Research
My research explores more-than-human ecologies of learning and their potential to foster deep environmental care. It focuses on themes such as Wild Pedagogies, Relational Becoming, and Deep Environmental Care, while also examining human relationships with the more-than-human world more broadly. Below, you will find summaries of my published articles and links to access the full publications.
Enacting Wild Pedagogies in Higher Education
The second article of my PhD research on Wild Pedagogies explores how such wild learning can look like in Western higher education contexts. The article works out four dimensions of WP to inspire wilder learning practice.
Cite as: Van Tol, R. S., & Wals, A. (2025). Wild pedagogies in practice: Inspiration for higher education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 41(2), 177-199.
The Wild turn in Sustainability Education
The first article from my PhD research on Wild Pedagogies explores the concept through the lens of posthuman feminist theory and in relation to other emerging critical, relational, and outdoor learning approaches. I argue that wild pedagogies represent a “wild turn” in sustainability education: a shift towards learning in and with the more-than-human world, while also embracing inner wildness and challenging unsustainable educational practices and assumptions.
Cite as: Van Tol, R. S. (2025). The wild turn in sustainability education–a critical relational perspective on the role of education in caring for people and planet. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 1-12.
"Nature is where there is no electricity and wifi"
In my first published article, I explored how Dutch primary school children imagine and experience nature. Through philosophical focus groups and questionnaires with children aged 11-12, the research describes diverse nature images, but also a striking pattern: despite caring about environmental issues, most children viewed humans and nature as separate, and humans as dominant above nature, reflecting a persistent Western worldview.
Cite as: Van Tol, R. S., Elands, B. H., Buijs, A. E., & Schouten, M. G. (2022). Nature Is Where There Is No Electricity and Wifi. Children, Youth and Environments, 32(2), 35-58.
This article may not be available to everyone. Please contact me if you cannot access it.