Towards a transformative learning ecology for fostering socio-ecological stewardship among smallholder farmers and children in Uganda

This research is developed within the framework of the Manafwa Watershed Restoration and Stewardship (MWARES) project. It responds to the need to assess changes brought about by the Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) approach applied within the Manafwa watershed. This research generally aims to contribute to socio-ecological stewardship by exploring the role of education, learning, and competence building in non-formal and formal settings from a transformative learning ecology perspective. Chapter 1 described watershed degradation within the Manafwa watershed and the implications of degradation for livelihoods and global sustainable development. The chapter further elaborates on the intersectionality of stewardship and sustainable development, the significance of a transformative learning ecology to socio-ecological stewardship, the research gap, the methodology, and the theoretical lenses. Chapter 2 delved into farmers’ learning processes for socio-ecological stewardship and the transformative nature of these processes. Through observations, interviews, and focus group discussions, findings illuminated an organic learning system espoused in a transformative learning ecology. These findings underscore the PIP TLE as a heuristic that can be applied in similar contexts to facilitate learning for socio-ecological stewardship. Chapter 3 focuses on what farmers learn for socio-ecological stewardship by engaging in the learning processes elaborated in Chapter 2. Through observations, interviews, and focus group discussions, the study identified socio-ecological stewardship competences comprising different sustainability-related dimensions which should be developed simultaneously. This study applies and later expands Roczen’s environmental competence model by including social, ethical, and, conservation and restoration action competences. This study is the first to identify socio-ecological stewardship competences and the learning processes that can foster these competences. Chapter 4 explored children’s learning for socio-ecological stewardship. Hence, the study examined the contribution of an environmental education programme, based on the PIP approach, to developing socio-ecological stewardship competence attributes of pupils in schools in rural Uganda. Through a quantitative survey, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions, findings indicated that pupils developed competence attributes in interrelated dimensions of environmental knowledge, connection with nature, and ecological behaviour being influenced by context-specific/relevant learning content, the PIP visioning processes, practical and participatory learning and assessment, and outdoor activities. Chapter 5 explored the levers and barriers within the PIP approach for fostering environmental education for socio-ecological stewardship. Using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and letter writing, this study showed that, from the whole school approach, some features of the EE programme are flourishing while others are not. The weaker features can be strengthened while stronger ones can be leveraged to foster the development of children’s socio-ecological stewardship competences. Chapter 6 summarises the research objectives and findings in the four thesis chapters Emerging issues are discussed by comparing them to the literature on transformative learning, ecosystem restoration, and educational design for socio-ecological stewardship. The relevance of this thesis is elucidated. Further, this chapter discusses the methodological limitations of the study and research implications thereby illuminating areas for future research.