Abstract/Details

Environmental education: developing a model for initial teacher education

Tilbury, Daniella.   University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1994. U056153.

Abstract (summary)

There has been a recognition amongst national and international organisations of the need to make environmental education within teacher education a priority. Their calls for developments in environmental education at this level have been reinforced by research which points to great inadequacies within initial teacher education provision. Findings highlight how students are inadequately prepared for the pedagogical and methodological aspects of environmental education. The greatest inadequacies occur in the training of the generalist primary school teacher.

The lack of appropriate primary teacher training in the field, is of great significance to environmental education. Research has shown that the middle years of schooling (Key Stage 2) are critical for the social, moral and cognitive development of the pupil. The thesis argues that these are the formative years for the development of environmental attitudes. It is therefore crucial that primary teachers are adequately trained to teach environmental education.

In order to correct the existing situation within teacher education, there is a need to address the question of what foundation should be laid for the discipline at this level, as well as what environmental content and pedagogical considerations are necessary for effectively preparing trainees to teach environmental education within the National Curriculum. Essentially, teacher education needs a curriculum model for environmental education which addresses such requirements. This thesis is an attempt to develop such a model.

The model aims to be realistic about the abilities of a child in the middle years of schooling, the complex nature of environmental education as a discipline, and the realities of teacher education courses. Furthermore, the thesis considers the changing structure of initial teacher education and develops a model with a flexibility which will suit school-centred, as well as institution-based training.

The thesis also aims to encourage the implementation of the model through the construction of a grounded theory of curriculum provision and development in environmental education.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Teacher education;
Pedagogy;
Environmental education;
Curricula
Classification
0530: Teacher education
0456: Pedagogy
0442: Environmental education
Identifier / keyword
(UMI)AAIU056153; Education
Title
Environmental education: developing a model for initial teacher education
Author
Tilbury, Daniella
Number of pages
1
Degree date
1994
School code
0360
Source
DAI-C 70/12, Dissertation Abstracts International
University/institution
University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
University location
England
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Note
Bibliographic data provided by EThOS, the British Library’s UK thesis service: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.261499
Dissertation/thesis number
U056153
ProQuest document ID
2005421168
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2005421168