhabit the South Pole. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic crisis, we could not complete the documentary; we hope to do so by 2021. I keep teaching at higher and secondary education. I am also fighting for the preservation of Araucarias and I am working on gender equality and respect at the school. I still have many dreams and I hope I will have the strength to continue fighting for a better planet.

References Blum, N. (2008). Environmental education in Costa Rica: Building a framework for sustainable development? International Journal of Educational Development, 28, 348–358. Brasil. Resolução n° 2, de 15 de junho de 2012, que estabelece as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Ambiental. DOU n° 116, Seção 1, págs. 70–71 de 18/06/2012. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Gifford, R., Scannell, L., Kormos, C., Smolova, L., Biel, A., Boncu, S., Corral, V., Güntherf, H., Hanyu, K., Hine, D., Kaiser, F.  G., Korpela, K., Lima, L.  M., Mertig, A.  G., Mira, R.  G., Moser, G., Passafaro, P., Pinheiro, J. Q., Saini, S., Sako, T., Sautkina, E., Savina, Y., Schmuck, P., Schultz, W., Sobeck, K., Sundblad, E. L., & Uzzell, D. (2009). Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.06.00. González-Gaudiano, E., & Lorenzetti, L. (2012). Trends, junctures, and disjunctures in Latin American environmental education research. In International handbook of research on environmental education. London: Routledge.

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Harman, W., & Hormann, J. (1990). O trabalho criativo: o papel construtivo dos negócios numa sociedade em transformação. São Paulo: Cultrix. IBGE. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Área Territorial Brasileira. http://www.ibge. gov.br/home/geociencias/cartografia/default_territ_area.shtm. Accessed 19th Dec 2017. Müller-Starck, G., & Schubert, R. (Eds.). (2001). Genetic response of forest systems to changing environmental conditions, forestry sciences. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­94-­015-­9839-­2. Sauvé, L. (1996). Environmental education and sustainable development: A further appraisal. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 1, 7–34. Sutton, P.  A. (2004). Perspective on environmental sustainability? A paper for the Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability. http://www.green-­innovations.asn.au/A-­Perspective-­on-­Environmental-­Sustainability.pdf. Accessed 1st Jan 2004. Vare, P., & Scott, W. (2007). Learning for a change: Exploring the relationship between education and sustainable development. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 1(2), 191–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/097340820700100209.

Chapter 11

Reconsidering ESD Scholarship Maria Xypaki

Abstract  This last chapter is different from the others in that it is not the narrative of a PhD student doing their research on Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) (Kopnina and Meijers, Int J Sustain High Educ 15(2): 188–207, 2014) or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (Sterling and Scott, Environ Educ Res 14(4): 386–398, 2008). It is the narrative of an ESD scholar who has been doing research in order to enhance their practice and vice versa. It is the narrative of a higher education professional who has been embedding ESD considerations into the curriculum by employing research, practice and service. It is the narrative of a European immigrant who shares their philosophical reflections and practical barriers in relation to pursuing a PhD on ESD within the marketised higher education system. Keywords  Education for sustainable development · Higher education · Scholarship · Community engaged learning

The Beginning of My Journey on the Path to Sustainability As an undergraduate student of International and European Relations in Athens, Greece, at the beginning of 2000s, I was lucky to attend a first-year module on International Law. As part of the module, we were introduced to the concept of “the common heritage of mankind” that establishes that some localities belong to all humanity and that their resources are available for everyone’s use and benefit, taking into account future generations and the needs of developing countries. The concept of the “common heritage of mankind” is intended to achieve aspects of the sustainable development of common spaces and their resources (Taylor 2011).

M. Xypaki (*) University College London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_11

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Discovering this concept was an epiphany for me through which I started exploring sustainable development. The idea of collaborating on a global level to safeguard resources on a local level for future generations was something that I had never heard about before. I suppose this concept was particularly interesting to me as there were several sustainability concerns in my immediate environment as I was growing up, such as the desertification of the Island of Crete. Crete is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and it suffers from desertification due to global warming caused by both natural and anthropogenic superimposed factors (Lyrentzis and Papanastis 1995). This is the island where my family comes from and the island where I spent most of my summers as a child. I remember witnessing various discussions amongst farmers about the loss of arable land and its impact on their everyday life due to global causes. I remember experiencing a feeling of impasse and helplessness wondering how we can address local challenges with global causes. Discovering the concept of the “common heritage of mankind” and the framing of sustainability really inspired me. From that point onwards, all my study and career choices revolved around understanding and promoting the sustainability agenda. My undergraduate studies as a political scientist were shaped by my choice of sustainability-related modules. By the end of my degree, I had a broad theoretical understanding of sustainability, but not a practical one. I asked myself how I could apply sustainability principles to everyday life through my work, and how I could contribute towards developing sustainability policies in a country that does not engage with sustainability principles for its decision-making. During my undergraduate studies and after my graduation, I worked as an assistant researcher exploring issues of environmental and energy security. Even though I found this work satisfying, I felt I was limited to compiling and analysing data. “How was my research addressing environmental security challenges? Who was making the decisions? How were the outcomes of my research work used other than to inform the content of conference presentations, publications and seminar series?” To deepen my knowledge on sustainability I decided to pursue a practical master’s degree on sustainable urbanism in London and receive training to produce designs and policy recommendations for more sustainable cities. London’s urban planning system was strongly underpinned by sustainability (Rydin 1998) and this presented me with a great learning opportunity. Since rapid urbanisation is one of the biggest sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century (Xing 2016), I could theoretically and practically explore a plethora of sustainability issues and approaches through this master’s programme. This brought me to London and to the new phase of my life. This new phase coincided with the economic crisis in Greece (Mavrodi and Moutselos 2017) and the brain drain (Kappa Research 2010), which meant that if I wanted to work on sustainability, the only way was to work abroad. However, even without the economic crisis, it would have been difficult to find a job in such a niche market. Sustainability was pretty much in its infancy in Greece at the beginning of 2010, although there are now more and more initiatives and a “whole-of-society” approach since the establishment of the SDGs (UN 2018). In my case, I always wanted to study and work in a multicultural society outside my own country so the economic

