The research questions were on the focus, methodologies and, gaps and silences in postgraduate research of Environmental Education during the period 1995 to 2004. EEPI - Environmental Education Policy Initiative ESD - Education for Sustainable Development GEAR - HEI Growth, Employment and Redistribution - Higher Education Institutions.
Postgraduate Environmental Education Research from
Background of the study 3
Context of the study 8
The report of this study can also provide information about the content of environmental education in the education system. What have been the trends in postgraduate research in environmental education (EE) from 1995 to 2004?
Rationale of the study 9
Focus and Purpose of the study 12
Problem statement and Research Questions 13
During this study, no publication was found which examines the content and methodologies used by postgraduate Environmental Education during the period 1995-2004. What has been the trend in postgraduate research in Environmental Education during the period 1995-2004 in terms of focus and methodology.
Conceptual and Theoretical Framework 15
Based on these theories, this study argues that postgraduate environmental education research could produce knowledge and use methods that would be useful in solving the environmental problems created by unequal resource access and marginalization in all dimensions of the environment. These arguments and assumptions led to the adoption of the research design for this study as discussed below.
Research Design 16
- Research Paradigm and Methodology 16
- Sampling 18
To summarize, the data in this study come from the 11 South African higher education institutions originally sampled by the PPER. Most of these eleven institutions did not conduct postgraduate research in environmental education (EE) in their teaching faculties during the study period.
Overview and outline of the thesis 19
They are then narrowed down to postgraduate Environmental Education research in relation to the research questions. The main focus areas of environmental education research and its gaps are also discussed in this chapter.
Introduction 22
Trends in environmental education are explored internationally and in South Africa to identify gaps and/or silences in this area of education. The policy context for environmental education and environmental education research internationally and in South Africa, particularly the policies that have shaped environmental education in that country.
Environmental issues in South Africa: a historical overview 23
- Native Land Act (1913) 26
- Game Reservation and environmental racism 27
- Poor living conditions, poverty and pollution 29
The available literature reviewed in this study shows that environmental policy in South Africa during the apartheid and pre-apartheid periods was more political than environmental policy. Black South Africans were relegated to the reserves that later became known as homelands under the apartheid government.
Environmental conceptualisation and education in relation to the environment in
- Education in relation to the environment in South Africa 32
- Changing environmental conceptions in South Africa 33
- RDP and GEAR: role in changing the environment and
The above discussions showed that conservation was the most important environmental problem of the former governments in South Africa. The following section therefore aims to reveal some trends in environmental education research both internationally and in South Africa.
A review of trends in environmental education research 36
- What has been researched and how 37
- Silences/Gaps in Environmental Education Research 40
For example, Jickling (2007) says that there have been some changes in the research direction of Environmental Education as a result of the intense debates that the field has undergone over the years. There have been conflicting reports by researchers regarding where environmental education research has focused and what researchers have left out.
The policy context 44
- International Environmental Education Policies 45
- Principles and Goals of Environmental Education 46
- South African Policies related to Environmental Education 49
For example, in 1989 the White Paper on Environmental Education proposed the integration of Environmental Education into formal education. This was the first attempt to include Environmental Education in formal education in South Africa (Le Grange, 2010).
Summary and Conclusion 57
This study will then determine whether postgraduate environmental education researchers took these into account when choosing their research topics and deciding on methods to use in their studies over the period 1995 to 2004. These policies and proposals have been highlighted here to indicate the initiatives that have been taken in South Africa in a quest to solve environmental problems through environmental education. In addition, the goals and principles of environmental education can be achieved through education, based on research.
Introduction 60
O'Donoghue's (1995) understanding of the environment as a multidimensional concept is also discussed in relation to this study's arguments. The theoretical framework of the study, including Homer-Dixon's (1994) Resource Capture and Ecological Marginalisation, is then discussed, indicating how it framed the understanding of the source of environmental and environmental problems in this country, which the study can argue be addressed by relevant research. Limoges; Schwartzman; & Trow (1996) are also discussed in relation to the arguments presented in this study.
Conceptual Framework 61
- Defining Environment and Environmentalism 61
- Defining Environmental Education 64
- Environmental Education Research 68
- Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) 69
- Transformation 71
Environmental education, which dominated environmental education in the 1960s, focuses on increasing the number of people. One of the roles of environmental education has always been to promote the sustainable use of resources (Gonzalez, 2007), hence the connection with the concept of education for sustainable development. The concept of "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD) arose from a perceived need to pay attention to the socio-economic and political dimensions of the environment, which were often neglected in favor of biophysical aspects in the conceptualization of environmental education.
Theoretical Frameworks 73
- Resource Capture and Ecological Marginalisation 74
- Knowledge Production 80
- Environmental Dimensions 83
Various Environmental Education policies have been developed during the period of transformation, which aim to address the inequalities of the past (section 2.5.2) as stated in these theories. Although these are mentioned earlier in this discussion, environmental dimensions are discussed in detail in the next section. The second research question interrogated the methodologies that were used during this period, also based on Mode 2 knowledge production propositions (Gibbons, ibid.), that these should have aimed to change the situations in which people found themselves. South Africa. in, due to resource capture and ecological marginalization.
