Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/sajee.v32i1.152734
C. Loubser, P. Simalumba
UNESCO (1995) notes that education should be easily adaptable to sudden shifts in conditions in a world of rapid change since environmental challenges are dynamic. This paper is based on a study carried out in secondary schools in the Caprivi region in Namibia (currently re-named the Zambezi region). The article reports on mixed methods of approach to arrive at an in-depth understanding of the extent to which environmental education is implemented in the curriculum for Geography, specifically for grades 8–10. The data was generated through a self-assessment questionnaire that was sent to all grade 8–10 Geography educators in the region. In addition, interviews were conducted with a sample of educators and a local environmental education officer. Focus group discussions were held with learners from five schools. The findings revealed, among others, that educators had sufficient knowledge and understanding of environmental concepts and issues. However, educators had limited knowledge of environment-related skills and attitudes required, and did not use a variety of teaching approaches or alternative assessment regimes. Educators understand the significance of indigenous knowledge in geographic education, but the research findings also indicate that stakeholders’ participation in school environmental education initiatives needs to be strengthened. The article provides recommendations that might improve the implementation of environmental education in schools. Keywords : Geography, competencies/learning objectives, educational processes, outdoor activities, sustainable development, indigenous knowledge.
{"title":"The Implementation of Environmental Education in Geography (Grades 8–10) in the Caprivi Region, Namibia","authors":"C. Loubser, P. Simalumba","doi":"10.4314/sajee.v32i1.152734","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v32i1.152734","url":null,"abstract":"UNESCO (1995) notes that education should be easily adaptable to sudden shifts in conditions in a world of rapid change since environmental challenges are dynamic. This paper is based on a study carried out in secondary schools in the Caprivi region in Namibia (currently re-named the Zambezi region). The article reports on mixed methods of approach to arrive at an in-depth understanding of the extent to which environmental education is implemented in the curriculum for Geography, specifically for grades 8–10. The data was generated through a self-assessment questionnaire that was sent to all grade 8–10 Geography educators in the region. In addition, interviews were conducted with a sample of educators and a local environmental education officer. Focus group discussions were held with learners from five schools. The findings revealed, among others, that educators had sufficient knowledge and understanding of environmental concepts and issues. However, educators had limited knowledge of environment-related skills and attitudes required, and did not use a variety of teaching approaches or alternative assessment regimes. Educators understand the significance of indigenous knowledge in geographic education, but the research findings also indicate that stakeholders’ participation in school environmental education initiatives needs to be strengthened. The article provides recommendations that might improve the implementation of environmental education in schools. Keywords : Geography, competencies/learning objectives, educational processes, outdoor activities, sustainable development, indigenous knowledge.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":" 12","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120828899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V20I0.122663
C. Obol, I. Allen, H. Bach
An audit of environmental education policies in southern Africa was carried out to determine the status of environmental education policy processes.This paper presents a summary of the results and considers some of the emergent issues for environmental education policy in the region. The audit was conducted under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community Regional Environmental Education Programme (SADC REEP) between October 2002 and March 2003. The research attempted to answer questions about the status and understandings of environmental education policy processes, common elements and role players, constraints and opportunities in the development and implementation of environmental education policy. Further questions related to how the audit could help to further the cause of sustainable development in southern Africa. This paper discusses benchmarks in the environmental education policy process nationally and at regional level, as well as institutions active in environmental education. Synergies and linkages between and across regional and national policies are examined, together with some consideration of documentation and focus. The paper then explores constraints and opportunities for policy processes at national and regional level.
