international training seminar on environmental education...

UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental.Education Progranime

International Training Seminar on Environmental Education for ’ i

Educational Planners and Administrators (New De&i : Ap+ 22-26,199O)

REPORT

National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration 17-B, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi ‘- 110016

INDIA

CONTENTS

PageSECTION I

Introduction . 1SECTION H

Proceedings of the Course ' 5SECTION HI

UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education 8Programme

SECTION IVConsolidated Summary of Country Reports 11

SECTION VEnvironmental Education and Educational Planning 14

SECTION VIConclusions 20

APPENDICESI. Programme Schedule 25

II. List of Participants and Resource Persons 29III. Organizing Committee 33IV. Opening and Closing Speeches 35V. Overview of Environmental Education 39

VI. Resume of Country Reports 55VII. Guidelines for Developing Nonformal Environmental 67

EducationVIII. Strategies for the Training of Teachers in Environmental 81

EducationIX. Environmental Education in Technical and Vocational 101

EducationX. Environmental Education Handbook for Planners 109

XI. Procedures for Developing Environmental Education 119Curriculum

SECTION I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the CourseThe UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP)(began its activities in 1975. This was a direct outcome of the recommendations ofthe United Nations Conference on Human Environment, Stockholm, Sweden in1972. Thereafter, the Inter- governmental Conference on Environmental Educationheld in Tbilisi, USSR in 1977 indicated the concrete actions required for develop-ment of Environmental Education at the international level. Accordingly, the IEEPhas been focussing on the following principal areas :

(i) exchange of information and experience;(ii) research and experimentation;

(iii) training of personnel;(iv) preparation of educational materials; and.(v) regional and international cooperation.

Within the above framework, the DEEP has organised a number of regional and inter-regional workshops, consultative meetings and training programmes on differentdimensions of EE. These programmes have helped in highlightinglhe environmen-tal problems in different regions and evolving suitable strategies for effective im-plementation of EE programmes as envisaged by IEEP. The BEEP has brought outa series of documents devoted to different aspects of EE such as teacher education,non-formal education, vocational and technical education and curriculum develop-ment. Utilising some of these documents as the basis, several regional and inter-regional courses have been conducted under the auspices of the IEEP. NBBPA, onits part is committed to contribute to and participate in the activities of UNESCO(IEEP) programmes and has conducted several programmes in collaboration withUNESCO. The first programme was a Consultative Meeting on the Training of Cur-riculum Developers, Teacher Educators and Educational Planners in Environmen-tal Education organised in February 1985. The objective of this meeting was to bringtogether educational planners, administrators, teacher educators and curriculumdevelopers on a common platform to work out strategies for incorporation of en-vironmental education in the training of educational personnel.

NIEPA runs an annual six-month international training programme, the Internation-al Diploma in Educational Planning and Administration (IDEPA) which is attendedby participants from the regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In 1988, it wasdecided jointly by NIEPA and the Environment Education Section, UNESCO, Paris,that this programme being multi-national in nature, would serve as an ideal platformto hold a short training course in environment education for the participating educa-tional planners and administrators, first to enhance exchange of information and ex-perience in the development of EE in the context of their respective educationalsystems and to workout strategies and techniques of making EE an integral part ofnot only curriculum at different levels, but also of planning and management ofeducation. The second programme on EE, the Inter Regional Training Course onEnvironmental Education for Educational Planners and Administrators, held byNIEPA in 1989, was thus the first of the series weaved into the IDEPA, with a viewto familiarizing the participants with the need and place of EE in the curriculum ofprimary and secondary schools, teacher education programmes, technical vocation-al and non-formal education. An Environmental Education Handbook for Plannerswas prepared by NIEPA and presented in the course. Since the programme wasreceived with enthusiasm by the IDEPA participants, It was thus decided to repeatit with the current IDEPA participants.

Objectives of the ProgrammeThe specific objectives of the programme were to familiarize the participants with:

- goals, objectives and development of EE and its need and place in educa-tional planning

- to orient participants to the guidelines forthe incorporation of EE into tech-nical and vocational and non-formal education and the procedure forEEcurriculum development

- to workout strategies for creating awareness among planners and ad-ministrators for an EE orientation and the processes through which EE be-comes an integral part of educational planning.

- to enhance exchange of information and experience of the developmentof EE in the educational systems as well as in the planning and manage-ment processes of participating countries.

Programme DesignThe programme consisted of four major components:Presentation of OverviewThis consisted of five sessions. The inaugural session was followed by the presen-tation on the state of global environment and the contribution of the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme presented byEnvironmental Education Division of UNESCO, Paris. The third session was a dis-

cussion on the overview of EE. The fourth session consisted of sharing of country -specific experiences on the development of EE. The fifth session was a panel dis-cussion by distinguished scholars and social scientists on environmental educationand development.Presentation and Discussion of Working DocumentsFive sessions were devoted to this component. These were technical sessions inwhich resource persons presented summaries of UNESCO-UNEP-IEEP Environ-mental Education Series documents relating to :

a) Environmental Education in Technical and Vocational Educationb) Guidelines for Developing Non-Formal Environmental Educationc) Strategies for the Training of Teachers in Environmental Educationd) Procedures for Developing an Environmental Education Curriculume) Environmental Education Manual for Educational Planners

The sessions were followed by discussion and suggestions for improvement of thedocuments.Environmental Education - Its PracticeA film show and slide presentation was presented by Kalpa Vriksh, a voluntary or-ganisation actively involved in bringing about environmental awareness.Working GroupsParticipants were divided into two working groups viz. Formal Education and Non-formal Education, under the broad theme of Planning and Management of Environ-mental Education in the context of education for all. Each group worked out a planof action which was presented in the form of group reports.

