Degrowth and Pedagogy. Training Future Teachers in a Context of Ecological Crisis

Abstract

The initial training received in Spanish faculties of education by future teachers is influenced by the principles and approaches passed on by their lecturers and professors over the course of their programmes. This in turn will have repercussions on the schooling they provide to their future pupils. An examination was undertaken of the discourse relating to degrowth of academic staff and students at the Faculty of Education of the University of León, as a case study. This discourse was analysed through the triangulation of three research tools of a qualitative nature: interviews, discussion groups, and a documentary review of teaching guides for subjects taught in that faculty. The results show that university teaching staff tends to reproduce models linked to the predominant neoliberal discourse. Although the study has limitations due to the small sample size used in a case study, it is believed that its outcomes may be transferable to other university contexts. The conclusion is that there is an urgent need to provide training in degrowth to the teaching staff of faculties of education if there is to by education in a model of degrowth allowing future generations to inherit a sustainable planet.