{"title":"Environmental Education Policy Processes in the Southern African Region","authors":"C. Obol, I. Allen, H. Bach","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V20I0.122663","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V20I0.122663","url":null,"abstract":"An audit of environmental education policies in southern Africa was carried out to determine the status of environmental education policy processes.This paper presents a summary of the results and considers some of the emergent issues for environmental education policy in the region. The audit was conducted under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community Regional Environmental Education Programme (SADC REEP) between October 2002 and March 2003. The research attempted to answer questions about the status and understandings of environmental education policy processes, common elements and role players, constraints and opportunities in the development and implementation of environmental education policy. Further questions related to how the audit could help to further the cause of sustainable development in southern Africa. This paper discusses benchmarks in the environmental education policy process nationally and at regional level, as well as institutions active in environmental education. Synergies and linkages between and across regional and national policies are examined, together with some consideration of documentation and focus. The paper then explores constraints and opportunities for policy processes at national and regional level.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126592704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122820
N. Silo
In Botswana, participation in environmental learning activities has been perceived as a central component of environmental education in formal education. Driven by the need to implement the objective of making the participatory approach part of the infusion of environmental education in the school curriculum as prescribed by the infusion policy, Botswana schools have come up with initiatives to involve learners in environmental education activities that seem to have ‘a direct, perceived benefit to the learners’ (NEESAP, 2007:9). Within this approach it is expected that learners should participate in these activities. However, Ketlhoilwe (2007) revealed that there has been a normalisation of environmental education into existing school culture through equating waste-management activities with environmental education. This generally entails cleaning activities by learners to maintain ‘clean schools’, which is directly associated with environmental education. Drawing from detailed case study data in one rural primary school with Standard 6 learners, I used Cultural Historical Activity Theory to investigate and explain how learners participate in these waste-management activities. Findings from this study revealed that attempts by teachers to meet the policy imperative through prescription of rules, and ascribing roles to learners in waste-management activities, create tensions. This gave rise to an elusive object of learner participation, as the purpose for their participation in these activities is not clear.
{"title":"Exploring Learner Participation in Waste-Management Activities in a Rural Botswana Primary School","authors":"N. Silo","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122820","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122820","url":null,"abstract":"In Botswana, participation in environmental learning activities has been perceived as a central component of environmental education in formal education. Driven by the need to implement the objective of making the participatory approach part of the infusion of environmental education in the school curriculum as prescribed by the infusion policy, Botswana schools have come up with initiatives to involve learners in environmental education activities that seem to have ‘a direct, perceived benefit to the learners’ (NEESAP, 2007:9). Within this approach it is expected that learners should participate in these activities. However, Ketlhoilwe (2007) revealed that there has been a normalisation of environmental education into existing school culture through equating waste-management activities with environmental education. This generally entails cleaning activities by learners to maintain ‘clean schools’, which is directly associated with environmental education. Drawing from detailed case study data in one rural primary school with Standard 6 learners, I used Cultural Historical Activity Theory to investigate and explain how learners participate in these waste-management activities. Findings from this study revealed that attempts by teachers to meet the policy imperative through prescription of rules, and ascribing roles to learners in waste-management activities, create tensions. This gave rise to an elusive object of learner participation, as the purpose for their participation in these activities is not clear.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114805684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V19I0.137336
R. O’Donoghue
This paper reviews participation as an emerging moral imperative in a democratising South Africa. Historical tensions in environmental education are probed to explore participatory turns and a rapid popularising of action research into the late 1980's. Recent cases of participatory research and curriculum development are then briefly examined before a review of processes shaping theory within emerging participatory perspectives. Socially constructed to resolve uncertainties and to steer activities in developing institutional enterprises, participatory theories are found to emerge from technicist amalgams of descriptive typologies. Trading on the promise of experts facilitating the sustainable development of 'The Other', participatory theories underpin environment and development ideologies which compete for economic and political influence. Some sensitising texts for the difficult task of probing features of these ideologies are discussed and a sketch of developing social processes provides a sense of the open-ended tensions shaping participatory hegemonies in institutional settings in South Africa. Participatory theories in the form of strategic narratives for sustainable development emerge from this review as self-validating ideologies that may, paradoxically, be defeating their own ends. Critical insights suggest that institutional agendas and the steering hand of rational theory inhibit emergent, contextual meaning making struggle which shapes sustaining moral orientation. The logical trap here is that moral orientation is not open to rational steering without frameworks imposing in ways which actually subvert the moral enterprise. This problem does not preclude continued attention to participatory imperatives but it does suggest that participative processes be narrated in socio historical context as emergent struggles of interactive meaning-making. In line with this finding, the question of explicit theory to steer participatory processes must be left open-ended amidst sensitising concepts to illuminate developing contexts of continued sustaining struggle.
