Problems and prospects in ecocritical pedagogy

Place‐based ecocritical pedagogy (PBEP) has been a key part of ecocriticism since the 1980s. In the last 10 years, the critical, theoretical, scientific and philosophical assumptions with which it has been associated have been subject to sustained critique, and yet PBEP remains the dominant model in pedagogical thinking within the field. In particular, developments in ecocritical thought associated with queer theory, globalisation and postcoloniality, indicate some severe limitations of PBEP. Moreover, published material on PBEP practice and research seems largely ignorant of developments in environmental education generally. I argue for a closer relationship between ecocriticism and environmental education and for ecocritical pedagogy to assume a more sceptical and empirical approach.