This study begins with a discussion of environmental education. Various definitions, aims
objectives and guiding principles for effective environmental education are included. The
term environmental literacy is introduced with its. defmitions and three levels of
environmental literacy (nominal, functional and operational). The study also provides an
overview of the definitions, aims, principles and goals of sustainable development. The
relationship between environmental education, environmental literacy, environmentally
responsible behaviour, and education for sustainability is outlined.
It appears that many teachers are not well informed about environmental concerns. Therefore,
in this study an attempt is made .to develop and standardize an instrument to measure the
level of environmental literacy of teachers, from both primary and high schools. Ten
concepts related to environmental literacy were developed. A questionnaire was developed
using these identified concepts. Content validity was established before the questionnaire
was presented to the teachers. An item analysis was carried out for each aspect of
environmental literacy as well as for the questionnaire as a whole. It was determined that the
questionnaire could be considered as both a reliable and valid instrument to measure the level
of environmental literacy of teachers.
An important fmding from this study is that there is a significant difference between
environmental literacy of teachers who received training in environmental education and
teachers who did not receive any training in environmental education. It was also found that
there is a significant difference between environmental literacy of teachers teaching in the
different learning areas.
The instrument developed for this study can be used as a baseline to improve the pre-service
and in-service training of teachers in environmental education. The study concludes with recommendations for teacher education and empowerment of local communities through
environmental education. Possible further research is also highlighted. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/16368 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Chacko, Charuvil Padeettathil Chacko |
| Contributors | Loubser, C. P., Swanepoel, C. H. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online (xxii, 311 leaves) |
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