ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN
THE 21ST CENTURY
Environmental education is a field characterised by a paradox: whilst few
would doubt the urgency and importance of learning to live in sustainable
ways, environmental education holds nowhere near the priority position in
formal schooling around the world that this would suggest. This book seeks to
unravel some of the causes and tensions involved in this situation.
The text explores the complexities of environmental education; explains
what is actually happening in this field at the close of the twentieth century;
and considers aspects of environmental education’s priorities and potential as
we enter the twenty-first. It contains a wealth of references and source
material, and an outline of the core ideas of all the major global initiatives and
documents that have influenced the progress of environmental education.
The reader is provided with a wide-ranging overview of thinking and writing
that has been of influence, a guideline framework for planning, a summary of
priorities for action, case studies of good practice, and up-to-date accounts of
the ‘state of the world’ in environmental education in the late 1990s.
Joy A.Palmer is Reader in Education, Director of the Centre for Research on
Environmental Thinking and Awareness, and Chair of the Environmental Policy
Committee at the University of Durham.
ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION IN THE
21ST CENTURY
Theory, practice, progress and promise
Joy A.Palmer
London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1998 Joy A.Palmer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Palmer, Joy A.
Environmental education in the 21st century: theory, practice,
progress and promise/Joy A.Palmer.
p. cm.
1. Environmental education. 2. Environmental sciences—Study and
teaching. I. Title.
GE70.P33 1997
363.7’0071–dc21
97–15814
CIP
ISBN 0-203-01265-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-20541-3 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-13196-0 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-13197-9 (pbk)
CONTENTS
Figures
Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Key to acronyms
vii
viii
ix
xiii
xiv
Part I
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION
Journey to the present day
Review and prospects
3
3
24
Part II
THE GLOBAL AGENDA
The issues
Development and the environment
Problem impacts and causes: Inter-dependence and priority solutions
Progress towards sustainable development
Education: A priority solution
35
35
53
55
60
77
Part III
PERSPECTIVES ON THEORY AND RESEARCH IN
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Sustainable development: A political minefield
Pathways to environmental improvement
Educational practice: The rhetoric—reality gap
Trends in environmental education research
v
83
83
93
96
102
CONTENTS
Part IV
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: STRUCTURE AND
PRACTICE
Does environmental education matter?
Structural elements
Integrated model for structuring environmental education
A question of emphasis: Integrated model or distinct visions?
The model in practice
131
131
135
143
146
148
Part V
THE GLOBAL SCENE
169
Part VI
TOWARDS PROGRESS AND PROMISE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Radical rethinking
Small steps to success
Model for environmental education: Towards progress and promise in the
Twenty-first century
Index
233
233
240
266
280
vi
FIGURES
1.1 Environmental education: key events on a development timeline
6
1.2 Key trends in environmental education
23
1.3 Map of the development of different aspects or emphases of
environmental education
27
3.1 Global warming: related core concepts identified and understood by
subjects
113
4.1 Inter-related components of environmental education
144
4.2 Model for teaching and learning in environmental education:
components of the planning task (1)
145
6.1 Model for teaching and learning in environmental education:
components of the planning task (2)
269
6.2 Model for teaching and learning in environmental education:
complete planning framework (1)
270
6.3 Model for teaching and learning in environmental education:
complete planning framework (2)
272
vii
TABLES
3.1 Contemporary trends in environmentalism
3.2 Three-fold classification of environmentalism
3.3 Two modes of sustainability
4.1 Significant life experiences: categories of response
4.2 Subjects’ assessment of the influence of education courses on
environmental responsibility
4.3 Three images of environmental education
6.1 Subjects’ assessment of the influence of personal (spiritual/aesthetic)
experiences in or with nature on environmental responsibility
6.2 Subjects’ assessment of the influence of television on environmental
responsibility
viii
89
90
92
132
134
147
243
244
PREFACE
This is not a recipe book. If readers are hoping to find here the ultimate answers
and practical tips for the successful implementation of environmental
education, they will be disappointed. Perhaps this is because there are no
definitive answers and foolproof tips. Environmental education is a relatively
young, dynamic and immensely complex field for study and interpretation.