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situation left my plans unaffected. Living and working in London gave me the opportunity to witness how human reflexivity remains capable of reworking the cultural traditions which have shaped modernity (Ibrahim 2003) and be part of the series of dialogues about the environment and the human relationship with it (Stables and Scott 2002). When I finished my master’s, I immediately explored funding opportunities to pursue a PhD since I already had research experience and it felt like the next thing to do. However, a key requirement for successfully ensuring funding was to be a UK resident for at least three years. This meant that my options were limited. Due to the economic crisis back home I had to ensure employment in the UK as soon as I graduated. Besides the practical barriers I also had deeper questions about the impact a PhD/research can actually have on society; questions about who creates knowledge and how it is used (Foucault and Gordon 1980). I was feeling that a PhD would keep me locked in a room for at least four years and what I really wanted was to be out in the world. This is why I decided to postpone pursuing a PhD for a while. My first jobs were for charity organisations and the focus of my roles was on education and sustainability. Through this project-based work, I identified problems and research gaps, but more importantly I discovered my passion for education. Education is important for shaping sustainable communities in a developing or developed context, in a multicultural or mono-cultural society. Education is important for the development of inclusive policies that safeguard resources. Education can be a vehicle for change as it is concerned with the learner’s feelings and can guide their attitudes, opinions, and behaviour in the future (affective learning; Shephard 2008). Education brought it all together for me and since then I have been trying to contribute to the sustainability literacy of future generations.

Next Stop: Higher Education The discovery of my passion for education - perceived as not only the mastery of a subject, but also as the responsibility of the learner to ensure that knowledge is well-­ used by society (Davis et al. 2003) - brought me to pursue roles in higher education institutions in London. I felt that it was the best place for me to practice Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as the UK has some of the most prestigious universities in the world and a strong international student body (Universities UK 2019). ESD empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. ESD is holistic and transformational education that addresses learning content and outcomes, pedagogy, and the learning environment. It achieves its purpose by transforming society (UNESCO 2019). As societies and economies develop, higher education providers face the challenge of ensuring that graduates are equipped to meet rapidly changing demands. They are the focal points for imparting what is known, interrogating what is not, producing new knowledge, and shaping critical thinkers, problem solvers and doers

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so that we have the intellectual muscle needed to tackle societal challenges at every level necessary (Higher Education Academy 2014). With 17,000 universities in the world, higher education is a global enterprise operating collaboratively through the exchange of ideas, students and staff. The role of universities is significant not only because their research and teaching generates and transfers knowledge about sustainability, but because they educate future professionals to enable them to contribute to a sustainable future (Barth et al. 2007). The relationship between education and sustainable development is complex. Research shows how basic education is to a nation’s ability to develop and achieve sustainable targets (Tilbury et al. 2002). The contexts where ESD is practiced differ greatly in terms of their socio-political, historical, socio-cultural, ecological, and economic realities that affect the settings and priorities of their educational institutions (Kopnina and Meijers 2014). For instance, some types of ESD with a focus on social equity and health have been more appropriate in developing countries, whereas an ecological focus and behaviour change has been more appropriate in more affluent Western societies (Zarger 2010). Different contexts also mean different challenges and barriers for the implementation of ESD (Wright et  al. 2009). Some of the barriers identified in European countries include inflexible education systems, problems co-ordinating interdisciplinary education and the reconciliation of long-term sustainability objectives with short-term political expediency (UN 2005). In a completely different context such as China, the regional differences, the development issues and the social needs arising due to the economic growth are the ones that mainly prevent the implementation of ESD (Niu et al. 2010). Numerous studies in the last few years have described a variety of approaches to implementing education for sustainable development in higher education ranging from courses about sustainability to total curriculum redesign (Lozano 2006). Although there have been many initiatives to promote sustainability in higher education such as the European model “Copernicus-Campus”, the results of these efforts are still unclear with many of the initiatives to promote the concept of sustainability in higher education, having little impact on the actual education (Jones et al. 2010). Embedding sustainability in mainstream curricula is one of the main challenges as it needs to be supported by the development of “credible teaching materials which are fully contextualised and relevant” (O’Rafferty et al. 2014). Haigh (2005) explains how sustainable development is missing from many degree programs because of the cross-disciplinary nature of the topic. The UK Higher Education Academy acknowledges four major barriers to the successful embedding of sustainability into many of the subject disciplines (Sterling and Witham 2008): overcrowded curriculum, perceived irrelevance by academic staff, limited staff awareness and expertise and limited institutional drive and commitment. Another immense challenge is the broad skill set needed to practice more sustainable product design by educators ranging from facilitation and people-centred skills to knowledge of manufacturing techniques, materials and environmental impacts (Richardson et al. 2005). Lozano (2006) believes that as sustainable development is a radical

