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Teaching for a sustainable world: international edition

Griffith University and the Department of the Environment, Sport & Territories, 1997


Module 2

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

John Fien
Griffith University
Australia

INTRODUCTION

This workshop is one of the core modules in this series and provides an introduction to the nature and objectives of environmental education.

This workshop module provides a sequenced set of activities which may be adapted to local circumstances in order to provide an introduction to the nature and objectives of environmental education.

Three key themes about environmental education are introduced in this module:

OBJECTIVES

Through participation in the activities in this workshop, participants will develop:

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

The workshop consists of a number of activities which are organised around three themes:

1. Introduction

This activity is an ice-breaker which enables participants to form into working groups of three in which they will undertake many other activities in the workshop. The activity involves a discussion of the results of an international survey of environmental concern.

2. A Sustainable Environment: The Ultimate Goal of Environmental Education

This activity provides the materials and advice for a mini-lecture and whole group discussion on the concept of 'sustainable environment' and the important role of environmental education in the transition to sustainability.

3. What is Environmental Education

This involves two games, 'EC' and 'Cooperative Cards', debriefing activities and a mini-lecture.

4. Environmental Education in Practice

This involves individual and group work to develop and evaluate a number of environmental education themes and activities related to participants' interests in teaching.

The workshop ends with a review/consolidation of key themes.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

A. Provided

Overhead Transparency Masters

OHT 1: Overview of Workshop

OHT 2: The State of the Planet

OHT 3: The Four Systems of the Environment

OHT 4: The Systems in the Environment are Interdependent

OHT 5: The Values Underlying a Sustainable Environment

OHT 6: The Role of Environmental Education from 'Agenda 21'

OHT 7: The 3 As of Environmental Education

OHT 8: Definitions of Environmental Education

OHT 9: Three Approaches to Environmental Education

OHT 10: The Ultimate Goals of Environmental Education

OHT 11: Objectives of Environmental Education

OHT 12: Education for the Environment

Resources

Resource 1: The 'EC' Game

Resource 2: Windows on Seven Lessons

Reading

Reading 1: Environmental Education for a Sustainable Environment


B. To Obtain

All resources needed for this workshop have been provided. However, facilitators may choose to revise the overhead transparencies and/or workshop resources according to the cultural and educational contexts in which they are located. In particular, facilitators might give consideration to:

OHT 8: Provide a definition of environmental education from local education policy documents.

Resource 2: Replace some of the questions with ones that may be more culturally relevant to participants

Activity 3B requires the preparation of five playing-card size slips of paper/card per participant.

ADDITIONAL READING

Fien, J. (ed.) (1993) Environmental Education: A Pathway to Sustainability, Deakin University Press, Geelong.

Fien, J. (1993) Education for the Environment: Critical Curriculum Theorising and Environmental Education, Deakin University Press, Geelong.

Greenall Gough, A. (1990) Environmental Education, in K. McRae (ed.), Outdoor and Environmental Education: Diverse Purposes and Practices, Macmillan, Australia, Ch. 3.

Huckle, J. (1990) Education for Sustainability: Assessing Pathways to the Future, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 7, 49-69.

Huckle, J. (1990) Environmental Education: Teaching for a Sustainable Future, in B. Dufour (ed.), The New Social Curriculum: A Guide to Cross-Curricular Issues, Cambridge University Press, Ch. 10.

Hungerford, H., Peyton, R. and Wilke, R. (1981) Goals for Curriculum Development in Environmental Education, Journal of Environmental Education, 13 (1), 24-27.

Meadows, D. (1989) Harvesting One Hundredfold: Key Concepts and Case Studies in Environmental Education, UNEP, Nairobi.

Randle, D. (1989) Teaching Green, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Ch. 4.

Robottom, I. (1987) Contestation and Consensus in Environmental Education, Curriculum Perspectives, 7(1), 23-27.

Sterling, S./EDET Group (1992) Good Earth-Keeping: Education Training and Awareness for a Sustainable Future, Environment Development Education and Training Group, UNEP-UK, London.

UNCED (1992) Promoting Education and Public Awareness and Training, Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Conches.

