Effective environmental education goes beyond raising environmental awareness and developing positive environmental values, to the encouragement of personal responsibility and action in response to contextual environmental issues in particular. The whole school approach has been advocated as the best approach to environmental education, based on the assumption that the values and attitudes espoused in the classroom need to be reflected in the day-to-day school practice. By practising what they teach, schools reinforce values with action. In contrast, inconsistencies between the formal and non-formal curriculum may lead young people to question the integrity of their teachers or condition them to accept such inconsistencies as cultural and social norms, which in turn may lead to apathy about the environment. Adjustments to the ethos of a school to foreground the environment, both within the curriculum , the management of the school and the behaviour of teachers, pupils and support staff, is not a straightforward undertaking. Institutional factors influence the change process in schools and each school presents a unique context. It is, therefore, difficult to develop a general strategy for the evolution of an environmental ethos. This case study narrates an attempt to implement a change towards an improved environmental focus in a school, and focuses on developing an understanding of how available resources can assist this process while engaging with complexity of change.

This study is based on the 1994 Revised National Policy on Education (Botswana Government, 1994) that introduced environmental education into the Botswana’s education system. The main goals of this study were to understand the genealogy of and to critically analyze governmentality associated with environmental education policy in Botswana. Drawing on a post-structural genealogical approach to the subject matter (following Foucault) global historical events and their influence on policy in Botswana, views on environmental education and interpretation, and power relations in environmental education policy discourses were investigated. An investigation was conducted through document analysis, interviews, focus group discussions and observations. The analysis revealed that power relations have historically transcended environmental education policy discourses from global, regional to national levels. The exercise of power through international bodies, and bilateral and multilateral agreements has impacted on Botswana enabling her to enact policies to address socio-ecological crises or regulating them to sustainably utilize natural resources. However, evidence has shown that although Botswana accepted and introduced environmental education, structures were not ready for its implementation and hence some contextual problems are experienced by teachers in schools. The Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) was constructed through a consultative process, but the final decision on what goes into the policy text was decided from the top (i.e. by the Ministry of Education senior officials). It emerged from this study that Botswana has inconsistently adopted sustainability and conservation-protection discourses in environmental education policy. The mix of the two discourses shows continuity of the protectionist-conservationist discourses and emergence of the current sustainable use discourse, creating a complex discourse environment. The study also revealed that in including these primarily western scientific discourses, other discourses were marginalized or excluded, which revealed continuity with colonial education discourses. The findings also revealed variance in the understanding of environmental education. The majority of the teachers understood and normalised new knowledge in environmental education as Environmental Science or Science, and equated environmental management activities with environmental education. Teachers deployed new governmentalities and normalizing strategies by following the traditional conservation and science epistemological and pedagogical discourses. They exercised various self-governing strategies to respond to the RNPE requirement regarding environmental education. The findings highlight the need for re-conceptualization of environmental education at macro(at Ministry of Education) and micro level. There is a need to harmonize the variation in policy interpretations and clarification of the conservation/environmental education and sustainability discourses running parallel in schools or to work more explicitly with multiple discourses. It has also emerged that teacher support mechanisms need review to enhance policy implementation. The study recommends that further and explicit analysis of environmental education discourses is critical for shaping the future of environmental education policy development and interpretation within Botswana’s education system.

The ideas contained in socially critical Environmental Education cannot be ignored given the current environmental crisis and the need to achieve democracy in South African society. In order to achieve this learners need to develop the skills to make informed decisions which will facilitate the achievement of a sustainable society. It is the contention of this research that a socially critical Environmental Education approach to education can facilitate the above. Teachers of formal secondary school Geography Education are in the position to implement socially critical Environmental Education into their teaching. This study therefore investigates the perspectives of student teachers regarding the role of Environmental Education in secondary school Geography Education. This was done within the Interpretative Paradigm using a case study which involved five Higher Diploma in Education Geography method students. The research has revealed that even though the Geography method students have been exposed to an Environmental Education course, in their teaching preparation and are motivated to use it, they have limited understanding of the theory underpinning Environmental Education and how to apply it to their Geography teaching. The problems of bridging theory and practice was apparent. Recommendations are made as how to best facilitate the gap between theory and practice.