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innovation within universities it is necessary to incorporate it incrementally to avoid resistance and unnecessary conflict. The above are some of the challenges that, if addressed can turn the higher education institutions into beacons of ESD. This is what I have been trying to contribute to during the last 8  years of my career as an educational developer. I have been exploring successful approaches in order to change the culture within institutions of higher education and I have been trying to develop my skill set in order to enable colleagues develop inclusive and future-facing curricula. From my experience, in order to do that, research is not enough. Practice is not enough. Service is not enough. They all need to come together. Scholarship needs to be reconsidered (Boyer 1990) to successfully embed ESD into the higher education curricula.

ESD Scholarship Reconsidered According to Boyer, basic research has come to be viewed as the first and most essential form of scholarly activity with other functions flowing from it. Scholars are academics who conduct research, publish, and then perhaps convey their knowledge to students or apply what they have learned. The latter functions grow out of scholarship, and are not to be considered a part of it. But knowledge is not necessarily developed in such a linear manner. Theory surely leads to practice. But practice also leads to theory. And teaching, at its best, shapes both research and practice. Viewed from this perspective, a more comprehensive, more dynamic understanding of scholarship can be considered, one in which the rigid categories of teaching, research, and service are broadened and more flexibly defined (Boyer 1990). To embed ESD in an institution of higher education and bring change we need to reconsider scholarship. In my roles, I have had to embrace the dynamic understanding of scholarship introduced by Boyer, where theory, practice and service come together. If I was only a researcher or a PhD student exploring ESD in a higher education context I would not have the capacity and the access to resources to bring significant institutional change and address some of the above challenges, since the focus of my role would have been to create theory. On the other hand, if I was only a practitioner and a teacher, I would not have been able to provide evidence-based pedagogical approaches and make relevant policy recommendations. I would not have been able to influence stakeholders and cascade change. If I was not engaging with communities outside the university, I would not have been able to understand what knowledge is relevant and impactful for partners outside the university. This is why I perceive myself as “a scholar that steps back from their own investigation, looking for connections and building bridges between theory and practice”. In my higher education roles, I have developed and managed education projects; advised academic colleagues on the development of new courses (quality assurance); lobbied for ESD; delivered teaching and conducted research to understand what are the best ESD pedagogical approaches; and, engaged with communities outside the university to encourage the development of relevant and useful

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knowledge with positive social impact. The following examples taken from my career so far aim to offer an insight into how ESD can be embedded into higher education curricula, but also into the skillset needed in order to enable institutional change in such complex organisations. These examples also aim to show how I have personally developed ESD scholarship to address some of the aforementioned challenges. The legacy of these roles and the change of the culture of these institutions in relation to ESD will not be detailed in this chapter. For the period 2013–2015, I was appointed as a project manager for City University London. In my role, I led a successful collaborative funding bid that allowed me to spearhead a cross-institutional teaching and learning project (NUS Students Green Fund 2015). The project aimed at enabling academics to enhance their practice by embedding sustainability considerations into their teaching. I mentored academics and students from 25 courses to develop student-staff sustainability projects as part of teaching. As part of my role, I was also guest lecturer in sustainability courses and I conducted research on how sustainability enhances student learning in the higher education. I also presented the outcomes of this research in national and international conferences (Xypaki 2015, 2016). This experience of delivering an impactful cross-institutional project brought me to Kingston University for the period 2015–2018. As a Curriculum Developer, I developed and delivered academic development training on ESD. I developed teaching resources, I lobbied senior leaders on sustainability and I advised course teams during Curriculum Design Meetings. As part of my role, I also became lecturer in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing where I was teaching Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Systems (EMS). During this role, I also acquired the Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy that equipped me with the skills I needed to teach in the Higher Education sector in the UK (AdvanceHE 2020). I also did research within the university to understand how Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students perceive sustainability; the research was disseminated in national conferences. After 5  years of delivering whole-institutional projects and strategy, I was appointed as a Curriculum and Public Engagement Consultant for University College London (2018) where I developed a cross-institutional service that enables collaborations with external partners in teaching. The service also enriches and enables the Connected Curriculum; UCL’s distinct approach to research-based education (UCL 2017). Using the skills I developed in my previous roles I managed to develop a new service – the Community Engaged Learning Service (UCL 2020) – that enables the co-creation of knowledge through the integration of local considerations into student learning and through placing the student at the centre of their learning (Freire 2000). As part of my role, I also raised funding from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) and designed curriculum co-design workshops with community partners, students and academic staff in order to create a Curriculum Design Framework. Course leaders can use this co-designed Curriculum Design Framework for the development or the review of their courses and take into account the needs of their students and the local partners for the creation of learning that is relevant and could potentially address local challenges and opportunities.

