How does a Geography Teacher Contribute to Pupils’Environmental Education? - Unweaving the Web Between Theorising and Data

Oct 15, 2026

This paper examines analytical processes and outcomes from a completed doctoral study on environmental education, focusing on how teachers’ thinking and practices shape geography’s contribution to pupils’ environmental learning. Using primarily qualitative, multi-method research, it draws on interviews and tasks with secondary school geography teachers in England. Analysis yields three teacher contribution categories—pluralist, exclusivist, and inclusivist—and explores how geography teachers may develop their roles. It also applies the “unweaving the web” metaphor between theorising and data to reflect on analytic choices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Study Overview

Research Approach and Data Collection

How does a Geography Teacher Contribute to Pupils’Environmental Education? Unweaving the Web Between Theorising and Data Alan Reid, University of Bath, United Kingdom Abstract This paper discusses the analytical processes and outcomes of a recently completed doctoral study in environmental education. The project investigated teachers’ thinking and practice regarding the contributions of geography teaching to pupils’ environmental education. The research techniques were primarily qualitative in orientation, involving a series of interviews and tasks to elicit accounts of thinking and practice from secondary school geography teachers in England. Three categories from the analysis are discussed—pluralist, exclusivist, and inclusivist—based on accounts of how geography teachers contribute less or more to pupils’ environmental education, and how they might develop their contributions. I also employ the metaphor of “unweaving the web”between theorising and data to reflect on issues raised by the outcomes of the analysis, and the categorisation process itself. Résumé Cet article traite des issues et des approches analytiques adoptées dans une récente recherche doctorale sur l’éducation relative à l’environnement. L’auteur se penche sur la réflexion et la pratique des enseignants au regard de la contribution de l’enseignement dela géographie à l’éducation relative à l’environnement. D’approche principalement qualitative, la méthodologie consistait en desentrevues et en une série de tâches, auxquelles participaient desenseignants de géographie du niveau secondaire (en Angleterre), pour les inciter à s’exprimer sur leur réflexion et leur pratique. À la lumière de la façon dont les professeurs de géographie contribuent plus ou moins à l’éducation relative à l’environnement de leurs élèves, et de la façon dont ils pourraient développer ces contributions, l’auteur présente trois catégories de démarches : pluraliste, exclusiviste et inclusiviste. Il emploie la métaphore « détisser la Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 5, Spring 2000 327 toile » entre la théorisation et l’information pour réfléchir sur les questions soulevées par les résultats de l’analyse et par le processus de catégorisation lui-même. Background Between 1994 and 1998 I completed a doctoral study at the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment at the University of Bath (Reid, 1998). The project used a variety of theoretical frameworks to investigate environmental education within comprehensive secondary schools in England, including the theoretical, ideological and practical factors which influence the final provision of environmental education by geography teachers. Themes within the study included: • geography teachers’ conceptualisations of environmental education; • how environmental education provision is affected by the disposition of schools and the practices found within them; and • the dynamics of improving the contribution of geography teaching to pupils’ environmental education when pupils study local issues. This paper will introduce the broad features of the study, discuss some of the analytical outcomes, and demonstrate the “unweaving” of my thinking about the “findings” by reconsidering the “web” they represent between theorising and data. Study Overview There are many ways to explore how geography teachers make sense of their professional world, the knowledge and beliefs they bring with them to the task of contributing to pupils’ environmental education, and how teachers’ understanding of learning and the subject matter informs their practice when contributing to pupils’ environmental education, particularly through the study of local issues (Calderhead, 1996) . In this project, three broad themes that were presented, evaluated, and re-conceptualised during the processes of analysis were: environmental education, environmental education within school geography, and the study of local issues. Each theme was

FAQs

What research question does the study focus on?

It asks how a geography teacher contributes to pupils’ environmental education through studying local issues.

What methods are used to investigate teachers’ thinking and practice?

The study uses a multi-method approach, with primarily qualitative techniques such as interviews and tasks, supported by a Likert-type questionnaire and case sampling.

What categories does the analysis propose about teachers’ contributions?

The analysis discusses three categories—pluralist, exclusivist, and inclusivist—based on how teachers contribute more or less to pupils’ environmental education and how contributions might be developed.

Oct 15, 2026

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