Indeed, it concerns itself with teaching and learning relating to complex issues
that at times themselves defy human understanding. It is a field characterised by
a paradox: Few would doubt the urgency and importance of learning to live in
sustainable ways…of conserving the world’s natural resources…and of taking
care of the Earth today so that future generations may not only meet their own
needs, but also enjoy life on our planet. Yet environmental education holds
nowhere near the priority position in formal education programmes around the
world that this scenario suggests should be the case. It seems that it constantly
has to ‘engage in battle’ with the intricacies and demands of ‘education’ in
general rather than be a core element of it.
This text attempts to unravel some of the causes of and tensions involved in
this paradoxical situation; to explore the complexities of the subject matter of
the field; to explain what is actually happening in the world of environmental
education at the close of the twentieth century; and to consider aspects of the
field’s priorities and potential as we enter the twenty-first.
The book is divided into six parts. The first presents a concise history of the
development of environmental education from an international perspective.
Landmark events, conferences, publications, definitions and key concepts are
introduced in the hope that readers may direct attention to critical review,
interpretation, refinement, implementation and development of already
established ideas, rather than to re-inventing them. This section also serves as
important background information for understanding and evaluating the
effectiveness of environmental education today.
Part II provides a succinct and comprehensive overview of ‘the global
agenda’ or the subject knowledge of environmental education. Each of the
major issues affecting our planet today is outlined, including ‘development
and environment’; and an analysis follows of key environmental problem
ix
PREFACE
impacts and causes, and priority solutions. This account provides a valuable
introduction to the issues themselves, to their complexities, inter-relationships
and interdependence. The part reviews key global initiatives that have led to
progress in achieving sustainable development—e.g. the World Conservation
Strategy, the World Commission on Environment and Development, the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development—and their
priority messages for education.
In Part III, perspectives on theory and research in environmental education
are introduced and discussed. Core ideas presented include differences of
understanding of, and dilemmas associated with, the concepts of sustainability
and sustainable development, typologies and approaches to environmentalism,
the gap that exists between the rhetoric and reality of environmental education,
proposed solutions to this gap, and trends in environmental education research.
This part ‘bridges the gap’ between theoretical and practical perspectives of
the text. It provides an overview of important theoretical issues and viewpoints,
and introduces the two levels at which progress may be made in terms of
increasing the effectiveness of environmental education in the ‘macro’ level of
radical rethinking and paradigm shift, and the less radical level of small-scale
steps to improvement within existing frameworks and paradigms for education.
Part IV moves very much more into the realm of educational practice, and
considers the current effectiveness of formal programmes of environmental
education, and the various ‘structural components’ of it that should be
considered when planning programmes. An integrated model for structuring
environmental education is presented, and various case studies illuminate
aspects of this model in practice.
In the fifth part, attention turns to what is actually happening in
environmental education in the world today. Invited contributors, all experts
in the field, present a summary of developments in their own countries,
including views on progress, potential and prospects. These contributions
make fascinating reading and open numerous avenues for debate on, for
example, whether progress appears to be ‘even’ around the world, whether
priorities in developing and developed countries are the same, the
organisational and structural differences between countries, whether the
‘rhetoric-reality gap’ is a world-wide phenomenon, and so on.
Finally, in Part VI, the text returns to the core questions of how progress can
be made, and how environmental education can be encouraged to maximise
its potential in the twenty-first century. Steps to success are described,
including taking on board concern for the content of programmes, concern for
professional development and concern for those significant life experiences,
formative influences and informal sources of environmental education that no
formal programmes should ignore. Indeed it is concluded that only by
combining formal programmes with the promotion of other significant
experiences in people’s lives and their informal engagement with the
environment, can any real progress be made.
x
PREFACE
Whilst containing no instant recipes for success, the volume as a whole is
intended to be thought-provoking and, above all, practically useful. It contains a
wealth of references and source material, and an outline of the core ideas or
‘essence’ of all of the major global initiatives and documents that have
influenced the progress of environmental education. References are also made
to a wide range of papers and studies by individual authors and researchers in
the field—providing the reader with a wide-ranging overview of thinking and
writing that has been of influence. The usefulness of the text is also reflected in its
guideline framework, or ‘model’ for planning (published here in its revised form
for the first time), its summary of priorities for action, its wide-ranging case
studies; and up-to-date accounts of the ‘state of the world’ in environmental
education in the late 1990s.
