Environmental Education and the Issue of (Environmental) Sustainability

Author(s):

Sarah O'Malley(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 10 C, Citizenship and Science Teaching/Learning

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

15:30-17:00

Room:

NM-F106

Chair:

Louise Sund

Contribution

Ambiguity exists between environmental education and other types of education such as education for sustainable development (ESD) and Sustainable Education (SE) and a clear understanding as to its aims and objectives remains elusive. Considering the wide-ranging scope of global environmental destruction and the implications for social, cultural, political and economic development, environmental education carries both high expectations and levels of responsibility. However, there are questions to be asked regarding these expectations as recent criticisms suggest that environmental education has failed to halt environmental degradation (Saylan and Blumstein, 2011).There are real gaps and problems emerging not because all current approaches have failed but because research does not acknowledge that there are different approaches to environmental education and that different people and interested parties view the role and content of environmental education very differently. The research study critically examined the status of environmental education in Ireland to establish whether, and to what extent, this type of education (re)connects children with the natural world. Opportunities for informal ways of learning about the natural world through unstructured, experiential outdoor play for children have significantly diminished. Such educational opportunities are replaced by more formal approaches to environmental education, which is now firmly embedded within the mainstream primary education system. The research provides an in-depth analysis based on critical and reflective interpretations of environmental education and its position within the primary school environment, while also reflecting on the modernisation processes within society that have contributed to and driven the formalisation of environmental education overall. In doing so, it addresses a research gap by mapping the evolution of environmental education in Ireland and the influences of wider societal, historical, and political developments on its (in)effectiveness.

Method

Environmental education research is characterised by a variety of methodological approaches and continues to broaden in theoretical and epistemological frameworks. Nevertheless, the majority of work is quantitative and positivist in nature and demonstrates a continued imbalance and fragmentation of approaches within the field (Rickinson, 2001, Loughland et al., 2002). The research deployed an innovative multi-method framework which combines qualitative methods of data collection with a secondary analysis of relevant literature, documents, and already existing quantitative data. The integration of data collected specifically for the project, for example, semi-structured interviews with environmental educators, school staff, parents and children and the existing large-scale information were central to the empirical part of the research. This facilitates both the identification of trends over time, and the collection of up-to-date information about how practitioners and participants view programmes and their impacts. Giving an equal voice to children and adults (environmental educators, school staff and parents) was also an integral part of the analysis as well as comparative analysis between interview groupings. This is a unique element of the research as it examined the experiences of all those actively involved in environmental education.

Expected Outcomes

Environmental education is very much influenced by changes in primary school curricula that coincide with wider social, economic and political developments. Although it adapts to and partially resists certain aspects it is nevertheless directed and guided by the formal education system. Environmental education that promotes solving and managing environmental problems is found to be more consistent in a child’s (environmental) education than approaches synonymous with experiential environmental efforts. This is because the provisions suit the structure and educational objectives of formal education. Consequently, the opportunity for informal and experiential learning in the outdoors without specific educational outcomes is increasingly marginalised. In order to be effective it must firstly acknowledge the different concepts of current educational approaches and the notions of the natural environment that underpin its efforts. The research finds that effective environmental education is subjective and is dependent on what type of ‘connection’ it seeks to build between children and the natural world. The research recommends that environmental education adopts a more self-critical approach and recognise that children have the capacity to surpass structural constraints to educate the home, school, and community environments. Therefore, the sector must rediscover and attach renewed value to children considering their boundless creative ingenuity and the role that plays in solving global environmental problems.

References

Bonnett, M. and Williams J. (1998) ‘Environmental education and primary children's attitudes towards nature and the environment’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 28(2), 159-74. Department of Children and Youth Affairs (2012b) Growing up in Ireland: qualitative key findings, Dublin: Government Publications. Loughland, T., Reid, A., Walker, K. and Petocz, P. (2002) ‘Young people’s conceptions of environment: a phenomenographic analysis’, Environmental Education Research, 8(2), 187-197. Malone, K. (2007) ‘The bubble-wrap generation: children growing up in walled gardens’, Environmental Education Research, 13(4), 513-527. Marcinkowski, T. J. (2010) ‘Contemporary challenges and opportunities in environmental education: where are we headed and what deserves our attention?’, The Journal of Environmental Education, 41(4), 34-54. May, T. (1997) Social research: issues, methods and process, Buckingham: Open University Press, 157-178. Natural England (2012) Learning in the Natural Environment: review of social and economic benefits and barriers [online], available: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/1321181 Ofsted (2008) Learning Outside the Classroom: how far would you go? [online], available: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/learning-outside-classroom. Rickinson, M (2001) ‘Learners and learning in environmental education: a critical review of the evidence’, Journal of Environmental Education Research, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 207-320. Sauvé, L (1996) ‘Environmental education and sustainable development: A further appraisal’, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 1, pp. 7-34. Share, P, Tovey, H and Corcoran, P (2007) A Sociology of Ireland, Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. Saylan, C. and Blumstein, D. T. (2011) The Failure of Environmental Education (and how we can fix it), California: University of California Press. Stapp, W., Bennett, D., Bryan, W., Fulton, J., MacGregor, J., Nowak, P., Swan, J., Wall, R. and Havlick, S. (1969) ‘The concept of environmental education’, The Journal of Environmental Education, 1(1), 30-31. Stevenson, R B (2007) ‘Schooling and environmental education: Contradictions in purpose and practice’, Environmental Education Research, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 139- 153.

Author Information

Sarah O'Malley (presenting / submitting)

The Bay Trust, UK

Limerick

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