{"title":"Participation: An under theorised icon in research and curriculum development","authors":"R. O’Donoghue","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V19I0.137336","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V19I0.137336","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reviews participation as an emerging moral imperative in a democratising South Africa. Historical tensions in environmental education are probed to explore participatory turns and a rapid popularising of action research into the late 1980's. Recent cases of participatory research and curriculum development are then briefly examined before a review of processes shaping theory within emerging participatory perspectives. Socially constructed to resolve uncertainties and to steer activities in developing institutional enterprises, participatory theories are found to emerge from technicist amalgams of descriptive typologies. Trading on the promise of experts facilitating the sustainable development of 'The Other', participatory theories underpin environment and development ideologies which compete for economic and political influence. Some sensitising texts for the difficult task of probing features of these ideologies are discussed and a sketch of developing social processes provides a sense of the open-ended tensions shaping participatory hegemonies in institutional settings in South Africa. Participatory theories in the form of strategic narratives for sustainable development emerge from this review as self-validating ideologies that may, paradoxically, be defeating their own ends. Critical insights suggest that institutional agendas and the steering hand of rational theory inhibit emergent, contextual meaning making struggle which shapes sustaining moral orientation. The logical trap here is that moral orientation is not open to rational steering without frameworks imposing in ways which actually subvert the moral enterprise. This problem does not preclude continued attention to participatory imperatives but it does suggest that participative processes be narrated in socio historical context as emergent struggles of interactive meaning-making. In line with this finding, the question of explicit theory to steer participatory processes must be left open-ended amidst sensitising concepts to illuminate developing contexts of continued sustaining struggle.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124248205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V29I0.122272
H. Kilian, J. G. Ferreira
Environmental education programmes should be designed to inspire learners and have enough impact to change learners’ attitudes to environmental issues. These programmes can use a variety of teaching methods – some take the form of lectures, while others allow for group participation. The question arises whether the particular teaching method that is used could have an effect, or can influence, learners’ attitudes. Attitudes are complex and appear to be a consequence of life experiences. Through active involvement, an attempt can be made to intensify those experiences and create a lasting impression that may alter attitudes. This investigation compared the contribution of the lecture method and collaborative learning used in an environmental education programme with the development of positive attitudes on the part of learners who participated in the programme. The findings suggest that, though both methods are effective in changing attitudes, the lecture style did allow for a greater change in attitude over the three-month period. Possible reasons for this unexpected finding are proposed.
{"title":"The Effect on Attitudes of Particular Teaching Methods Used in an Environmental Education Programme","authors":"H. Kilian, J. G. Ferreira","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V29I0.122272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V29I0.122272","url":null,"abstract":"Environmental education programmes should be designed to inspire learners and have enough impact to change learners’ attitudes to environmental issues. These programmes can use a variety of teaching methods – some take the form of lectures, while others allow for group participation. The question arises whether the particular teaching method that is used could have an effect, or can influence, learners’ attitudes. Attitudes are complex and appear to be a consequence of life experiences. Through active involvement, an attempt can be made to intensify those experiences and create a lasting impression that may alter attitudes. This investigation compared the contribution of the lecture method and collaborative learning used in an environmental education programme with the development of positive attitudes on the part of learners who participated in the programme. The findings suggest that, though both methods are effective in changing attitudes, the lecture style did allow for a greater change in attitude over the three-month period. Possible reasons for this unexpected finding are proposed.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116958647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V25I0.122759
Eureta Rosenberg
Eco-Schools South Africa is increasingly being used by external partners as a framework for supporting environmental education in schools. This paper shares the findings of a recent evaluation of the programme in relation to the quality of education in South African schools. Do Eco-Schools activities help to improve the conditions of teaching and learning? Or do they take teachers and students away from their core focus? Evaluation of learner and teacher work in Eco-Schools found signs of the quality problems that currently plague the schools system, and there is evidence that the programme can add to the complexity to which many teachers struggle to respond. The evaluation also found, however, that the programme has significant potential to improve conditions for teaching and learning. The paper is an opportunity to reflect on how environmental education support for schools, in general, and Eco-Schools South Africa, in particular, can detract from and strengthen teaching and learning.
