Bhutan aspires to achieve Gross National Happiness (GNH) through sustainable environmental conservation and socioeconomic development. However, the country is facing increasing environmental challenges. Education is considered to be a key component in a range of efforts to remediate current environmental threats in Bhutan. As part of this agenda, the optional school subject of Environmental Science was introduced in 2015 for Classes IX-XII with the aim of equipping young people with the knowledge and values to protect the environment and promote sustainable and equitable use of natural resources in the pursuit of GNH. This paper focuses on the qualitative aspect of a broader mixed-method research project that explored the effective implementation of Environmental Science in secondary schools in the Samtse region of Bhutan. This study answers the research question: "What are teachers' and students' views about environmental problems in Bhutan?" Drawing on interviews of 14 teachers and 194 students engaged in Environmental Science, the results showed that participants were aware of various environmental problems; however, they lacked knowledge and awareness about climate change issues in Bhutan. The results suggest the need for more emphasis on climate change education in Bhutan. The student participants believed in collectivism to address the environmental challenges, indicating a strong cultural influence that schools could leverage to address sustainability issues through community participation.
Environmental science (ES) was introduced in Bhutan as an optional school subject for classes IX-XII to equip young people with the knowledge, values, and skills to protect the environment and promote sustainable and equitable use of natural resources in the pursuit of gross national happiness. Teachers are believed to play a crucial role in the effective implementation of ES, and this paper analyses Bhutanese teachers' views on how well they have been prepared to implement ES. The interview data from 14 teachers and six principals showed that limited qualifications and professional development in teaching ES have resulted in lack of confidence in teaching ES, lack of pedagogical content knowledge, and lack of clarity about the ES objectives. These results suggest integrating more knowledge about education for sustainable development (ESD) into teacher education program to adequately prepare teachers to teach ES if required and integrate ESD principles into other subjects.
This study investigated the teaching pedagogies deployed in teaching environmental science (ES) to adequately prepare Bhutanese youth with the knowledge, values, attitudes and skills to engage in sustainable environmental conservation that supports the country's pursuit of Gross National Happiness. A mixed-method research strategy was employed that collected data in the form of surveys and interviews with 14 teachers, surveys with 563 students, interviews with 194 students through (46) focus groups and six classroom observations. The data indicated that the transmissive approach (teacher talk), discursive activities (presentation and group discussions), and textbook-based activities of reading and solving problems from ES textbooks are the most predominant teaching approaches implemented in teaching ES. Students are engaged in critical thinking, empirical real-world and book-based research and maintaining an environmental profile; however, there is a lack of hands-on activities of projects, experiments, fieldwork, exhibitions and surveying and interviewing people. Teachers identified that lack of time, examination-based assessments, the large syllabus and a lack of resources are the factors that impede learning activities in ES. Therefore, there is a need for more emphasis on teachers' professional development on transformative teaching pedagogies for effective implementation of ES that will prepare students for the pursuit of environmental sustainability.
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