Orientador: Marília Freitas de Campos Tozoni-Reis / Banca: Maria Isabel Gonçalves Correa Franco / Banca: Carlos Frederico Bernardo Loureiro / Banca: Maria de Lourdes Spazziani / Banca: Luciana Maria Lunardi Campos / Resumo: A inserção da Educação Ambiental (EA) no ambiente escolar, se considerarmos a históriada Educação Ambiental no Brasil, não é um tema recente nas agendas públicas dos governos. Não se tem identificado nas escolas a implementação concreta de ações com o propósito de incentivá-la e promovê-la, do modo como prevê a Política Nacional de Educação Ambiental (PNEA) de 1999. A preocupação está na relação entre a escola e a ES, mais especificamente com a forma, com o modo ou com que tipo de propósito ela vem sendo trabalhada neste ambiente, e mais, como vem ocorrendo a implantação de programas propostos pelas diferentes esferas de governo. Em 2004 o Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) e o Ministério da Educação (MEC), em parceria, propuseram a criação da Comissão de Meio Ambiente e Qualidade de Vida na Escola (COM-VIDA) e a realização da Agenda 21 Escolar, por meio do Programa "Vamos cuidar do Brasil com as escolas". No mesmo ano a Secretaria de Estado da Educação (SEE/SP) também apresentou uma proposta para o desenvolvimento de uma Agenda Ambiental Escolar, para auxiliar a inserir a temática ambiental no Projeto Pedagógico da Escola. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar escolas que trabalham com a proposta da Agenda 21 Escolar; investigar o quê e como elas realizam quando afirmam trabalhar com a proposta; revelar as dificuldades e as facilidades encontradas pelos educadores; e, além disso, problematizar a inserção curricular das políticas públicas de educação ambiental e analisar o papel destas políticas públicas na inserção da educação ambiental nas escolas públicas. Para tal, optou-se pela pesquisa qualitativa, delimitando como universo de pesquisa as escolas públias estaduais da cidade de Ourinhos/SP e região. A Diretoria de Ensino da Região de Ourinhos (DERO) encampa 31 escolar em 12 municípios. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi a entrevista semiestruturada realizada com... / Abstract: The Environmental Education's insertion in the school, if we consider the history of the Environmental Education in Brazil itself, does not costitute a recent topic in the governments public agendas. However, we haven't identified in the schools the concrete implementation of actions with the purpose of encouraging it an promoting it, a recommended by the Environmental Education National Policy (PNEA, 1999). In this case, the main concern is with the relationship between school and EE, more specifically with the form, the way or with which kind of purpose the EE has been done is this environment, even more, how the proposed programs by the different spheres of the government have been applied. In 2004, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of education proposed, in partnership, the creation of the Commitee for Environment and Quality of Life at School (COM-VIDA) and the implementation of Schoolar Agenda 21 through the Program "Let's Take Care of Brazil with schools". In the same year, the State Department of Education (SEE/SP) also submitted a proposal to the development of a School Environmental Agenda and to support the school staff to insert the environmental issue into the school Pedagogical Project. This study, therefore, aimed to identify the school Agenda 21; to investigate what they do it and how they accomplish it when they claim to work with this proposal; to reveal the difficulties and facilities faced by educators; and furthermore, to discuss the curricular inclusion of public environmental education policies and to analyze the role of these public policies in the insertion of environmental education in public schools. For that, we've elected the qualitative approach as our research method, outlining as the research universe the public shools of the city of Ourinhos/SP and region. The Direction of Education of the Region of Ourinhos (DERO) has 31 schools in 12 cities. The instrument for data collection was... / Doutor

This study is the first cycle of an action research project that focuses on the implementation of the Environmental Education Policy in Namibia. Perceptions of Namibian decision-makers were sought with regard to their understanding of the concepts ‘environment’ and ‘environmental education’, as well as to identify environmental problems and obstacles to the implementation of the Environmental Education Policy. The approach of coming up with options to address the identified problems/obstacles/constraints, was employed in this study. To this effect, interviews, a workshop, observations and reflections on the process of implementation resulted in a wealth of data. The findings shed light on possible solutions to address the identified problems and obstacles. The results revealed that community participation, skills development and the proper co-ordination of environmental education activities are imperative in addressing the obvious policy-practice gap. Decision-makers uncovered the fact that the socio-economic situation of our people necessitated pulling our resources together and working as a team. The overall perceptions are that the environment is everyone’s business and that we should zealously use it and carefully guard it, not only for ourselves but also, for the benefit of coming generations.

