Table Of ContentEducation for Sustainability
Stephanie Leder
Transformative
Pedagogic Practice
Education for Sustainable
Development and Water Conflicts in
Indian Geography Education
Education for Sustainability
Series editors
John Chi-Kin Lee, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR
Rupert Maclean, Office of Applied Research and Innovation, College of the North
Atlantic-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
Peter Blaze Corcoran, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, USA
While the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (2005–2014) has been
completed, the status and advocacy of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
remains prominent. The United Nations (UN) goals of Education for All (EFA) and the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 2000–2015) were complementary and provided a
rationale for the importance of environmental education (EE) and Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s
(UNESCO) Muscat Agreement in 2014 advocated seven global education targets, one of
which was to cultivate skills for global citizenship and environmental sustainability. As part
of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2015–2030) and as echoed by the
Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development, education is
embedded in goals which pertain to biodiversity, sustainable consumption and production,
and climate change. Supporting these goals, there is a call for research and development as
well as coordinated actions with an emphasis on the principles of human rights, gender
equality, democracy, and social justice. There is also a call for attention to the importance and
relevance of traditional knowledge and indigenous wisdom in various geographical,
socio-cultural, and educational contexts.
With this background, and in light of UNESCO’s Education 2030 Agenda (2017), this
Education for Sustainability Book Series has been launched. Its purpose is to echo and
enhance the global importance of education for a sustainable future as an educational vision.
The series provides insights on a broad range of issues related to the intersection of, and
interaction between, sustainability and education. The series showcases updated and
innovative practice, discusses salient theoretical topics, and uses cases as examples.
The Series adopts international, environmental education, and lifelong learning perspec-
tives and explores connections with the agenda of education for sustainability and of
Education for Sustainable Development. The intended audience includes university
academics in educational studies, environmental education, geographical education, science
education, curriculum studies, comparative education, educational leadership, and teacher
education; the staff of international agencies with responsibilities for education; and school
teachers in primary and secondary schools.
Supported by the expertise of a distinguished and diverse International Advisory Board,
this series features authoritative and comprehensive global coverage, as well as diversified
local, regional, national, and transnational perspectives. As a complement to the Schooling
for Sustainable Development Book Series, it explores issues that go beyond primary and
secondary schooling into university, vocational, and community education settings. These
educational issues involve multiple stakeholders ranging from international agencies,
governmental and non-governmental organizations, educational and business leaders to
teachers, students, and parents. The research topics covered include global themes related to
environment such as climate change education, disaster prevention and risk reduction,
biodiversity education, and ecological education. They also include human ecological issues
such as global citizenship, peace education, childhood development, intergenerational equity,
gender studies, and human rights education. Further, they include society-oriented issues
such as governance, green skills for sustainable development, sustainability leadership, and
applied learning.
Researchers interested in authoring or editing a book for this series are invited to contact
the Series Publishing Editor:
Stephanie Leder
Transformative Pedagogic
Practice
Education for Sustainable Development
and Water Conflicts in Indian Geography
Education
123
Stephanie Leder
University of Cologne
Cologne, Germany
ISSN 2367-1769 ISSN 2367-1777 (electronic)
Education for Sustainability
ISBN 978-981-13-2368-3 ISBN 978-981-13-2369-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2369-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955927
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Preface
Keywords Geographical educational research Transformative pedagogic practice
Education for sustainable development Geography education
Teaching methodology Schooling India Translation of educational policies
Power Empowerment Cultural values of learning and teaching
Basil Bernstein Paolo Freire Critical consciousness Environmental education
Knowledge Skill development Argumentation Learner-centered pedagogy
Textbook Water conflicts Natural resource management
Transnational educational policies such as Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD) stress the role of education for critical environmental consciousness, sus-
tainable environmental action, and societal participation. Approaches such as the
promotion of critical thinking and argumentation skill development on controversial
human–environment relations are relevant to participate in decision-making on
sustainable development. The transformative potential of ESD is based on these
approaches.
