Education and Sustainability: Debates, Tensions, and Possibilities in Practice, Policy and Research

Spiteri, Jane

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_3

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 37 publications

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“…Reflecting the awareness of the magnitude of environmental changes and the need for an integrated and robust action to provide opportunities and coping strategies for all and in all segments of life, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right [7], one which should be interrelated with other rights and aspects of international human rights law. A number of key international players in the field, such as IPCC, UN, UNICEF and the World Health Organization argue that the environmental crisis is "a major threat to children's rights and their health" [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the Gap: The Affective Dimension of Learning Outcomes in Environmental Primary and Secondary Education

Lovren

Jablanovic

2023

Sustainability

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There is growing evidence of the power of the affective dimensions for pro-environmental behavior, as well as of existing gaps between the dimensions of learning outcomes in recent environmental education literature. Based on the need to address that gap, this article explores the integration of the cognitive (ecological knowledge and cognitive skills), the affective and the behavioral domain in the learning outcomes of subjects related to the environment within Serbian elementary and general secondary education. This analysis was performed on the second cycle of the elementary school curricula and the general secondary education curricula for the following compulsory subjects: biology, chemistry and geography. It uses the holistic framework of EE goals, as defined by the Tbilisi Declaration as well as the concept of environmental literacy, as defined by the authors of the National Environmental Literacy Assessment used in the US, which distinguish four components of environmental literacy: ecological knowledge, cognitive skills, environmental affects and pro-environmental behavior. The results clearly show the dominance of the cognitive when compared with the affective and behavioral dimensions in both primary and secondary education. The focus of education on measurable outcomes offers firm structure for planning and evaluation, but underestimates the importance of preferences, values, enjoyment and does not facilitate rewarding the main source of pro-environmental behavior. Starting from the holistic and whole school approach to environmental education, the authors re-emphasize the need to bridge the existing gap and to provide policy support to teachers in developing their own as well as students’ environmental engagement and resilience.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%