Title: Environment, Sustainability and Land Education in Canadian Teacher Education: Bridging Theory and Practice through Action Research
Speaker: Danielle Shihua Tan 譚師華
Wednesday November 5th, 2025
13:00 – 14: 30
PCN 2012 6445 University Blvd
Abstract:
The global climate crisis has increased biodiversity loss, flooding, forest fires, heat waves and other climate disasters. The need for creating environmentally conscious communities and leaders through education is critical. Teachers, as agents of change, have a responsibility to educate for sustainability; the development of environmental and sustainability education in teacher education (ESE-TE) is crucial for equipping teachers with capacities, skills, knowledge and moral qualities for doing this work (Ormond et al., 2014). ESE-TE encompasses a wide range of pedagogical approaches including place-based education, critical perspectives such as ecojustice, social justice and intersectionality, land-based education, Indigenous education, school food and garden-based education.
My research aims to address the challenge of ESE being a “small voice” in a neoliberal capitalist system that values self-interest, high-paying jobs, unlimited growth, and exploitation of natural resources and labour (Lange, 2023). I chose collaborative action research as my research method because it emphasizes collaborative learning, critical reflection and relationship building (Mitchell et al., 2009) while considering ethical issues that come with research. I work with a group of teacher candidates and community partners of Bachelor of Education’s Sustainability Cohort at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The teacher candidates and community partners become co-investigators as we grapple with questions around rethinking how we educate, (re)building our relationships with land and community, and fostering interconnectedness as opposed to separation.
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