This book empirically examines the following research question: “Which chal-
lenges exist for the translation of the transnational educational policy Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD) in pedagogic practice in geography teaching at
English-medium secondary schools in Pune, India?” This study investigates ped-
agogic practice and the transformative potential of ESD within the setting of school
education in India’s heterogeneous educational system. The analysis at five
English-medium secondary schools in the emerging megacity of Pune focuses on
the institutional regulations, power relations, and cultural values that structure
Indian geography education with the example of the topic of water. To analyze the
challenges that exist for the implementation of ESD in pedagogic practice, the study
follows a theoretically anchored and didactically oriented analysis.
At the conceptual level, this study pursues an interdisciplinary synthesis with
elements of geographical developmental research, geographical education research,
and sociology of education research. The theoretical framework for transformative
pedagogic practice links concepts of Basil Bernstein’s Sociological Theory of
Education (1975–1990), Paolo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy (1996), and the didactic
v
vi Preface
approach of argumentation skill development (Budke 2010, 2012). This conceptual
approach offers an integrative multi-level analysis, which reflects the status quo of
pedagogic relations and shows opportunities to prepare and encourage students to
become vanguards for social and environmental transformation.
The study is based on nine months of fieldwork at five English-medium sec-
ondary schools in Pune between 2011 and 2013. The methodological framework
combines qualitative social science methods such as qualitative interviews, docu-
ment analyses, and classroom observations with an intervention study in geography
lessons. The analysis of transformative pedagogic practice is differentiated into
three interrelated levels: document analyses, field work, and action research.
Firstly, the thematic and methodological analysis of educational policies, cur-
ricula, syllabi, and geography textbooks examines how academic frameworks for
formal school education in India relate to the principles of ESD. In contrast to the
National Curriculum Framework (2005), which promotes pedagogic principles
similar to ESD, the contents and methods in geography syllabi and textbooks
display a fragmented, fact-oriented, and definition-oriented approach to the topic of
water. The resource of water is presented as a fixed commodity, and the access to
water is not depicted as socially constructed. The controversy of differing per-
spectives on water access in the students’ urban environment is not presented. This
contradicts ESD principles, which favor an integrated, skill-oriented, and
problem-based approach to topics at the human–environment interface.
Secondly, the study examines how power relations and cultural values of
teaching and learning shape pedagogic practice, and how these link to ESD prin-
ciples. Teaching methodology in observed geography lessons depicts students as
reproducers of knowledge, as they are expected to repeat teaching contents spelled
out by the teacher and in textbooks. Strong framing and classification of classroom
communication shape the teacher–student interaction. Current pedagogic practice in
India transmits norms and values of respect and authority, rather than promoting
questioning and critical thinking. The textbook governs classroom interaction, as
the role of the teacher is to transmit a pre-structured selection of knowledge as
depicted in the textbooks. The prescriptions in syllabi and textbooks barely leave
enough time and space for students to develop skills in geography lessons and
constrain teacher’s agency and control over the selection, sequence, pacing, and
evaluation of knowledge and skills. These norms represent a performance mode of
pedagogy, which contrasts with the competence mode of pedagogic practice in
ESD. As a democratizing teaching approach, ESD principles are in strong juxta-
position to the traditional hierarchical structures that occur and are reproduced in
the country’s myriad of educational contexts.
Lastly, an intervention study identifies institutional, structural, and socio-cultural
challenges and opportunities to translate ESD principles into geography teaching in
India. To examine how ESD principles can be interpreted through argumentation on
urban water conflicts, three ESD teaching modules “Visual Network” (Leder,
2014), “Position Bar” (Mayenfels and Lücke 2012), and “Rainbow Discussion”
(Kreuzberger 2012) were adapted to the topic and context of this study. The
implementation process demonstrates how strong classification and strong framing
Preface vii
in Indian geography education can be weakened. While the use of classroom space
and teaching resources is changing and students actively participate, the focus on
presentation, sequence, and formal teacher–student interaction is sustained. The
latter shapes teachers and students’ reinterpretation of the ESD teaching modules.
