Environmental Citizenship in Secondary Formal Education: The Importance of Curriculum and Subject Teachers

Abstract

Van Dam, and Slaven Gasparovic Curriculum Principles and Environmental CitizenshipTeachers in formal secondary schools always teach based on the curricula of a school subject. In some countries they teach only one subject, in other countries perhaps two, three or even four. For instance, English science teachers are required to be able to teach biology, chemistry and physics to students aged 11-16. Overall, secondary schoolteachers are considered to be subject specialists, and their teaching is steered by what the formal curricula prescribes. The curricula of secondary school often consist of a general section that all teachers are obliged to follow and the

Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning as a Means toward Environmental Citizenship

“…They can then work with their students to progressively support them in developing skills in asking authentic questions and considering ways of investigating them, taking into account societal, scientific and environmental dimensions and implications of the issues explored. A more sophisticated activity might involve teachers from different disciplines collaboratively working together across the curriculum and designing SSIBL activities so that their students can engage in socially responsible inquiries in an interdisciplinary manner [33,51]. In either case, having as a starting point issues or events to initiate a need for learning, and addressing the three criteria of (a) transdisciplinary knowledge, (b) a values orientation toward both the complexity of, and the necessity for, a sustainable world and (c) a confidence for, and commitment to, socio-political action at individual and collective levels can support students and teachers in problematizing knowledge, addressing socio-environmental issues and supporting the development of environmental citizenship in young people.…”

“…They identify multiple perspectives and interest groups while combining scientific knowledge with social, environmental and ethical considerations and they use democratic processes and open deliberation to make informed decisions and take action. Organizing such transdisciplinary inquiries is clearly a pedagogic challenge [32,33]; it requires whole school support, requisite teacher training and a willingness of both teachers and pupils to work on a transdisciplinary basis amongst others. In the following sections, we use four exemplars to illustrate how the SSIBL approach can be implemented to emphasize transdisciplinarity, action and a values-oriented educational approach as a means toward environmental citizenship.…”

Teaching contributions from secondary school subject areas to education for sustainable development – a comparative study of science, social science and language teachers

“…For example, science and geography teachers recognise SD as an extension of the environmental education that is part of their core curriculum (Breiting 2000), while language teachers have tended to avoid teaching about SD (Borg et al 2012). In this way, school subjects frame SD differently (Bernstein 1999) and teachers from these different frames could be said to teach ESD in various ways as discussed by Gericke et al (2020). The overall question under investigation in this study is: What kind of potential teaching could be enacted when teachers from these different subject areas come together to teach ESD in cross-curricular settings in secondary school?…”

Promoting Environmental Citizenship in Education: The Potential of the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire to Measure Impact of Interventions

“…Moreover, the enactment of environmental citizenship is dependent on various aspects of how a school is organized and functions [20]. Aspects of the specificity of curricula, the way the local school is organized, and the predominant assessment and teaching traditions bring important challenges to implementing education for environmental citizenship in formal settings [21]. In addition, the curriculum, school organization, and traditions of teaching and assessment differ substantially in different countries, across school levels, and in formal versus informal education [21].…”