Chapter 1: Postgraduate Environmental Education Research from
2.5 The policy context 44
2.5.1 International Environmental Education Policies 45
In the 1960s an awareness of the human impact on natural environmental systems and the role that education could play in reversing such environmental destruction came to light (Le Grange & Reddy, 2007). Scientific and ecological problems such as land, air and water pollution; deforestation and desertification were increasing and a need for intervention (in the form of education) was realised. Following the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) organized an International Workshop on Environmental Education in Belgrade in 1975. This was a response to the task that was given to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) by the conference delegates to establish the term ―Environmental Education‖ as an ―international norm and the conceptual framework within which further development could take place‖ (Irwin &
Lotz-Sisitka, 2005, p. 40).
Irwin & Lotz-Sisitka further state that two years later (1977), the first Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education was held in Tbilisi, USSR. It was from these conferences that recommendations for the international application of Environmental Education were prepared. In particular, this section will highlight the principles and goals of Environmental Education as were set in the Tbilisi Conference in 1977 and illustrate how these principles have shaped the Environmental Education curriculum over the years.
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2.5.1.1 Principles and goals of Environmental Education
Braus (1995, p. 46) states three major goals of Environmental Education that were developed by the delegates in the Tbilisi Conference (1977):
To foster a clear awareness of and concern about economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment, and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
and
To create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups, and society as a whole towards the environment.
As much as the achievement of these goals would be physically witnessed, for example through the changing behaviours towards the environment, it can still be argued that Environmental Education research would be an important tool for the production of knowledge production on the ways of ensuring the achievement of these goals. Research would also provide information on what different nations of the world do to address their environmental problems and therefore to achieve these goals. This knowledge could be used, in a comparative manner, to inform the environmental practices of different parts of the world. For example, in a country like South Africa I believe that research would produce knowledge on how the new patterns of behaviour by different population groups could be made positive, based on the third Environmental Education goal mentioned above.
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It can be mentioned that these Environmental Education goals also show an understanding of the need for it to include all environmental dimensions than the original biophysical focus. This might have been based on the realization that these environmental dimensions are interdependent and therefore problems in one of them affect and cause problems in all.
This interdependence in Environmental Education dimensions is also clear in the Environmental Education principles which, according to the declaration of the conference, would be the guide for effective Environmental Education (Irwin & Lotz- Sisitka, 2005, p. 41). According to the Environmental Education principles Environmental Education should:
consider the environment in its totality—natural and built, technological and social (economic, political, cultural-historical, ethical, esthetic);
be a continuous lifelong process, beginning at the preschool level and continuing through all formal and non-formal stages;
be interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing on the specific content of each discipline in making possible a holistic and balanced perspective;
examine major environmental issues from local, national, regional, and international points of view so that students receive insights into environmental conditions in other geographical areas;
focus on current and potential environmental situations while taking into account the historical perspective;
promote the value and necessity of local, national, and international cooperation in the prevention and solution of environmental problems;
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explicitly consider environmental aspects in plans for development and growth;
enable learners to have a role in planning their learning experiences and provide an opportunity for making decisions and accepting their consequences;
relate environmental sensitivity, knowledge, problem-solving skills, and values clarification to every age, but with special emphasis on environmental sensitivity to the learner's own community in early years;
help learners discover the symptoms and real causes of environmental problems;
emphasize the complexity of environmental problems and thus the need to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
utilise diverse learning environments and a broad array of educational approaches to teaching and learning about and from the environment with due stress on practical activities and first-hand experience.
The fraternity of Environmental Educators and researchers globally has accepted these and based their own Environmental Education strategies and principles on them.
Another international initiative concerning environment (and Environmental Education) is AGENDA 21 of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which according to Irwin & Lotz-Sisitka (2005) encourages Environmental Education programmes so that teachers and learners are involved in promoting sustainable development. ―Since 1992 the field of environmental education has been widely influenced by the notion of sustainable development, with many educators (and researchers) advocating that environmental
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education should, in fact, be focused primarily on achieving the goals of sustainable development‖ (Irwin & Lotz-Sistka, 2005, p. 42-43). If postgraduate Environmental Education researchers were influenced by the goals of AGENDA 21, what do the researched issues reveal in term of researchers‘ understanding of sustainable development? Does research indicate the acknowledgement of interrelationship between biophysical, social, political and economic environmental aspects with regards to sustainable development? This study intends to determine the extent (if any) to which these international goals and principles of Environmental Education have been considered in the selected South African institutions.