Learning as democratic action and communication: framing Danish and Swedish environmental and sustainability education

摘要

This is the third special issue of Environmental Education Research with a focus on research in a specific geographic and socio-cultural setting for environmental and sustainability education. In previous issues, researches from southern Africa (Volume 10, Number 3, 2004) and German-speaking countries (Volume 12, Number 1, 2006) have been presented and discussed. The basic purpose of such special issues is to explore how specific material and socio-cultural contexts influence and flavour the way that environmental and sustainability education are conceived and approached. In that vein, this collection, entitled, 'Democracy and values in environmental and sustainability education: research contributions from Denmark and Sweden', presents the history, characteristics and state-of-the-art of environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) in Denmark and Sweden. However, our intention with the nine contributions included here is not simply to provide insight into the uniqueness of the field of practice and theory or its research in these countries, but also to address a topic of general relevance. For reasons explained later, we have chosen the meaning of democracy and values in relation to environmental and sustainability education as our common topic. Our aim, then, in preparing this special issue has been to keep the international reader abreast of developments in methodology, theory and pedagogical practices in environmental and sustainability education in Denmark and Sweden, but also to present new empirical research on these matters as they intersect with questions of democracy and values.