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The Environmentally EducatedTeacher: an exploration of
theimplications of UNESCOUNEP'sideas for preservice
teachereducation programmesChristopher R. Oulton a & William A.
H. Scott aa University of Bath, UKVersion of record first
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To cite this article: Christopher R. Oulton & William A. H.
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of the implications of UNESCOUNEP's ideas for preserviceteacher
education programmes, Environmental Education Research, 1:2,
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Environmental Education Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1995 213
The 'Environmentally Educated Teacher': anexploration of the
implications ofUNESCO-UNEP's ideas for pre-serviceteacher education
programmes
CHRISTOPHER R. OULTON & WILLIAM A. H. SCOTT University
ofBath, UK
SUMMARY This paper draws on a range of recent curriculum
development andresearch initiatives in order to consider what
pre-service teacher education programmesmight, most effectively, be
able to do to promote environmental education (EE) withinschools
and, through them, within the wider community. The paper begins
with acritique of UNESCO-UNEP's ideas on what constitutes an
environmentally educatedteacher; it then goes on to examine a
number of priorities for pre-service teachereducation, drawing in
particular on a current work of a European Union initiative inthis
field. The paper concludes by putting forward a series of
organizational principleswhich are explicated in the form of course
aims, programme elements and didacticscharacteristics which might
inform the work of pre-service programmes.
Introduction
The School of Education in the University of Bath has been
involved inenvironmental education (EE)[1] since the mid 1970s,
when a subject didacticsgroup was formed as part of the one year
Postgraduate Certificate in Education(PGCE) for intending secondary
school teachers of science. The reason for thiswas a mixture of two
factors. The first was an intense interest and optimismarising from
national and international developments (for example, the 1971Swiss
IUCN conference, which highlighted the importance of teacher
educationto EE, and the 1975 international Belgrade workshop which
went on to urge thatEE should form an obligatory part of pre and
inservice teacher education).Tilbury (1992) and Fien (1994) give
useful commentaries on this development.The second was hard-headed
pragmatism arising from the advent of environ-
1350-4622/95/020213-19 1995 Journals Oxford Ltd
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214 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
mentally focussed degree courses and the raised interest in
secondary schools,where discrete examination courses in
environmental science and environmentalstudies were being set up
and where there was a shortage of suitably qualifiedteachers. The
University saw itself as being able to establish a key role
inproviding a means whereby environmentally educated graduates
could train asteachers who would then, in their turn, contribute to
EE in schools, thusestablishing a virtuous developmental cycle.
Within the School of Education, the past few years have seen
three particularapproaches, each of which has had the purpose of
broadening the impact of EEwithin the PGCE course outwards from
science to other subject areas. The firstof these involved
revisions to the course itself, ensuring that all trainees have
anattempt to grapple with issues surrounding EE and have a chance
to see how itmight affect their subject and how their subject might
contribute to EE in schools.The second has been through staff
development activities with colleagues in theSchool of Education
who work on the PGCE course. This has involved workingwith The
Worldwide Fund for Nature and its Thinking Futures programme,
thereport of which (Champain and Inman, 1995) includes our analysis
of themanagement of change issues which we encountered. The third
has beenthrough work on the Environmental Education into Teacher
Education inEurope (EEITE) programme sponsored by DG XI of the
Commission of theEuropean Union (EU). This programme has involved
work with fellow teachereducators in 11 of the 12 then EU
countries, with the purpose of exploring theopportunities for
collaborative programmes and initiatives. The first publicationof
the programme (Brinkman & Scott, 1994) explores EE issues in
each country,with a particular emphasis on preservice teacher
education and a range ofcommon developmental issues. This programme
continues.
The purpose of this paper is not to offer an evaluative
commentary on any ofthese initiatives, but to draw on them in order
to consider what pre-serviceprogrammes might, most effectively, be
able to do to promote EE within schoolsand, through them, within
the wider community. In order to effect this, thepaper begins with
a critique of UNESCO-UNEP's (1990) ideas on what consti-tutes an
environmentally educated teacher, which are a distillation of the
ideasexpressed in a number of publications in UNESCO-UNEP's
International En-vironmental Education Programme (see
Appendix).
Environmentally Educated Teachers: the priority of prioritiesThe
UNESCO-UNEP paper (Appendix; UNESCO-UNEP, 1990) begins bydefining
the desired result of EE training programmes for teachers as:
(i)foundation competences in professional education; (ii)
competences in EE con-tent. Each of these will now be examined.
The Foundation Competences
If the EE dimension were to be removed from the text and each
competence areataken in isolation, a number of statements would be
largely unexceptional, e.g.
... apply a knowledge of educational philosophy to the selection
ordevelopment of curricular programmes and strategies....
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Pre-service Teacher Education 215
... utilize current theories of moral reasoning in selecting,
developingand implementing ... curricula....
utilize current theories of
knowledge/attitude/behaviourrelationships in selecting, developing
and implementing a balancedcurriculum ....... utilize current
theories of learning in selecting, developing andimplementing
curricular strategies ....... develop and use effective means of
planning for instruction ....... effectively implement the
following methodologies ... interdisci-plinarity, ... values
clarification, games and simulations, case studyapproaches,.......
effectively evaluate the results of ... curricula and methods in
bothcognitive and affective domains
Competences such as these are, to varying extents, demonstrated
daily (eitherconsciously or as part of an internalised professional
thinking and developmentprocess) in schools by the teaching
profession and in planning forums wherecurriculum issues are
debated and decided. They also, again to varying degrees,are
reassuringly familiar to tutors working in pre-service programmes.