Member States RepresentedThe main set of participants were members of the International Diploma Course inEducational Planning and Administration being held at NIEPA at the time. Thegroup consisted of sixteen representatives drawn from eight countries, namely, Iran,Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda. Oneparticipant from India was also represented taking the total number of participantsto seventeen.

Date and VenueThe five day Training Programme was conducted from April 22 - 26, 1990 at theNational Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India.

Bureau of the MeetingOne chairperson and one rapporteur was elected for each of the working groups.

Organizing CommitteeAn organizing committee was set up (see Appendix-III) which organized and guidedthe day-to-day deliberations of the Programme.

UNESCO SecretariatDr. Abdul Ghafoor Ghaznawi, Chief, Environmental Education Section, UNESCO,Paris, participated and guided the deliberations of the Programme.

Resource Persons ,Resource persons for the Programme consisted of a team of experts from India whopresented resume and guided the discussions based on working documents of theUNESCO. . , . . ' . . .

SECTION II

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COURSE

Opening SessionThe training course began with the Inaugural Address delivered by Dr. S.Z. Qasim,renowned oceanographer and Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia. Prof. SatyaBhushan, Director, NIEPA, made the Chairperson's remarks. Dr. Abdul GhafoorGhaznawi, Chief, Environmental Education Section, UNESCO, Paris, gave the ex-pert comments. Welcome to the members of the programme was accorded by Ms.Anjana Mangalagiri. Dr. R.Govinda gave an overview of the programme. The for-mal vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. S. Mukhopadhyay.In his inaugural address(see Appendix IV), Dr. Qasim stressed the significance ofthe programme in terms of the ideas that the participants would transmit on the cru-cial area of environmental education back in their respective countries. Heelaborated on the different concepts of environment viz. the physical, chemical andbiological, all of which were essential components of human existence. It is thesebasic components that are posing an environmental hazard and threatening the veryexistence of humankind today as a result of the rapid developments taking place inthe world. The nature and pace of industrialization occurring in the global area todayhas not only destroyed the intimate interdependence of humans and nature that ex-isted prior to industrialization but has also concerned itself only with the short-termgains, not the long-term effects. Concluding on a note of caution, Dr. Qasim saidthat it was the responsibility of fora such as the present one to give directions throughjudicious decisions in generating environmental awareness.

Session on Overview of EEAn overview on environmental education was presented by Ms. Anjana Mangalagiri(see Appendix V). The session highlighted, very lucidly, the genesis of environmen-tal crisis and its manifestations and related it to the nature of development program-

. ines which in turn, were influenced by the ideology underlying development. Thediscussion centred around the manner in which environment must become a criti-cal component of education itself. There have been problems in prefacing educa-tion with environment which has lead to a state wherein education is understood atbest, in acquiring knowledge and at worst, in imparting literacy. In this process, themeaning system of the people and the life sustaining knowledge that they alreadypossess, gets destroyed. To restore environment to education would also require themuch needed initiatives to rehabilitate the educated within their own environments.

A futuristic, long term planning on how environment could be returned to its centralplace i.e. become an integral part of the human and social survival through the educa-tional process was outlined.

Plenary and Group SessionsThe Plenary Session included the presentation and discussion of the resume of thedocuments on EE by the resource persons from different organisations and institu-tions in India. The list of resource persons and the respective documents presentedby them are given in the Appendices.As part of the Plenary sessions, Country Reports on EE were also presented by theparticipants. Nine Country Reports were presented and discussed during these ses-sions. For the group work, the participants and resource persons were divided intotwo working groups:

- Environmental Education in Formal Education- Non-formal Environmental Education \

• Each group met separately and prepared a group report. After the presentation anddiscussion of the group reports in a plenary session, the reports were further revised.

Slide Presentation on Environmental AwarenessAs part of the component on environmental education in practice, a film show andslide presentation by Mr. Ashish Kothari from a voluntary organisation on environ-mental action - Kalpa Vriksh, was also made.

Closing SessionThe training programme concluded with the valedictory address by Dr. AbdulGhafoor Ghaznawi. Prof. Satya Bhushan chaired the session.In his address (see Appendix IV), Dr. Ghafoor said that the environemental aware-ness amongst planners and decision makers was very crucial for making sounddecisions and enforcing proper actions for the protection and improvement of theenvironment. He emphasized that the educational planners and administratorsshould realise the need for EE and take it upon themselves as a challenge for thesystematic development of environmental awareness.He felicitated the participantsand distributed the course certificates.Prof. Satya Bhushan, Director, NIEPA, in his observations emphasized the need fora national level commitment and capability while formulating strategies for the im-plementation of environmental education programmes. He expressed that EEprogrammes should be tackled by all levels of planners and administrators, supple-mented by the involvement of voluntary organisations.