Growing awareness of the environmental risks associated with modernity has contributed to an increasing demand for information about the environment. Conservation and other environmental organisations receive many such requests for information. The research reported here was motivated first, by the view that these requests presented an opportunity for environmental education, and second, by a concern that this potential was not being realised. The research question was thus "How can environmental education be supported by optimally responding to requests for environmental information?" It is argued that social change is the raison d' etre of environmental education as a response to environmental risks. Further, it is proposed that this might be best achieved through an approach described here as socially critical environmental education. The study comprised an historical review of the Enviro Facts Project, a recent attempt to meet the need for environmental information; a questionnaire survey; interviews; and workshops. Results were collected from 115 questionnaire responses; 23 telephone interviews and nine face-to-face interviews; and six workshops. The research design was participative. It aimed to answer the research question through co-developing practical solutions with participants. Further, it endeavoured to be of practical relevance to those participants. Conclusions are drawn as to how the research question might be answered. Recommendations are made as follows. Responses to environmental information requests might best support socially critical environmental education through an approach characterised by: * a recognition of the importance of responding optimally to environmental information requests, as well as a recognition of existing structures and resource materials with which to respond; * the mobilisation of those structures and resource materials through, for example, the effective marketing and distribution of resource materials; informed and focused networking to make existing resources and capacities more accessible; and the effective use of libraries to provide environmental information; * the enhancement of the capacities of local sources of environmental information. The findings of this study could usefully inform both resource development in environmental education, and those who in their line of work respond to requests for environmental information.

This report is the culmination of a six year process during which emerged the need to establish a meeting or indaba place for the collaborative 'People and Parks' partnership of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service (NCS) in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park (HUP) and stake-holder communities adjacent to the Park. Comprising two parts which compliment each other, the report has been developed to inform, guide and advise the NCS in the planning and development of an education centre in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park. Part I documents the processes of engagement and interaction between the NCS in HUP and neighbouring communities during this period, which led to the need for an education centre, whilst placing and contextualizing the process within historical, socio-political and organisational processes. This is taken further with a description of the research process and an analytical narrative of four key programmes. Part I concludes with a summary of the outcomes of the planning process which shows how through local community input and partiCipation, and through networking with other EE practitioners, a conceptual development plan for the Mambeni Education Centre emerged. The second part of this report (Part 2) is the conceptual development plan which has emerged out of the processes described in Part 1. This plan constitutes practical guidelines for the NCS on how to develop and manage the Mambeni Education Centre. More specifically the plan provides ideas about: what type of centre it should be and where it should be located; who the stake-holders are, their educational neees and ideas for possible programmes; the physical and logistical requirements; managemynt and staffing structures and a detailed business plan. The report intends to draw the reader into understanding the complex social and environmental issues that the collaborative partnership of 'People and Parks' are engaging with, so that the Mambeni Environmental Education Centre can playa [more] meaningful and responsive role in contributing to processes of social transformation. In sharing this environmental education re(search) story which represents a unique approach to centre development, it is hoped that the notion of environmental education centres might be viewed by environmental educators through a different set of lenses. Through having the participants' views represented, I wish the report to reflect the richness of the research process.