They do,after all, focus on large parts of the heartland of ideas
and practice upon whichmost preservice courses would be built, even
though the organization of suchprogrammes might differ considerably
between institutions and across coun-tries. There would, for
example, be differences in the extent to which
particularcompetences were emphasised, but the focus on curriculum
development basedaround learning theory and on classroom planning
based on moral developmenttheory is likely to be common ground.
The other competences found in this section are much more
EE-specific andare not likely to find a generic equivalent within
programmes, e.g.
... apply the theory of transfer of learning in selecting,
developing andimplementing curricular materials and strategies to
ensure that learnedknowledge, attitudes and cognitive skills will
be transferred to thelearner's choices and decision making
concerning lifestyle and behav-iour....... effectively infuse EE
curricular and methods into all disciplines towhich the teacher is
assigned ...
unless topics such as 'health education', and to a lesser extent
'citizenship', arethe focus of study, where a broad equivalence to
EE issues is found.
A Commentary on the Foundation Competences in Relation to
Pre-service Courses
Although many of these competence statements are unexceptional
as they stand,there are considerable problems with the list taken
together. The problems aretwo-fold; the first relates to the
wide-ranging scope of what is already containedwithin the list; the
second to important areas which are not included.
Considering the nature of the list itself, problems stem from
the length andorganisation of preservice courses which are
available to prospective teachers.
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216 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
There are three issues here. Firstly, the amount of time which
courses have tospend on subject didactics and pedagogical issues
tends to be short. Secondly,the focus of such work tends to be on
subject-specific issues, especially forsecondary training. Thirdly,
EE tends not be part of the mainstream of activitywithin
pre-service programmes; the EEITE project (Scott, 1994) has, for
example,shown that there is immense diversity of practice and
opportunity, even acrossthe small number of countries within the
European Union. The problem with thelist is not its lack of
desirability, but its lack of feasibility. It is a statement of
along-term goal, which is overly ambitious given the present state
of curriculumand course development and the low level of awareness
within institutions ofthe need for such development.
Thus, the list is not helpful in showing colleagues see how such
goals mightbe realized. This is the kernel of the second issue,
that of essential elementsmissing from the list. These can be
viewed in terms of: (i) an organizationalframework which would make
such a list manageable for those who might becharged with its
implementation; (ii) additional professional competences whichwould
be required; (iii) the need for a rational and practical means
whereby suchgoals might be realized. Each of these issues is
discussed in detail below.
Organisational framework. Firstly, there is no indication within
the UNESCO-UNEP text that the acquisition of such foundation
competences might take aconsiderable time and that some aspects
might be appropriate for pre-servicecourses and others for later,
in-service support during induction programmes orin later
continuing professional development. Indeed the use of the
wordfoundation suggests, quite misleadingly, that all might be
realisable throughpre-service courses; thus, such courses are given
no limits for their ambitionlimits which might reduce the rather
daunting nature of the competence state-ments and help persuade
people that they are indeed manageable and, therefore,worth
attempting.
Secondly, there is no discussion of whether and how
differentiation might beapplied to ensure that teachers from
particular phases of education, e.g. primary,secondary and
tertiary, might need different approaches and goals; this
applieswith particular force to competences in EE content (see
later).
Thirdly, there is no sense in which the case is made for an
over-archingrationale for these particular competences, the like of
which might begin topersuade colleagues in pre-service programmes
that this is worth doing and thatthey should be personally
involved.
Additional competences. There is an implicit assumption in the
UNESCO-UNEPtext that teachers act alone and have a large degree of
influence or control overcurricula; it is far from clear that this
is necessarily the case. It does follow,however, that there is a
need to develop team-building and team-workingcompetences during
pre-service programmes.
The UNESCO-UNEP text also contains the implicit assumption that
condi-tions are right in schools for EE to develop and blossom and
that all that isneeded is for a teacher to come along with the
requisite competences. There isno suggestion that there might be
considerable barriers to be overcome and thatserious management of
change issues and processes are involved; thus there is
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Pre-service Teacher Education 217
a need to introduce teachers and novice (student) teachers to
the theory andpractice of the management of change in order to
prepare them to take an activerole in the introduction and
implementation of EE within schools. This needs, asWilke et al.
(1987) note, to be an integral part of work on EE within
pre-servicecourses.
Rational and practical issues. The largest question of all which
remains unad-dressed, and which underpins the issue of how we get
from where we arecurrently to the desired end, is that of who is
going to do this? The UNESCO-UNEP paper does rather assume that the
skills, resource and inclination re-quired to effect these goals
are ready and waiting to be harnessed. In terms ofpre-service
courses, this is simply not the case. Universities and schools are
not,with a few notable exceptions, repositories of such expertise
(For further details,see Williams, 1992, and the studies discussed
by Fien, 1994). Tutor competenceneeds to be developed, but before
this can happen, tutors need to become awarethat they need to do
this; in other words, a vital step is a programme of
activitywhereby experts work with teacher educators on exactly this
area. Where is thestaff development for this to occur?
The Thinking Futures paper (Champain & Inman, 1995)
discussed earlierrepresents one small (national) step in such a
process; the EEITE project is anexample of an international one.
Without the development of a wide-rangingprogramme of professional
development aimed at teacher educators workingwith teachers in
schools, experience suggests that no matter how desirable theends,
pre-service courses will not become the vehicle whereby an
environmen-tally focused approach becomes, as Law (1986) puts it
'the way we do thingsround here'. For a discussion of Law's ideas
in the context of pre-service courses,the management of change and
EE, see Bullock et al. (1995).
