Reconstructing Nature

Abstract

At a time when the national curriculum for schools in England gives geography the major responsibility for education for sustainable development, this article introduces teachers to the philosophical foundations and key concepts of political ecology. It suggests that these can reform and strengthen geographical education for sustainable development by changing the ways in which nature is constructed and represented in classrooms. In focuses particularly on the education of 11-14 year-olds, suggesting that more radical content, together with a more critical pedagogy, may better meet their developing needs for identity and citizenship.