What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education
The purpose of this article is to examine how signifiers and empty signifiers may contribute to the mainstreaming of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education. We argue that the moniker of environmental and sustainability education is an empty signifier in that it fails to con...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Brock University
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Brock Education: a Journal of Educational Research and Practice |
| Online Access: | https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked/index.php/home/article/view/917 |
| _version_ | 1828426159904260096 |
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| author | Douglas D. Karrow Xavier Fazio David Zandvliet |
| author_facet | Douglas D. Karrow Xavier Fazio David Zandvliet |
| author_sort | Douglas D. Karrow |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The purpose of this article is to examine how signifiers and empty signifiers may contribute to the mainstreaming of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education. We argue that the moniker of environmental and sustainability education is an empty signifier in that it fails to convey meaning about what it signifies. Tracing the history of the pre- sustainability, sustainability, and post-sustainability field signifiers, and their respective sub- field signifiers (e.g., environmental education and education for sustainable development), we conduct a philosophical inquiry, augmented by a modified form of semiotic analysis, to expose the degree to which these signifiers are empty. The limitations and benefits of empty signification are explored through philosophical interpretation. Implications of empty signifier limitations are considered in teacher education and the manner in which they may contribute to the unsuccessful mainstreaming of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education. We conclude that a core or compulsory environmental and sustainability education course should be mandated in teacher education to ensure that all teacher candidates receive the education they require to educate future generations of children to live well on Earth.
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| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:40:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f93e4345d36844fe962c92412e1641d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1183-1189 2371-7750 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:40:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Brock University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brock Education: a Journal of Educational Research and Practice |
| spelling | doaj.art-f93e4345d36844fe962c92412e1641d32022-12-22T01:41:14ZengBrock UniversityBrock Education: a Journal of Educational Research and Practice1183-11892371-77502022-07-01312What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher EducationDouglas D. Karrow0Xavier Fazio1David ZandvlietBrock UniversityBrock University The purpose of this article is to examine how signifiers and empty signifiers may contribute to the mainstreaming of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education. We argue that the moniker of environmental and sustainability education is an empty signifier in that it fails to convey meaning about what it signifies. Tracing the history of the pre- sustainability, sustainability, and post-sustainability field signifiers, and their respective sub- field signifiers (e.g., environmental education and education for sustainable development), we conduct a philosophical inquiry, augmented by a modified form of semiotic analysis, to expose the degree to which these signifiers are empty. The limitations and benefits of empty signification are explored through philosophical interpretation. Implications of empty signifier limitations are considered in teacher education and the manner in which they may contribute to the unsuccessful mainstreaming of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education. We conclude that a core or compulsory environmental and sustainability education course should be mandated in teacher education to ensure that all teacher candidates receive the education they require to educate future generations of children to live well on Earth. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked/index.php/home/article/view/917 |
| spellingShingle | Douglas D. Karrow Xavier Fazio David Zandvliet What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education Brock Education: a Journal of Educational Research and Practice |
| title | What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education |
| title_full | What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education |
| title_fullStr | What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education |
| title_short | What’s In a Name? The Signifiers and Empty Signifiers of Environmental Sustainability Education: Implications for Teacher Education |
| title_sort | what s in a name the signifiers and empty signifiers of environmental sustainability education implications for teacher education |
| url | https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked/index.php/home/article/view/917 |
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