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I have also done research with academic colleagues to understand how student experience is affected when they collaborate with partners in their learning. The outcomes of this research have been disseminated through conferences and sectoral networks. From the above, it becomes obvious that in order to embed ESD in the curriculum, a vast array of skills and interventions are needed to access resources, be impactful and influence others. This is why my roles have entailed practice (teaching, project management, course development/quality assurance, grant management), research (published and unpublished), and service (engagement of external partners). I have often had to work across teams and bring together different agendas as well as reconcile competing interests. I had to keep reframing ESD to make sure it aligns with the changing educational priorities within the context of the neoliberal university that constantly changes to ensure high rankings in league tables of “excellence”, all to attract and retain its ‘customers’ to maintain its status and financial viability in its markets (Brown and Carasso 2013). Furthermore, ESD and similar curricular framings are considered add-ons to the curriculum and therefore optional. These framings often require academic staff and senior leaders to re-vision their practice (Sterling 2001); hence their implementation is difficult. Navigating unchartered waters in an attempt to embed ESD into higher education curricula, in combination with the insecurity of my non-permanent contract roles, left my PhD boat stranded.

Final Reflections on Pursuing a PhD on ESD Writing this chapter has been a trip to the past. I reflected on the needs and values I had when younger, on the reasons why I have not pursued a PhD and on my career in education. Almost 10 years ago, I wanted to find out more about the world, about different cultures and perspectives. Spending most of my time within the four walls of the library felt very limiting at that time. This is why I chose project-based roles for charities over research in the first instance. Through this work experience I built my confidence and understanding of the “world”, satisfying the need of someone who moves to a multicultural context from a small, mono-cultural society. My career in ESD for higher education has been exciting. It has also been challenging as I have dealt with much unexplored terrain. I have combined research with practice to be effective in my work. I would not have been able to achieve as much on an institutional level (higher education) if I was a full-time PhD student, especially at a time when I was really craving to see a more immediate change. Looking back, I am touched by the need of my younger self to help others and have a positive impact. I suppose this is an excellent way to satisfy the Camusian absurdity of one’s existence, as long as you know the limits of what you can do. As an ESD scholar, the research I conducted was directly linked to my practice. I could only work on smaller research projects and not on a larger research project, like a PhD. Being on contract roles was also

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conducive to that since I have had to look for a new role every couple of years for the last 8 years. Pursuing a PhD under the circumstances has not been a priority, especially since project management experience tends to open more doors than research experience. Reflecting on the pursuit of a PhD today, I find it disappointing that PhDs or published research often stay on library shelves and do not necessarily inform policy or change; that academia is fragmented and overwhelmed by dozens of competing framings around the same concept; that it is all about high rankings in league tables, competition and funding; that people from underrepresented backgrounds very seldom get to access this knowledge or play a role in co-designing the knowledge that is relevant or useful to them, away from colonial narratives. Despite the above disappointments and practical barriers, my perspective was shifted after attending the EERA seasonal school at Homerton College in Cambridge in 2016. During the school, I was exposed to the work of passionate researchers and speakers with a vision to promote the ESE/ESD agenda. I believe that we need more quality research on ESD and other similar framings such as ESE, Community Engaged Learning and so on, that promote responsible citizenship through education. We need a collaborative ethos as professionals and researchers. In this way, ESD scholars can keep drawing attention to this agenda and keep building a repository of evidence as to its value. By designing more inclusive and participatory methodologies we could keep discovering more substantial knowledge that could hopefully result in better-informed solutions and positive change. As an ESD scholar, I would like to overcome some of my challenges and continue to be part of this, even if I have to navigate again through uncharted waters to collect my stranded boat.

Addendum I finished writing the final version of my chapter in 2019, whilst I was working as a Curriculum and Public Engagement Consultant at UCL.  During that time, I was reflecting on the importance of combining ESD research with practice and the importance of being an ESD scholar (rather than only a researcher or a practitioner). I was also reflecting on knowledge creation within academia and how it can become more participatory, accessible and relevant. I was determined to overcome some of my personal and professional challenges to pursue a PhD on ESD, also as a way to contribute towards a repository of ESD research and practice. During that time, I was also under stress about the future of my role as my contract was ending. Today, I am still working as a Curriculum and Public Engagement Consultant at UCL. It is the first time in my career in higher education that my contract has been renewed and funding is approved for the continuation of a higher education role that