This mini-thesis documents and analyses an action research project which I conducted with secohdary school teachers. The teachers wished to learn more about environmental education so that they could run their own programmes. I, on the other hand, wanted to improve environmental education programmes offered at the centre where I worked. I hoped that through encouraging teacher participation and involvement, I could begin a process through which the teachers themselves could contribute to, and be in greater control of, their own learning in environmental education. As an introduction to this mini-thesis, I provide some background information on the centre, and state the reasons for having embarked on this project. In addition, I outline the literature and various research findings pertinent to this study. For the purpose of this study, I have selected emancipatory action research as a mode of research, since I believe that emancipatory action research, which embodies processes of reflection and informed action, constitutes the possibility for authentic, emancipatory change in the practice of teachers. The bulk of this thesis, therefore, documents the first two cycles of the action research process and the experiences of those involved in the process. I also briefly comment on some of the claims of action research as a method for research. An important feature of this thesis is that it addresses the possibilities of and constraints to implementing education for the environment in the teachers' practices. The existence of the latter is acknowledged and discussed from my perspective and those of the participating teachers. The study, furthermore, documents teachers' understandings of environmental education, and how this determines the kind of environmental education activities in which they engage. In the final analysis, I argue that the education system we inherited from the apartheid regime has had the effect of producing passive, disempowered and highly demotivated teachers with extremely low levels of self confidence and assertiveness. Despite this fact, I have not only had the opportunity to wltness some positive attitudinal changes occurring in teachers as the study progressed; the project has also enhanced my own understanding of environmental education and the effect the apartheid education system had in shaping my own thoughts and life.

Environmental education plays an important role in the preservation and protection of biodiversity but also on the environment. It is for this purpose that the thesis aimed to assess the environmental knowledge and attitudes in school children in urban areas and those in rural areas in three regions of Senegal. This evaluation is focused on interviews with teachers and questionnaires administered to children. On the basis of 786 questionnaires collected in 19 schools including 7 in rural area (317 responding children) and 12 in urban areas (448 responding children), I found that children in rural area had higher environmental knowledge in comparison to those in urban areas, and it was also higher in boys than in girl with the same pattern in rural and urban areas. The level of environmental knowledge did not depend on the age of responding children. Concerning environmental attitudes, children expressed mostly similar attitudes in rural and urban areas and these were mostly negative towards environment. Regarding such results, it is recommendable to address the environmental issues through environmental education programs in order to get better knowledge and to build pro-environmental attitudes. The informal environmental education programs can provide opportunities for schools to improve their knowledge, interests, motivation and encouraged to adopt new attitudes towards the environment. The environmental education increases with theoretical and practical experience.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF BROOKE A LOPEMAN, for the Master of Science degree IN GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES, presented on JULY 6, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: CAMPUS RECYCLING - INFLUENCES AND DECISIONS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Matthew Therrell The purpose of this study is to assess the factors that most influence decision making in regards to environmental programming on a university campus. The results of this study serve as a guide for campus administration when implementing future environmental programs. At most universities there is a large population living on campus, this creates the opportunity to encourage pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors of a large population. College, for many students, is the first time away from their family home and a time they can develop new attitudes and behaviors. This allows campus administrators the opportunity to influence students at a time in which they are developing new habits. It is important for campus administration to understand the factors that influence students' participation in environmental programs and how to influence students' long term attitudes and behaviors toward environmental concerns. This study determined which factors most strongly influence students to participate in the recycling program within their residence halls. The roles and attitudes of University Housing Staff toward current environmental programs were also assessed. Improved understanding of student participation and administrator roles can help support future environmental efforts on campus. Interviews with administrators showed that while administration may have a reasonable understanding of the factors that influence students to participate in recycling programs; this understanding does not extend to the actual programs that are being implemented. Of the students surveyed in this research, 100% responded that they thought there are improvements that should be made to increase recycling on campus. The factors that should most influence administrators in environmental decisions on campus were explored with student opinions of the current programs. The recycling research completed shows that both convenience and pro-environmental education are important influences on students' decisions to participate in recycling programs within their residence halls. The research shows that recycling increased by 50% with the addition of both convenience and pro-environmental education. Based on the increase in the amount of recycling per person in this study, the addition of these two components throughout the residence halls at Southern Illinois University could result in approximately 3,750 pounds of waste reduction per semester. While convenience has been shown to have an influence on recycling, e.g. Jennings (2004), this study focuses on the influence of pro-environmental education as well. Education is an important component that many environmental programs on campus are lacking.