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PROPOSAL FOR A THEORY ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ( EnEd)

Brief background to EnEd :

EnEd was already adequately defined thirty years ago as follows :

We must make the population aware of the environment and

show interest in these problems, so that it gains knowledge,
skills attitudes, motivation and the wish needed to conduct
research to find solutions to current problems, and to avoid
those that might occur in the future. (Belgrade Charter, 1975).

We agree with Mayer (1998) when he states that ever since the 70’s, EnEd in Europe has
gone through many changes and phases :

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 Trends Content Education Limitations & objections
Education The importance of It was believed that the The correct information is insufficient :
about the ecology was beginning to main environmental issues 1) Experience shows that knowledge (and even
environment, be recognised and it was were caused by the lack of « catastrophism ») is insufficient to change behaviour.
believed that this should knowledge ; the solution 2) The concept of « objective information » is relative1.
From the ‘70’s. be taught alongside the was thus to provide In addition, knowledge is not the sole criterion used to
natural sciences. At the information make decisions, especially when it is a question of
end of this decade the assessing risks .. (economic interests). The objectivity
notion of environmental of these decisions is therefore very questionable. We
risk appeared. cannot claim that information can be guaranteed to be
objective, but rather that different points of view have
to be considered

Education in Work on the conservation Behaviour is determined by Here, again, there are two problems :
the of endangered (exotic) values and emotions. The 1) Education (primarily affective) is a slow process ;
environment. species and on the latter must be created on 2) Understanding the concept of “environment” as
creation of National the basis of experience, so equating to a « wild » environment (distant) to be
From the ‘80’s. Parks, in wild regions, in as to form an affective link. protected results in not considering the reality of the
other words, on immediate area.
resources.
Education for The concept of The problem was knowing Education for the environment can easily become
the environment was no how to integrate emotions activism2 : all we need to do is to act without previous
environment. longer strictly limited to and knowledge. People reflection In fact, we need to realise that our activities
the concept of nature and accepted that the subject or actions are simply an instrument to create
In the ‘90’s. also covered the urban was complex. awareness and skills, which are just as much the
environment, close to product of knowledge and values.
people. The motto : « act
locally and think
globally » appeared at
that time.

1
Nowadays, we still argue about the belief that there is only one real science and that it is objective (values, attitudes and interests influence scientific activities).
2
Learning, that is, building up knowledge, is one of the results of human activity. But we have to recognise that every activity does not necessarily result in learning.

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Based on the knowledge of this evolution, we must try to obviate its contradictions by
adopting a more complex approach :

• From the point of view of education, this interpretation must integrate1 all three
perspectives (about, in, for), the triple view (Mayer 1998) in which the same importance
is given to knowledge (about the environment), values (in the environment) and
behaviour (for …).

• From the point of view of the environment, this interpretation must integrate2 concern for
the loss of natural resources and their deterioration, an awareness of the depletion of
resources, and the whole global picture (growth of poverty and other serious situations
resulting form exclusion). (Consult the self-learning unit for Sustainable Development,
Chapter 7, in order to develop a critical approach to it).

Reference points to decide on an educational programme for EnEd :

The dynamics of any educational programme is founded on the interaction between the
contents , the pupil and his or her own personal structure (prejudices, habits, values,
feelings, experiences, language, relationships,…) and the teaching staff, with their own
baggage, consisting of their knowledge, technology, social skills and their « cosmogony »3
Content

Teacher Pupils Fig 1

But what content is specific to EnEd ?

A simple reply is impossible, because that depends on what one understands by education,
by the environment and by a satisfactory teaching method. Despite the fact that EnEd has
existed for such a short time (30 years), history shows that a variety of models has always
existed. As Maria Novo (1995) observes, notions have advanced in the three following
areas :
Environmental view

interrelations
between
Educational view Methodological view

Give rise to a range of

Models for EnEd Fig 2

1
The Models explaining the change in the Environment link facts, concepts, experience, values, … That goes far beyond
traditional disciplines and requires an interdisciplinary study.
2
To enter the whole area of the Environment implies the study of the relationship between people and the context or their
lives (local and global). That imposes an understanding of the causes and conditions, which may be some way off in space
and time. We are forced to resort to the concept of uncertainty, as the results of these relationships may be unpredictable.
3
That is, in the way they see the world (their outlook).

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a) As for the educational aspect : some authors1 have highlighted different possible
concepts of what « education »2 is :
• an « academic-cultural » view, based on the transmission of goals to be achieved,
• a « personal-humanist » view, focussing on the learning person,
• a « technological » view, focussing on the processes and the learning tools,
• a « social-critical » view, based on education for development.

b) As for the environmental aspect, we have been able to identify different views3, often
complementary to the environment, which is seen as
• "problems to be solved",
• "nature to be respected",
• "life-support system to be managed",
• "resources to be managed",
• "biosphere in which we survive",
• "community in which we are involved".

c) Similarly, from a methodological point of view, different notions exist about EnEd : from
those based on « transmission » of the content of all types, whether verbal or sensory, to
those which promote discovery, inductive or deductive, or « constructivism », or even,
« socio-constructivism ».
We believe that a proposal for EnEd should define what its interpretation of these three views
is but also in relation to the triangle (of pupils/teacher/subject tackled) that has just been
mentioned.