Perhaps never before has so much material been brought together in one
volume on the theme of environmental education. Inevitably, then, many
aspects are given rather brief attention; but that is by design. For those wishing
to pursue matters in greater depth, it may be regarded as a source book. The text
as it stands aims to demonstrate how so many complex variables (background
history, content, concepts, ideologies, theories, research, practical constraints,
and so on) have come together to shape the field of environmental education as
it exists today—and to steer it into the new century. There is ample opportunity
to debate the direction in which it should be steered.
xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author’s international research project Emergent Environmentalism is
referred to on various occasions in the text. This is funded primarily by the
Economic and Social Research Council in the UK, with related grants from the
European Commission, the British Council in Slovenia and the British Council
in Greece.
Sincere thanks are due to the authors of the statements on developments in
environmental education in various locations contained within Part V and of
the case studies described within Parts IV and VI—their biographical details
are incorporated in the text in the appropriate places; also to Ian Robottom
and Paul Hart for permission to include Table 4.2; and to Susan Metcalf, Tom
Taylor and other colleagues in the School of Education at the University of
Durham for their meticulous work in preparing the manuscript and its figures
for publication.
Finally, I am extremely grateful to David Cooper and Chris Oulton for their
helpful comments on various drafts of Figures 6.1 and 6.2 and to Neil Fletcher
for the design of Figure 6.3.
xiii
KEY TO ACRONYMS
CEC
CEE
DES
DfEE
ENSI
FAO
HMI
ICCE
IEEP
IUCN
Council of the European Community
Council for Environmental Education (UK)
Department of Education and Science
Department for Education and Employment
Environment and School Initiative Project (of OECD)
(United Nations) Food and Agriculture Organisation
Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools (in Britain)
International Centre for Conservation Education
International Environmental Education Programme
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources (The World Conservation Union)
JEE
Journal of Environmental Education (USA)
NAAEE North American Association for Environmental Education
NAEE
National Association for Environmental Education (UK)
NCC
National Curriculum Council
NFER
National Foundation for Educational Research
NGO
Non-governmental Organisation
OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OFSTED Office of Standards in Education (replaced HMI as official body for
undertaking schools’ inspection in Britain)
SCAA
School Curriculum and Assessment Authority
UNCED The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development: The Earth Summit
UNEP
United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
WCED
World Commission on Environment and Development
WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature (World Wildlife Fund)
xiv
Part I
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
OF ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION
JOURNEY TO THE PRESENT DAY
Re-inventing the wheel?
Does it really matter when the two words ‘environment’ and ‘education’ were
first used in conjunction with each other? Indeed, does it matter at all whether
the term ‘environmental education’ has been in common or casual use in
educational circles for one, two, three or several more decades? Surely the
critical matter that should concern us as a new century unfolds is what is going
on now to educate the world’s citizens about our relationship with Planet
Earth. Of course it is; yet I would argue strongly for three reasons that an
overview of the history and development of the field is relevant and important
in a text of this kind. Firstly, it is necessary to dispel the illusion held in the
minds of some contemporary educators, that environmental education is new;
a product of out growing concern for the environment, born out of recent
curriculum initiatives. On the contrary, the environmental education
movement around the globe has evolved over many years. Secondly, I believe
that we owe it to the pioneers of the past: those with such great educational
and environmental vision, whose efforts resulted in the landmark events, the
conferences, publications, definitions, concepts, curricula, and case studies of
good ptactice that are documented on the pages which follow. Thirdly, it is
hoped that this book will go some way towards helping the prevention of reinventing wheels. On my travels around the world I have many times
encountered the frustration of discovering dedicated groups of people
spending a great deal of valuable time devising aims, objectives and guidelines
for environmental education. Worthy as the outcomes of their strenuous
efforts may be, they often do little more than replicate the products of previous
workshops, conferences and publications. It is my hope that by including a
description and, where appropriate, the text of some of the world’s landmark
publications on the subject, then readers may direct their energy to refinement,
criticism, implementation and development of the ideas they contain, rather
than to re-invention of their core content.