{"title":"Eco-Schools and the Quality of Education in South Africa: Realising the potential","authors":"Eureta Rosenberg","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V25I0.122759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V25I0.122759","url":null,"abstract":"Eco-Schools South Africa is increasingly being used by external partners as a framework for supporting environmental education in schools. This paper shares the findings of a recent evaluation of the programme in relation to the quality of education in South African schools. Do Eco-Schools activities help to improve the conditions of teaching and learning? Or do they take teachers and students away from their core focus? Evaluation of learner and teacher work in Eco-Schools found signs of the quality problems that currently plague the schools system, and there is evidence that the programme can add to the complexity to which many teachers struggle to respond. The evaluation also found, however, that the programme has significant potential to improve conditions for teaching and learning. The paper is an opportunity to reflect on how environmental education support for schools, in general, and Eco-Schools South Africa, in particular, can detract from and strengthen teaching and learning.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115113316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V34I0.172196
J. Foley, H. Baijnath, D. McCracken
Biodiversity loss has been recognised as a global and local problem of increasing magnitude. As future leaders, university students may play an influential role in alleviating this serious and multifaceted problem. This particular research focuses on a relatively new area of study not yet covered in the literature, that of South African university students’ perceptions and understandings of biodiversity. This paper seeks to describe the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of students at Durban University of Technology towards biodiversity and to consider some of the socio-cultural causal factors. Student opinions were sampled using an appropriate survey modelled after European biodiversity surveys and adapted to meet the unique challenges of South African conditions and rich biodiversity found in Durban’s urban green spaces. The quantitative data were then merged with qualitative data drawn from four focus groups sampled across selected faculties at the institution. The focus groups involved guided discussion on the relevance of biodiversity, viewing of video clips and local field visits to Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve and the Durban Botanic Gardens. The results indicated high levels of concern for biodiversity loss and strong cultural connections with traditional African medicinal plants.
{"title":"Understanding Durban University of Technology Students’ Perceptions of Biodiversity Loss","authors":"J. Foley, H. Baijnath, D. McCracken","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V34I0.172196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V34I0.172196","url":null,"abstract":"Biodiversity loss has been recognised as a global and local problem of increasing magnitude. As future leaders, university students may play an influential role in alleviating this serious and multifaceted problem. This particular research focuses on a relatively new area of study not yet covered in the literature, that of South African university students’ perceptions and understandings of biodiversity. This paper seeks to describe the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of students at Durban University of Technology towards biodiversity and to consider some of the socio-cultural causal factors. Student opinions were sampled using an appropriate survey modelled after European biodiversity surveys and adapted to meet the unique challenges of South African conditions and rich biodiversity found in Durban’s urban green spaces. The quantitative data were then merged with qualitative data drawn from four focus groups sampled across selected faculties at the institution. The focus groups involved guided discussion on the relevance of biodiversity, viewing of video clips and local field visits to Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve and the Durban Botanic Gardens. The results indicated high levels of concern for biodiversity loss and strong cultural connections with traditional African medicinal plants.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"9 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123315148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122788
David Kronlid
This think piece introduces the views of Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum and others on the capabilities approach to climate change ethics research. Furthermore, it suggests that the capabilities approach can help climate change research in identifying if, and if so which, intrinsic values of people’s wellbeing are vulnerable to climate change. The think piece introduces a climate-capabilities reading of documents associated with the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007). Furthermore, it suggests that climate change education research may include descriptive and comparative, normative, critical and meta forms of research to investigate the various meanings of climate change wellbeing in spaces of capabilities. Furthermore, climate change education research may contribute to climate change research in identifying how education may help students identify individual, social and environmental conversion factors. That is, factors needed to convert, for example, adaptation resources into actual beings and doings – into climate capabilities.