AcknowledgementThe five days UNESCO-UNEP International Training Seminar on EnvironmentalEducation was the culmination of the cumulative efforts of experts and related or-ganisations. This programme was possible due to the generous financial assistanceand guidance of UNESCO. We record our deep sense of gratitude and thanks to UN-ESCO, Paris and the UNESCO local office at Delhi. Our thanks are also due to theparticipants of the International Diploma Programme in Educational Planning andAdministration for whpm the Training Seminar was designed and its ProgrammeDirector, Prof. K.G. Virmani. We are also grateful to their nominating bodies foragreeing to extend their period of stay in India for the above purpose. We extendour sincere thanks to the resource persons, who enriched the training programmewith their valuable guidance. We would like to acknowledge the extensive coopera-tion and active service rendered by the faculty and staff of NIEPA in the successfulcompletion of the training programme.Finally we would like to acknowledge the services rendered by the Computer Centreof NIEPA, in particular Mr Hakim Singh and Mr. Jai Prakash for setting this reporton the laser printer and to Mr. M.M. Ajwani, Assistant Publication Officer for thepublication of the Report.

SECTION III

UNESCO-UNEP INTERNATIONALENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

PROGRAMME

Knowledge about environment in its holistic nature, the ecosystem and interdepen-dence of different elements of environment has to be inculcated through formal andnonformal environmental education programmes covering the different sectionsof the society. For along time humanity cherished the idea and took actions to con-quer it. This has been altering the balanced relationship between humanity and en-vironment adversely. Therefore, humanity has to come to terms with theenvironment as the life support system specially through sustainable and sounddevelopment of its finite resources.The alarming growth rate of global population on the one hand and increasing basicand luxury needs of humanity on the other, consequently result in fast environmen-tal resource consumption and pollution. Population growth and environmentalresources should be made compatible. Environmental Education (EE) is a fun-damental measure for enhancing their compatibility. Environmental problems haveno national or regional boundaries, rather it is a global problem facing the entirehumanity. It is imperative to understand the causes and effects of these problemsand devise ways and means for their solution and prevention. To do this task, EEhas to play the vital role of building public awareness.

BackgroundIn view of raising the global concern on environment, the UN Conference on HumanEnvironment, Stockholm, Sweden, 1972, came up with the recommendation entrust-ing Unesco and other international agencies concerned to take necessary steps to es-tablish an international programme in EE. In response to the above recommendation,Unesco in cooperation with UNEP launched the UNESCO-UNEP International En-vironmental Education Programme (BEEP) in 1975 in Paris. lEEP's objectives areto assist governments, national, regional and international institutions to incorporateEnvironmental Education (EE) into formal and nonformal education systems andprogrammes. The intiative in developing goals, objectives, guiding principles, andstrategies for developing EE at national, regional and international levels, was firsttaken by the UNESCO-UNEP which organised Inter- governmental Conference onEE in 1977 in Tbilisi (USSR).

Goals and ObjectivesThe overall goals of EE, according to the Tbilisi Conference recommendations are(i) to foster an awareness of ecological interdependence ; (ii) to acquire relevantknowledge, values, attitudes and skills; and (iii) to create necessary new patternsof behaviour of individuals, groups and society.The objectives of EE endorsed at the Tbilisi Conference relate to development of(a) awareness, (b) knowledge, (c) attitudes, and (d) participation.

Guiding PrinciplesThe following guiding principles specify the direction in which organisation of EEprogrammes are to proceed: (i) to consider the environment in its totality; (ii) to bea continuous life long process; (iii) to be an interdisciplinary approach; (iv) to ex-amine environmental issues from local level to international level, giving insightsto students; (v) to focus on current and potential environmental situation in histori-cal perspective; (vi) to promote the local, national, international cooperation in theprevention and solution of environmental problems; (vii) to consider environmen-tal aspects in plans for development and growth; (viii) to enable learners to have arole in planning their learning experiences; (ix) to relate environmental sensitivity,knowledge, problem solving skills; (x) to help learners discover the symptoms andcauses of environmental problems; (xi) to develop critical thinking; (xii) to utilisediverse educational approaches to learning/teaching with stress on practical ac-tivities and first-hand experience on environment.

Strategies for EE DevelopmentFor the incorporation of EE into the educational curriculum, it is necessary to estab-lish a mandate and responsibility for educational institutions by means of high leveleducation committees. The education committees play a vital role for the renewalof curriculum. Their task is to frame objectives of EE; to examine whether the schoolcurriculum already covered the EE concepts and to identify local environmentalproblems, additional EE contents, methodologies, evaluation techniques and so on.Likewise, it is imperative to renovate teacher training with the incorporation of EE.The teachers should be trained through inservice and preservice EE programmes.Teaching methods that may be used in environmental education are lectures,demonstrations, discussions, field trips, projects, games, simulation debates, casestudies, competitions, exercises and laboratory work. One or more methods may beopted for that may match and facilitate the teaching/learning of a curriculum ele-ment. If the environmental dimension is not tested or evaluated in the developmentof EE, it will always remain as a peripheral activity with the possibility of beingdropped some day. Results of an evaluation provide feedback indicating the achieve-ment and weakness of the students and the productivity of the efforts of the teachers.

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Some EE ActivitiesAfter the Tbilisi Conference, the Unesco and UNEP organised the International Con-gress on EE and Training in August 1987 in Moscow. The Congress took stock ofEE development since 1977 and established EE strategies for the development andpromotion of EE in 1990s.In recent years EE has gained momentum at the global level. Particularly, somecountries are doing exemplary work on EE. As an alternative to the problem ofcrowded curriculum at primary school level (at grades 4-6) Malaysia has designedthe EE curriculum by replacing the subjects like mathematics, science, health, his-tory and geography by a single subject called Man and His Environment. Similar-ly, with a view to effective dissemination, EE in India has become an integral partof education curriculum from pre-primary to higher education including nonformaleducation. Under the auspices of Unesco-UNEP, the six ASEAN countries have un-dertaken a joint project on training of Secondary School teachers on EE and SriLanka is doing pioneering work on nonformal EE in order to develop, understand,protect and improve the environment. Under the same auspices, the National In-stitute of Educational Planning and Administration in India has been working outstrategies for the incorporation of EE in the planning and administration of educa-tion.