3
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
So, where and when did it all begin? Whilst the words ‘environment’ and
‘education’ do not appear to have been used in conjunction with each other until
the mid-1960s, the evolution of environmental education has incorporated the
significant influence of some of the ‘great’ eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
thinkers, writers and educators, notably Goethe, Rousseau, Humboldt,
Haeckel, Froebel, Dewey and Montessori. While such influential pioneers
clearly contributed to environmental thought and practice, many writers (e.g.
Sterling, 1992) attribute the ‘founding’ of environmental education in the UK to
a Scottish Professor of Botany and an originator of town and country
planning—Sir Patrick Geddes (1854–1933). He is regarded by many as being
the first to make that all important link between the quality of the environment
and the quality of education. Geddes pioneered instructional methods which
brought learners into direct contact with their environment. In 1892, he opened
an Outlook Tower in Edinburgh, which can still be seen today as the original
‘field’ studies centre. Here, he developed the methods of ‘Civic and Regional
Surveying’, with its innovative ideas and field survey methods.
These approaches, and his concern for education of the whole person
anticipated and set the foundation for modern environmental
education. Geddes’ ideas were disseminated through the Le Ploy society,
to which many teachers and teacher trainers belonged in the second
quarter of the century.
(Sterling, 1992)
Whilst Geddes developed studies in an urban location, the nature studies
movement gained momentum in its growth out of the Victorian era’s
preoccupation with the natural world and its life. In 1902, the School Nature
Study Union was founded, and by the 1940s this area of study had broadened
into rural studies, with the founding of a number of local associations of rural
studies teachers. It was from this rural studies movement that the term
‘environmental studies’ evolved. Indeed the present day National Association
for Environmental Education in the UK (NAEE as from 1970) developed from
a National Rural Environmental Studies Association formed in 1960, which
became the National Rural and Environmental Studies Association, and then
the NAEE. By the mid-1940s, the term ‘environmental studies’ was well in use,
largely consisting of a mixture of teaching elements of geography, history and
local nature study. The term and practice of ‘field studies’ also increased in
popularity around this time. The teaching of history, geography and biology in
the field was well enhanced by the establishment of the Council for the
Promotion of Field Studies in 1943 (now the Field Studies Council) and the
opening of the first residential field study centre in the UK at Flatford Mill,
Suffolk, in 1946. The establishment of the Nature Conservancy in 1949 was
also significant for the ongoing development of environmental teaching.
The first recorded use of the term ‘environmental education’ in Britain may
be traced to a conference held in 1965 at Keele University, Staffordshire, with the
4
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
purpose of investigating conservation of the countryside and its implications for
education. This conference was significant for the UK in that it marked the first
occasion where educationists and conservationists came together, and led to the
establishment of the Council for Environmental Education (CEE), which first
met in July 1968 (CEE, 1970). The CEE was founded as a focus for
organisations involved or concerned with environmental education, having
three broad goals:
Development: CEE aims to facilitate the development of the theory and
practice of environmental education.
Promotion: CEE aims to promote the concept of environmental education and
facilitate its application in all spheres of education.
Review: CEE aims to monitor the progress of environmental education and
assess its effectiveness.
Whilst the first attributed use of the term ‘environmental education’ in the UK
was at the 1965 Keele Conference, internationally it is claimed (Disinger, 1983)
that it was first used in Paris, in 1948, by Thomas Pritchard at a meeting of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN); whilst Wheeler (1985) suggests that the term first appeared in the
book Communitas by Paul and Percival Goodman, published in 1947.
Formulation of a definition
After acknowledgement of the term, organisations concerned with the
development of environmental education moved towards defining its meaning
and promoting its legitimacy. Key events on the development timeline,
discussed below, are summarised in Figure 1.1. The IUCN was to, and indeed
still does, play a critical role in this process. The IUCN, otherwise known as
the World Conservation Union, was established in 1949 as a major
international union of both government and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) concerned with conservation. As early as September 1965, a meeting
of IUCN’s Education Commission’s North West Europe Committee called for
‘environmental education in schools, in higher education, and in training for
the land-linked professions’ (Wheeler, 1985).