UNESCO (1978) The Final Report: International Conference on Environmental Education, UNESCO, Paris.

UNESCO and Australian Association for Environmental Education (1993) Final Report of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Experts' Meeting on Overcoming the Barriers to Environmental Education through Teacher Education, Griffith University, Brisbane, 5-9 July.

UNESCO-UNEP (1976) The Belgrade Charter, Connect, I(1), 1-2.

UNESCO-UNEP (1978) The Tbilisi Declaration, Connect, III(1), 1-8.

UNESCO-UNEP (1980) Environmental Education in the Light of the Tbilisi Conference, UNESCO, Paris.

UNESCO-UNEP (1988) International Strategy for Action in the Field of Environmental Education and Training for the 1990s, UNESCO, Paris and UNEP, Nairobi.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the advice of environmental education colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa who have alerted me to the importance of treating issues of sustainable development and sustainable environments in a careful way. I especially acknowledge the diagrams in OHT 3 and OHT 5 provided by Rob O'Donoghue of the Natal Parks Board, South Africa, as they have provided me with a way of illustrating the interdependence of biophysical, social, economic and political systems and the values that underlie them if sustainability is to be the goal.

ACTIVITIES

1. Introduction


2. A Sustainable Environment: The Ultimate Goal of Environmental Education

This activity introduces the fundamental goal of environmental education as the creation of sustainable environments in which people can live and work.

A sustainable environment is one in which the natural environment, economic development and social life are seen as mutually dependent - and the interaction between them contributes to the sustainability and enhancement of the quality of people's lives and the natural environment.

A. Group Discussion

B. Mini-lecture

This section of the activity is a mini-lecture which uses the previous discussion as a basis for helping participants understand the concept of a 'sustainable environment'. A series of OHTs are provided to illustrate (i) a broad definition of environment; and then (ii) the values that lie behind the concept of a sustainable environment.

They will quickly point out that four words - conservation, peace, development and democracy - have been added and that each word relates to one of the environmental systems.

Then ask participants - perhaps in their groups of three - to indicate what purpose those words serve.

The 'answer' is that the words - conservation, peace, development and democracy - represent the values that underlie the sustainability of the four systems. For example:

- Conservation is needed to ensure that biophysical systems can continue to provide life support systems for all living things.
- Peace results when people are able to live cooperatively and in harmony with each other.
- Development is needed for people to be able to support themselves.
- Democracy results when people are able to have their say over how biophysical, social and economic systems should be managed.

3. What is Environmental Education?

Reading 1 provides an overview of the aims, objectives and guiding principles of environmental education, as well as a discussion of three approaches to environmental education: education about, in and for the environment.

Along with other sources in the reading list, this reading may be used as the basis for a lecture or seminar discussion. However, in order to model the processes of environmental education through the pedagogy we practise, it is recommended that the material be covered by the following four steps:

A. The 'EC' Game

'EC' is a game much like Bingo except that squares and lines are completed by participants moving around the room and seeking information from each other.

Participants are given a copy of Resource 1 and are asked to fill in as many squares as possible by questioning other group members. Having found someone who can answer one of the questions, the name of the person and a brief answer are written in the appropriate box. That person's name can appear only once on the sheet. Each time a row of boxes (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) is completed, participants call out the letters 'EC' - just as in Bingo.

- After initial comments on personal responses to the game, ask participants to suggest what the letters 'EC' might represent.
- Many answers will be given but explain that the one of particular interest in this workshop is 'Environmental Citizen'.
- Explain that an 'Environmental Citizen' lives by the 'Three As' or Aims of Environmental Education (OHT 7): Awareness and knowledge, Attitudes and personal lifestyle decisions, and Action for a better environment.

B. Cooperative Cards Game

This group discussion/game has two objectives. First, it extends the three aims into a range of objectives for environmental education; and second, it models the cooperative processes that underlie the philosophy of environmental education - and the creation of a sustainable social environment.

There are no rules to tell participants what to do at these impasses. The silence causes reflection. Usually, one or more players with a full hand will re-enter the game by discarding one, and through this generosity help everyone in the group obtain a full hand.

