Pluralism and Normativity in Environmental and Sustainability Education

Among the three traditions in environmental and sustainability education (ESE) identified as ‘fact-based’, ‘normative’ and ‘pluralist’, the favoured approach for researchers using this typology is clearly pluralism. Arguments in support of pluralism include its democratic qualities, acknowledgement of complexity and commitment to the ethos of education itself. This theoretical study traces how the pluralist approach to ESE was built toward an increasingly dominant position, with Sweden as an epicentre, and questions some of the epistemological moves and justifications along the way. Special attention is given to how normativity, as the primary contrast to pluralism, is portrayed in shifting and sometimes questionable ways. Although pluralism clearly deserves a place in ESE, the article argues for a more nuanced representation of pluralism as one of several democratic teaching approaches, including more approving notions of normativity.