In 1968, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) organised a Biosphere Conference in Paris, and in a
later report on the event IUCN declared that ‘perhaps for the first time, world
awareness of environmental education was fully evidenced’ (IUCN, 1971). The
1968 UNESCO Conference called for the development of curriculum materials
relating to studying the environment for all levels of education, the promotion
of technical training, and the stimulation of global awareness of environmental
problems. It also advocated the setting up of national co-ordinating bodies
for environmental education around the globe. The UK was at the forefront of
5
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
Figure 1.1 Environmental education: key events on a development timeline
this initiative with its founding of the CEE as an umbrella body to co-ordinate
environmental education initiatives at all levels and in all sectors of society.
Probably the greatest landmark in the history of attempting to define the term
‘environmental education’ was an IUCN/UNESCO ‘International Working
Meeting on Environmental Education in the School Curriculum’ held in 1970 at
the Foresta Institute, Carson City, Nevada, USA. There an influential and what
6
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
might be described as the ‘classic’ definition of environmental education was
formulated and adopted:
Environmental education is the process of recognising values and
clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to
understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture,
and his biophysical surroundings. Environmental education also entails
practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behaviour
about issues concerning environmental quality.
(IUCN, 1970)
IUCN continued to promote this definition and its meaning around the world.
A series of conferences and workshops on environmental education was set
up, including meetings in the UK, India, The Netherlands, Canada, Kenya and
Argentina. The IUCN ‘Nevada definition was adopted by the National
Association for Environmental Education in Britain. In that same year (1970)
an Environmental Education Act passed in the USA gave a welcome stimulus
to the promotion of environmental awareness there.
Milestones of the 1970s—Stockholm, Belgrade and Tbilisi
The support of key international institutions continued to raise the profile of
environmental education during the 1970s, leading to a great deal of common
understanding of the aims, objectives and approaches to the subject. Principle
19 of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in
Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972 declared that:
education in environmental matters for the younger generation as well
as adults…giving due consideration for the underprivileged is essential.
A key recommendation of this first world meeting on the state of the environment
endorsed the need for environmental education, thus greatly enhancing its
international status and perceived importance. This Stockholm Conference
reflected the rapidly growing global interest in and concern for the environment
of the 1970s. It led to the establishment in 1975 of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), which together with UNESCO founded the
UNESCO/UNEP International Environmental Education Programme in 1975.
The IEEP was launched at an International Workshop on Environmental
Education held in Belgrade by UNESCO/UNEP. IEEP produced the first intergovernmental statement on environmental education. It listed the aims,
objectives, key concepts and guiding principles of it in a document prepared at
the meeting known as ‘The Belgrade Charter—A Global Framework for
Environmental Education’. The brief but comprehensive set of objectives for
environmental education prepared at Belgrade are summarised as follows:
1 To foster clear awareness of and concern about economic, social,
political, and ecological inter-dependence in urban and rural areas;
7
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
2 To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge,
values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve
the environment;
3 To create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and
society as a whole towards the environment.
(UNESCO, 1975)
A key feature of the Belgrade event is that whilst it was attended by educationists, it was planned to hold a follow-up conference with the crucial involvement
of politicians. Thus it was hoped that recommendations would be:
translated into policy at national levels in those countries where environmental education is not yet integrated into development strategies.
(Tolba, 1977)
Belgrade also saw the launch of Connect, the UNESCO/UNEP international
periodical on environmental education.
The plan to involve government representatives in environmental education
policy and debate came to fruition at a milestone event held in Tbilisi, Georgia,
USSR in October 1977. This was the UNESCO First Inter-governmental
Conference on Environmental Education, attended by official government
delegations of 66 UNESCO member states together with representatives of
numerous NGOs. The Conference prepared recommendations for the wider
application of environmental education in formal and non-formal education.
Its Final Report contains a Declaration—largely based on the principles
outlined at the Belgrade Conference. This established a framework for an
international consensus which without doubt has been the seminal influence
on the development of environmental education policies around the globe.
Indeed, the Tbilisi event and the subsequent publications based on it continue
to provide the blueprint for the development of environmental education in
many countries of the world today.
Such is the historic significance of the Tbilisi Conference that there follows
an extract from the Introduction to the Papers prepared as part of the UK
delegations contribution to the event. Following this extract is a set of
statements based on the Conference’s Recommendation 2, which may be
regarded as guiding principles of environmental education, and the ‘Three
Goals’ of environmental education as agreed at Tbilisi.
