Investigating Approaches

Investigating teachers’ pedagogical approaches in environmental education that promote students’ action competence
Chris Eames, Centre for Science and Technology Education Research,
University of Waikato, Hamilton

There is currently no mandatory requirement for New Zealand schools to teach Environmental Education. However, in 1999 the Ministry of Education published the Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand schools (Ministry of Education, 1999). The Guidelines are intended to assist teachers and schools to plan and provide education "in, about, and for the environment' in a way that integrates with learning objectives from the seven mandatory learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 1993). As such, schools are encouraged to develop environmental education programmes through a process of school-based curriculum development. More recently, the concept of education for sustainability, which broadens environmental education approaches to include concepts of human rights and social justice for sustainable development, has been promoted (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE), 2004; Tilbury, Stevenson, Fien, & Schreuder, 2002).

In 2002/2003 a national research project (commissioned by the Ministry of Education) was conducted to investigate the practice of environmental education in New Zealand schools (Bolstad, Cowie, & Eames, 2004). This project provided evidence that in teaching environmental education, some teachers were developing student-centred pedagogical approaches. The study also reported a general under-emphasis on the dimension of education for the environment. The project report concluded that further research was needed to "evaluate whether environmental education teaching practices promote long-term learning value for students (i.e., whether it acts to develop students' 'action competence' and ability to be decision-makers with regard to environmental issues in the present and future0" (p. 72).

An action orientation is seen as a key feature that defines environmental education (Fien & Greenall Gough, 1996; McLean, 2003; Tilbury, 1995). The concept of action competence acknowledges this orientation (Breiting & Mogensen, 1999; Jensen & Schnack, 1997). Action competence refers to students’ abilities to act with reference to environmental concerns, as active participants in environmental education. It includes the ability to identify problems, make decisions about solutions, and take action that develops the students’ competence to participate in future action on environmental issues. Development of students’ action competence can be seen as promoting democratic and participative education that can be valuable across all aspects of schooling.

This background led us to propose research into pedagogies (teaching and learning strategies) in environmental education that might lead to development of action competence in students. A research team was assembled consisting of experienced researchers, Regional Environmental Education Coordinators and teachers. A successful application for funding was made to the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) leading to commencement of the project in 2005. The investigation is based around a series of five case studies of New Zealand school classrooms where researchers are working alongside teachers and students in an action research model (Wals, 1994; Wals, Arjen, & Alblas, 1997).

The aims of the research project are to inform future teaching and learning classroom practices in environmental education; to build research capability in the Regional Environmental Education Coordinators and teachers, particularly for environmental education; and to widen the understanding of teaching and learning of environmental education in the school community and wider education sector.

The study is employing a case study methodology (Bassey, 1999; Merriam, 1998). A case study design permits researchers to gain an in-depth understanding of the issue and to explore meaning from a number of angles (Merriam, 1998). Case studies have been used previously to investigate environmental education by a number of researchers (Bolstad, Eames, Cowie, Edwards, & Rogers, 2004; Fien, 2001; Hart, 1998; McLean, 2003).

In this study, each Regional Coordinator is conducting the research in partnership with a classroom teacher, in keeping with the TLRI philosophy on developing research partnership. Together they have planned an environmental education unit and the use of pedagogical approaches within it. The teacher is delivering the unit and together with the researcher, evaluating it, focusing particularly on the development of students’ action competence. The five units being delivered represent a diverse range of environmental education topics. The classrooms are based in a range of school types from a small rural area school to a large urban secondary school. The Coordinators and teachers are being mentored through the research process by experienced researchers.

Research data is being collected in the form of surveys, interviews, classroom observations, teacher reflection, and analysis of student work and school documents. These multiple data sources will allow for triangulation of the data, enhancing its validity and reliability. Interpretations of this data will lay the foundation for a report on each case study, and these interpretations will be interrogated both within and across the case studies for themes that emerge.

