Between Discourse and Practice: Regenerative Pedagogy in Future-Oriented Social Science Education

This study examined how regenerative pedagogy is enacted in social science general education and explored the tensions between future-oriented teaching discourse and actual classroom practices. Anchored in global calls for transformative and sustainability-oriented education, the study focused on how instructors interpret and implement regenerative pedagogical principles in everyday teaching. Using a qualitative design, the study drew on semi-structured interviews with social science instructors from a public higher education institution. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis across five domains of regenerative pedagogy: course design, classroom practices, sustainability integration, creative strategies, and reflective teaching practices. The findings reveal that while instructors express strong support for future-oriented, participatory, and sustainability-focused education, their classroom practices remain largely content-driven, assessment-oriented, and compliance-based. Regenerative elements are present but uneven, often emerging as optional creative tasks, localized dialogic moments, or informal reflective adjustments rather than as integral components of course design and assessment. Institutional constraints, heavy content requirements, administrative workload, and student readiness challenges further limit the consistent application of regenerative pedagogy. The study identifies a persistent discourse–practice gap in future-oriented social science education and argues that regenerative pedagogy operates along a spectrum of enactment rather than as a fixed condition. The findings highlight the need for greater alignment between pedagogical ideals, assessment systems, and institutional structures to support the systemic development of regenerative and future-oriented teaching practices.