Environmental education in the UK: extract from Introduction to Papers prepared
as part of the UK delegations contribution to the UNESCO inter-governmental
conference, Tbilisi, 1977
While a science-based and inter-disciplinary approach to environmental
education is the first consideration of many, there are also important
initiatives from the side of the humanities and from the full spectrum of
8
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
individual subjects. A report of the Council for Environmental Education
sums up the situation like this: ‘As an educational approach it (environmental education) can permeate a range of disciplines, both traditional and
new, as well as form the mainspring of many integrated courses. With its
methodology firmly inter-related it can impart the balanced understanding
of, and active concern for, the whole environment which alone can enable
man to plan and realise a world fit to live in.’ Environmental education is
regarded as the embodiment of a philosophy which should be pervasive,
rather than a ‘subject’ which might be separately identified.
An important review was provided by the report Environmental
Education published by the Scottish Education Department in 1974.
Some of its recommendations, quoted here in adapted form, are:
1a Both formal and informal education should use the local and distant
environments to provide knowledge, training in appropriate skills,
and first hand experience;
b pupils and young people should be introduced to environmental
concepts and values, given practice in decision-making and afforded
opportunities for personal involvement;
c
pupils and young people should be trained to assess critically the
many views being expressed today on current environmental issues;
2a environmental education should permeate the whole curriculum
both inside and outside the school;
b every school should have adequate arrangements for planning and
implementing a programme of environmental education;
c
to make environmental education a separate subject is neither
desirable nor possible;
d the programme of environmental education begun in primary school
and pursued into secondary school should continue into informal
education and later life; and
e
efforts should be made to co-ordinate the total programme of
environmental education.
Examination of the processes which take place in the practice of formal
environmental education in the UK reveals a complexity of teaching
strategies falling into three overlapping categories. These are:
1 The use of the environment as a medium for education. The environment is used as a source of stimulation for realistic activities in
language, mathematics, science, art and the humanities and with the
development of skills and abilities as an important purpose. This is
known as ‘environmental studies’.
9
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
2 The use of the environment as a subject for investigation. Here the
educational objectives are essentially cognitive, and may be achieved
through science, geography, history and other subjects; or through a
specifically ‘non-fragmented’ approach such as is analytically treated
in Environmental Education—A Statement of Aims, published in
1976 by the National Association for Environmental Education. This
document identifies operational objectives under chosen headings as a
guide to syllabus construction.
3 The conservation and improvement of the environment as a goal of
education. This is concerned above all with values and attitudes. The
Scottish Report referred to concludes: ‘The ultimate aims of
environmental education are the creation of responsible attitudes and
the development of an environmental ethic.’ This echoes, How Do
You Want To Live?, published in 1972 by the Department of the
Environment. ‘It is essential to realise’, it is stated, ‘that the world of
the human habitat is not just a world of objects; it is a world of values.
The moral purpose of environmental education is to enable the citizen
to understand these values, to criticise them and where necessary to
change them.’
It is only within the last ten years that the term ‘environmental education’
has come into general use. It would be surprising if so youthful a
movement were not characterised by uncertainties and diversions; but a
significant re-orientation of educational objectives does seem to be taking
place. The fact that such a variety of approaches exists is a reflection of the
opportunities there are for innovation, and the number of viewpoints
seeking expression. There is a need to devise more intellectually satisfying
syllabus structures, and research and evaluation will be needed if future
work is to be directed to best effect. But the developments recorded here
reflect not only the recent wave of enthusiasm and concern but also
aspects of the UK experience which go back many years, and it is hoped
that on both counts they will be of interest to others.