The same argument applies with equal force to those trained and
equipped towork with teachers in an in-service capacity. In short,
the UNESCO-UNEPpaper wishes some desirable ends, but not the means
whereby they mightrealistically be achieved, and the problems with
this are deeper than might atfirst appear. So unrealistic is the
list that its impossibility and unattainabilityexacerbates the
problem and creates resistance within the very groups whom wemight
wish to influence. To someone taking a first faltering step, the
winningpost of a marathon is not something that it is realistic to
strive for. Thesedeficiencies are serious enough to turn what might
have been the beginnings ofa strategy into mere wishful thinking.
The problem is further compounded bydifficulties with UNESCO-UNEP's
list of competences in EE Content. These arediscussed below.
Competences in EE Content
The UNESCO-UNEP paper sets these out at four levels: (1)
ecological founda-tions; (2) conceptual awareness; (3)
investigation and evaluation; (4) environ-mental action skills.
Each of these will briefly be examined.
In respect of ecological foundations, the UNESCO-UNEP paper
enjoins teachersto be able to:
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218 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
... apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to the analysis
ofenvironmental issues and identify key ecological principles
involved ...... apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to
predict the ecologi-cal consequences of alternative solutions to
environmental problems ...... be sufficiently literate in ecology
to identify, select and interpretappropriate sources of scientific
information in a continuing effort toinvestigate, evaluate and find
solutions for environmental problems ...... communicate and apply
in an educational context the major con-cepts in ecology ...
It is of course very desirable that all informed citizens should
have a workingknowledge, conceptual understanding and appreciation
of the significance ofecological concepts and their implications.
However, it is far from clear that oureducation systems are so
organised as to be able to achieve this, other than forthose who
have had some specialised study in ecology during the
later,advanced study, years of their formal education. Because of
this, most non-biology specialists within the existing profession
and such novice teachers intraining will not meet this requirement.
Thus, were this injunction to beappropriate, some quite extensive
pre and in-service changes would be required.However, three issues
arise here.
Firstly, there is the simple point that we shall not be able to
meet the goal ofan informed citizenry or capable teaching force
without much greater specificityabout what the goals of such a
programme might be. For example, what degreeof 'knowledge' is
required?, which particular 'foundations'?, how extensive doesthe
'literacy' have to be?, which 'concepts'?, and so on.
The second point is more fundamental. This is to challenge the
notion that youcan only contribute to EE if you actually have this
(probably quite substantial)background in ecology. This will be
somewhat surprising news to those teachersof humanities and
languages who seem to be making such a contributionalready and
whose contribution will be even more necessary as
'sustainableliving', with its strong emphasis on development
education, supersedes EE. Inshort, this unspecific emphasis on
ecology, with its attempt at marginalisationand disenfranchisement
of the mass of the teaching profession, is unhelpful
andcounter-productive. The point here is that teachers from
different traditions anddisciplines need to work together in
synergistic co-operation.
The third point follows on from this; it is that whilst ecology
can provide aframe of reference within which a number of
environmental issues can beconceptualised, to attempt to resolve
the issues usually involves action in thesocial/political/economic
sphere, not the ecological one. A simple example ofthis is the loss
of habitat which renders species endangered. Ecology can help
usunderstand what is happening, but a very different frame of
reference is neededto help us define the actions which are
needed.
In respect of conceptual awareness, this is couched in terms of
a range of aspectsof professional competence which might have sat
comfortably in the foundationcompetences, other than for the
emphasis on ecology. Here, however, ecology isusually linked with
culture, as in:
The effective environmentally educated teacher should be able to
select,
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Pre-service Teacher Education 219
develop and implement curricular materials which will make
learnersaware of:a wide variety of local, regional, national and
international environ-mental issues and the ecological and cultural
implications of theseissues
which does at least acknowledge the important role of the
humanities specialistand reinforces the point made earlier about
co-operation between teachers fromdifferent traditions and
disciplines being of vital necessity. It also, however,reinforces
the impression discussed in the section on foundation competences
thatthe UNESCO-UNEP paper has been overly based on the notion that
teacherswork alone and act independently. In this sense, it might
be argued that theemphasis here ought to be on those professional
competences which need to bedeveloped in all teachers, i.e. to
select, develop and implement curricular materialsrather than
the current emphasis on the focus of the materials.
There is, however, a further difficulty. UNESCO-UNEP's wording
is perhapsimprecise, but it does articulate an unsophisticated
model of teaching/learningwhich many would not see as most
effective practice when it comes to creatingbest conditions for
learning to occur: '... curriculum materials which will
makelearners aware of...' (our italics). The model is
unsophisticated and inappropriateand we would support Robottom's
(1989) critique of such technicist approaches.
In terms of investigation and evaluation and environmental
action skills we finallyreach two sections which might be seen as
being at the heart of the necessarycompetences of the effective
environmentally educated teacher (from whateverdiscipline or
background) and to which all other UNESCO-UNEP
competences,foundation or ecological, might be seen subservient and
very much secondary.
In other words, these two areas represent the ends to which an
environmen-tally educated teacher might be aiming, with the other
aspects of the UNESCO-UNEP list representing, in some measure, a
set of means of getting there.