{"title":"Sigtuna Think Piece 2 Climate Capabilities and Climate Change Education Research","authors":"David Kronlid","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V26I0.122788","url":null,"abstract":"This think piece introduces the views of Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum and others on the capabilities approach to climate change ethics research. Furthermore, it suggests that the capabilities approach can help climate change research in identifying if, and if so which, intrinsic values of people’s wellbeing are vulnerable to climate change. The think piece introduces a climate-capabilities reading of documents associated with the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007). Furthermore, it suggests that climate change education research may include descriptive and comparative, normative, critical and meta forms of research to investigate the various meanings of climate change wellbeing in spaces of capabilities. Furthermore, climate change education research may contribute to climate change research in identifying how education may help students identify individual, social and environmental conversion factors. That is, factors needed to convert, for example, adaptation resources into actual beings and doings – into climate capabilities.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129716182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V24I0.122749
R. O’Donoghue
This paper examines how, in response to emerging risk, methodological narratives for conservation (CE), environmental (EE) and now sustainability education (ESD) were constituted in diverse settings within a changing South African state. After documenting an awareness creation perspective underpinning early extension and experiential activities, the study examines shaping social processes and changing outline schemes for defining and guiding planned learning interactions (methodology) within the broadening field into the present day. The critical historical analysis developed in the study reflects a well-documented shift from early topdown (intervention/extension) to more participatory approaches (collaborative engagement/stewardship). A situated process-mapping of changing orientations also reveals characterising methodological features across the contours of an increasingly diverse field of conservation, environment and sustainability education. The maps resonate with and reflect situated learning interactions that involve: • Clarifying risk and associated information in context (situating story) • Close review of an issue as a concern (moral proximity) • Asking questions to understand the issue in context (enquiry) and • Trying out ways of doing things differently (practical engagement) The review concludes that these open-ended processes are seldom found together in community and school curriculum contexts. It thus points to a need to examine: • Learner access to available knowledge resources • Processes of close purposeful engagement and • Practice-based deliberation in the mediation of socially responsible choices Finally the study examines processes of exclusion across the outline schemes for education. Noted is the knock-on effect of the separation of people and nature at the fences of nature reserves. Here ecology developed as a conservation science of interdependence that was deployed in early awareness programmes against the unawareness of rural land management. Later perspectives reflect landscapes as intermeshed social-ecological systems at risk. Here it is somewhat ironic that the indigenous knowledge practices of rural people are often deployed as idealised models of sustainability against the wasteful practices of modern age. The analysis recasts environment and sustainability education as open processes of situated re-search and deliberative meaning-making interaction, notably reflexive social learning processes that are planned and undertaken in response to risk within in a community of practice.
