Efforts to empower teachers in Ethiopia to address local environmental problems: achievements and limitations

Abstract

It is believed that the possibilities of integrating environmental issues into the formal and nonformal education programs depend on the capacity of teachers who put such programs into effect. A pilot project, aimed at building the capacity of schools in Ethiopia to address key environmental issues, was initiated in 2004. Among the major strategies to achieve the goal of the project was empowering teachers to solve local environmental problems. This paper reports the achievements and limitations of the project in relation to teachers' empowerment. The results indicate that teachers who took part in the inservice training on natural resource management have taken distinct steps to integrate environmental issues into their lessons, establish environmental clubs and start school nurseries. The study also indicated some limitations. The handbook prepared for the training purpose had little provisions to guide the practical application of some of the principles of natural resource management discussed therein. The other limitation was the insufficient effort made to build (directly) the capacity of environmental clubs and community leaders. Some recommendations have been put forward in view of these findings.

A Study towards Views of Teacher Candidates about National and Global Environmental Problems

“…The teacher candidates regarded educators (İbiş, 2009;Aydin, 2010) and then environmental institutes as the most effective groups in the solution of environmental issues; and preferred statesmen, executives and students as the other effective groups. Esa (2010) and Dalelo (2009) reached a similar conclusion and stated "teachers" to be the most effective individuals in teaching environmental awareness. The teacher candidates reported their preference in TV-radio outlets (Aydin, 2010;Sadik & Sadik, 2014), schools, environmental institutes, newspapers-journals, municipalities, Ministry of Environment and Forestry and other institutes, respectively, as the most contributing sources in provoking awareness on environment among people.…”

Strategies for teaching to a changing world: lessons from Arusha, Tanzania

“…Schools lack many of the basic necessities from tables and chairs to books, laboratory equipment, computers and Internet access (Hogan, 2008). In addition, classroom sizes tend to be very large and there is a shortage of qualified and dedicated teachers (Saunders, 1969 as cited by Dalelo, 2009). Furthermore, teachers have limited access to PD opportunities to share experiences as a way to learn how to improve their teaching practices while interacting with scientists and education researchers.…”

“…Environmental education was thought to produce "an environmentally literate citizenry, empowered and motivated to solve environmental problems" (Parlo & Butler, 2007, p. 32 as cited by Stapp et al, 1969). With the formation of independent states post-colonialism, formal education was thought to be an important mechanism to alleviate poverty and environmental degradation, among other pressing societal issues (Dalelo, 2009). With more emphasis on sustainability education where pro-environmental attitudes are an important component, it is necessary to build knowledge and caring about and for the environment in teacher PD (Esa, 2010).…”

8. Sinif Öğrenci̇leri̇ni̇n Gözünden Küresel Sorunlar

“…Yurt dışında çeşitli küresel sorunlara ilişkin çalışmalar; farklı eğitim düzeylerinde öğrenim gören öğrencilerle yapılan (Angell ve Avery, 1992;Bogner ve Wiseman, 2004;Kılınç, Stanisstreet ve Boyes, 2008;Kuhlemeier, Berg ve Lagerweij, 1999;Negev, Garb, Biller, Sagy ve Tal, 2009;Praneetham ve Thatong, 2016), öğretmenlerle yapılan (Dalelo, 2009), öğretmen adayları ile yapılan (Boyes, Chambers ve Stanisstreet, 1995;Hashizaki ve Kawaguchi, 2012), öğretmen ve öğrenciler ile yapılan (Rosidin ve Suyatna, 2017), öğretmen öğrenci ve idareci ile yapılan (Decker, 1995) çalışmalar olarak ayrılabilmektedir.…”

“…Studies on various global problems abroad can be divided into studies conducted with students at different educational levels levels (Angell and Avery, 1992;Bogner and Wiseman, 2004;Kılınç, Stanisstreet and Boyes, 2008;Kuhlemeier, Berg and Lagerweij, 1999;Negev, Garb, Biller, Sagy and Tal, 2009;Praneetham and Thathong, 2016), with teachers (Dalelo, 2009), with pre-service teachers (Boyes, Chambers and Stanisstreet, 1995;Hashizaki and Kawaguchi, 2012), with teachers and students (Rosidin and Suyatna, 2017), and with teachers, students and administrators (Decker, 1995). It has been noticed that studies conducted in the field of education in Turkey use the concepts of "global problems" or "today's world problems", although they have the same content.…”