The effective environmentally educated teacher should be
competent toinvestigate environmental issues and evaluate
alternative solutions andto develop, select and implement
curricular materials and strategieswhich will develop similar
competencies in learners, including:the knowledge and skills needed
to identify and investigate issues ...;the ability to analyze
environmental issues and the associated value
perspectives ...;the ability to identify alternative solutions
for discrete issues and the
value perspectives associated with these solutions;the ability
to autonomously evaluate alternative solutions and associ-
ated value perspectives for discrete environmental issues
...;the ability to identify and clarify their own value positions
related to
discrete environmental issues and their associated solutions;the
ability to evaluate, clarify and change their own value
positions
in the light of new information.Once again, it would seem that
these are essentially professional competences
which can only be practised through co-operation between
teachers who bringdifferent skills, approaches, emphases and
assumptions to the task. It follows
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220 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
that any professional development associated with the promotion
of suchcompetences also ought to be multi-disciplined. This is
particularly so given theneed to link all of this with the need for
development education.
Thus, this aspect of the UNESCO-UNEP list is useful, but it is
still limited inits usefulness. It suffers from the same problems
that have been highlightedbefore, i.e. its lack of specificity and
no notion of how such desirable andnecessary ends are to be
achieved.
Beyond UNESCO-UNEP: other perspectivesIt will be clear from what
has been written thus far that we believe theUNESCO-UNEP analysis
to be helpful, but not particularly useful in its presentform. Our
main objections are that it is: in some important regards,
inappropriately conceptualized; not specific enough for progress to
be made; too heavily focused on ecology, without acknowledging the
vital role of other
disciplines; orientated to ends at the expense of means; lacking
in reference to the management of change and the realities of
how
innovation occurs; insufficiently differentiated between the
needs of:
in-service and pre-service programmes;primary and secondary
courses;fundamental and subsidiary priorities;
essentially locked (through no fault of its own) into a
pre-UNCED view of theway forward.(United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development [UNCED]. Forfurther details, see
UNESCO-UNEP, 1992)Whilst any or all of these are in need of
attention, we would wish to focus on
what we feel is the important question as far as pre-service
programmes areconcerned, i.e. what limits do you realistically need
to place on the focus andambitions of such programmes? What should
the priorities be for pre-serviceprogrammes in terms of
organisation, content and approach, given the limitedstate of EE
within such programmes currently? (See Brinkman & Scott, 1994,
andWilliams, 1992, for European Union and UK perspectives on this
issue.)
Much has been written about the need for such programmes, by
UNESCO-UNEP, by national and supranational governments and by a
number of writersand researchers. Tilbury (1992), for example, has
carefully, though at timesoverly optimistically, charted such calls
over a 20 year period. Tilbury suggeststhat '... teacher training
institutions in England and Wales will finally need torespond to
international calls for the inclusion of ... (EE) ... into
preservicetraining.' She bases this claim on the grounds that,
because the UK governmenthas made it one minor aspect of the
national accreditation process, it will notonly therefore happen,
but actually happen in a way which would meet theperceived need. As
Fien (1994) has pointed out, if it were that simple, it wouldbe
happeningparticularly in highly centralised education systems.
Doubts have also been cast on the efficacy of a number of
pre-serviceprogrammes at attaining desired goals; see, for example,
Stapp et al. (1980) and
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Pre-service Teacher Education 221
Wilke et al. (1987), both of whose works are discussed by
Tilbury. Less has beensaid, however, about the specifics of what
might be provided, although Tilburyalso discusses a number of
'models' which have emerged in the 1980s and findsthem all wanting
in some regard: including because they are overly content-fo-cused
(UNESCO-UNEP, 1990), too specialized (Marcinkowski et al,
1990),insufficiently contextualized in the realities of the
curriculum (Hungerford et ah,1988) or much too limited in their
appreciation of the need for a strategicapproach to change within
teacher education institutions (Stapp et ah, 1980). Fien(1994)
discusses two initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region whose purpose
is to'address the imperatives of education for sustainable living
within pre-serviceteacher education' and goes into greater detail
in an earlier paper (Fien, 1993)about 'the challenges to teacher
education' whilst discussing the Environmentaland Development
Education Project for Teacher Education.
Tilbury ends her paper by calling for a 'realistic model' which
can match upthe complexities of EE with the intricacies of teacher
education programmes andinstitutions and which is accompanied by
'... sound strategies which will ensureits development ...' within
pre-service teacher education.
Priorities for Pre-service Programmesa tentative analysisA
Realistic Modelidentifying problemsWhat then might a 'realistic
model' be? We have already noted that it will needto be limited in
nature and scope, but it is worth stressing here why we feel thisis
necessary.
Our experience of our own pre-service programmes and that of
colleagueswithin the EEITE initiative suggests that any model needs
to acknowledge thatin terms of the implementation of EE innovation,
pre-service programmes tendto be characterized by the features set
out in Fig. 1.
Such a list appears daunting and conditions for the
implementation of EEwithin pre-service programmes are still far
from perfect. But Law (1986) hasreminded us in his Critical Mass
Theory of Innovation that this need not beproblematic. Law's theory
has three propositions:
nothing is perfect and people who wait for perfect conditions to
launch a newinitiative will wait forever;
there is always something that can be done; perfection is not
necessarywhen enough of the most-needed things have
been done, change will take place.
So, what might be 'the most needed things' with regard to the
provision of EEwithin pre-service programmes?
A Realistic Modelproposing some ways forwardThe situational
analysis presented earlier suggests that a multi-componentstrategy
will be needed if EE goals are to be realised even in a limited way
inpre-service programmes. There are two distinct sets of issues
here; those relatingto innovation and those relating to aims and
outcomes.
