Ideology, epistemology and pedagogy: Barriers and potential drivers to environmental education for initial teacher education students with focus on the Primary Science National Curriculum for England and Wales

Abstract

This paper examines the ideological, epistemological and pedagogical implications of the National Curriculum for science and argues that a knowledge based, objectives and assessment led curriculum has positivist assumptions about the nature of science, an adaptive approach to education and can lead teachers to instrumental teaching methods. This is incompatible with constructivist perspectives which imply reconstructionist approaches to education and an emphasis on process in teaching and learning. It is proposed that the National Curriculum for science, as it has developed, is out of phase with current philosophical, scientific and pedagogical understanding. The influences on the development and implementation of the National Curriculum for science are discussed and some suggestions for development of constructivist approaches to primary science education are made.