- After initial comments on personal responses to the game, focus participant attention on the assumptions about the cooperative process in the game and how this links to environmental education and related approaches such as development education, global education, and peace education.

- Tell participants that the next stage of debriefing will follow a mini-lecture. Ask them to remain in their groups and to keep their cards for the second stage of the debriefing.

C. Mini-lecture

Use the information from Reading 1 to present a 15 minute mini-lecture on the definition, aims and objectives of environmental education. OHTs 8-12 may be used to support this.

4. Environmental Education in Practice

This activity requires participants to apply previous learning to the development and evaluation of several examples of environmental education in practice. There are two parts to this activity: Imagining and Evaluating.

A. Imagining

B. Evaluating

5. Conclusion

Review the three activities in the workshop, focusing upon:

Emphasise the differences between:

Display OHT 12 again. This reinforces the importance of education for the environment

OHT 1

Overview of Workshop

1. The need for environmental education

2. What is environmental education?

3. Environmental education in practice

4. Review

OHT 2

The State of the Planet

Source: Lacey, C. (1990) Education for Change, in Greenprints for Action , Option Module 3, National Extension College and NALGO Education, Cambridge and London, p. 13.

'Our list could continue but enough has already been described to point to the immediate need for emergency technological change as soon as industry can respond. Beyond this there is the need for substantial social and economic change as we absorb the effects of damage already done and develop new directions for economic and social development.'

OHT 3

The Four Systems of the Environment

Source: R. O'Donoghue, Natal Parks Board, South Africa.

Image of The Four Systems of the Environment

OHT 4

The Systems in the Environment are Interdependent

A. Mustapha Tolba, the Director-General of UNEP

Poverty is locking the people of the Third World into a dismal cycle of events; in their efforts merely to meet needs of food shelter and heat, they are being forced to destroy the very resources on which their future survival (and the future prosperity of all) depend.

B. Pat Devlin from New Zealand

... it is much easier to be concerned about natural environments if you have a full stomach and some confidence that it will remain full! If your survival, safety or even comfort are under threat, then so too may environmental resolve become accordingly diluted. These issues in basic human rights and justice need to be resolved before any real progress will be made.

OHT 5

The Values Underlying a Sustainable Environment

Source: R. O'Donoghue, Natal Parks Board, South Africa.

OHT 6

The Role of Environmental Education from 'AGENDA 21'

Source: UNCED (1992) Agenda 21, Chapter 36, p. 2.

Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues.... It is critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public participation in decision-making.

OHT 7

The 3 As of Environmental Education

AIMS

  1. AWARENESS, knowledge and understanding
  2. ATTITUDES and personal lifestyle decisions
  3. ACTION for a better environment

OHT 8

Definitions of Environmental Education

Definition 1

Environmental education is an across-the-curriculum approach to learning which helps individuals and groups to understand the environment with the ultimate aim of developing caring and committed attitudes that will foster the desire and ability to act responsibly in the environment. Environmental education is concerned not only with knowledge, but also with feelings, attitudes, skills and social action.

Australian Association for Environmental Education

Definition 2

Environmental education is the preparation of people for their lives as members of the biosphere. It is learning to understand, appreciate, work with, and sustain environmental systems in their totality... Environmental education is fundamentally education in problem-solving - but problem-solving from a philosophical basis of holism, sustainability, enhancement, and stewardship... The goal is not just to solve a problem with a narrow focus that makes another problem worse,... (n)ot just to make a correction and restore the status quo, but to make things better.

Meadows (1990, p. 5)

 

OHT 9

Three Approaches to Environmental Education

Education about the environment

Education in the environment

Education for the environment

OHT 10

The Ultimate Goals of Environmental Education

Source: Adapted from Sterling, S. (1992) Good Earth-Keeping: Education, Training and Awareness for a Sustainable Future, Development, Education and Training Group, London.