Our proposal for a theoretical model of EnEd used in this unit

As proposed by R. Tarin (1996), it is based on the interrelation of all the factors that have so
far been considered :
objectives
CONTENT selection
sequencing
Environmental approach Educational approach
What ? The environment = For what
- a problem - academic-cultural
- resources - personal-humanist
- nature - technological
- biosphere - social-critical
- life-support
- community

The TEACHER The PUPIL

- Brings - Brings
- his knowledge - preconceptions
- technology Methodological approach - habits
- his social skills How do we do this ? By : - values
- his outlook - transmission - experiences
- discovery - language
- constructivism - relationships
- socio-constructivism - feelings

Fig 3

1
Feiman-Nemser (1980) and Suavé (1993), for example.
2
And that demands a different content.
3
With these views as well, we can also choose a different educational content.

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1) Our interpretation of education is based on a view of education of the « social-critical »
type. We think that at the moment, it is not a question of developing EnEd merely by
improving its delivery but rather by improving its quality and its critical potential. This
view of critical education, which is also known as « education for development », wants4
not merely to put a brake on the factors of deterioration and bad ecological practice, but
also to establish a social structure that is more equitable and egalitarian. Nevertheless, we
shall at the same time put more efforts on explaining that « development » is not a one-
way process only decided on by someone outside the human community5

2) As far as the various concepts of environment are concerned, we believe that our efforts
are not to « help the environment » but rather to concern ourselves with the
consequences of our consumption of natural resources. These consequences affect
our future and that of other people living in the world at the same time as us and how
future generations see their lives affected. For that we shall preferably look at the
environmental aspects from the point of view of « community in which we are involved ».
A study of the relationships between people and also between the conditions in which
they live forces us to examine concepts which come from various disciplines. The
concepts which emerge are : « development », « chance », « interdependence »,
« multiplicity », « change », « reversibility », « uncertainty », « self-reliance », « equity » …

3) The methodological view : starting from these two first approaches, we shall consider that
the basic aim of EnEd in this model is the development of a personal and collective skill,
that is, « empowerment to action » (Jensen an Schnack, 1994). Therefore we need a
methodological tool that will fulfil this aim.
Now, in EnEd we see teaching as an interaction between the personal structure or
« starting model », of the pupil and events, information and the new ways of reacting
which he is trying out. This teaching is not simply the integration of new knowledge
acquired by experience, nor the addition of concepts to those already existing, but rather
the remodelling of a way of thinking and behaving, once they are equipped with a
new scales of values6. Our line of thought is thus close to that of Giordan and Souchon
(1991), who start from a constructivist view of teaching & learning and from a systemic
approach.

We think that children and young people may undergo such a process of rethinking,
especially when they interact with their teachers or their peers, by passing judgement on
the quality of their own ideas or behaviour and by testing them (Sanmarti, 1995). In
more concrete terms, we are talking about a socio-constructivist type of methodology,
because the latter links two views which we consider to be a basis for teaching EnEd :
• the evaluation-regulation of its own reasoning, feelings and conduct,
• an active participation in a social group, in which one can learn.

In this logic of empowerment, we agree with Losito and Mayer (1995), since we consider the
methodological strategies must take account of the dynamic qualities (capacity to learn,
capacity to develop, to judge one’s own conduct, …) of the pupils, in order to make them
capable of a responsible, creative, self-driven and yet critical behaviour, both individually and
collectively. In this way we can more easily see in our pupils various imaginative responses
to environmental situations either currently existing or those in the future.

4
As Selwy (1991) has demonstrated.
5
On the contrary, there exist many possible directions for « development » and anybody can influence it by striking out in
any way he wishes (Breiting, 1993).
6
Consequently, we cannot use simply one methodology of discovery or of oral and written transmission. In fact, the
concepts, the skills and the attitudes that we need to transfer are not those of our present society.

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Considering this teaching strategy for EnEd, we have devised a teaching model the main
pillar of which is how learning is designed in the context of social rethinking of
knowledge.

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 Resume of the main principles of teaching proposed in this unit.

KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE SKILLS LEARNING HOW TO LEARN

Object : - waste ¾ Being aware of the problem. ¾ Using the appropriate As an individual or in a group
- packaging ¾ Tackling the problem. language
¾ Wanting to do something. o oral ¾ Involvement
¾ Origin ¾ Deciding to do something. o written ¾ Organisation
¾ Diversity ¾ Acquiring self-confidence. o plastic ¾ Planning
¾ Place ¾ Expressing feelings. o body ¾ Adjusting
¾ Type o scientific ¾ Adapting to the needs
¾ Characteristics
¾ Volume, mass ¾ Formulating
¾ Life-cycle o problems These strategies are compounded
¾ 3 R Re-use o hypotheses of the pupil’s skills and ability,
capable of assisting independent
Recycling
learning by the pupil, whether as
Reduction ¾ Researching, sorting &
an individual or in a group.
establishing a method on the
basis of :

o observation
o I.C.T.
o Written material
o Interviews

¾ Managing a project
¾ Creating a project
¾ Studying its feasibility

CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND INTERVENTION MODEL, LEADING TO THE INTENTION TO INTERVENE.

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