Chapter 1: Postgraduate Environmental Education Research from
2.4 A review of trends in environmental education research 36
2.4.2 Silences/Gaps in Environmental Education Research 40
As discussed above, since the 1990s there has been a growing understanding of the broad nature of the environment, from seeing it only in nature conservation and ecological terms. The scope of Environmental Education and Environmental Education research therefore has extended to other environmental aspects, in addition to nature conservation which it has been mainly about before. There have been contradicting reports by researchers with regards to where Environmental Education research has focused on and what has been left out by researchers. For example, Rickinson (2003) states that there has been claims that Environmental Education theory and research ignored children who happen to be the major role players in education. The importance of children in research is shown in the following passage by Beecham, 2001 (cited by Tanzanian Research and Analysis Working Group, 2008, p 2):
Children are already participating in society as active members, not just citizens in waiting - eager for the day they turn 18. They are often assumed to be passive recipients of basic social services, particularly health and education, but in practice sometimes make their own decisions about whether they use such services. They are subject to the state of the environment in the communities in which they live, and they are also decision makers and economic actors often contributing vitally to household income and well-being. Hence understanding
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their perspectives and priorities is beneficial to trying to improve the lives of households and communities, and the quality of programmes and policies.
If they have been ignored therefore (as stated by Rickinson above) their contribution towards addressing environmental problems would be missed.
Braus (1995) on the other hand states that Environmental Education (and research) has been selectively targeting younger learners in some countries, ignoring other segments of the population. This trend misses other important ―audiences, including business leaders, urban poor, senior citizens, the general public, policy makers, and parents‖ (Braus, 1995, p. 48), people who also need to make informed decisions to deal with environmental problems now and avoid the development of future ones. Gangloff (2007) for instance, mentions researchers such as Khan (2002); Kellert & Khan (2002); Pyle (2002); Rivkin (2000); Kuo, Bacaicoa and Sullivan (1998) some of whom have been concerned with the diminishing children‘s access to nature. This narrow focus is attributed to the lack of:
materials, organizational support, training in how to reach new audiences and training on how to take cultural, ethnic, and economic diversity into account (Braus, 1995). What these contradicting reports imply is that priorities for research focus differ in different parts of the world and possibly also different areas of the same country, which makes it important for research to be reviewed to identify possible regional, national and international gaps.
Research priorities may rely on power of persuasion by certain parties with their particular interests at the expense of the real social, ecological, economic, political or
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cultural needs. Gough (1999), for example, states that many Environmental Education researchers tend to present their research as empirical-analytic research in order to have it accepted for publication. In this case the selection of research methods is based on publication demands even if another method would better address the problem at hand.
Also and besides the important role that women and children have played in shaping the history of South African environment, Gough & Gough (2004) report that themes such as human rights, as broadly including gender equality, overcoming poverty, and cultural diversity, have not been the traditional foci for most Environmental Education researchers. In other words, their statement confirms that the environmental knowledge that poor, mainly black, women have or do not have about interacting with the environment to sustain their livelihood has not been much interrogated in Environmental Education research (Derman 1993, cited in Hallowes, 1993). Issues of gender equity, according to Gough & Gough (2004) need to form part of Environmental Education research priorities, especially with the disadvantages and discriminatory practices that children and women have undergone in the past. Thus this study intends to determine if these gender issues have been acknowledged as part of other priorities in environmental education research during the study period in South Africa.
On research methods, Birdsall et. al (2007, p. 1), state:
Scholars think of themselves as having ―inside knowledge‖ or being ―inside‖
knowledge. The state of being inside knowledge can be interpreted as a comfort
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zone or privileged position, or on the other hand, a trap excluding other ways of knowing.
This may indicate that researchers rely on certain methods which they believe are the best to produce knowledge and ignore others. For example, Westmarland (2001) indicates the criticism, by feminist researchers that quantitative positivistic methods ignore and exclude women in research and add women knowledge to male knowledge, making the findings from research on men to be also generalised to women. This is the trend that would miss the fact that women may have different environmental experiences compared to men and their skills and knowledge may also be different - which would then mean they need a special research focus or attention in some issues.
Referring to different publications in Environmental Education and Environmental Education research, Agyeman, 2003, states that creative things are beginning to happen which reflect the racial and cultural variation in Environmental Education in terms of curriculum content, pedagogy, and practice, which make the field more responsive to the needs of diverse populations. However:
The same cannot be said in terms of research methodologies within mainstream environmental education… there seems to have been very little in the way of development of new research genres specifically aimed at understanding, characterizing and supporting racial and/or cultural diversity within much of mainstream environmental education (Agyeman, 2003, p. 81).
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Although Agyerman‘s statement here refers to the USA situation it applies also to South African contexts which have the kind of environmental history discussed earlier in this chapter. There seems to be limited, if any, research aimed particularly at balancing the different cultural, class and racial responses to the environment as were created by the history of this country. This review of the researched issues and gaps in Environmental Education shows a limited effort towards informing Environmental Education to address the environmental disparities and inequities as the causes of environmental problems in this country. It is hoped therefore that the review of postgraduate Environmental Education research, on which this study is focused, will reveal a different trend in this regard.
The next section addresses policies on which Environmental Education has been based over the years both internationally and locally.