OHT 11

Objectives of Environmental Education

Source: Adapted from UNESCO-UNEP (1978) The Tbilisi Declaration, Connect, III(1), p. 3; and UNESCO and Australian Association for Environmental Education (1993) Final Report of UNESCO Asia-Pacific Region on Overcoming the Barriers to Environmental Education Through Teacher Education, Griffith University, 5-9 July, p. 34.

Awareness to help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness and sensitivity to the total environment and issues, questions and problems related to environment and development.

Knowledge to help individuals, groups and societies gain a variety of experience in, and acquire a basic understanding of what is required to create and maintain a sustainable environment.

Attitudes to help individuals, groups and societies acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment, and motivation for actively participating in environmental improvement and protection.

Skills to help individuals, groups and societies acquire the skills for identifying, anticipating, preventing and solving environmental problems.

Participation to provide individuals, groups and societies with an opportunity and the motivation to be actively involved at all levels in working toward creating a sustainable environment.

OHT 12

Education for the Environment

Source: Huckle, J. (1983) Environmental Education, in J. Huckle (ed.), Geographical Education: Reflection and Action, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 100.

Only education for the environment offers teachers the theory and practice with which to make a genuine contribution to environmental well-being, and this requires an acknowledgment of the links between environmental, moral and political education.

Resource 1

The 'EC' Game

Find someone who:

A. .... has visited a nature reserve, or other natural area in the last month. Which one?
B. .... knows the name of their national Minister for the Environment. Who?
C. .... is a member of an environmental group. Which one?
D. .... works as a volunteer for a community group. Which one?
E. .... knows the title of the 1987 UN report on environment and development. Title?
F. .... has a favourite environmental hero/heroine. Who?
G. .... travels to work/school by any method except private car. How?
H. .... has a garden of mainly native species. What plants?
I. .... does not allow chemical poisons to be used on his/her property. Since when?
J. .... recycles two of the following: paper, cans and bottles. Which two?
K. .... has written a Letter to the Editor on an environmental issue that affects him/her directly. Which one?
L. .... has spoken or written to an official about a local environmental issue. Which one?
M. .... can name a local environmental issue that affects him/her directly. Which one?
N. .... practises energy conservation in their home. How?
O. .... has a favourite place to go to when he/she needs 'regenerating'. Where?
P. .... can name a global environmental problem that affects him/her directly. Which one?

A.

Name:

Which one?

 
B.

Name:

Who?

 

C.

Name:

Which one?

 

D.

Name:

Which one?

 

E.

Name:

Title?

 

F.

Name:

Who?

 
G.

Name:

How?

 

H.

Name:

What plants?

 

I.

Name:

Since when?

 

J.

Name:

How?

 

K.

Name:

Which one?

 

L.

Name:

Which one?

 

M.

Name:

Which one?

 

N.

Name:

How?

 

O.

Name:

Where?

 

P.

Name:

Which one?

 

Resource 2

Windows on Seven Lessons

Source: Adapted from Fien, J. (1988) Australian Environment, Bicentennial Australian Studies Schools Project, Bulletin 6, Curriculum Development Centre, Canberra, pp. 14-15.

Instructions

1. Read the descriptions of the seven environmental education lessons that follow.

2. How do the lessons you have imagined and discussed relate to these lessons?

3. Which of the seven lessons would you most like to teach? Why?

4. Are any of the seven lessons not really 'good' environmental education? Why?

5. How do the lessons contribute to students learning for a sustainable environment?

6. Classify the seven lessons according to how they fit into the categories of education about, in and for the environment.

1 The students in this class have just finished watching a video on the archaeological and biological heritage of the forests not too far from their school which are the centre of a dispute. The students have already analysed a selection of newspaper cuttings which have outlined: the desire of woodchip companies to log the area, the government's position, the views of indigenous people who live in the forest, and The Conservation Society's proposals. The students are preparing for a visit in their next double lesson by a representative of these four groups who will present their views and be questioned by students. The students are preparing the questions that they are going to ask.

2 This classroom is empty because the class is away on a camp. It is now night and we find the participants in a long line walking along a bush trail with torches on an animal spotting expedition. That afternoon their teacher led them through a discussion of whether it was right or wrong to spotlight small animals in the interest of 'science'. Never having been in the forest at night and expecting adventure, most of the class decided to go on the expedition despite some reservations. However three participants have decided to stay back at the camp with one of the parent-helpers to make a hot drink for the class on its return.

