This paper develops existing arguments about the need to rethink ways in wh
ich environmental education is conceptualised, interpreted and enacted by s
chools, teachers and students working within their communities. In doing th
is, it critiques what it sees as the narrowing and constraining influence t
hat socially critical theory has exerted over the field, and calls for mult
iple approaches, carefully and communally deliberated on, in order to deliv
er the (environmental) educational goals deemed appropriate and necessary b
y schools and communities. Such an approach, it is argued, will likely be c
ross-disciplinary and multi-faceted in that it will be informed by a combin
ation of traditions and ideological persuasions which together will offer m
ove than any one of them could alone.