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is about innovative pedagogies, i.e. Community Engaged Learning1. The renewal of my contract is not only thanks to my professional performance, but also thanks to a number of contextual factors. In detail, in March 2020, the World Health Organisation announced the pandemic outbreak (WHO 2020) and since then a number of structural inequalities started further surfacing. This raised once more the question of how HE curricula are developed and what signals they pick up from society. For example, the signals that UK universities actually pick up from society and the knowledge they embed into their curricula seems far from inclusive and diverse. This becomes obvious in the light of the “decolonise the curriculum” initiatives that are only implemented by a minority of universities (Batty 2020). Decolonising the curriculum (Pimblott 2020) involves challenging and remaking the current pedagogy, which was rooted in imperial and colonial ideas about knowledge and learning, at an institutional level. The campaign to give a fuller version of British history that reflects injustices and lauds the contributions of Black British people has also won widespread support from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters (Moncrieffe et al. 2020). The lack of inclusive curricula in HE curricula seems to reflect the inequality of British society’s ethnic multicultural co-existence, specifically where it was reported that patients of Black and Asian backgrounds appear to be treated less favourably than White people, and are two or three times more likely to die from Covid-19 (Eddo-­ Lodge 2017; Mohdin 2020). The persistence of initiatives to decolonise university curricula indicates that Black students continue to be disadvantaged on White campuses relative to their White peers and continue to suffer from isolation, alienation, and lack of support (Allen et al. 1991). At predominantly, White institutions through the mid-1980s, for example, Exum (1985) reveals that Black students made many demands similar to those of the Black students of the late 1960s: increased Black student admissions, more recruitment of Black faculty, more financial aid and support programs, and the resolution of episodes of open bigotry or racism on the campus (Williamson 1999). In the light of these developments, my role was very relevant. Not only was my contract renewed, but I managed to receive the support of my teams to apply for a Doctor of Education (EdD) to explore how the voices of Black communities can be reflected in the curriculum. I aspire to use participatory methodologies to enable the co-design of policy and practice that will contribute towards more inclusive and non-white curricula for further developing substantial knowledge that could result in better-informed solutions and positive change. The pandemic and the structural inequalities it has unveiled have made me even more confident that my knowledge, skills and values are important. What has changed significantly during this time are the perceptions of the people around me. 1  Community Engaged Learning is a form of experiential learning where students collaborate with external partners to address real-world challenges as part of their assignments. This type of learning equips students with the knowledge and skills to contribute significantly to society and be leaders of the future in their chosen field and profession (UCL, Community Engaged Learning Service, 2020).

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These contextual factors have affected senior leadership in universities, which has resulted in greater support for roles like mine. By navigating through uncharted waters, I now feel that my stranded boat has finally found a port.

References AdvanceHE. (2020). Fellowship. https://www.advance-­he.ac.uk/fellowship/fellowship. Accessed 1 Feb 2020. Barth, M., Godemann, J., Rieckmann, M., & Stoltenberg, U. (2007). Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education., 8(4), 416–430. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370710823582. Boyer, E. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brown, R., & Carasso, H. (2013). Everything for sale: The marketisation of higher education, society for research into higher education. Abingdon: Routledge. Davis, S., Edmister, J., Sullivan, K., & West, C. (2003). Educating sustainable societies for the twenty-first century. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4(2), 169–179.  Foucault, M., & Gordon, C. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972–1977. Harlow: Longman. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of freedom ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Haigh, M. (2005). Greening the university curriculum: Appraising an international movement. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29(1), 31–48. Higher Education Academy (2014). Education for sustainable development: Guidance for UK higher education providers. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/quality-­code/education-­ sustainable-­development-­guidance-­june-­14.pdf?sfvrsn=1c46f981_8. Accessed 1 Feb 2020. Ibrahim, A. M. (2003). Thinking critically, choosing politically: Anti-racism and/or multiculturalism education (?): Prologue. Inquiry – Thinking Critically Across the Disciples, XXII(2), 4. Jones, P., Selby, D., & Sterling, S. (Eds.). (2010). Sustainability education: Perspectives and practice across higher education. London: Earthscan. Kappa Research. (2010). Young people from Greece and the “new” migration. Athens: To Vima. Kopnina, H., & Meijers, F. (2014). Education for sustainable development (ESD), exploring theoretical and practical challenges. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(2), 188–207. Lozano, R. (2006). Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities: Breaking through barriers to change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 787–796.  Lyrentzis, G., & Papanastis, V. (1995). Human activities and their impact on land degradation – Psilorites mountain in Crete: A historical perspective. Land degradation & Rehabilitation, 6, 79–93. Mavrodi, G., & Moutselos, M. (2017). Immobility in times of crisis? The case of Greece. In J.  M. Lafleur & M.  Stanek (Eds.), South-north migration of EU citizens in times of crisis (pp. 33–48). Cham: IMISCOE Research Series. Springer. Niu, D., Jiang, D., & Li, F. (2010). Higher education for sustainable development in China. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(2), 153–162. NUS Students’ Green Fund. (2015). Green Dragons. https://studentsgreenfund.unioncloud.org/ nav/the-­projects/green-­dragons. Accessed 3 January 2020. O’Rafferty, S., Curtis, H., & O’Connor, F. (2014). Mainstreaming sustainability in design education  – A capacity building framework. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(2), 169–187. 