At the outset of the project, the research team met to discuss the concept of action competence and the pedagogies that could be explored in the classroom to foster it. The research team proposed five key elements that students would need to engage in to develop action competence. These are:

	Knowledge and understanding for decision-making – action competence requires students to gain knowledge upon which to base soundly-reasoned decisions. This knowledge could include technical, social, political, historical and economic factors.
	Planning and taking action – action competence requires students to gain skills in identifying and solving problems, setting goals, gathering information, communicating, managing time and logistics to take action (indirect or direct).
	Participation – action competence requires students to gain skills in being consultative, democratic, collaborative and cooperative.
	Emotional response – action competence requires students to understand their own and others’ attitudes and values towards issues to enable them to decide upon the appropriate action to take, and their own personal responsibility and commitment.
	Critical thinking and reflection – action competence requires students to gain skills in thinking critically about the causes of issues and actions that could be taken, and in reflecting upon their knowledge, actions, participation and attitudes and values to make meaning.

In examining how these competencies could be developed, our attention turned towards a consideration of a transformative approach to teaching and learning in environmental education (Sterling, 2001). This approach sees the teacher as a facilitator of learning experiences involving students as active participants in their learning. It emphasizes inquiry and reflection. Therefore pedagogical ideas from experiential learning, inquiry learning and reflective practice were seen as relevant for teaching environmental education to enhance development of action competence. The teachers and Regional Coordinators have taken these ideas to shape the units that the teachers will deliver to their classes.

At the time of writing the units are being delivered and the research outcomes will be written up as individual case studies. The research team will then come together to examine these outcomes for similarities and differences to reach some overall conclusions. It is hoped that this developmental study will provide some direction for future classroom-based practice and research in the emerging area of environmental education in New Zealand.

Acknowledgements: The contributions of the following are gratefully acknowledged in the development and enactment of this project – Faye Wilson–Hill, Pam Williams, Hilary Iles, Jock McKenzie, Rosemarie Patterson, Tracey Mills, Anne Wright, Ngaire Rolleston, Mel Chaytor, Cathy Carroll, Barry Law and Miles Barker.

References
Bassey, M. (1999). Case study research in educational settings. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Bolstad, R., Cowie, B., & Eames, C. (2004). Environmental education in New Zealand schools: research into current practice and future possibilities. Volume 1: Summary of the research findings. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Bolstad, R., Eames, C., Cowie, B., Edwards, R., & Rogers, N. (2004). Environmental education in New Zealand schools: research into current practice and future possibilities. Volume 4: Case studies of environmental education practice in eight schools and kura kaupapa Maori. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Breiting, S., & Mogensen, F. (1999). Action competence and environmental education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(3), 349-353.

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Fien, J., & Greenall Gough, A. (1996). Environmental education. In R. Gilbert (Ed.), Studying society and environment- a handbook for teachers (pp. 200-216). Melbourne: Macmillan.

Hart, S. (1998). Visions of the future: a case study of twenty five students from a year ten social science class in a small rural Queensland state high school. Unpublished Masters thesis, Griffith University, Queensland.

Jensen, B. B., & Schnack, K. (1997). The action competence approach in environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 3(2), 163-179.

McLean, T. (2003). Environmental education in Otago primary schools: education for the environment? Set, 1, 4-9.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ministry of Education. (1993). The New Zealand Curriculum Framework. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Education. (1999). Guidelines for environmental education in New Zealand schools. Wellington: Learning Media.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE). (2004). See Change: Learning and education for sustainability. Wellington, New Zealand: PCE.

Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change. Devon, UK: Green Books.

Tilbury, D. (1995). Environmental education for sustainability: defining the new focus of environmental education in the 1990s. Environmental Education Research, 1(2), 195-212.

Tilbury, D., Stevenson, R., Fien, J., & Schreuder, D. (Eds.). (2002). Education and sustainability: responding to the global challenge. Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, U.K.: IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.

Wals, A. (1994). Action taking and environmental problem solving in environmental education. In K. Schnack (Ed.), Action and action competence as key concepts in critical pedagogy. Copenhagen: Royal Danish School of Educational Studies.

Wals, A., Arjen, E., & Alblas, A. (1997). School-based research and development of environmental education: a case study. Environmental Education Research, 3(3), 253-267.

Produced in 1999 by the Ministry of Education, the Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools are designed to help teachers incorporate environmental education into the curriculum.