Sustaining an Environmental Ethic: Outdoor and Environmental Education Graduates' Negotiation of School Spaces

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lou Preston
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Outdoor Education ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
School Communities ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Education Courses

In this article, I draw on interviews with graduates from an Outdoor and Environmental Education course to explore the ways in which their environmental ethics changed since leaving university. I do this in relation to the graduates' personal and professional experiences, particularly in the context of teaching Outdoor Education and Physical Education in secondary schools. By offering two alternative readings of graduates' experiences, this research contributes to existing education literature about the ‘wash-out effect’ of teacher education courses once beginning teachers become immersed in schools. In the first reading I find evidence of regulatory and normalising strategies of society and school communities and a ‘plateauing’ of graduates' engagement with environmental practices. In a second reading, framed by Foucault's theory of power and ethics, I discern acts of ‘tactical’ resistance. This reading foregrounds strategies graduates use to negotiate the constraining spaces of schools.

Reducing Pessimism's Sway in The Environmental Ethics Classroom

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 213-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
William James ◽  
General State ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Of The Environment

AbstractIncreased awareness of the breadth and depth of existing environmental challenges is part of an environmental education. One effect of this increased awareness that can manifest itself in the environmental ethics classroom is pessimism. I outline two varieties of pessimism that have a tendency to hold sway in the environmental ethics classroom: 1) pessimism about the general state of the environment; and, 2) pessimism about being able to do anything about the general state of the environment. After outlining a few of the potential educational and vocational consequences of allowing pessimism to take root, I offer a pedagogical method for reducing the sway of pessimism in the classroom. I argue that William James' and John Dewey's writings on the subject of meliorism offer a framework that, when combined with some of the insights of incrementalism theory in environmental policy, can not only help students to reduce the sway of pessimism in the classroom, but also in their chosen career paths by, among other things, highlighting the "possibility of possibility".

scholarly journals Why Teach Environmental Ethics? Because We Already Do

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 227-242
Author(s):  
Christine Benton ◽  
Raymond Benton
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Ethical Dimension ◽  
Land Ethic ◽  
The Way

AbstractIn this paper we argue for the importance of the formal teaching of environmental ethics. This is, we argue, both because environmental ethics is needed to respond to the environmental issues generated by the neoliberal movement in politics and economics, and because a form of environmental ethics is implicit, but unexamined, in that which is currently taught. We maintain that students need to become aware of the latent ethical dimension in what they are taught. To help them, we think that they need to understand how models and metaphors structure and impact their worldviews. We describe how a simple in-class exercise encourages students to experience the way metaphors organize feelings, courses of action, and cognitive understandings. This is then intellectualized by way of Clifford Geertz's concept of culture and his model for the analysis of sacred symbols. From there we present a brief interpretation of modern economics as the embodiment of the dominant modern ethos. This leads into a consideration of ecology as a science, and to the environmental ethic embodied in Aldo Leopold's "Land Ethic." We close with a personal experience that highlights how environmental teaching can make students aware of the presence of an implicit, but unexamined, environmental ethic.

scholarly journals From Environmental Awareness to Environmental Responsibility: Towards a Stewardship Curriculum

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Ajayi C. Omoogun ◽  
Etuki E. Egbonyi ◽  
Usang N. Onnoghen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
Environmental Curricula

<p>The period of environmentalism heightened environmental concern and subsequently the emergence of Environmental Education that is anchored on awareness. It is thought that increase in environmental awareness will reverse the misuse of the environment and its resources. Four decades after the international call for Environmental Education, Earth’s degradation is far from abating as it’s pristinity is consistently and irreversibly being eroded by no less than from anthropocentric activities. Humans have seen themselves as the dominant species that is apart and not part of the organisms that constitute the environment. The philosophical value free nature concepts and the theological assumption that human are the ultimate species together with the rise of capitalism and its surrogates consumerism together conspire to diminuate environmental health. To protect the environment therefore, we must refocus EE to change human’s view of the environment and attitude towards the utilization of its resources. Environmental education can become more effective in creating respect for the environment. This paper examined the failure of efforts at addressing environmental issues via environmental education. The paper posits that environmental problems are on the increase due to lack of deliberate responsibility and stewardship, lack of a unique EE curricula and ineffective pedagogy. We suggest therefore that EE can target human perception and attitude and direct then towards biocentric stewardship for the environment. This can be achieved through a deliberate pedagogy of environmental values that promotes sustainable attitude and respect for the environment. Humans must bear the burden of responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the environment. We must replace the philosophical value free nature concepts that nature is a common commodity and the theological assumption that humans are the ultimate species. We must also rethink our consumerism nature and the endless faith in the efficacy of technology to solve reoccurrence human induced ecological problems. These issues must be embedded in the school curriculum. Pedagogical approach to EE should essentially be the experiential model. The school curriculum must be the carrier and doer of these values that are crucial to the sustainability of the environment. Environmental ethics, environmental code of conduct, environmental nationalism, nature as manifestation of God, ascetic consumerism are recommended as key component of environmental curricula and pedagogy.<strong> </strong></p>

scholarly journals «A New Global Ethic»: A History of the United Nations International Environmental Education Program, 1975-1995

