Expedito Nuwategeka
4 Publications in AERD
Author Publications
Export PDFConflicted epistemologies in secondary school environmental education: implications for sustainable climate action in Uganda
By Expedito Nuwategeka
Transformative secondary school environmental education is likely to impact climate action by producing environmentally responsive citizens. We present a case study of environmental education in northern Uganda, and how learners’ intended actions are moderated by their exposure to both formal and non-formal indigenous environmental knowledges. Guided by the Critical Place Inquiry theory, we undertook a pragmatism paradigm where a mixed methods approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from 1,282 secondary school learners and 12 teachers in 30 rural and urban schools. Individual interviews, focus group discussions, document reviews, questionnaires, and arts-based scenarios were used to collect data. Findings revealed that learners’ school-acquired environmental knowledge is not transforming them into environmentally responsive citizens because formal and non-formal knowledges are conflicted across pedagogy, curricular, and textbooks. We propose a harmonisation of the two epistemologies so that learners can relate school knowledge with their every-day environmental realities for climate-smart citizenry. © 2024 British Association for International and Comparative Education.
Environmental justice in education for climate action: Case studies from Perú and Uganda
By Expedito Nuwategeka
This paper draws on participatory research with secondary school learners in Perú and Uganda that shows how environmental and social (in) justices are interwoven and embedded in young people's experiences of the natural world. These experiences contrast with learners' accounts of environmental education in secondary schooling, in which the notion of justice is comparatively, and therefore conspicuously, absent. We employ four distinct but overlapping conceptualisations of justice—biocentric and anthropocentric notions of environmental justice, including climate justice, and epistemic justice—to analyse how learners understand responsibilities for climate action, and what change they anticipate and hope for in the future. Observing that ethical frameworks enable learners to make sense of the complexity of human and more-than-human relationships within natural ecosystems, we argue that a multiple justice framework in formal schooling is needed. A multiple justice approach to environmental education could support learners to develop a critical consciousness in and about the natural world, and to imagine and be motivated to act in support of a better future. Our findings are based on accounts from 123 secondary school learners in eight schools—four schools in northern Uganda and four in diverse regions of Perú. © 2024 The Author(s). Children & Society published by National Children's Bureau and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Learners’ everyday experiences of violence in English medium secondary education in Uganda
By Bebwa Isingoma
This paper explores how Ugandan secondary school learners experience schooling in Englishmedium schools where the use of English only is strictly enforced. We conceptualise the ways that the learners sit at the intersection of direct, systemic and cultural violence that in turn impacts their educational experiences. We particularly focus on instances of direct violence through corporal punishment, and the ways that such violence, and associated fear, are part of many learners’ everyday schooling experiences. We demonstrate this through presentation of findings from thematic analysis of individual and focus group interviews with 64 learners at two public and two private secondary schools in the Amuru and Kitgum districts of Northern Uganda. Our conclusions advocate for greater attention to be paid to the ways that changes to enforced English-only policies could support more positive well-being and educational outcomes. © Authors 2024.
From experience to actions for justice: learners’ views on epistemic, environmental and transitional justice in Nepal, Peru and Uganda
By Expedito Nuwategeka
Understanding how today’s children will act in the future is essential to education supporting sustainable development. This study investigated how students in three contexts in Nepal, Peru and Uganda understand environmental, epistemic and transitional justice. It used a tabletbased app to present students with scenarios that illustrates different attitudes, experiences and intended actions with respect to these three forms of justice and analysed responses to focus on factors related to intended actions. The analysis suggests that both attitudes and experiences are important in shaping intended actions in the future. Thus, education systems should not only develop attitudes to support sustainable development, but also exemplify and embody socially justice practices, providing students with experience of social contexts that support sustainable development. © Authors 2024.
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