Nature connection: An educational outcome for a sustainable Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Ecological degradation is threatening the life-giving capacity of Earth. This is an unsustainable, existential crisis that requires transformational change. Such a change requires a paradigm shift of the cultural belief and value systems which drive our interactions and relationships with the material world. The global spread of the dominant social paradigm through Westernisation has been driving the development of our social systems in ways that perpetuate human-nature disconnection (physical and psychological separation), leading to adversarial human-nature relations that allow for the ongoing exploitation and degradation of non-human nature. This disconnection is a root cause of our current sustainability crisis. Increasing calls for interventions that restore nature connection, a construct pertaining to the human-nature relationship, as a mechanism of transformational change are supported by theoretical and empirical evidence. Although nature contact and learning about non-human nature are integral components of environmental education, there is limited research about context-specific meanings and praxis of nature connection as an educational outcome. Furthermore, with respect to the Aotearoa New Zealand context, the challenge of realising nature connection as an educational goal is two-fold. First, environmental education is a non-mandated discipline of the formal education sector and, consequently, viewed by the education community as a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than an educational priority. Second, when environmental education is implemented in schools, cognitive outcomes are often prioritised over affective outcomes. This has implications for the objective of fostering nature connection because an emotional bond with non-human nature requires nurturing students’ feelings and values for all forms of life. Based on an explanatory sequential research design, the first stage of this study provided a systematic description of environmental education organisations, a network known to support schools across the country with environmental education. A ‘snapshot’ of features associated with the network’s organisational structures and education programmes characteristics was elicited from predominantly quantitative data collected via an online questionnaire. A key finding demonstrated the network’s prioritisation of nature connection as an educational outcome of their programmes. To further explore this finding, two additional qualitative stages of research (a questionnaire comprised of open-ended questions, and semi-structured interviews) were undertaken. Based on an interpretive methodology and utilising a grounded theory approach, stages two and three clarified the understandings participants have of nature connection as an educational outcome, their perspectives about its significance for English-medium schools, and how these views inform their praxis. The findings confirmed that environmental education organisations prioritise nature connection as an educational outcome for the purposes of resolving unsustainability. Participants identified three cultural aspects as root causes of disconnection. Anthropocentric beliefs and a predominant focus on a utilitarian value of non-human nature were associated with psychological separation, while some features of contemporary lifestyles were linked to humanity’s physical separation from non-human nature. Participants highlighted the perpetuation of disconnection through people losing a holistic knowing of non-human nature and a sense of belonging with all of life. Participants’ conceptualisations of nature connection frame the phenomenon as interrelated experiences and outcomes that collectively empower a state of being, knowing and becoming in relationship with non-human nature. This conceptualisation laid the foundation from which to explore the benefits of nurturing the human-nature relationship as perceived by participants. At the individual level, participants believed educating for nature connection empowers students to become capable and motivated agents of change toward more sustainable trajectories, through safeguarding health and wellness, developing a conceptual understanding of interconnectivity, and serving as a motivational impetus that enhances pro-environmental action and behaviour. Findings pointed to the development of these outcomes as vital for correcting the empirically demonstrated ‘teenage dip’—a progressive trend of disconnection that begins around the age of ten and culminates in adolescence. Nature connection was also recognised as a vital co-requisite to issues-based learning, such as climate change education, by helping to prevent the onset of cognitive dissonance and apathy as a response to the profound challenges posed by the Anthropocene. The systemic impacts of nature connection, as identified by participants, related to shifting societal views, structures and practices that contribute to transformational change. Fostering nature connection through nature-based education was thought to provide students with opportunities to ‘see and be’ in the world differently. Nature connection as an educational outcome can illuminate indigenous ways of knowing and being, such as te ao Māori, which the participants felt were grounded in eco-centric beliefs and intrinsic values that foster respect for non-human nature and harmonious interactions with the Earth system as a whole. In this sense, the study casts light on nature connection as an act of indigenisation that has the potential to heal human-nature disconnection and contribute to resolving unsustainability. Based on their lived-experiences of working in the formal education sector, the participants identified aspects of the school structure, curriculum and norms as significant contributors of disconnection. Findings also suggest that nature-based education at the present time, as framed by this study, is often not recognised or valued by educational communities, which include teachers, school administrators, students and parents. Underpinned by place-based, holistic and relational approaches, the findings offer five principles of nature-based education that help bridge the scholarly gap regarding effective praxis for fostering nature connection through education and provide a foundation for future research. This research is significant as humanity grapples with an existential crisis arising from the entwined socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene. The findings suggest that policies promoting nature connection, particularly during childhood and adolescence, are vital for improving human-nature relations that lead to more sustainable futures. Continuing to uphold an education system that perpetuates the reproduction of unsustainable societal norms and paradigms is morally untenable. For life to endure, modern culture must embrace a new trajectory based on reciprocal relationships that unite the wellbeing of both human and non-human nature.