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Richardson, J., Irwin, T., & Sherwin, C. (2005). A scoping report for the sustainable design forum. London: Design Council. Rydin, Y. (1998). Land use planning and environmental capacity: Reassessing the use of regulatory policy tools to achieve sustainable development. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 41, 749–765. Shephard, K. (2008). Higher education for sustainability: Seeking affective learning outcomes. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 87–98.  Stables, A., & Scott, W. (2002). The quest for holism in education for sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 53–60.  Sterling, S. R., & Schumacher Society. (2001). Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change. Totnes: Green Books for the Schumacher Society. Sterling, S., & Scott, W. (2008). Higher education and ESD in England: A critical commentary on recent initiatives. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), 386–398.  Sterling, S., & Witham, H. (2008). Pushing the boundaries: The work of the Higher Education Academy’s ESD project. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), 399–412.  Taylor, P. (2011). Common heritage of mankind principle. In K.  Bosselmann, D.  Fogel, & J. B. Ruhl (Eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Sustainability (The Law and Politics of Sustainability) (Vol. 3, pp. 64–69). Great Barrington: Berkshire Publishing. Tilbury, D., Stevenson, B., Fien, J., & Schreuder, D. (2002). Education and sustainability responding to global challenges. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. United Nations. (2005). UN Decade of Education for sustainable development 2005–2014. http:// unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001416/141629e.pdf. Accessed 01 Feb 2020. United Nations. (2018). Voluntary National Review 2018, Greece. https://sustainabledevelopment. un.org/memberstates/greece. Accessed 01 Feb 2020. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. (2019). What is Education for Sustainable Development? https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-­sustainable-­development/ what-­is-­esd. Accessed 01 Feb 2020. Universities UK. (2019). International Facts and Figures 2019. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/ policy-­and-­analysis/reports/Pages/Intl-­facts-­figs-­19.aspx. Accessed 1 Feb 2020. University College London. (2017). Connected Curriculum Framework. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ teaching-­learning/connected-­curriculum-­framework-­research-­based-­education. Accessed 1 Feb 2020. University College London. (2020). Community Engaged Learning Service. https://www.ucl. ac.uk/teaching-­l earning/research-­b ased-­e ducation/3-­s tudents-­m ake-­c onnections-­a cross-­ subjects-­and-­out-­world/community-­engaged. Accessed 16 Feb 2020. Wright, J. S., Habit, E., Adlerstein, S., & Semrau, D. J. (2009). Sustainability education through an interdisciplinary international case study. Sustainability Science, 4, 29–36. Xing, Q.  Z. (2016). The trends, promises and challenges of urbanisation in the world. Habitat International, 54(3), 241–252. Xypaki, M. (2015). An innovative model of student-led sustainability in higher education. In Integrating sustainability thinking in science and engineering curricula (pp. 473–495). Cham, Switzerland: Springerlink International Publishing. Xypaki, M. (2016). A practical example of integrating sustainable development into higher education: Green Dragons, City University London Students’ Union. Local Economy, 30(3), 316–329.  Zarger, R. K. (2010). Learning the environment. In D. Lancy, J. Bock, & S. Gaskins (Eds.), The anthropology of learning in childhood (pp. 341–369). Lanham: Alta Mira Press.

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References of Addendum Allen, W.  R., Epps, E.  G., & Haniff, N.  Z. (Eds.). (1991). College in black and white: African American students in predominantly White and in historically Black public universities. Albany: State University of New York Press. Batty, D. (2020). Only a fifth of UK universities say they are ‘decolonising’ curriculum. Guardian Online. https://www.theguardian.com/us-­news/2020/jun/11/only-­fifth-­of-­uk-­universities-­have-­ said-­they-­will-­decolonise-­curriculum. Accessed 14 July 2020. Eddo-Lodge, R. (2017). Why I’m no longer talking to White people about race. London: Bloomsbury Circus. Exum, W. (1985). Paradoxes of protest: Black student activism in a White university. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Mohdin A. (2020). Every day I hear about a Covid-19 death: Life in the UK’s worst-affected area. Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-­news/2020/may/01/covid-­19-­coronavirus-­ newham-­london-­uk-­worst-­affected-­area. Accessed 12th of July 2020. Moncrieffe, M. L., Race, R., Harris R. (Eds) (2020). Decolonising the curriculum: Transnational perspectives (special section). Research Intelligence, 142. Spring 2020. London: British Educational Research Association. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/spring-­2020. Accessed: 14 July 2020. Pimblott, K. (2020). Decolonising the university: The origins and meaning of a movement. The Political Quarterly, 91(1), 210–216.  Williamson, J. A. (1999). In defense of themselves: The black student struggle for success and recognition at predominantly White colleges and universities. The Journal of Negro Education, 68(1), 92–105. World Health Organisation. (2020). WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-­director-­general-­s-­ opening-­remarks-­at-­the-­media-­briefing-­on-­covid-­19%2D%2D-­11-­march-­2020. Accessed: 14 July 2020.

