Development’s disappearance: A metaphor analysis of sustainable development in Norwegian core curriculum

Abstract

The article presents findings from a critical metaphor analysis of ‘sustainable development’ in the current and former versions of the Norwegian formal education curriculum. By combining conceptual metaphor analysis with an interaction approach, the article explores how experiences with ‘reality’ shape sustainable development and discuss how the metaphor’s content in turn might shape perceptions of ‘reality’. The former version reads like a priest’s sermon placing sustainable development in a context of crises, complexity, and conflicts, requiring a holistically oriented education encouraging a collective effort. In the current version the interaction process of ‘sustainable development’ has culminated in a tension-reduced, individually oriented, and technology-optimistic metaphor. What then becomes backgrounded is the focus on sustainable development also being about meeting the needs of the present. With no explicit economic content, there is little in the curriculum that encourages debates about economic growth, the current economic paradigm, or exploration of alternative paradigms. These central issues are left out and the metaphor is falling asleep. Development education (DE), as a field of research and exploration of approaches to discuss and teach about the missing issues, can be a useful source of inspiration and contribute to reawakening the dormant metaphor.