Towards a Pedagogy for Inclusive Environmental Citizenship Education: a Preliminary Learning Analysis for Undergraduate Education at an International University in Japan

As the global environmental crisis deepens, higher education institutions are challenged to  educate and prepare graduates for an uncertain future. Although university administrators and faculty increasingly recognize the value of multi-disciplinary and integrative approaches for new

curricula, the pedagogical support for these efforts remains underdeveloped in higher education. While the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have helped to focus climate action efforts globally, educational interventions that encourage societal change are clearly urgent. The notion that empowering people to become active environmental citizens through education is therefore vital for safeguarding a sustainable existence. As part of environmental citizenship education at an international university in Japan, the current project focuses on investigating grassroots activism to create and expand a relevant and focused pedagogy for higher education. Aimed specifically at developing inclusive pedagogical practices, the project is funded through the Center for Inclusive Leadership (CIL) at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Japan. As an international university, APU uniquely hosts a broad diversity of students and faculty from more than 90 countries and regions. The current, and initial phase involves (1) a scoping of relevant research, and (2) conducting a semi-formal stakeholder and learner analysis. Firstly, we report findings from a preliminary literature review that aimed to find common ground between the different pedagogical approaches employed in environmental citizenship education, inclusive leadership studies and sustainability research. Highlighting some gaps in these overlapping areas, findings indicated that an integrated and inclusive pedagogy for environmental citizenship education would benefit from further theoretical and practical clarity which could link universities with local stakeholders. Findings further indicated that English-based research literature in the Japanese context is scarce. Secondly, we began an outline for pedagogical development by performing a learning needs and expectations analysis. During 2021, pre- and post-semester surveys were conducted in two undergraduate environmental studies courses. These provided insights into learner backgrounds, learning attitudes and needs, environmental learning expectations, cultural intelligence (CQ) and inclusivity. Specifically, the Environmental Citizenship Questionnaire (ECQ) [1] was employed to assess its potential application in higher education. Based on these findings, we attempt to construct a preliminary framework that would underpin the development of a relevant pedagogy for inclusive environmental citizenship education in our unique research setting.