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222 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
1 * courses are short in duration and, because of this and
because they are pre-experience courses, they tend to be
densely packed with content and timetabled activities; it is,
therefore, likely to be difficult to find space in the
programme for new initiatives;
2 * the curriculum is already full of 'necessary' and fully
'justified' content which will be defended by special
interest groups whose motivation will be to increase the time
allocated to their particular interests rather than
reduce it;
3 * EE is not seen as a real priority by curriculum planners and
senior managers, even where they see it as
important; there are also initiatives whose claim to inclusion
and preference will be seen by many groups as
being as valid as that of EE; Research does suggest that EE is
much better placed in this regard than many other
would-be initiatives. See Bullock & Scott, (1991) p.
7.5;
4 * most tutors are currently not willing to incorporate EE
within their specialist subject didactics programmes,
even if they could see some justification for doing so; nor are
they able to because they lack the skills,
awareness and motivation to do so;
5 * novice teachers have their own sets of priorities which they
bring with them from prior experience of diverse
lands; these tend not to put EE near the top of their own
developmental agendas; they, therefore, tend not to
push institutions to provide EE programmes;
6 t novice teachers have not seen EE prioritized by their own
educational experiences, and are motivated through
pre-service courses by the need to develop their own competence
as a teacher, curriculum foci tend to come a
distant second to this need, particularly in the early stages of
a course;
7 * institutional policies might exist, but are unlikely to be
fully followed through into practice because the
motivation for and enthusiasm about policies is rarely developed
or backed up by implementation strategies;
policies are, by and large, cheaper than practice;
8 courses tend to be reliant on experience in schools to further
and nurture the professional development of the
novice teacher, where EE is firmly and positively located within
a school curriculum, novices can tap into that
experience and learn through contributing to programmes.
Unfortunately, not all schools are in this position
and even where they are, schools need to see such experience as
being of formative and seminal experience for
the novice.
FIG. 1. Characteristics of pre-service programmes.
Innovation. In terms of innovation, the following need to be
considered: positional, and/or professional, authority; course
committees and academic boards; the course team and course
management; individual subject didactics tutors; partnership
schools; novice teachers.
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Pre-service Teacher Education 223
Positional and/or professional authority. Kanter (1983) has
suggested that:Any new strategy, no matter how brilliant or
responsive, no matterhow much agreement the formulators have about
it, will stand a goodchance of not being implemented fullyor
sometimes at allwithoutsomeone with power pushing it.
This reality calls for a two-fold approach. It argues for a
continuation of theexternal pushes aimed at making the intellectual
case for EE, with a particularemphasis on pre-service courses; it
also argues for tutors within institutions andschools to continue,
formally and informally, to press the case internally and toback
this need for teaching by carrying out persuasive research studies.
Thecritical mass of tutors able and willing to do this needs to be
increased.
Course committees and academic boards. Academic boards and
committees whichadopt policies and generally validate, monitor and
evaluate courses and pro-grammes because of internal and external
(statutory) requirements are also opento persuasion. Unlike, an
approach to senior management, this is likely to needa formal
approach through position papers and the like. Such boards,
however,are also susceptible to the push of external persuasion,
particularly wheremembership is not wholly confined to the higher
education institution. Theirinfluence is due, in large part, to the
fact that their approval of an initiative canconfer considerable
respectability and status on an initiative.
The course team and course management. These are significant
'gatekeepers' toany innovation and any internal push will need to
persuade this group. It is herethat battles are likely to be fought
(and lost) over the allocation and prioritisationof curriculum time
and where arguments must be won if EE is to be seen as
anentitlement for all novices teachers. For success here, there
needs to be clarity inthe defining of purposes and practice,
precision in the timetabling and organiza-tional requirements and,
critically, a shared understanding gained throughco-operative
endeavours.
Individual subject didactics tutors. It is here that most
flexibility exists. Whereverindividual tutors are both willing and
able to deliver EE goals through theirparticular programmes, there
are few logistical or other reasons why this is notpossible.
Tilbury (1993) has researched and written in some detail about
suchissues and in particular about the roles of tutors in
innovation relating to EEwithin pre-service programmes.
In terms of innovation, the analysis in Fig. 2 shows the extent
of the changeswhich are needed. As most tutors begin in Al
(indifferent and unaware), thereis a need to shift to B2
(interested and aware). There is, therefore, a need for adiagonal
shift, implying an emphasis on both cognitive and affective issues
in anydevelopment strategy. Further movement upwards or rightwards
is unnecessaryand potentially wasteful. The imperative, for the use
of scarce resources, is toincrease the number of tutors in the B2
position and then to support theirgrowing expertise and interest
through appropriate staff development.
The significant question here is, how might this transition most
appropriatelybe effected? The research report in Thinking Futures:
making space for environmen-tal education in ITEa handbook for
educators (Bullock et al, 1995) points one route
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224 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
ATVarenes
specialist
aware
unaware
A3
2
1
B
888888888888888888888888888889888888S88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
c
indifference interest enthusiasm
C o m m i t m e n t >
FIG. 2. An analysis of the innovation limits in terms of tutor
awareness and commitment.
forward. Bullock and her co-workers report and comment on a
staff develop-ment initiative where a number of subject didactics
tutors from varying disci-plines worked together with experts and
resource support from the WorldwideFund for Nature in a conscious
attempt to make the diagonal shift discussedabove.
