Economic crisis and professionalization in the field of environmental education: comparative 2007–2013 in Galicia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide evidence for assessing how the social and economic crisis in Spanish society is influencing the area of environmental education (EE). Through an on-line survey, professionals working in this field in Galicia were asked to compare their occupational situation at the beginning of the crisis, in 2007, to what they were experiencing at the beginning of 2013. The analysis is based on data obtained from this survey. Though territorially focused on Galicia, the analysis offers interpretations of social reality that can be extrapolated to other contexts. This complex reading inscribes the dismantling of the environmental education field within the apparent deterioration of an emerging welfare state and the weakening of services that work for the common good. The data describe the dismantling of EE, along with certain internal weaknesses that make it particularly vulnerable to external threats. The article also defends the need for EE public policy, primarily as a competence of the Galician Autonomous Community. The regional Administration should play the key role in helping to consolidate and stabilize EE, granting it a leading role in the participatory construction of such policy.