Environmental education: developing a model for initial teacher education
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)
Pedagogy;
Environmental education;
Curricula
0456: Pedagogy
0442: Environmental education