Tbilisi recommendations
The following set of statements is based upon the Tbilisi Report Recommendation 2 (1978):
Environmental Education:
•
•
•
•
is a life-long process;
is inter-disciplinary and holistic in nature and application;
is an approach to education as a whole, rather than a subject;
concerns the inter-relationship and interconnectedness between human
and natural systems;
10
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
• views the environment in its entirety including social, political,
economic, technological, moral, aesthetic and spiritual aspects;
• recognises that energy and material resources both present and limit
possibilities;
• encourages participation in the learning experience;
• emphasises active responsibility;
• uses a broad range of teaching and learning techniques, with stress on
practical activities and first hand experience;
• is concerned with local to global dimensions, and past/present/future
dimensions;
• should be enhanced and supported by the organisation and structure
of the learning situation and institution as a whole;
• encourages the development of sensitivity, awareness, understanding,
critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
• encourages the clarification of values and the development of values
sensitive to the environment;
• is concerned with building an environmental ethic.
These goals and principles were carried forward into and underpin the content
of preliminary papers and final documentation for environmental education
in the National Curriculum for schools in England, as described later in this
text.
The Tbilisi goals of environmental education
The final report of the Tbilisi Conference set out three ‘goals of environmental
education’, clearly reflecting those identified at Belgrade. They are:
(i) To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social,
political and ecological inter-dependence in urban and rural
areas.
(ii) To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect
and improve the environment.
(iii) To create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups, and
society as a whole, towards the environment.
(UNESCO, 1977)
The decade leading up to Tbilisi was certainly a remarkable one. In 1967 the
term ‘environmental education’ had just been introduced into the UK. By
1977 an inter-governmental conference was calling for ‘new patterns of
behaviour of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the
environment’. Such far-reaching thinking and speed of its development no
doubt led Wheeler (1985) to remark:
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HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
perhaps there is no other example in the history of world education
when a term expressing a complex of ideas disseminated as rapidly as
environmental education from country to country.
(reported in Sterling, 1992)
Key publications in Britain during the 1970s included the Schools’ Council
Project Environment (1974) which defined the components of environmental
education as education ‘in’, ‘about’ and ‘for’ the environment; the National
Association for Environmental Education’s original Statement of Aims, quoted
below; an HMI Report Environmental Education published in Scotland in
1974, and the HMI document ‘Environmental Education’ in Curriculum 11–
16, Supplementary Working Papers published in London in 1979.
Statement of Aims of the National Association for Environmental Education (UK)
1976 (revised 1982, 1992)
This statement sets out learning targets or performance objectives for all
school age groups. For example:Objectives in Environmental Education for Primary and Middle Schools
(5-12)
AREA AND LOCATION
Experiences basic orientation within the local and national environments.
Perceives the Earth as the home of man but shrinking in terms of time,
distance and limits of resources. Observes how man uses and influences
the environment. Learns the use to be made of local and world maps.
ATMOSPHERE AND COSMOS
Can describe and measure simple climatic factors in the local environment
and appreciates their significance for food production. Recognises the role
of the atmosphere in the life of the plants and animals. Can identify the
major climatic and vegetative patterns of the world.
LANDFORMS, SOILS AND MINERALS
Knows that soil is dynamic: (a) it forms, (b) it contains living things and
supports plant growth, (c) it erodes or becomes less fertile. Can identify
different soil types, sees the interaction between soil and living things.
Understands that mineral resources are limited. Can point out on a map
the general arrangement of landforms in Britain and the World.
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Knows from first hand experience various kinds of plants and animals in
their own environment. Recognises inter-dependence among soil,
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HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
atmosphere, plants (producers), animals and man (consumers). Knows
what is meant by the food chain. Is aware of some endangered species
and measures for their conservation, particularly food species important
to man.
WATER
Knows the necessity of water for life and its importance as a natural
resource. Knows the water cycle. Is aware of water pollution.
PEOPLE
Recognises the varieties and similarities among people. Knows how
people live in and use different environments. Knows of rural
depopulation as a world-wide phenomenon. Is aware of population
growth and its relation to the quality of life.
SOCIAL ORGANISATION
Learns individual and group responsibility concerning environment. Uses
environmental experience to gain self-discipline. Recognises agencies
working on environmental problems and recognises international cooperation as a means of solving world environmental problems.
ECONOMICS
Relates food, clothing and shelter needs to available resources in various
societies. Recognises the organisation of resources into farming, forestry,
fishing, mining, manufacturing, servicing, transportation and communication.