Chapter 12

Conclusion: An Afterword for Thinking Forwards Elsa Lee

It is a pleasure to have an opportunity to write this closing piece to draw together the chapters in this book of stories of doctorates in Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE). To do so I will reflect only briefly on the chapters authored by the emerging researchers who were present at the EERA seasonal school in Homerton College in Cambridge in 2016, preferring to let the stories told here give meaning to the actions of these researchers, as Hannah Arendt has said stories will (D’Entreves 2019). Instead, stimulated by the talks given by established academics who were present as tutors at the school, I will summarise some thoughts about the value of such a school and writing project. To that end, I draw some threads across the chapters in the hope of demonstrating the generative potential  of transdisciplinary engagements for shifting and shaking up thinking within fields as critical as Environmental Sustainability Education as we move forward during these turbulent times that have become known by a  problematic and much challenged term: as the Anthropocene. When this school was being planned and advertised in 2015, the world was not as aware of the seriousness of the impact of environmental degradation as it is now  woke so we were really delighted when our advertisement garnered interest from twenty students from thirteen different countries around the world. We based our plans for the school on the model developed by Swedish Graduate School in Education and Sustainable Development described in the foreword to this book. From a personal perspective, in planning this school I aimed to draw the myriad of different transdisciplinary interests represented at the school together with a focus on what might be called onto-epistemological frameworks (Hart 2008). With this in mind, I asked students to think about questions of the nature of knowledge and reality that they were advancing through their research and asked them to submit E. Lee (*) Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Fulbourn, Cambridge, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Xypaki et al. (eds.), Storied Doctorates, Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67506-6_12

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written responses in relation to this before arriving. I then selected speakers from within the field of established academics who would represent a transdisciplinary range of views on these ontoepistemic positionings. It was clear from the contributions we received from the students that different institutions in different national contexts paid different degrees of attention to these issues. It proved a worthy exercise that got the students thinking about underpinning and sometimes implicit biases that coloured how they approached their topics of interests which Sinakou writes about in this book. An unexpected consequence of this preparatory work was how the focus on worldviews opened students up in ways that supported dialogue and storytelling around their work. Their own presentations gave them an opportunity to talk about the substantive focus of their work but the ontoepistemic writing they did generated quite different conversations. Without the preparatory exercises it is possible that the free expression and intense discussion that was evident during the school might not have been elicited. The stories told here in this volume attest that this dialogue and sense of community was highly significant in guiding the doctoral journeys of this book’s authors. Even more, in some cases the generative space of this school was fundamental in enabling these emerging researchers to complete their doctoral studies (see Haggstrom’s chapter in this volume, for example). This outcome of open and inclusive dialogue was strongly reinforced by the generous way in which the established academic speakers told the stories of their own research trajectories. Stories of the impact of immersive paddling experiences, breathtaking motorbike rides and brushes with political turmoil illustrated the very different pathways into ESE taken by our panel discussion speakers who included Marcia McKenzie, Leif Ostmann and William Scott. Haggstrom describes the stories she heard during the panel discussion as providing a way for the humane side of academia to show itself. Mejia-Cáceres also emphasizes the value of stories like these that humanize the doctoral process in different ways. The narratives presented by speakers at the school who had recently completed their PhDs further reinforced the multidisciplinary and varied onto-epistemological frameworks embraced by the community of researchers that comprises our field. Amongst onto-epistemological frameworks represented were liberal, pragmatic and socially critical ones. Each of these frameworks have been present in the ESE field for some time, often resulting from the different disciplines from which academics arrive from, and these have focused practice on the educational value of environmental issues, especially in terms of critical and pluralistic thinking, but in many other ways, too. However, we also had speakers present who talked about recently emerging directions linked to new materialism and posthumanism  (e.g. Gannon, 2017), which have become ever more prevalent in journals and books published in the field of ESE and beyond. In fact, leaders in this orientation such as Donna Haraway (2016), Karen Barad (2007) and others frequently attribute their concerns for the planet and its continued capacity for supporting a diversity of life as fundamental in stimulating thinking about questions of the nature of knowledge. Finally, the stories told by our speakers of both established and emerging academic standing were put into pedagogical terms by a presentation on eco-criticism and nature writing by David Whitley, then a member of the Faculty of Education,