SECTION IV

CONSOLIDATED SUMMARY OFCOUNTRY REPORTS

The participants of the training course presented the reports on the status of environ-mental education in their respective countries. The country reports had beenprepared by the participants on the basis of the following guidelines:

1. Major environmental problems of the country, their main causes, andmeasures taken for their solution and prevention.

2. Current formal and non-formal environmental education programme, ob-jectives, approaches to implementation, results obtained and problems en-countered.

3. Current environmental education programme for educational planners andadministrators.

4. .Suggested priorities and strategies for the development of environmentaleducation for educational planners and administrators.

5. Suggested guidelines for the incorporation of EE into educational objec-tives, policies and planning at national level.

Representatives from the following countries presented their country reports :1. India .2. Iran3. LaoPDR4. Mongolia5. Malaysia6. Nepal7. Sierra Leone8. Tanzania9. Uganda

The countries ranged from the smaller ones like Lao PDR and Sierre Leone to thebigger ones like Iran, Tanzania and India. But the majority of the countries shareda common colonial history. However, while some achieved liberation about half a

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decade ago, others won their independence just in the last decade. It is against thisbackground that the state and status of environmental education was viewed.The EE concern for environmental education has no doubt existed in most of thecountries who are in different stages of the ecological crisis - some very grave, othersnot so much. The major preoccupation about environment however has been be-cause of the exploitation and irrational use of natural resources, consumer basedpolicies, the race for technological advance and pressures for exports of rawmaterials. The resultant effect has the age old manifestation in poverty, imbalancein population growth, illiteracy and uncontrolled urban expansion. Concern was ex-pressed on deforestation, destruction of wild life and rare species of animals, healthhazards due to living conditions and also imported food policies, pollution of air andwater due to dumping of industrial wastes in rivers and seas.The measures for EE in formal and nonformal systems existed practically in all thecountries. Iran drew its strength from its commitment to educate children to respect'good' in everything and Tanzania from 'self reliance' and rural oriented policies.Each country was trying to utilize its own indigenous situations to weave in environ-mental education messages. The following broad observations could be drawn fromthe presentations of the country reports.

1. The focus of EE has to be different in developing and developed countries.The effects of environmental degeneration may be the same but the reasonsand processes are different. Hence EE programmes in the respectivecountries need to be evolved in the local-specific contexts.

2. Political will of the national leaders has an important role to play in crea-tion and promotion of EE activities. It is important to orient developmentplanners in this direction so that the importance of EE is realised.

3. Environmental concerns have to go beyond the conventional departmentsor ministries. Some countries have specific department or ministry deal-ing with environmental policies.A better coordination is desirable.

4. Though most of the countries have environmental legislations, the viola-tion of the legislation is a common practice. The parity between the profitmotive on the one hand and penalization on the other, is enormous. Legis-lation in itself is not enough. Its enforcement also needs to be strengthened.

5. In some countries efforts are being made to give an EE orientation to thedifferent subjects rather than institutionalizing it as a subject in itself.

6. There is a need for making the EE programme broad-based to cover alllevels of education. All channels of formal and nonformal education andmass media should be used to create environmental consciousness amongthe general public.

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7. Planning and Management of Environmental Educationis practically non-existent. Some countries like India are now making conscious efforts inthis direction.

8. Alongwith the training of teachers for EE, the orientation and training ofeducational planners, policy makers and administrators, is also consideredessential.

SECTION VENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONAND EDUCATIONAL PLANNING

As part of the Training Course, the participants were divided into smaller workinggroups to deliberate upon in detail and suggest strategies for the incorporation ofenvironmental education in the process of educational planning in formal and non-formal education. Two working groups were accordingly formed :Group I: Planning of Environmental Education in Formal EducationGroup II: Planning of Nonformal Environmental EducationEach group after making intensive deliberations, came out with a number of obser-vations and recommendations on each area. This section gives a consolidated reportof the deliberations of the two working groups.

Planning of Environmental Education in Formal EducationMembersJamaludin Abdul Hamid ChairpersonS.A. RostampurM.V. KishepoSomsy SayasengEsmaeel YahyaviThomas J. NavoDr. J.S. Gill ExpertDr. A.B. Saxena Expert

REPORT OF GROUP IObjectives

- To provide EE to all- To work for successful learning of EE.- To focus on affective and psychomotor domains.- To develop positive attitudes towards environment.

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- To develop commitment for participatory action for improving quality oflife and quality of environment.

- To mobilize the use of media for EE.Implementation Strategies1. Planning Programmes

i) EE programmes should be incorporated at all levels of formal educationwith priority given to primary education.

ii) EE programmes should emphasize on local, national and global environ-mental concerns with priority given to local environmental issues.

iii) EE programmes should be planned as per the need for the various levels:primary, secondary and higher education.

iv) Mobilization of resources in governmental and non-governmental sectorsincluding the community resources should be used in planning EEprogrammes. Efforts should be made to tap the resources of non-governmental agencies (in particular the industrial sector). The work onenvironmental aspects being undertaken by voluntary groups in the com-munity should be considered for planning EE programmes.

v) The mass media should be used to help in planning the EE Programmes.The role of the mass media should be kept in view.