This implies that ESD and the promotion of argumentation skills only partly
intervene in prevalent principles of pedagogic practice.
The results demonstrate how the educational discourse of ESD fundamentally
challenges the reproductive mode of pedagogic practice in the case of geography
education in India, as it subverts cultural values, norms, and constructions of
teaching and learning. Despite this, ESD as a transformative pedagogic practice can
contribute to gradually revising current geography teaching contents and methods
toward promoting learner-centered teaching, critical thinking, and argumentation
skill development. A contextualized understanding of how power relations shape
and are reproduced in pedagogic practice can better link educational reforms to
social reality. The study emphasizes the need for researchers and policy makers
to demonstrate how principles of schooling can be altered for empowering students
to obtain skills and gain knowledge to participate in decision-making, for example,
concerning water resource conflicts, and to espouse sustainable development as
conscious and critical citizens.
Cologne, Germany Stephanie Leder
References
Budke, A. (2012). Argumentationen im Geographieunterricht. Geographie und ihre Didaktik, (1),
23–34.
Budke, A., Schiefele, U., & Uhlenwinkel, A. (2010). Entwicklung eines Argumentationskom-
petenzmodells für den Geographieunterricht. Geographie und ihre Didaktik, 3, 180–190.
Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Kreuzberger, C. (2012). Regenbogen-Vierer—Diskussion mit Redekarten In A. Budke (Ed.),
Kommunikation und Argumentation. Braunschweig: Westermann.
Leder, S. (2014). Barrieren und Möglichkeiten einer Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung in
Indien. In I. Hemmer, M. Müller, & M. Trappe (Eds.), Nachhaltigkeit neu denken. Rio + X.
Impulse für Bildung und Wissenschaft. München: Oekom-Verlag.
Mayenfels, J., & Lücke, C. (2012). Einen Standpunkt “verorten”—der Meinungsstrahl als
Argumentationshilfe. In A. Budke (Ed.), Kommunikation und Argumentation (pp. 64–68).
Braunschweig: Westermann.
National Council of Educational Research and Training. (2005). National Curriculum Framework
2005. New Delhi: NCERT.
Acknowledgements
This book has been developed, revised, and thought through with the support of
many people and institutions. I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone
who has been part of this journey.
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors for their continuous support.
Prof. Dr. Frauke Kraas awoke my interest in sustainable urban development in India
and beyond and has always been supportive of my Ph.D. research approach. I am
much obliged for her support which began during my master’s thesis research on
access to healthcare services for children in Mumbai, where I was first exposed to
pedagogic practice in a slum and an international private school. Prof. Dr. Alexandra
Budke comprehensively supported this rather unusual international Ph.D. research
thesis in the field of geography education from the beginning. My sincere thanks for
engaging in my research and providing insightful comments and input.
This study was only possible with the support of the principals, teachers, and
students at the schools in Pune where I conducted numerous classroom observa-
tions and interventions over a period of two years. A heartfelt thanks to Gayatri,
Ujala, Sana, Shital, Vaishali, Umar, Amita, Kavita, Monika, Neleema, Anitha, and
the many sincere students who were willing to share their perceptions of their
schooling with me.
This research project in Pune was developed in close cooperation with the
Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER)
with the support of Prof. Dr. Erach Bharucha, Dr. Shamita Kumar, and Dr. Kranti
Yardi. I benefitted from their experience in implementing environmental education
in schools, as well as their national and local networks of textbook authors, schools,
and teachers. Only through many interviews and discussions with a range of
educational stakeholders, I could gain a greater insight into current issues in ped-
agogic practice and the role of Education for Sustainable Development in the Indian
educational system. At BVIEER, I would like to further thank my colleagues and
friends Binita Shah, Laxmikant Kumar, Sayani Dutta, Shivam Trivedi, Pallavi
Gunju, Shalini Nair, and Anand Shinde for Pune water excursions and water
ix
x Acknowledgements
samples, the teacher and textbook workshop organization, map development, and
all other valuable support for my research.