Conclusion 86
Research Design and Methodology
Research Paradigm 89
The second research question relates to methodologies used in postgraduate Environmental Education research in the two institutions during the period 1995 to 2004. One of the issues identified in the review of postgraduate Environmental Education research from the two institutions was the exclusion of women . Sixth, this study only focused on the two institutions that delivered postgraduate Environmental Education research from the first phase of the PPER.
Research Design and Methodology 90
- Unobtrusive Documentary Research 91
- Research Approach 93
Sampling 95
- PPER Sampling 95
- Sampling: This Study 97
- Data Collection Process and Methods 98
- Negotiating Access to the institutions 98
It is for these reasons that the sample for this study was selected from the initial eleven PPER institutions. Red theses and dissertations from the two sampled institutions, with a focus on Environmental Education or Education for Sustainable Development, were selected for analysis. Ed and PhD theses and dissertations produced from the two HEIs during the period 1995 to 2004.
Data analysis 100
First, the chapter presents a quantitative analysis of research productivity in environmental education during the period 1995 to 2004 in the two sampled institutions. In this section, I discuss and reflect on the general trends in postgraduate research in environmental education in the eleven institutions mentioned above during the study period. Research into the integration of environmental education into all school subjects was also overlooked in the two institutions.
Trustworthiness in the study 104
Reflections on the research process 107
- Experiences with getting access to data 108
- Supervision models experienced 111
- Working with documents 113
- Being a novice researcher 113
This power dynamic turned out to have a lot to do with the identity of the researcher and the way of communicating that the researcher uses. My other experience negotiating access to data related to the issue of being an outsider in the institutions where I would collect data for the PPER. Supervision is seen as one of the most variable and important factors in the success of a research process and in the process of enculturation in a community of practice (Dysthe, Samara & Westrheim, 2006; Conrad, 2003).
Conclusion 114
For example, the concepts of 'quantitative' and 'qualitative' would be methodologies for some and approaches for others. As a novice researcher, I believed that concepts would be understood in the same way by all researchers in the same field. The final section of the chapter presented the ways in which I attempted to ensure the trustworthiness of this study.
Trends in Postgraduate Environmental Education Research
- Environmental Education research productivity in the two institutions 119
- Focus of research at UJ and RU: 1995-2004 122
- Research methodologies 134
Environmental education research thus made up only 2% of the theses and specials in the education from the 11 institutions. As can be seen from figure 5.2 below, only 3% of the total of 707 Master's theses and theses at UJ during the study period focused on environmental education research. 13 (56%) of the 23 environmental education studies in each of the two institutions dealt with curriculum issues.
Conclusion 137
The survey was also relatively more focused on the civil society sector (over 21%), mainly with the aim of identifying the perceptions, concerns, attitudes, positions or opinions of the members of different societies in the environmental field (education). However, there was a gap in research on economic issues such as job creation, and on political issues such as governance and legislation related to environmental education. With regard to the research methodologies used during the study period, one of the research questions of this study, there was a noticeable difference between the two institutions.
Introduction 140
Based on these arguments, I examined postgraduate (master's and doctoral) research in the field of environmental education in two higher education institutions: the University of Johannesburg and Rhodes University, during the period 1995–2004. The chapter begins by identifying some general trends in postgraduate research in environmental education across the eleven institutions that were part of the PPER's initial sample. I also present the implications of these findings for environmental education policy, environmental education practice, and future research.
Summary of findings 142
- Trends in postgraduate EE research in South African higher education institutions
- Dearth of research in Environmental Education 143
- Selective research foci 144
- Dominant Methodologies 147
Silences in postgraduate EE research at RU and UJ 148
Discussion 151
As such, in this study I argue that postgraduate research in environmental education can be transformational by producing useful knowledge for the solution of multi-dimensional environmental problems generated by resource capture and ecological marginalization in South Africa. The first question concerned the substantive focus of postgraduate research in environmental education in the two institutions, UJ and RU. The focus was based on the understanding that environmental education should be taught to school children.
Implications of the research findings 161
- Implications for Environmental Education policy 161
- Implications for Environmental Education Practice 162
- Implications for future research 163
Findings from this study suggest that Environmental Education can still be taught primarily at the school level. Therefore, research can produce knowledge on how this involvement of all categories of people in the practice of Environmental Education can be done. They should be an integral part of future research to ensure that Environmental Education is for sustainable development.
Conclusion 166
The study aimed to understand the focus of postgraduate Environmental Education research in these two institutions in relation to the content and methodologies used. UJ 1996 PhD Environmental Education offered by Delta Environmental center-a case study evaluating the program in. RU 1996 PhD Disjointed harmonies: A study in/on the development of social processes of Environmental Education in south east Africa.
