{"id":7339,"date":"2018-10-30T07:42:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T07:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7339"},"modified":"2018-10-30T07:42:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T07:42:15","slug":"ee-perspectives-from-policy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2018\/10\/30\/ee-perspectives-from-policy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"EE \u2013 perspectives from policy 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here's a further comment on the\u00a0new research on EE in secondary schools from King's College: Understanding Environmental Education in Secondary Schools \u2013\u00a0<\/em>Report 1:\u00a0The Policy Perspective<\/a><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In their Introduction, the authors write:<\/p>\n

\"In seeking to analyse the state of environmental education\u00a0in secondary schools, it is first necessary to state our own\u00a0understanding of the discipline: we regard environmental\u00a0education to be an opportunity that \u2018seeks to develop an\u00a0understanding of the relationships between human culture\u00a0and our life support system, and emphasises environmental\u00a0responsibility through social action and personal behaviour'.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a quote from\u00a0The World We'll Leave Behind,<\/em> and I'm grateful for the reference. \u00a0In the book, this passage comes after a reference to the seminal IUCN text, and the full quote is:<\/p>\n

\"The World Conservation Union described [EE] like this: \u201cA process of recognising values and classifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture and his biophysical surroundings.\u201d \u00a0It is clear from this that environmental education is not just about raising awareness of issues. It seeks to develop ... .\"<\/p>\n

The text quoted was our rewriting of the IUCN text in slightly less blousey language. \u00a0I still think this text has power, but there is a phrase in it which is important and which does not feature in the recommendations. \u00a0It is: \"social action\". \u00a0Unless that phrase (or some such) is partnered with \"personal behaviour\", it makes it seem as if the individual has to share most of this burden \u2013 a load no one can carry.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors then write (still on p.3) with helpful clarity:<\/p>\n

\"Environmental education has since been\u00a0left to schools and subject teachers, primarily within\u00a0geography and science, to decide how, when and if it should\u00a0be taught. \u00a0With no formal requirement and accountability\u00a0involved, environmental education in England has received\u00a0little attention from curriculum developers, or academics\u00a0concerned with formal schooling. \u00a0Whilst environmental\u00a0education is no longer formally recognised, we assert that\u00a0policy texts still play a part in shaping the quality and the\u00a0quantity of current practice in schools. \u00a0However, what\u00a0these documents communicate is fuzzy. \u00a0This ambiguous\u00a0state leaves institutions and practitioners uncertain about\u00a0the amount and type of emphasis to place on environmental\u00a0education within teaching and learning.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

This is spot on.<\/p>\n

Immediately following on from this, they quote Hodson (2011) who writes:<\/p>\n

\"...\u00a0environmental education is\u00a0arguably essential for national, social and cultural well-being,\u00a0equipping future generations with the skills to participate\u00a0in debates concerning environmental risks and challenges.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

I would have written:\u00a0an environmental education ...\"<\/em> if only to avoid the charge of seeking uniformity. \u00a0Indeed, the authors do just that a few lines farther on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought the Analysis \/ Findings sections of the report (pps 4 \u201312) to be particularly well done. \u00a0I even scribbled \"excellent\" a number of times which is a rare event these days. \u00a0The subject differences (science \/ geography mostly) were well brought out as were the differences between key stages and some surprising (worrying, even) differences in the approach of the exam boards at GCSE. \u00a0It was also good to see a critique of Defra and natural England who seem to have agreed together to forget the environment. \u00a0There is much in this to re-read and use.<\/p>\n

I have one quibble, though, and that's about the farming used to analyse the data. \u00a0This is Bob Stephenson's 2007\u00a0typology of ideological visions for environmental\u00a0improvement. \u00a0The authors write:<\/p>\n

\"Stevenson suggests that based on the\u00a0common and critical dimension of political scenarios, the\u00a0ideologies underlying the different visions of, and means to,\u00a0environmental reform fall into two broad categories, with\u00a0each category having two variations on the type of approach\u00a0adopted. \u00a0First, conservative reform (within the current \u00a0system) approaches are either technical or political. \u00a0Second,\u00a0radical reform (of the current system) approaches are either\u00a0socially critical or alternative, whereby an alternative\u00a0approach is situated outside the established norms. \u00a0Stevenson posits that conservative reformers support the\u00a0priority of economic growth with a view to maintain status\u00a0quo, whereas radical reformers believe that economic\u00a0growth should be secondary to environmental quality.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Firstly, I don't like the conservative \/ radical descriptors as these are often chosen to label matters as bad \/ good. \u00a0And conservative<\/em> is further bad-mouthed by associating it with economic growth which we're all supposed to disapprove of whilst living (some of us very well) off its benefits. \u00a0This division only serves the interests of those who wish to paint schools and teachers into the 'can't do anything' corner which further makes the social-critical case for radical reform. \u00a0It's a neat trick to make unrealistic demands on schools and teachers and then to berate them for their uselessness. \u00a0Neat, but long discredited.<\/p>\n

More tomorrow on the the final discussion section of the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here's a further comment on the\u00a0new research on EE in secondary schools from King's College: Understanding Environmental Education in Secondary Schools \u2013\u00a0Report 1:\u00a0The Policy Perspective 1. In their Introduction, the authors write: \"In seeking to analyse the state of environmental...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}