2. Organizational StructureThere are many ministries and agencies that are involved in planning and manage-ment of different aspects of environment. Since they are working in isolation, it ispertinent that they coordinate their activities to work out and implement a moreholistic approach to the problems & issues of environmental awareness.At the National Level -

COORDINATING MINISTRYOR AGENCY

MINISTRIES NON-GOVERNMENTALAGENCIES

EDUCATION

AGRICULTURE

LABOUR

RELIGIOUS AGENCIES

COMMUNITY LEADERS

OTHERS

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At the State and district levels, inter-agency involvement is required.3. Training of PersonnelInstitutions of educational planning, teacher colleges and public administration thatare involved in the training of personnel should include EE as part of the trainingprogrammes.Target Groups : Target groups for EE training should include the followingcatagories of officers:

- Policy Makers and Politicians- Administrators and Implementors- Curriculum Developers- Teacher Educators- Teachers

Types of Training: Training programmes for the above personnel should be of shortand long-term duration. Depending upon the target group, the main training modesmay be in the form of seminars, workshops, orientation programmes, induction cour-ses and so on. The training programmes should aim at the acquisition and transferof knowledge and skills into action.The training of teacher educators and teachers should be a priority area in the con-text of both the pre-service and inservice training.The following training models may be employed depending upon the target groupand suitability:

1. Superordinate2. Peer training3. Modular approach4. Resource Management

We may divide resource management into two, namely Human Resource andMaterial Resource.In the Human Resource dimension, the various parameters should not operate inisolation. All expertise available should be fully utilised for training purposes andorganization of activities in schools should be emphasized.In Material Resource, printed materials can be utilized as input for EE in schoolsthrough exhibition. For example, the Ministry of Health can exhibit health care andhygiene through the community showing certain aspects of EE for instancedemonstrating water treatment and purification, the use and abuse of pesticides inagriculture and the like.

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Monitoring and Evaluation1. The scope of success should be evaluated through a formal examination

system. This will indicate the learning outcome of the area taught For theprimary school, evaluation can be done by the teacher himself/herself. Inmost cases, there is no public examination at the primary level. There isscope to evaluate the learner in the affective domain.

2. There should be a network of coordinating agencies which can be giventhe authority to monitor effectiveness of EE programmes beginning at thelocal level.

3. Evaluation tools should be designed to evaluate achievementof the variousEE programmes in terms of the amount of learning that has taken place(the micro level evaluation) and the programmes (the macro level evalua-tion).

4. There is a need to develop the evaluation tools for measuring the achieve-ment of the affective domain objectives.

Nonformal Environmental EducationMembersAbdolah Najafi ChairpersonPhavandy SawangchakawaneShiva Prashad PoudiyalHosseini MeherdadChristine OmanFlorence Z. NannyonjoM. J. Ravindranath ExpertS.P. Jain Expert

REPORT OF GROUP IIObjectives

- To make the population participate in environmental preservation and con-servation.

- To change the population behaviour and attitudes towards environment.- To make the population aware of the role of the environment, the inter-

relationship, the interdependance between the living things and non livingthings.

- To provide the necessary basic knowledge and skills about environmentfor solving day to day environmental problems.

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The Target GroupsThe target group for nonformal environmental education are :

- school drop outs- adult illiterates- voluntary agencies- religious and political leaders- educational planners and administrators.

Policy- To achieve the objectives and targets, environmental education should be

considered an integral part of nonformal education.- Environmental education in the nonformal stream must become the task

for all.- For the success of EE in nonformal education, the role of mass media be-

comes overly essential.Planning EE Programmes

- For the school drop outs, the basic idea about environmental awarenessmust be weaved into their learning material.

- Adult learners must not only be imparted literacy, programmes of environ-mental knowledge must be incorporated in any subject which is related toadult education.

- Voluntary agencies have an important role to play in environmental aware-ness action, for which they must equip themselves with basic skills andideas for EE.

- The religious and political leaders also should be made aware of their rolein imparting environmental knowledge which must be transpired by in-volving them in conferences or seminars.

Organizational StructureThe main components of the organization should be set up in accordance with thenature of the work and the cooperation and coordination with other related sectors.

- The ministry of education should be responsible to put into practice EEthrough nonformal educational system.

- Tne ministry of public health and environment, must cooperate with theministry of education for the propagation of information and implemen-tation of environmental awareness.

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- The personnel should be identified at different levels to look after the work.The community should also be initiated into evolving mass-basedprogrammes.

- Multi-media campaigns for environmental education should be intro-duced.

Training of PersonnelTraining should be given to religious leaders, political leaders, educational planners,administrators, and others directly involved in environmental education in the formof the inservice or preservice training. International conferences on environmentaleducation is an important source of sharing experiences across international groups.Resource ManagementThe main resource should be drawn from:

- Community or the society- Administration at all levels- Religious groups and the youth clubs- Newspapers, radio, television and films- Financial support from governmental organizations 6. Cooperation from

international agenciesMonitoring and EvaluationThe whole programme of nonfbrmal environmental education could be moniteredand evaluated simultaneously. The targets and dates must be fixed.Some case studies should be taken up on experimental basis for identifying the needsand strategies for an EE programme. Participation of the public in the process ofmonitoring and evaluation must form an essential component of the process.