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Charles Dorn
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Education ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Natural Resource Conservation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study

In 1975, the United Nations, under the auspices of its Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Environment Program (UNEP), established the International Environmental Education Program (IEEP). For two decades, IEEP aimed to accomplish goals ascribed to it by UNESCO member states and fostered communication across the international community through Connect, the UNESCO-UNEP environmental education newsletter. After reviewing UNESCO’s early involvement with the environment, this study examines IEEP’s development, beginning with its conceptual grounding in the 1968 UNESCO Biosphere Conference. It examines the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, moves on to the UNESCO-UNEP 1975 Belgrade Workshop, and continues with the world’s first intergovernmental conference dedicated to environmental education held in Tbilisi in 1977. The paper then uses Connect to trace changes in the form and content of environmental education. Across two decades, environmental education shifted from providing instruction about nature protection and natural resource conservation to fostering an environmental ethic through a problems-based, interdisciplinary study of the ecology of the total environment to adopting the concept of sustainable development. IEEP ultimately met with mixed success. Yet it was the primary United Nations program assigned the task of creating and implementing environmental education globally and thus offers a particularly useful lens through which to analyze changes in the international community’s understanding of the concept of the environment over time.

scholarly journals The Environmental Education Dimensions for Sustainable Development

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (30) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Martian Iovan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Civil Values

Abstract Based both on a historical approach regarding the evolution of the environmental education between 1960 and present days, and on empirical research as well, the author proves that the efficiency of the environmental education could be much higher if included within the broader sphere of moral and civic education and if it is driven by a more extensive ideal sprung from the fundamental human right to a clean and well preserved environment, by the contemporary moral and civil values. The author pleads and motivates for an increased capitalization of the humanities and social sciences, of art, of environmental ethics and aesthetics in shaping “the ecological personality” of the tomorrow people. When shaping these personality traits through environmental education activities, one must emphasize the importance of practice and applied actions aimed to protect the environment, and in general, the practice of civic-moral education methods.

Mentoring Early Career Special Education Teachers

2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Dempsey ◽  
Michael Arthur-Kelly ◽  
Breda Carty
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Mentoring Support

For some time, special education has been plagued by shortages of qualified teaching staff and by high turnover rates for these staff. While several factors—external, employment and personal—are largely responsible for this situation, the research demonstrates that the initial professional experiences of early career teachers are closely associated with their longevity in the field. This paper reviews the literature on mentoring support for beginning teachers, mentoring models and the use of information technologies in mentoring support. The paper concludes with recommendations for methods of support for Australian early career special-education teachers.

Harmonising with Heaven and Earth: Reciprocal Harmony and Xunzi’s Environmental Ethics

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Jonathan Chua
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Normative Basis ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Ethical Relationships

Xunzi’s philosophy provides a rich resource for understanding how ethical relationships between humans and nature can be articulated in terms of harmony. In this paper, I build on his ideas to develop the concept of reciprocal harmony, which requires us to reciprocate those who make our lives liveable. In the context of the environment, I argue that reciprocal harmony generates moral obligations towards nature, in return for the existential debt that humanity owes towards heaven and earth. This can be used as a normative basis for an environmental ethic that enables humanity and nature to flourish together.

Pathways from Environmental Ethics to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Insights from Psychology

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Batavia ◽  
Jeremy T. Bruskotter ◽  
Michael Paul Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Practical Agenda

Though largely a theoretical endeavour, environmental ethics also has a practical agenda to help humans achieve environmental sustainability. Environmental ethicists have extensively debated the grounds, contents and implications of our moral obligations to nonhuman nature, offering up different notions of an 'environmental ethic' with the presumption that, if humans adopt such an environmental ethic, they will then engage in less environmentally damaging behaviours. We assess this presumption, drawing on psychological research to discuss whether or under what conditions an environmental ethic might engender pro-environmental behaviour. We focus discussion on three lines of scholarship in the environmental ethics literature, on 1) intrinsic value, 2) care ethics, and 3) the land ethic. We conclude by commenting generally on both the limits and transformative potential of an environmental ethic in its larger sociocultural context.

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