AESTHETICS, ETHICS, LITERACY, NUMERACY
Uses environmental experience to acquire basic skills. Builds a basic
vocabulary of environmental terms. Uses the visual arts and music to
describe and interpret various environments. Develops an appreciation
of art and design factors in the built environment.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Recognises different buildings and functional areas in the locality
(residential, shopping, work places, leisure provision). Knows the main
local services (police, fire brigade, hospital).
ENERGY
Recognises manifestations of energy in various forms, and the control of
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HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
energy by man. Knows that energy arrives from the sun. Knows the
origin of fossil fuels.
(NAEE, 1976)
A similar range of objectives is provided for the secondary level of schooling, also objectives to be attained by the individual at the appropriate level
and in varying degrees throughout formal education, e.g.
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Acts so as to create and preserve conditions under which ecologically
balanced ecosystems can evolve in his local environment.
(NAEE, 1976)
The document also provides a more general statement of aims for each level of
schooling (pre-primary, primary, middle, secondary, sixth form, tertiary), e.g.
PRIMARY 5–10
At the primary stage environmental education is seen as involving pupils
in personal experience of the environment by direct exploration with all
their senses, using the school and its immediate surroundings and going
further afield when necessary. Such environments will involve both the
living environment in small nature reserves, school gardens or in the
countryside and the built environment in streetwork. At this stage
emphasis should be placed on the development and deepening of
concepts. Teachers are expected to use these experiences to develop
language in all its aspects, numeracy, scientific methods of enquiry,
aesthetic appreciation and creative expression as well as to encourage
the development of value judgements and an environmental ethic.
Children at this stage should be introduced to the statutory and accepted
codes of environmental behaviour.
It is not suggested that a specific subject should be established for this
area of study in primary schools but that environmental education
should involve the children’s total learning. It is felt that it is important
to keep in mind during this period of education the sequential
development of concepts whereby understanding is built on previous
experiences, and stress the need to build up basic vocabularies and skills
which will be needed in studies leading to an appreciation of variations
and the ecological significance of phenomena in the environment.
(NAEE, 1976)
The Statement of Aims was a strategically critical document. Not only did it
achieve a move towards the all important task of practical interpretation of the
theoretical principles of environmental education set out in earlier documents; it
also had a very direct influence upon the production of guidelines for
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HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
environmental education produced within certain counties or Local Education
Authorities of the country (e.g. Birmingham, Hertfordshire). Furthermore, and
perhaps surprisingly, the document had little competition—it stood as the
definitive national guide to the interpretation of environmental education in
England and Wales until the emergence of the National Curriculum for Schools
well over a decade later.
Consolidation in the 1980s
In 1980 the World Conservation Strategy was launched; the next major
international initiative, by IUCN, UNEP and (then) World Wildlife Fund
(WWF). This key document stressed the importance of resource conservation
through ‘sustainable development’, and the idea that conservation and
development are mutually inter-dependent. The World Conservation Strategy
included a chapter on environmental education, containing the message:
Ultimately, the behaviour of entire societies towards the biosphere must
be transformed if the achievement of conservation objectives is to be
assured…the long term task of environmental education [is] to foster or
reinforce attitudes and behaviour, compatible with a new ethic.
(IUCN, 1980)
From the mid-1980s onwards, work at the international level continued on
preparing supplements to the World Conservation Strategy, dealing with
environmental education and ethics and culture, among other matters.
1987 was another critical year on the international scene, marking the
tenth anniversary of the first Tbilisi Conference with the holding of a ‘Tbilisi
Plus Ten’ Conference, jointly organised by UNESCO and UNEP, and held in
Moscow. A number of major themes emerged from the deliberations of this
event, including the vital importance of environmental education as summed
up in the opening address:
In the long run, nothing significant will happen to reduce local and international threats to the environment unless widespread public awareness
is aroused concerning the essential links between environmental quality
and the continued satisfaction of human needs. Human action depends
upon motivation, which depends upon widespread understanding. This
is why we feel it is so important that everyone becomes environmentally
conscious through proper environmental education.
(UNESCO, 1987)
Thus in 1987 the principles of environmental education laid down in Tbilisi a
decade earlier were endorsed.
Also in that year, the essence of the World Conservation Strategy was
substantially reinforced and expanded by the publication of Our Common
Future (WCED, 1987) otherwise known as the Brundtland Report, the outcome
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