{"title":"Environment and Sustainability Education in a Changing South Africa: A critical historical analysis of outline schemes for defining and guiding learning interactions","authors":"R. O’Donoghue","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V24I0.122749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V24I0.122749","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines how, in response to emerging risk, methodological narratives for conservation (CE), environmental (EE) and now sustainability education (ESD) were constituted in diverse settings within a changing South African state. After documenting an awareness creation perspective underpinning early extension and experiential activities, the study examines shaping social processes and changing outline schemes for defining and guiding planned learning interactions (methodology) within the broadening field into the present day. The critical historical analysis developed in the study reflects a well-documented shift from early topdown (intervention/extension) to more participatory approaches (collaborative engagement/stewardship). A situated process-mapping of changing orientations also reveals characterising methodological features across the contours of an increasingly diverse field of conservation, environment and sustainability education. The maps resonate with and reflect situated learning interactions that involve: • Clarifying risk and associated information in context (situating story) • Close review of an issue as a concern (moral proximity) • Asking questions to understand the issue in context (enquiry) and • Trying out ways of doing things differently (practical engagement) The review concludes that these open-ended processes are seldom found together in community and school curriculum contexts. It thus points to a need to examine: • Learner access to available knowledge resources • Processes of close purposeful engagement and • Practice-based deliberation in the mediation of socially responsible choices Finally the study examines processes of exclusion across the outline schemes for education. Noted is the knock-on effect of the separation of people and nature at the fences of nature reserves. Here ecology developed as a conservation science of interdependence that was deployed in early awareness programmes against the unawareness of rural land management. Later perspectives reflect landscapes as intermeshed social-ecological systems at risk. Here it is somewhat ironic that the indigenous knowledge practices of rural people are often deployed as idealised models of sustainability against the wasteful practices of modern age. The analysis recasts environment and sustainability education as open processes of situated re-search and deliberative meaning-making interaction, notably reflexive social learning processes that are planned and undertaken in response to risk within in a community of practice.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128998430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.4314/SAJEE.V32I1.152717
W. Hugo
This paper argues that we have to radically rethink the purposes of education in a world that is becoming increasingly unequal as global warming intensifies. It argues that our current generation is taking away worthwhile choices and opportunities from our children by handing them a world that will be more unequal (Picketty, 2013) and hotter (Morris, 2010) than it is now. The author used to hold a position that powerful knowledge was a good overarching response to the issues of inequality in education as it enabled learners from poor backgrounds to escape poverty through knowledge. With global increases in warming and inequality, education needs a far more radical response to these issues. This paper constructs an historical argument that shows why powerful knowledge was such a worthwhile outcome of education by reconstructing Spencer’s answer to the question ‘what knowledge is of most worth?’ (1884). He argued that systematic knowledge was of the most worth and this answer has found strong and well-articulated current support in the work of Michael Young and Joe Muller (2013). This answer makes sense in a world that has a high demand for skills and rewards them with decent occupations and remuneration. However, in a world of increasing inequality and deskilling of jobs, powerful knowledge loses some of its power. Furthermore, with the current inability of humanity to control its acceleration towards heat death, education has to take on a far more radicalising function than that which powerful knowledge can provide. This paper does not suggest what ways we can find out of our current tragic mess, and prefers to prolong the moment of despair; although, it does suggest that processes underway and supported by environmental organisations indicate some ways forward.
{"title":"Think Piece: What Education is of Most Worth in a World Where We Are Consuming the Future of our Children?","authors":"W. Hugo","doi":"10.4314/SAJEE.V32I1.152717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V32I1.152717","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that we have to radically rethink the purposes of education in a world that is becoming increasingly unequal as global warming intensifies. It argues that our current generation is taking away worthwhile choices and opportunities from our children by handing them a world that will be more unequal (Picketty, 2013) and hotter (Morris, 2010) than it is now. The author used to hold a position that powerful knowledge was a good overarching response to the issues of inequality in education as it enabled learners from poor backgrounds to escape poverty through knowledge. With global increases in warming and inequality, education needs a far more radical response to these issues. This paper constructs an historical argument that shows why powerful knowledge was such a worthwhile outcome of education by reconstructing Spencer’s answer to the question ‘what knowledge is of most worth?’ (1884). He argued that systematic knowledge was of the most worth and this answer has found strong and well-articulated current support in the work of Michael Young and Joe Muller (2013). This answer makes sense in a world that has a high demand for skills and rewards them with decent occupations and remuneration. However, in a world of increasing inequality and deskilling of jobs, powerful knowledge loses some of its power. Furthermore, with the current inability of humanity to control its acceleration towards heat death, education has to take on a far more radicalising function than that which powerful knowledge can provide. This paper does not suggest what ways we can find out of our current tragic mess, and prefers to prolong the moment of despair; although, it does suggest that processes underway and supported by environmental organisations indicate some ways forward.","PeriodicalId":272843,"journal":{"name":"The Southern African Journal of Environmental Education","volume":"91 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127587050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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