The outcomes of this development suggest that resources and
conditionsneeded for such a shift are eight-fold and need to be
organised in three phases.This is shown in Fig. 3.
Phase 1 itself might usefully occur in more than one stage and
could beintegrated with the beginnings of Phase 2, rather than
requiring a strict se-quence. This model is very flexible and
adaptable. Where an internal expertconsultant is available, it can
also be relatively cheap.
Partnership schools. Given that the prime purpose of having
environmentallyeducated teachers is to further EE in schools, it
seems appropriate to involveschools and teachers in the practice of
EE within pre-service courses. Whereparticular expertise resides in
a school, that should be drawn upon, and whereEE courses are run in
schools, every opportunity should be taken to involvenovice
teachers.
Even where none of this is found, every school affords the
interested novicethe opportunity of experimenting and trying out
approaches in their own subjectareas, subject only to the
acquiescence of the school or subject department in thisprocess.
However, where such approval is not found, or where the idea
isdismissed, very strong negative messages are given to novices.
The argumenthere, of course, is for EE developments within pre- and
in-service work to beconcerted around IT-INSET work in partnership
schools.
Novice teachers. Novice teachers are obviously a key focus of
this work, but arealso crucial participants in the innovation.
There are two issues here. Firstly, part
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Pre-service Teacher Education 225
Phase
1
tutors willing to come together and explore ideas time for
working together as a group on EE
itself, and its pedagogical facets
a source of expertise to guide the development,
acting as a consultant to all tutors involved in appropriate
resources; some of these will be EE-
the initiative specialist materials; others will be subject-
or
phase-specific
Phase
2
time for individual experimentation; ideally this the
opportunity to share outcomes and plan for
involves working with novice teachers trying future activity;
ideally on a co-operative
out a small number of ideas; guidance from the
mutually-supportive basis guided by the
consultant consultant
Phase
3
time to build on developments; ideally by
building an aspect of EE into the subject
didactics programme and reviewing progress
collective review of developments and joint
action-planning for future individual and
collective work; guidance by the consultant
FIG. 3. Resources and conditions necessary for staff development
programmes.
of their awareness-raising might usefully involve a sharing of
the imperativesbehind this development, both in terms of EE and in
respect of the need toencourage their own competenceand that of
schools. Secondly, many noviceteachers themselves have both
experience and expertise to contribute to thisprocess.
Aims and outcomes. In terms of aims and outcomes, we need to
consider what thedesired outcomes of our limited ambitions for EE
within pre-service pro-grammes ought to be and to ask what might
environmentally educated teachershave done and what skills or
awareness might they have by the end of, say, aone year course? The
answers to questions such as these will determine whatlimits the
pre-service course should realistically set itself.
Finding responses to these questions has been at the heart of
the EEITE project(Brinkman & Scott, 1994). Project members have
drawn up a series of organisa-tional principles which they feel
should underpin the work of pre-servicecourses in this regard.
These are set out in the following case study.
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226 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
Case Study of Pre-service Course Developmentthe EEITE
projectThis case study sets out a number of organisational
principles which areexplicated in the form of course aims,
programme elements and didactics charac-teristics which might
inform the work of pre-service teacher education.
The course aims are:
as a result of pre-service teacher education programmes novice
teachersshould be both willing and able to make a contribution to
environmentaleducation through their own work with learners;
willing in a sense that they understand the importance of
environmentaleducation and have a personal commitment to it which
is both practicaland intellectual;
able in a sense that they have a repertoire of management of
change andcurriculum innovation strategies upon which they can draw
in co-oper-ation with others.
The EEITE project recognises that these are ambitious aims and
in order toachieve them, preservice programmes will need to contain
two elements. For thesake of clarity these elements are listed here
separately. This should not be takento mean that these will
necessarily be separate in practice; rather, tutors willhave the
responsibility of deciding the inter-relationships between these
(andother) elements for themselvesand for determining patterns of
organizationand support their development work will have. Rather
than stifle innovationhere, it will be necessary to encourage
diversity and to monitor practice in orderto gain insights into the
transferability of particular approaches and programmedesigns
between institutions.
The two programme elements are:(I) aims and practice a
consideration of the aims and practice of environmental education,
particu-
larly as it relates to compulsory schooling; an examination of
curriculum practice and extra-curriculum opportunities and
the desired learning outcomes associated with these; the
identification of these characteristics which mark out curriculum
activity
as contributing to environmental education; an exploration of
particular strategies and approaches which can be employed
in environmental education;
(II) personal experience in environmental education working with
teachers and children in schools on suitably small-scale
activi-
ties; evaluating this practice and building on the foundations
laid through
reflection and systematic planning; in particular, evaluating
the effects of this practice on both their own and
children's awareness of the possibilities and priorities of
environmental edu-cation.
It is necessary to emphasise the incremental and iterative
nature of suchdevelopments and the consequent necessity of taking a
small-step approach,coupled with a focus on the management of
intervention and change.
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Pre-service Teacher Education 227
The EEITE project evolved a number of didactics characteristics
which eachinstitution's developmental project would try to follow.
These are such that theymight themselves describe desired
characteristics of pre-service programmes.
