Silent Communication: Pedagogical Pathways Between Environmental Agents’ Internal and External Conversations in School Climate Change Action

Abstract This study explores how environmental agents in schools transform reflexive internal conversations into external communication oriented toward achieving shared understandings in climate change action. This conceptual framework combines Margaret Archer’s modes of reflexivity (communicative, autonomous, meta-reflexive, and fractured) with Jürgen Habermas’s typology of communicative action (instrumental, communicative, and strategic). The reflexivity layer assesses how agents think and act, while the communicative action layer assesses the importance of knowledge and the direction of action. Using a critical ethnographic approach, this study uncovers hidden realities through offline and online conversations between environmental agents during school climate action. The results reveal teacher-student interactions that can be empowering and limiting, shifting between dominance, interdependence, connectedness, and disconnection. These conditions are influenced by the extent to which opportunities for reflective monitoring are provided through dialogue, discussion, and deliberation. Key findings reveal that silent communication connects internal reflection with external dialogue as a bridge between personal agency and collective action. This study highlights the pedagogical implications of integrating communicative action with reflexivity in strengthening Education for Sustainable Development through climate change action in schools.