I would like to thank Dr. Sonja Frenzel and Prof. Dr. Becker-Mrotzek at the
Cologne Graduate School for Teaching Methodology which supported and funded
my research through a three-year Ph.D. scholarship. Further, I would like to
thank the DAAD for funding one of my four field trips to India. Thank you to
Dr. Adejoke Adesokan, Dr. Carmen Carossella, Dr. Carsten Roeger, Gesa Krebber,
Julia Fischbach, Dr. Lea-Kristin Behrens, Sebastian Mendel, and Sylvia Hudenborn
for sharing these formative years as both colleagues and friends.
Many thanks to my wonderful colleagues at the Institute of Geography at the
University of Cologne, Johanna Mäsgen, Dr. Stephan Langer, Harald Sterly, Tine
Trumpp, Benjamin Casper, Gerrit Peters, Franziska Krachten, Dr. Lutz
Meyer-Ohlendorf, Dr. Zinmar Than, Susanna Albrecht, Dr. Megha Sud, Dr. Marie
Pahl, Dr. Alexander Follmann, Dr. Mareike Kroll, Dr. Carsten Butsch, Dr. Veronika
Selbach, Dr. Regine Spohner, and Dr. Pamela Hartmann. Many have read,
discussed, and commented on my work, and I am grateful for all thoughts, sug-
gestions, and fruitful efforts in making it better. A special warm thanks to my office
mate Dr. Birte Rafflenbeul and my virtual office mate Dr. Judith Bopp in Bangkok,
with whom I closely shared both joyful and demanding phases of research.
For valuable feedback in doctoral research workshops, I would like to express
special thanks to my colleagues at the Institute of Geography Didactics, Jun.-Prof.
Dr. Miriam Kuckuck, Dr. Nils Thönnessen, Dr. Andreas Hoogen, Veit Meier,
Jacqueline Jugl, Frederic von Reumont, Dr. Sabrina Dittrich, Dr. Beatrice Müller,
and Cristal Schult.
At the Centre de Science Humaine (CSH) in Delhi, I would like to thank the
director Dr. Leïla Choukroune as well as Dr. Roland Lardinois, Dr. Somsakun
Maneerat, Dr. Mélissa Levaillant, Dr. Jules Naudet, and Dr. Rémi de Bercegol.
During my research stay at CSH, I received both valuable theoretical input and
precious contacts to key informants in Delhi.
I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Shimrey at NCERT, Dr. Ravi Jhadav at
MSCERT, Mangesh Dighe at PMC, and Sharmila Sinha at CSE for sharing their
deep insights into the role of ESD in India. Furthermore, I would like to thank
Father Savio from Don Bosco for appointing me as a judge for the green school
program Greenline in Mumbai, through which I could visit and interview students
at some of the most engaged schools in environmental education. For great insights
into rural government schools in Uttarakhand, I thank the NGO Aarohi and the
support of Rahul Nainiwal, Pankaj Wadhwa, and Dr. Sushil Sharma.
I would like to thank my research assistants Priyanka Shah, Meha Sodhani,
Rohan Jayasuriya, and Dr. M. M. Shankare Gowda for transcribing my interviews.
For proofreading the manuscript, I would like to thank Karen Schneider and
Dr. Sigrid Newman. For critical inputs on abstracts and meaningful syntheses to a
broader audience, I thank Dr. Harry Fischer.
For elaborate feedback on the initial draft of this thesis, I owe warm thanks to my
friend Dr. Anna Zimmer. For reviewing chapters and encouragement, I would like
to thank my friends Dr. Dana Schmalz, Vanessa Willems, Ditte Broegger, and