3 This classroom is very noisy. Participants are at the end of a four week study of industrial pollution and are presenting their findings in the form of a simulated Senate Inquiry. The teacher has just announced the 'news' that the government has decided to enforce heavy fines on air and water polluters. The noise is from a group of 'concerned local residents' who are in uproar about the lost job opportunities for their economically depressed area if some factories have to close.

4 In this classroom, students are reading a Department of Agriculture booklet on soil conservation. Their teacher has asked them to make a list of five methods farmers can use to reduce soil losses, but in one back corner of the room, a small group of students has become diverted from the main task. They are fascinated by a diagram on page three of the booklet which shows that every 680 gram loaf of bread they buy costs 7 kilograms of soil lost through soil erosion. One of them has decided to find out if any other food items she eats are so environmentally costly, but does not know where to start.

5 This classroom is empty. Having learnt something of the historical growth of their town, participants are turning their attention to the future planning of their area. They have gone in groups to the public library, the town hall, and the offices of Acme Pty Ltd. Another group is surveying community attitudes at a shopping centre. The class is divided in opinion about Acme's plans to redevelop 40 hectares of recently purchased local farmland into an industrial estate. So, the class is researching the issue with the purpose of submitting letters to the planning department and Acme Pty Ltd stating their views supported by the results of their surveys.

6 This classroom is a science laboratory. The class has 'harvested' a metre square quadrat of grass cover from a special study plot by the river near the school and are now preparing to dry and weigh the last six month's growth. This is the summer growth and they will be comparing their results with the data they obtained when they harvested the spring growth. The aim of their research is to evaluate the success or otherwise of the riverbank restoration and revegetation project that the school has been working on for the last three years with the support of the local council.

7 There is mess everywhere in the last classroom with leaves, grass clippings, stones, a few drink cans, scraps of plastic, chart paper and glue pots on every desk - and all over the floor. It is an art room and the participants know that they have to clean up before they go to lunch. Their task today is to create a collage from materials available in the school grounds to express their views about the way people treat the environment.

Reading 1

Environmental Education for a Sustainable Environment

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the definitions, aims and objectives of environmental in relation to the goals of providing the awareness, knowledge, attitudes and skills which can empower individuals, groups and societies to become actively involved in working towards creating a sustainable environment. Thus, the paper is based upon a particular view of environmental education which emphasises values and citizenship goals. When reading the paper, readers should be mindful of the argument by Grant and Zeichner (1984) that educational processes are not neutral activities and judge the ideas presented in this light:

There is no such thing as a neutral educational activity. Any action that takes place (for example) in the classroom is necessarily linked to the external economic, political and social order in either a primarily integrative or a creative fashion. Either a teaching activity serves to integrate children (and other learners) into the current social order or it provides children with the knowledge, attitudes or skills to deal critically and creatively with that reality in order to improve it. In any case, all teaching (and learning) is embedded in an ideological background, and one cannot fully understand the significance or consequence of an activity unless one also considers that activity in light of the more general issues of social continuity and change (p. 15).

The value position guiding this paper promotes a critical perspective on various aspects of environmental education, including: the nature of the 'environment', the transformation in social values necessary to resolve environmental problems, and the role of education in the transformation towards a sustainable environment.

First, this paper is based upon a view of 'environment' that sees it as not just nature or biophysical systems alone, but as a 'totality' that results from the interactions of social, economic and political systems with biophysical systems as people variously extract, utilise and manage natural and social resources to satisfy their needs and wants.

Second, this paper is based upon a belief that environmental problems cannot be understood without reference to the social, economic and political values of the societies in which they occur and that, as a result, the management of what might be called the current environmental crisis depends upon changes to human values concerning the environment.

