What Kind of Actions are Appropriate? – Eco-School Teachers and Eco-School Instructors Reasoning about Sustainability Promoting Actions in Teaching

Author(s):

Ulrica Stagell(presenting / submitting)Ellen Almers(presenting)Per Askerlund Magnus Apelqvist

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

08. Research on Health Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

08 SES 11 A, Democracy and Participation in an ESD perspective

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

17:15-18:45

Room:

FFL - Aula 11

Chair:

Johan Öhman

Contribution

Action is described as an important aim in learning for sustainability in Eco-Schools’ and formal curricula in Sweden (Keep Sweden Tidy, 2012; SOU, 2004), as well as in European and International policy document for ESD (EU, 2010; UNESCO, 2002; UNESCO, 2004). The active choice of action and critical evaluation of action strategies has been highlighted as a most significant ingredient in the desired capability developed through ESD (Jensen & Schnack, 1997; Vare & Scott, 2007). Similarly, the British network of Eco-schools stresses the importance of developing critical decision taking. This is important in the role as consumer, employee and employer and as a citizen in a democratic society, nationally and globally (Keep Britain Tidy, n.d.).

In the educational research related to environmental education, several perspectives on action have been highlighted, e.g., that action are dealt with as a means for achieving learning about the environment but also as a means for learning for the environment (Hart and Nolan, 1999). Further, action has been differentiated from activity and behavior by the definition that actions are intentional and addressed to the solution of a problem (Jensen & Schnack, 1997). From an educational perspective, a part in the developing of the students action capability is that they get an understanding of different action alternatives. How appropriate different action alternatives are perceived to deal with in teaching may, however, vary among teachers.

In this study, our first objective is to describe how Eco-School teachers and Eco-Schools instructors rate 16 different sustainability promoting actions regarding appropriateness to deal with them in teaching. The second, and main objective is to describe and discuss the informants’ reasoning in relation to this rating from the question: what do they talk about when they justify the ratings? The preliminary results from the qualitative analysis show 30 aspects that can be divided into three groups: aspects of sustainability consequences, aspects of teaching considerations, and, cultural and social aspects. The results will be discussed from a norm theory perspective (e.g., Blossing, 2003; Wickenberg 2004) focusing the teacher relation to the complexity of considerations of the teaching situation, scientific knowledge, as well as different norms at school, at homes and in society.

Method

24 Eco-School teachers (preschool to upper secondary school) and 9 Eco-School instructors in Sweden were interviewed about the appropriateness of 16 different sustainability promoting actions in teaching. A structured questionnaire with fixed rating alternatives was combined with and open-ended questions were the motivated their ratings. The informants were also asked whether they have dealt with the actions in teaching or not. The different sustainability promoting actions in the interview guide were: Recycling; Grow vegetables; Composting; Collect litter; Decrease consumption of clothes, gadgets, etc.; Decrease meat consumption; Save energy; Save water; Travel by bike and collective transport rather than by car, Campaigning against littering; Inform about eco/fair-trade labeling; Influence others to adopt a more sustainable life style; Influence decision makers; Engage in political parties; Engage in NGOs, Outdoor activities. The quantitative data is presented as mean values with standard deviation for the ratings of the 16 actions in two groups: Eco-School teachers and Eco-School instructors. Mann-Whitney U-test (Siegel, 1956) was used to test for significant differences in ratings between teachers and instructors. The qualitative data, the informants reasoning, were treated with a content analysis giving categories which then were assembled into three groups that emerged from the material.

Expected Outcomes

The statistical analysis showed that although many informants mostly found the suggested actions appropriate to treat in their classroom practice, there were differences between the Eco-School teachers and instructors. The actions 'recycling', 'promoting outdoor activities', 'save energy', 'save water', 'composting' were rated high, while 'engage in NGOs' and 'engage in political parties' were rated low, by both teachers and instructors. Most differences were found for 'decrease consumption of clothes, gadgets etc.', 'influence decision makers' and 'decrease meat consumption', all of which the instructors rated significantly higher than the teachers. Most of the actions are dealt with in teaching, but 'decrease meat consumption', 'engage in NGOs' and 'engage in political parties' teachers find most inappropriate and avoid in teaching. In the preliminary results of the qualitative analysis of the informants' justifications for the appropriateness of treating different actions in their classroom practice, 30 different aspects are discerned. With a starting-point in sorting the aspects into three groups (teaching considerations, sustainability consequences, and, social and cultural aspects), results are discussed from a norm theory perspective, focusing the informants’ reasoning in relation to the complexity of considerations of the teaching situation, scientific knowledge and different norms at school, at home and in society.

References

Blossing, U. (2003) Skolförbättring – en skola för alla. In G. Berg & H.-Å. Scherp (eds) Skolutvecklingens många ansikten. Stockholm: Myndigheten för skolutveckling.European Union, C327. EU (2010). Council conclusions of 19 november on education for sustainable development (2010/C 327/05). Notices from Euopean Union Institutions, B., Offices and Agencies. Official Journal of the Hart, P. & Nolan, K. (1999) A critical analysis of reserach in environmental education, Studies in Science Education, 34, 1-69. Jensen, B. B. & Schnack, K. (1997). The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education. Environmental Education Research, 3, (2), 163-178. Keep Britain Tidy (n.d.) http://www.eco-schools.org.uk/nine-topics/global-perspectives.aspx# 2011-06-25 Keep Sweden Tidy (2011). http://www.hsr.se/gronflagg 2011-06-28 Siegel, S. (1956) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. Tokyo: McGraw-Hill. SOU (2004). Att lära för hållbar utveckling: Betänkande av Kommittén för utbildning för hållbar utveckling (No. 2004:104). Stockholm. UNESCO (2002). Education for Sustainability From Rio to Johannesburg: Lessons learnt from a decade of commitment. Paris: The International Work Programme on Education, Public Awareness and Sustainability of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. UNESCO (2004). United Nations Decade for Sustainable Development 2005-2014. Draft International Implementation Scheme. www.gdrc.org/sustdev/un-desd/implementation-scheme.pdf (2008-10-16) Vare, P. & Scott, W. (2007). Learning for a Change: Exploring the Relationship Between Education and Sustainable Development. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development , 191-198. Wickenberg, P. (2004) Norm supporting structures – in environmental education and education for sustainable development. In P. Wickenberg, Axelsson, A., Fritzén, L., Helldén, G & Öhman, J. (eds) Learning to change our world? Swedish research on education and sustainable development. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Author Information

Ulrica Stagell (presenting / submitting)

Jönköping University

School of Education and Communication

Jönköping

Ellen Almers (presenting)

Jönköping University, Sweden

Per Askerlund

Jönköping University, Sweden

Magnus Apelqvist

Jönköping University, Sweden

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