Differentiating and evaluating conceptions and examples of participation in environment-related learning

This chapter draws together a range of critical perspectives on the concepts and practices of participation. Starting with recent debates about the tyrannical and transformational possibilities of participatory approaches in the field of development, we explore echoes of these critiques in education, with a focus on learning and teaching about the environment and sustainable development. The chapter illustrates how three major perspectives on participatory learning - behaviourist, cognitive, and situative - help differentiate current understandings and can inform individualised and shared expectations of participatory approaches to environment-related learning. The chapter also sets out a series of questions to aid critical investigation of examples of participatory forms of environmentrelated learning, outlining an evaluative framework that highlights three key dimensions to participatory activities - practice, theory, and meta-theory. We conclude the chapter with an extended example of the application of the framework, and discuss a range of issues for participatory work in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the development of learner competences, and citizen engagement with participatory learning that aims to foster wider and deeper participation in civil society.