The didactics characteristics are:
in part at least, a local focus, drawing from and contributing
to expertise andawareness in the local community;
integration in initial teacher education programmes, rather than
being anaddition;
a clear set of aims and desired learning outcomes, which are
related to thegoals of the preservice programme;
action-oriented, in that novice teachers will be involved in the
planning,implementation and evaluation of the work and will be
encouraged to have anindividual commitment to reflection, so as to
build the experience into theirown professional development;
values and attitude development are key features; processes and
outcomes of the work can be shared with other subject didactics
groups; an interdisciplinary approach, involving more than one
subject area or cur-
riculum focus; a dual focus, in which tutors and teachers work
with novice teachers, who for
their part work with students in school.
It is to develop ideas along these lines and to test out these
ideas that theEEITE project is now working.
End Note
It is apparent that the issues which must be considered in the
management ofsuch an innovation are various and complex. It could
be that the complexity isthe most daunting feature of the
developmental process and, invariably, thereare no quick and easy
solutions. Interventions which are well thought out andsystematic
can help to ensure lasting progress. It would be unrealistic to
expectan immediate transformation of course development in EE
across anyinstitution, but the small step approach can itself
trigger dividends in otherdirections.
A framework for reference in analysing important factors can be
helpful tomanagers of change in seeing what is happening and thus
being in a betterposition to act decisively and effectively. It is
in this sense and spirit that thispaper offers these ideas,
tentatively at this stage, to anyone who would wish tocriticise and
/or develop them.
Notes on ContributorsBILL SCOTT and CHRIS OULTON are
co-directors of the Environmental Edu-cation Research Group in the
School of Education at the University of Bath. Billis a Senior
Lecturer in Education with responsibility for the school-based
PGCEin Partnership programme. Chris is a Lecturer in Education with
responsibilityfor the environmental science preservice teacher
education programme. Chris is
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228 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
also Chair of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe
(ATEE) WorkingGroup on Environmental Education and Initial Teacher
Education. Correspon-dence: University of Bath, School of
Education, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY,UK.
NOTE[1] This paper uses the term 'environmental education'
because its focus is on late 1980s/early
1990s UNESCO-UNEP literature, where the term is consistently
found. The authors areaware, however, that were such literature to
be generated today, a term such as the IUCN's'education for
sustainable living' might well be used in place of environmental
education,but have chosen to keep the original terminology to avoid
unnecessary confusion. Theissues which the paper addresses remain
pertinent, whatever the term used.
REFERENCESBRINKMAN, F.G. & SCOTT, W.A.H. (Eds) (1994)
Environmental Education into Initial Teacher
Education in Europe (EEITE) 'The State of the Art', ATEE Cahiers
no. 8 (Brussels, Associationof Teacher Education in Europe).
BULLOCK, K.M. & SCOTT, W.A.H. (Eds) (1991) Student Primary
Teachers: their economic andindustrial background, understanding
and attitudesan investigation (Halifax, EATE).
BULLOCK, K.M., ENGLISH, T., OULTON, C.R. & SCOTT, W.A.H.
(1995) Reflections on an environmen-tal education staff development
initiative for teacher educators, in: P. CHAMPAIN & S.
INMAN(Eds) Thinking Futures: making space for environmental
education in ITEa handbook for educa-tors, in press (Godalming,
Worldwide Fund for Nature).
CHAMPAIN, P. & INMAN, S. (Eds) (1995) Thinking Futures:
making space for environmental educationin ITEa handbook for
educators, in press (Godalming, Worldwide Fund for Nature).
FIEN, J. (1993) Sustainable development challenges for teacher
education: an Australian casestudy, paper presented to a
Unesco-SEAMES Seminar, Penang.
FIEN, J. (1994) Learning to teach for a sustainable world: two
Asia-Pacific projects in environ-mental education for teacher
education, paper presented to the ATEE Annual
Conference,Prague.
HUNGERFORD, H.R., VOLK, T.L., DIXON, B.G., MARCINKOWSKI, T.J.
& ARCHIBALD, P.C. (1988) Anenvironmental education approach to
the training of elementary teachers: a teacher edu-cation
programme, International Environmental Education Programme;
environmental educationseries no. 17 (Paris, UNESCO-UNEP).
KANTER, R.M. (1983) The Change Masters (London, Allen &
Unwin).LAW, B. (1986) The Pre-vocational Franchise: organizing
community linked education for adult and
working life (London, Harper and Row).MARCINKOWSKI, T.J., VOLK,
T.L. & HUNGERFORD, H.R. (1990) An environmental education
ap-
proach to the training of middle level teachers: a prototype
programme, InternationalEnvironmental Education Programme;
environmental education series no. 30 (Paris, UNESCO-UNEP).
ROBOTTOM, I. (1989) Social critique or social control: some
problems for evaluation in environ-mental education, Journal of
Research in Science Teaching, 26, pp. 435-443.
SCOTT, W.A.H. (1994) Diversity and opportunityreflections on
environmental educationwithin initial teacher education programmes
across the European Union, in: F.G. BRINKMAN& W.A.H. SCOTT
(Eds) Environmental Education into Initial Teacher Education in
Europe (EEITE)'The State of the Art', ATEE Cahiers no. 8 (Brussels,
Association of Teacher Education inEurope).
STAPP, W., CADUTO, M., MANN, L. & NOWAK, P. (1980) Analysis
of pre-service environmentaleducation of teachers in Europe and an
instructional model for furthering this education,Journal of
Environmental Education, 12, pp. 3-10.
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Pre-service Teacher Education 229
TILBURY, D. (1992) Environmental education within pre-service
teacher education: the priority ofpriorities, International Journal
of Environmental Education and Information, 11, pp. 267-280.
TILBURY, D. (1993) Environmental education: developing a model
for initial teacher education,PhD thesis, University of
Cambridge.