Third, this paper argues that the fundamental goal of environmental education is the creation of sustainable environments in which people can live and work. A sustainable environment is one in which the natural environment, economic development and social life are seen as mutually dependent - and the interaction between them contributes to the sustainability and enhancement of the quality of people's lives and the natural environment. While there is much debate around the world about the means and mechanisms for achieving this transition, there seems to be wide agreement that education has an important role to play in transforming values and empowering individuals and groups to participate in environmental improvement and protection.

This important role for environmental education was stressed in some of the major international reports on environmental problems in recent years. For example, the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) argued that 'the world's teachers ... have a crucial role to play' in helping to bring about 'the extensive social changes' needed for socially and ecologically sustainable environments (p. xiv). Likewise, the World Conservation Strategy was quite explicit about the role of education in bringing about changes in social values when it argued that:

Ultimately, the behaviour of entire societies towards the biosphere must be transformed if the achievement of conservation objectives is to be assured. A new ethic, embracing plants and animals as well as people is required for human societies to live in harmony with the natural world on which they depend for survival and wellbeing. The long term task of environmental education is to foster or reinforce attitudes and behaviours compatible with this new ethic (IUCN, UNEP, WWF, 1980, Section 13).

This message was repeated in Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living which was prepared as the World Conservation Strategy for the 1990s (IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1991). Caring for the Earth argues that education has a vital role to play in ensuring that people learn, accept and live by the principle that 'living sustainably depends on accepting a duty to seek harmony with other people and with nature' (p. 8):

Sustainable living must be the new pattern for all levels: individuals, communities, nations and the world. To adopt the new pattern will require a significant change in the attitudes and practices of many people. We will need to ensure that education programmes reflect the importance of an ethic for living sustainably (IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1991, p. 5).

Agenda 21 is the internationally agreed report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development or 'Earth Summit' which was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 . In devoting a whole chapter to the role of environmental education in relation to sustainability, Agenda 21 states that:

Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues.... It is critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public participation in decision-making (UNCED, 1992, Chapter 36, p. 2).

However, environmental education takes many forms and the various knowledge, skill and affective objectives often receive different degrees of emphasis. Three broad, but overlapping, conceptions of environmental education exist: education in the environment, education about the environment and education for the environment.

Education in the environment

Experience in the environment - be it a city street, a farm, a rural village, a beach, a park, or a forest - can be used to give reality, relevance and practical experience to learning. Increased awareness of aspects of the environment can be expected from any opportunities for direct contact with the environment. Opportunities to learn out-of doors can also be used to develop important skills for data gathering such as observation, sketching, photography, interviewing, and using scientific instruments, and social skills such as group work, cooperation and aesthetic appreciation. Environmental awareness and concern can also be fostered by linking learning to direct experiences in the environment and allowing learners to become captivated by the complexity and wonder of natural systems or immersed in the values conflict over particular environmental issues.

Education about the environment

However, such feelings of concern are not enough if living responsibly and sustainably in the environment is an educational goal. Concern needs to be translated into appropriate behaviour patterns and actions, but for this to happen, it is essential for learners to understand how natural systems work and the impact of human activities upon them. This will include learning about political, economic and socio-cultural factors as well as about the ecological ones that influence decisions about how to most responsibly use the environment. Knowledge about the environment is essential if all citizens are to participate in any informed debate aimed at resolving local, national and global environmental issues. There is much that many non-formal avenues of environmental education, as well as formal curriculum areas, including the arts and the natural and social sciences, can contribute to providing such knowledge.

Education for the environment

Education for the environment aims to promote a willingness and ability to adopt lifestyles that are compatible with the wise use of environmental resources. In so doing, it builds on education in and about the environment to help develop an informed concern and sense of responsibility for the environment through the development of an environmental ethic and the motivation and skills necessary to participate in environmental improvement. The UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme has stressed that environmental education needs to be based upon a search for answers to a number of critical questions if it is to achieve these important citizenship goals:

As decisions regarding the development of society and the lot of individuals are based upon considerations, usually implicit, concerning what is useful, good, beautiful, and so on, the educated individual should be in a position to ask such questions as: Who took this decision? According to what criteria? With what immediate ends in mind? Have long-term consequences been calculated? In short, he (sic) must know what choices have been made and what value-system determined them (UNESCO, 1980, p. 27).

