This Special Issue “Ecocentric education” contains articles focused on ecological values in environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). Ecocentric education is based on a critical theory, originating from Erich Fromm [1], Herbert Marcuse [2], and Paulo Freire [3], and …

Despite the willingness of many educational institutions worldwide to embrace Education for Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development Goals, critical scholars have pointed out that the very enterprise of sustainable development is not without its contradictions. Therefore, any …

This chapter examines some of the challenges of unlearning anthropocentrism - i.e. the deep-seated cultural, psychological and enacted prejudices of human specialness - in nature-based early childhood education programs. We begin with a critical exploration of recent trends in environmental philosophy …

Paper presentation

Ecological Pedagogy is the “Pedagogy of the whole”. It assumes a continuous interaction between the individual and his or her environment (e.g. Bronfenbrenner (1977)). Traditionally, Pedagogy has been aimed at separate aspects, such as the school, the family, the neighbourhood or government policies. …

The research project ‘In search of pedagogical sensitivity’ is executed from the research department of the knowledge circle ‘renewing methods and didactics for teacher education and training’ of the Hogeschool Utrecht in the Netherlands under supervision of Hans Jansen (associated professor of the Hogeschool …