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University of Cambridge. In fact, his focus on stories provided some grounding for the way we approached this book project here; encouraging us to think about the telling of storied PhDs as a mode for supporting new scholars coming into the field. Since 2016 the urgency for research about and into ESE has intensified; public and wider academic interest in the questions we have long been researching is now undeniable. This is illustrated by the rise in environmental protest movements globally that cut across generations, and the impact these are having on educational policy in different parts of the world. In keeping with earlier writing on the doctoral research journey that I have undertaken (Seal et al. 2013) I would like to draw two golden threads across these chapters. The first of these is the way that the localized stories of these authors can speak out to a global audience. This will materialize differently to different readers but for me meaning in relation to this local/global interplay matters in two ways. Firstly, the narratives here make clear that whilst different national contexts of higher education make different demands on students the challenges these new scholars have faced are nevertheless often shared across national borders; readers in one country can learn about the meta-experience of doctoral study from someone writing from a different national policy and pedagogical context. This is important because the meaning of these narratives does not become so localized that it is lost to a wider audience, yet the contextual elements of each author tells the reader something about their own experience. As Barad proposes (Barad 2007) it is through seeing and appreciating the differences between our own experiences and the experience of others, that we can learn something new about our own story. Secondly, the substantive and shared focus of these scholars on environmental issues in relation to education also has both a local and a global aspect, as many of the stories and addenda demonstrate. Issues that arise locally (like the environmental impact of plastic production at the sites where it is produced, for example) are often felt many miles away in very different forms (like global warming as a result of rising levels of carbon dioxide created by plastic production). As I have intimated, global sensibility about climate change and environmental degradation has increased substantially since 2015 when this project began, so the shared experience of these authors who have studied these critical issues will speak to ever growing local and global audiences. This book project (and the seasonal school that gave rise to it) has provided a space for its authors to think about how this changing sensibility and the substantive environmental changes that we are living through have been differently experienced in different geopolitical contexts. The chapters give voice to some of these differences. But in and of themselves the chapters demonstrate the growing awareness about these questions, whether local state policy lines up with youth and other movements that seek to pressure governments to improve environmental protections, or not. Another way to read this book is to look for matters that interest the reader. As such, the second thread that I draw from this book relates to the notion of global citizenship. Global citizenship has been given credence by the United Nations, alongside its focus on education for sustainable development in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Target 4.7). An international seasonal school such as this, that brings emerging scholars from across the world together, creates a space

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in which global citizenship might be expected to flourish. It provides both practical and social resources for this to happen, especially when the school is kept alive through a long term writing project that has evolved over five years. To the outside observer the authors of this book might appear to embody exactly what a global citizen should be. They are globally connected, often educated in both their own and different cultural contexts as they describe here, they can converse across cultural discourses; and they have been provided with and helped to create a platform for their stories to be shared. They appear to demonstrate many of the competencies and affordances that have been identified as important by those researching and working on questions of global citizenship. And yet it is important to ask whether it is an appropriate mantle to expect these emerging scholars to wear. If global citizenship comes with responsibility for individual actions at a global level, is it appropriate to define oneself or others in such expansive terms? Is it possible for individuals who are legally beholden to the laws and policies of their own governments to be able to act on a global stage, alongside others with different obligations? And if we cannot ask this of up-and-coming, globally mobile persons then who can we ask it of? And is it then ever an appropriate question? Or are we left with the responsibility of challenging very notion of global citizenship? Whilst these latter questions in relation to global citizenship are important to me because they relate to my own research they will not resonate with everyone. However, what these thoughts and the thread I have pulled out relating to the local/global nexus above demonstrate is the generative nature of this kind of space that brings researchers from different cultures and contexts together. The stories that our authors tell here are thus significant and there are no doubt many other ways in which they can be read and many other threads to pull out of them than those I have mentioned and those that are drawn out by the editorial team in the introduction, including thinking about the way in which the transdisciplinary nature of ESE research is implicated in the different chapters. In the end, our storytellers provide a scaffold upon which new researchers can build the answers to challenging, and political questions critical to broadening and deepening the scope of scholarship in this field, both internally and externally; both locally and globally. Some questions that warrant investigation have been posed in the introduction to the book. Some other questions that seem particularly important at this time are intimated above in reference to global citizenship and further new studies that could be stimulated by this volume might address the role of colonialism and new imperialism in the field of sustainability; what researchers from indigenous knowledge contexts might offer to the field; and studies that seek to understand the role of activism in relation to environmental education, for example. Having environmental sustainability education as the subject of our research means we have an ethical and moral responsibility not only to ourselves in this ESE field but also and perhaps more importantly, to humanity at large, as well as to our fellow inhabitants on Earth, and it is unfortunately no exaggeration to say this. As such we have a duty to nurture and support scholars who are starting to write themselves into the wider narrative of ESE research. We have a moral and scholarly obligation to provide them with spaces where they can come together as a

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diverse community to both learn the rules of the game and consider how to begin to rewrite those rules; in Biesta’s terms (2011, 2015) to become qualified and socialized into the norms and values of this particular academic community, but also to become subjectified so they can know how to transform the spaces that they work within and can bring their own experiences to bear on the trajectory of knowledge acquisition and development; so that they can choose to begin that work when and if they are ready. As such these stories may serve as a means to bring the authors into being as subjects within the field of ESE and their telling and retelling can help to redraw the boundaries of this field. It is with these ideas in mind that we have compiled this book and it is our hope that it will provide relatable, vicarious experiences that thicken the descriptions of doctoral research trajectories in such a way as to resonate with what new students are undergoing. We hope that it will support new students and emerging researchers in their efforts to make sense of the sometimes baffling process of completing a doctorate in a contested and often controversial but highly generative and urgent space. We hope that it will facilitate them to become active in this space, through a combination of service, scholarship and research as Xypaki articulates so well in her chapter for this volume.

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