Reflection on the relative strengths and weaknesses of these three approaches to environmental education in relation to the values transformation necessary to promote sustainable and socially just lifestyle choices has led many environmental educators to argue that it is only when the real intention is education for the environment that real environmental education is actually taking place. Thus, education in and about the environment are valuable only in so far as they are used to provide skills and knowledge to support education for the environment.

According to Stevenson (1987), education for the environment involves engaging students in:

... the intellectual tasks of critical appraisal of environmental (and political) situations and the formulation of a moral code concerning such issues, as well as the development of a commitment to act on one's values by providing opportunities to participate actively in environmental improvement (p. 69).

This education for the environment approach to environmental education is reflected in the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme. According to all the reports and documents of this programme, the goals and objectives of environmental education should be directed primarily towards helping students develop values and actions which support the protection and improvement of the environment.

Thus, the goals of environmental education have been described as:

(adapted from UNESCO-UNEP, 1978, p. 3; and UNESCO and Australian Association for Environmental Education 1993, p. 34).

The British Environment, Development, Education and Training Group's report Good Earth-Keeping: Education, Training and Awareness for a Sustainable Future has such goals in the light of contemporary thinking on the role of environmental education in promoting a sustainable environment. This groups calls this 'education for sustainability':

We believe that education for sustainability is a process which is relevant to all people, and that, like sustainable development itself, it is a process rather than a fixed goal. It may precede - and it will always accompany - the building of relationships between individuals, groups and their environment...

We argue here that education for sustainability is a process which:

Five interrelated categories of objectives may be proposed to foster these goals:

Awareness: to help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness and sensitivity to the total environment and issues, questions and problems related to environment and development.

Knowledge: to help individuals, groups and societies gain a variety of experience in, and acquire a basic understanding of what is required to create and maintain a sustainable environment.

Attitudes: to help individuals, groups and societies acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment, and motivation for actively participating in environmental improvement and protection.

Skills: to help individuals, groups and societies acquire the skills for identifying, anticipating, preventing and solving environmental problems.

Participation: to provide individuals, groups and societies with an opportunity and the motivation to be actively involved at all levels in working toward creating a sustainable environment

(adapted from UNESCO-UNEP, 1978, p. 3; and UNESCO and Australian Association for Environmental Education, 1993, p. 34).

Education for the environment thus stands in contrast with education about and in/from the environment which, through their strong content and field experience orientations, address only a limited number of these objectives. In contrast with education about and in/from the environment, education for the environment focuses on students working individually and in groups towards the resolution of environmental questions, issues and problems. Within the formal education sector of environmental education, this involves many non-traditional approaches to teaching and learning, including what the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) described as the active 'involvement of students in the movement for a better environment' (p. 114).

Thus, Stevenson (1987) defines education for the environment as a process of : ...

inquiry and action on real environmental issues. Such an inquiry process demands that students actively engage in critical or complex thinking about real problems. The development of knowledge, skills and values is not only directed towards action, but emerges in the context of preparing for (i.e. the inquiry) and taking action.... A function of knowledge in environmental education is immediate use for the social value of a sustainable and emancipated quality of life (p.75).

References

Grant, C. A. and Zeichman, K. M. (1984) On Becoming a Reflective Teacher, in C. A. Grant (ed.) Preparing for Reflective Teaching, Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, pp. 1-18.

IUCN, UNEP and WWF (1980) World Conservation Strategy, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Gland.

IUCN, UNEP and WWF (1991) Caring for the Earth, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Gland.

Sterling, S./EDET Group (1992) Good Earth-Keeping: Education Training and Awareness for a Sustainable Future, Environment Development Education and Training Group, UNEP-UK, London.

Stevenson, R. (1987) Schooling and Environmental Education: Contradictions in Purpose and Practice, in I. Robottom (ed.) Environmental Education: Practice and Possibility, Deakin University Press, Deakin University, Victoria, 69-82.

UNCED (1992) Promoting Education and Public Awareness and Training, Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Conches.

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World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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