SECTION VI

CONCLUSIONS

The training programme was conducted as per the schedule arranged for the course.Below are the summaries of some of the important issues that emerged during theprogramme.At the outset, the need for preserving the global commons along with the develop-ment of a value system in the people to ensure protection to the environment in termsof both human and geo- physical dimensions was emphasized. The crucial role ofeducational planners and administrators for imbibing as well as inculcating environ-mental education as a life long process was outlined.The paper on the overview of Environmental Education discussed the various nuan-ces and issues of environmental concern, not often recognised as so. It elaboratedupon the critical link between human societies and environment and the detrimen-tal impact of the so-called scientific and technological progress on both. It alsodescribed the critical dimensions of environment in education; the nature of develop-ment programmes and the extent to which they contradict the broader question ofenvironmental preservation. Lastly, it made a critical assessment of the presentstrategies and options for the future. It reaffirmed the need for a futuristic, long termplanning with a view to sustaining environment as an integral part of the human andsocial survival.All the participating countries made presentations on the status of EnvironmentalEducation in their respective countries. Broadly it was agreed upon that environ-mental education programmes had to necessarily evolve from country specific en-vironmental problems. The political will of national leaders and orientation ofdevelopment planners was essential for the promotion of environmental educationactivities. None of the countries with the exception of a few, had any special policyor programme of environmental education, though incorporation of environmentaleducation inputs into the curricula of the formal system of education had been at-tempted in most of the countries. Training of teachers in environmental educationhad been given some attention but no concrete efforts were carried out for trainingof educational planners and administrators in any of the countries.The session on panel discussion deliberated and discussed extensively the relation-ship of environment to development and its interface with education. Issues pertain-ing to science and technology advancement in the third world countries, thedisplacement and alienation of people from land as a consequence of development

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projects and the ideology underlining these developmental trends and their conse-quences both on human and bio-physical environment were emphasized by thepanellists. It was agreed upon that the third world countries instead of falling intothe trap of western models of development, should develop indigenous conceptswhich would integrate people with nature not just for survival but for a just exist-ence.The sessions on presentation of resume of UNESCO-UNEP documents were relatedto developing of guidelines on nonformal education, curriculum development, tech-nical and vocational education, teacher training and EE for planners and ad-ministrators.In the session on developing the guidelines fornonformal environmental educationwith reference to planning and management of EE, it was emphasized that nonfor-mal environmental education required the incorporation of EE objectives, conceptsand methodology into all processes of nonformal education. The guidelinesdeveloped by UNESCO document focussed on these aspects interweaving the is-sues of environmental ethics, coordination, legislation and participation of all. It wasfelt that the document needed to be oriented to the perspectives of nonformal educa-tion as operative in developing countries where illiteracy and poverty were mainfactors. It also needed to be viewed in the broader perspective of EE policies in agiven country.Regarding curriculum development in EE, the contention was that environmentaleducation curriculum must aim at the clientele acquiring conceptual knowledge,skills and attitudes in environmental issues. It was important, at the outset, that anEE curriculum outlines an approach, identifies the goals and objectives, organisesthe subject matter, identifies the methods of teaching, determines the validity ofgoals in the context of learning and emphasizes the need for inservice teacher train-ing for EE.The making of an EE curriculum involves interaction of large numbers of people atvarious stages of its development, implementation and evaluation. The incorpora-tion of EE concerns into teacher training programmes and plausible strategies fortraining preservice and inservice teachers were delineated. Steps for eliminatingsome of the practical problems encountered during planning and implementation ofthe teacher training programmes were pointed out and alternatives suggested.Environmental Education in technical and vocational education focussed mainly onthe technological advances as a means of solving the problems and its future con-sequences. It aimed at providing EE to all the trainees of technical and vocational

."courses at all levels, providing them unbiased information on the impact of tech-nological development, building safeguards in order to minimise the effects andeducating the people regarding the consequences. Therefore, for the role of environ-mental education in technical and vocational education, it was necessary for the stu-dents and trainees to be aware of specific problems and the risks they are likely to

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face originating from economic and industrial activities. In addition, they needed tolearn the theoretical and scientific bases of technologies applied to solve theproblems along with the totality of the impact and consequences.A presentation and discussion on the EE Manual for Educational Planners was madehighlightingthe role of planners. Planners should devote attention to two major itemsfor developing a national policy framework for EE: a) situational analysis, and (b)analytical understanding of existing planning and management structures. The ac-tion plans for EE, at the national level, were carried on the basis of the priority givento EE, mobilisation of resources, availability of voluntary action groups, scope foradopting a decentralised participatory approach and past experiences in implement-ing EE programmes. Therefore it was emphasised that the management of EE in-volved the establishment of administrative and supervisory mechanisms anddeveloping academic resources. Again EE planners were required to evolve an ef-fective communication strategy in order to make EE a movement of the people. Itwas emphasized that the educational planners and administrators should be trainedto inculcate a new world view living in harmony in nature. It was pointed out thatthe successful implementation of EE programmes would depend on collection andutilization of objective information regarding field level environmental realitieswhich would, in the long run, facilitate monitoring as well as evaluating the totalprogramme of EE.In Group Work, a discussion was carried on under the theme of "Planning andManagement of Environmental Education in the Context of Education for All" onthe basis of guidelines provided by the working Document entitled, World Declara-tion on Educationfor All and Frameworkfor Action to Meet Basic Learning Needsprepared for the World Conference on Education for 411, held at Thailand from 5-9 March 1990. As part of the group work, the participants were divided into twosmaller working groups on formal and nonformal environmental education respec-tively. Each group focussed mainly on evolving and suggesting the implementationstrategies pertaining to the incorporation of environmental education. For this pur-pose, they worked out their objectives, implementation strategies, planningprogrammes, organizational structures, training of personnel and resource manage-ment and monitoring and evaluation. Each group made recommendations on thebasis of intensive deliberations and observations.The draft report of the course, provided broad guidelines for the planners in orderthat they could initiate actions towards implementation of EE programmes. Severalsteps in planning for EE were identified, i.e., an overview of environmental situa-tion, status of the education sector, definition of goals and objectives, availability ofresources, programme formulation, organizational structure and research anddevelopment. These had to be suitably interpreted and modified to suit the require-ments of individual countries.