UNESCO-UNEP (1990) Environmentally educated teachers the
priority of priorities? Connect,XV(1), pp. 1-3.
UNESCO-UNEP (1992) UNCED: the Earth summit, Connect, XVII(2),
pp. 1-7.WILKE, R.J., PEYTON, R.B. & HUNGERFORD, H.R. (1987)
Strategies for the training of teachers in
environmental education, International Environmental Education
Programme; environmental edu-cation series no. 15 (Paris,
UNESCO-UNEP).
WILLIAMS, R. (1992) Report of a survey of the provision for
environmental education in initialteacher training, Environmental
Education and Teacher educationpreparing for change
andparticipation (Sussex University, Education Network for
Environment and Development).
Appendix
Foundational Competencies in Professional EducationThe effective
environmentally educated teacher should be able to:
apply a knowledge of educational philosophy to the selection or
developmentof curricular programmes and strategies to achieve both
general educationand EE goals. (General education materials and
methods may sometimes needmerely to be 'environmentalized' to
achieve both objectives);
utilize current theories of moral reasoning in selecting,
developing andimplementing EE curricula which will effectively
achieve EE goals. (Teachersshould be competent to use appropriate
strategies to allow learners to recog-nize the role of values in
environmental decision making, clarify valuepositions and
understand the valuing process);
utilize current theories of knowledge/attitude/behaviour
relationships inselecting, developing and implementing a balanced
curriculum which maxi-mizes the probability of desired
environmentally aware behaviour changes inlearners. (A balanced
curriculum takes into account such aspects as ecologicalfactors vs.
trade-off costs, etc.);
utilize current theories of learning in selecting, developing
and implementingcurricular strategies to effectively achieve EE
goals. (The methodology of EEas well as the nature of many EE goals
is problem solving. A pragmaticapproach on the part of teachers to
theories of learning development, such asPiaget's, can do much to
increase EE effectiveness in such methodologies andgoals as
environmental problem solving);
apply the theory of transfer of learning in selecting,
developing and imple-menting curricular materials and strategies to
insure that learned knowledge,attitudes and cognitive skills will
be transferred to the learner's choices anddecision making
concerning lifestyle and behaviour. (The ultimate goal of EEis to
produce environmentally literate citizens who are willing and
capable oftaking positive environmental actions in their
lifetime);
effectively implement the following methodologies to achieve EE
goals: inter-disciplinary, outdoor education, values clarification,
games and simulation,case-study approaches, community resource use,
autonomous student and/orgroup investigation, evaluation and action
in environmental problem solving,
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230 C. R. Oulton & W. A. H. Scott
and appropriate teacher behaviours when handling controversial
environmen-tal issues;
develop and use effective means of planning for
instruction;effectively infuse appropriate EE curricula and methods
into all disciplines to
which the teacher is assigned;effectively evaluate the results
of EE curricula and methods in both cognitive
and affective domains.
Competencies in Environmental Education Content
Level 1: ecological foundations. The effective environmentally
educated teachershould be able to:
apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to the analysis of
environmentalissues and identify key ecological principles
involved;
apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to predict the
ecological conse-quences of alternative solutions to environmental
problems;
be sufficiently literate in ecology to identify, select and
interpret appropriatesources of scientific information in a
continuing effort to investigate, evaluateand find solutions for
environmental problems;
communicate and apply in an educational context the major
concepts inecology.
Level 2: conceptual awareness. The effective environmentally
educated teachershould be able to select, develop and implement
curricular materials which willmake learners aware of:
how people's cultural or vocational activities (economic,
religious, industrial,etc.) affect the environment from an
ecological perspective;
how individual behaviours impact on the environment from the
same per-spective;
a wide variety of local, regional, national and international
environmentalissues and the ecological and cultural implications of
these issues;
the viable alternative solutions available for remediating
discrete environmen-tal issues and the ecological and cultural
implications of these alternativesolutions;
the need for environmental issue investigation and evaluation as
a prerequi-site to sound decision making;
the roles played by differing human values clarification as an
integral part ofenvironmental decision making;
the need for responsible citizenship action (persuasion,
consumerism, legalaction, political action ecomanagement, etc.) in
the remediation of environ-mental concerns.
Level 3: investigation and evaluation. The effective
environmentally educatedteacher should be competent to investigate
environmental issues and evaluatealternative solutions and to
develop, select and implement curricular materialsand strategies
which will develop similar competencies in learners, including:
the knowledge and skills needed to identify and investigate
issues (using both
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Pre-service Teacher Education 231
primary and secondary sources of information and to synthesize
the datagathered);
the ability to analyze environmental issues and the associated
value perspec-tives with respect to their ecological and cultural
implications;
the ability to identify alternative solutions for discrete
issues and the valueperspectives associated with these
solutions;
the ability to autonomously evaluate alternative solutions and
associatedvalue perspectives for discrete environmental issues with
respect to theircultural and ecological implications;
the ability to identify and clarify their own value positions
related to discreteenvironmental issues and their associated
solutions;
the ability to evaluate, clarify and change their own value
positions in thelight of new information.
Level 4: environmental action skills. The effective
environmentally educated teachershould be competent to take
positive environmental action for the purpose ofachieving and
maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between the quality of lifeand
the quality of the environment (if indeed one can be separated from
theother) and develop similar competencies in learners to take
individual or groupaction when appropriate, such as persuasion,
consumerism, political action, legalaction, ecomanagement or
combinations of these categories of action.
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