Environmental Education as an Open Project for Creating Meanings and Practices of Care for the World

This article introduces environmental education as specific cultural work for exploring and creating meanings, values and practices related to environmentalism. Comparing the national curriculum's discourse of environmental education with the narratives of environmental education practitioners, the study examines ways in which ecological concepts as well as moral issues emerging from the ethics of care for the environment get translated into everyday language and activities. Particular attention is paid to conceptions of environmental knowledge and activities mediating an active involvement of pupils. Drawing on interviews with two groups of practitioners, the paper argues that the practice of environmental education is manifold and varies according to different settings and the interests of teachers and environmental activists. Finally, the author argues for the promotion of pedagogies of place which can advance practice in environmental education and provide a common, and at the same time sufficiently broad, framework for the field.