Science teacher identity and eco-transformation of science education: comparing Western modernism with Confucianism and reflexive Bildung

This forum article contributes to the understanding of how science teachers' identity is related to their worldviews, cultural values and educational philosophies, and to eco-transformation of science education. Special focus is put on 'reform-minded' science teachers. The starting point is the paper Science education reform in Confucian learning cultures: teachers' perspectives on policy and practice in Taiwan by Ying-Syuan Huang and Anila Asghar. It highlights several factors that can explain the difficulties of implementing new pedagogy in science education. One important factor is Confucian values and traditions, which seem to both hinder and support the science teachers' implementation of inquiry-based and learner-centered approaches. In this article Confucianism is compared with other learning cultures and also discussed in relation to different worldviews and educational philosophies in science education. Just like for the central/north European educational tradition called Bildung, there are various interpretations of Confucianism. However, both have subcultures (e.g. reflexive Bildung and Neo-Confucianism) with similarities that are highlighted in this article. If an old pedagogy in science education is related to essentialism, rationalist-objectivist focus, and a hierarchical configuration, the so called new pedagogy is often related to progressivism, modernism, utilitarianism, and a professional configuration. Reflexive Bildung problematizes the values associated with such a new pedagogy and can be described with labels such as post-positivism, reconstructionism and problematizing/critical configurations. Different educational approaches in science education, and corresponding eco-identities, are commented on in relation to transformation of educational practice.