23

The participants were unanimous in their opinion that the educational planner andadministrator is the most critical link in the process of implementing, evaluating anddeveloping environmental education programmes. Therefore, proper arrangementsat national and international levels for orientation of educational planners and ad-ministrators in environmental education have to be created. The present trainingcourse is a pioneering step in this direction. The main contribution of the trainingcourse was that it brought together ideas from a number of third world countrieswho are actively engaged in educational planning and administration and who canpromote the cause of environmental education in their respective countries.

Appendix -1

Time Schedule

Sunday, April 22

0900 -10001000-1100

1100-11301130-1300

1400 -1530

1530-15451545 -1730

Monday, April 23

0930-1100

1100-11151115-13001300 -1400

RegistrationInaugurationInaugural Address: S.Z.QasimChairperson: Satya BhushanTeaPresentation and Discussion on UNESCO-UNEPInternational Environmental Education ProgrammeSpeaker: Abdul Ghafoor GhaznawiChairperson: Satya BhushanPresentation and Discussion of Paper on OverviewofEESpeaker: Anjana MangalagiriChairperson: R. GovindaTeaSharing of Experiences onEE: CountryPresentationsSpeakers: ParticipantsChairperson: S. Mukhopadhyay

Panel Discussion on Environment Education forDevelopmentPanelists: Dhirendra Sharma

Enakshi GangulyThukralP.C. Joshi

Cnairperson: Satya BhushanTeaPanel Discussion ContinuedLunch

26

1400 -1530

1530 - 15451545 -1715

Tuesday, April 241015-1145

1145 -12001200 -1330

1330 -14301430-1600

1600 -1730

Wednesday, April 25

0930-13001400 -16001600-1730

Presentation and discussion of working documententitled Guidelines for Developing NonfbrmalEnvironmental EducationSpeaker: S. MukhopadhyayChairperson: F. NannyonjoTeaPresentation and discussion of working documententitled EE in Technical and Vocational EducationSpeaker: A.B. SaxenaChairperson: A. Najafi

Presentation and discussion of working documententitled Strategies for the Training of Teachers inEnvironmental EducationSpeaker: M. J. RavindranathChairperson: J.A. HamidTeaPresentation and discussion of working documententitled Procedures for Developing an EECurriculumSpeaker: J.S. GillChairperson: P. SawangchakkawaneLunchPresentation and discussion of EE Manual forEducational PlannersSpeaker: R. GovindaChairperson: T. J. NavoGroup WorkTheme: Planning and Management ofEnvironmental Education in the Context ofEducation for AllIntroduced by: A. Mangalagiri

R. Govinda

Group WorkGroup Work Contd.Presentation and Discussion of Group Reports

27

Thursday, April 261030 -1300 Slide Presentation on Environmental Awareness

Speaker: Ashish Kothari1300 -1430 Lunch1430 -1530 Presentation of Draft Programme Report1530 -1730 Valedictory Address : Abdul Ghafoor Ghaznawi

Chairperson: Satya Bhushan

Appendix - II

List of Participants and Resource Persons

Participants

1. Mr.AbdolahNajafiSenior Expert in Educational and Manpower PlanningDepartment of EducationKhorramabadLorestanIran.

2. Mr. Esmaeel YahyaviInstructor in Teacher Training Centre and Agricultural SchoolDepartment of EducationKhorramabadLorestanIran.

3. Mr. Hossein MehrdadTeacherDepartment of EducationKhorramabad, LorestanIran.

4. Mr. Mohammad R.M.B. NaieniExpert in Evaluation and Research of Educational PlanningDepartment of EducationKhorramabad, LorestanIran.

5. Mr. Safar Ali RostampurGeneral Educational Coordinator and InstructorDepartment of EducationKhorramabad, LorestanIran.

6. Mr. Syed Mohamad Hassan Hosseini HamedaniInstructor in Teacher Training CentreMinistry of EducationIran.

30

7. Mr. Phavandy SawangchakkawaneDeputy ChiefMinistry of EducationLao PDR.

8. Mr. Somsy SayasengDistrict Education OfficerKonglasami INSIRIThe Educational Service of Saythany DistrictVientiane, Laos.

9. Mr. Jamaludin Abdul HamidAssistant to DirectorTeacher Education DivisionMinistry of Education(Planning & Development Unit)Block F South, Level 4&5Damansara Town Centre50604, Kaula LumpurMalayasia.

