Teachers' perspectives on environmental education in multicultural contexts: Towards culturally-responsive environmental education

This inquiry explores teachers' perspectives on enacting environmental education in a Quebec urban locale with high student diversity. Participating in focus groups and interviews, teachers from three schools discussed their experiences incorporating environmental education into their multiculturally-diverse classrooms. Challenges included value clashes, a lack of common lived experiences, and reconciling contradictory educational perspectives and political policies, which often placed teachers in paradoxical positions. Findings suggest moving toward practices of culturally-responsive environmental education that demand more than awareness but include interactive dialogue. Teachers need support from beyond the classroom and the capacity to develop curriculum facilitating the inclusion of students' culture. Crown Copyright (c) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.