10. Mr. B.NamkhaijantsanO.B.Officer of PlanningDepartment of the Ministry of Public EducationBarilgachdintalbai, Ulan BatorMongolian People's RepublicMongolia.

11. Mr. Shiva Prasad PoudyalSection OfficerNational Planning CommissionSecretariat, Singh DurbarKathmandu, Nepal.

12. Mr. Thomas Joseph NavoEducation OfficerMinistry of Education, Cultural Affairs & SportsNew EnglandFreetown, Sierra Leone.

13. Ms. Christine R. OmariAdult Education CoordinatorPrincipal SecretaryMinistry of EducationP.O. Box. 9121, Dar-Es-SalaamTanzania.

31

14. Mr. Mabula V. KishepoTutor & Head of Evening Classes ProgrammeCollege of Business EducationP.O. Box 1968, Dar-Es-SalaamTanzania.

15. Ms. Florence Z. NannyonjoCommunity Development OfficerTeacher GayazaJunior Secondary SchoolMinistry of Local GovernmentKampala 7037, Uganda.

16. Mr. Samuel E. AtikoroPersonnel OfficerMinistry of Public Service and Cabinet AffairsP.O. Box 27, Entebbe, Uganda.

17. Dr. A.B. SaxenaReaderRegional College of EducationShyamala HillsBhopal - 462013.

Resource Persons

1. Dr. Abdul Ghafoor GhaznawiChief, Environmental Education SectionUNESCO, 7, Place de Fontenoy75700 Paris.

2. Dr. S.Z. QasimVice-ChancellorJamia Millia IslamiaNew Delhi.

3. Prof. Dhirendra SharmaCentre for the Study of Science PolicyJawaharlal Nehru UniversityNew Delhi-110067.

4. Ms. Enakshi Ganguly ThukralMARG, 113-A, Shahpur JatNear Asia VillageNew Delhi-110016.

32

5. Prof. P.C. JoshiIndian Institute of Economic GrowthDelhi UniversityDelhi-110007.

6. Dr. J.S. RajputJoint Education AdvisorDepartment of EducationMinistry of Human Resource DevelopmentShastri Bhavan, New Delhi.

7. Dn M.J. RavindranathCoordinator, Centre for Environment EducationNehru Foundation for DevelopmentThaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad.

8. Dr. J.S. GillReader, Department of Education in Science & MathematicsNational Council of Educational Research and TrainingNew Delhi-110016.

9. Mr. Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, 1 - CourfcRoadNew Delhi-110054.

10. Mr. S.P.JainJoint Director, Directorate of Adult EducationJamnagar HouseNew Delhi.

NIEPA Faculty

1. Professor Satya BhushanDirector

2. Professor R. GovindaSenior Fellow & HeadSchool and Nonformal Education Unit

3 Dr. Sudesh MukhopadhyayFellowSchool & Nonformal Education Unit

4. Ms. Anjana MangalagiriFellowInternational Unit.

Appendix - III

Organizing Committee

An organising committee consisting of the following looked after the programmeand guided the day-to-day deliberations of the Training Course :

SatyaBhushan Course DirectorK.G. VirmaniR. GovindaSudesh MukhopadhyayB.K. PandaPranati Nayak

- AnjanaMangalagiri Course Convenor

Mr. Satbir Bhardwaj, Ms. Sushila, Ms. Shobha and Mr. Subramaniam providedsecretarial and computer assistance. 0

The programme was run with the active cooperation of Mr. R.P. Saxena, Registrar(now retired), Mr. K.L. Dua, Administrative Officer, Mr. O.P. Sharma, Finance Of-ficer and their staff.

Appendix - IV

Opening and Closing Speeches

Opening SpeechEminent marine scientist and Vice-Chancellor of lamia Millia Islamia, Dr. S.Z.Qasim delivered the inaugural address of the training course.Dr. Qasim emphasized the importance of the programme and elaborated upon theconcept of environment, environmental degradation, its consequences and the kindof agencies involved with the issues and problems of environmental preservation.He dwelt in considerable detail on the different concepts of environment viz., thephysical, chemical and biological, all of which were essential components of humanexistence. Due to the rapid developments taking place in the world, these basic com-ponents of environment he said, are posing an environmental hazard and threaten-ing the very existence of humankind today. The increased number and change ofdemographic factors and the nature and pace of industrialization taking place allover the world today has destroyed the intimate interdependence of humans and na-ture that existed prior to industrialization. Development has concerned itself onlywith short term gains, not the long term consequences of environmental degrada-tion.Speaking on the contribution of United Nations to environmental awareness,Dr.Qasim observed that it along with its agencies had done commendable work inthe area. More recently, a Commission on Environment and Development had beenestablished to make people aware of the crucial and inseparable link betweendevelopment strategies and environmental consequences. In this context, the publi-cation entitled Our Common Future brought out by the Commission was one of thefinest contributions and an eye opener. The Commission had developed the conceptof 'sustainable development'. Efforts were already afoot by UNO agencies in con-trolling population increase, conserving species, planning for a balanced energygrowth and working out strategies for human settlement with a view to protectingenvironemnt from further degradation.Dr. Qasim elaborated considerably on the nature of the long term environmental

* hazards such as the greenhouse effect, depletion of the ozone layer etc. Concludingon a note of caution, Dr. Qasim spoke of the responsibility of all human beings tothink and act through judicious decisions in generating environmental awareness.

,36

Closing SpeechDr. Abdul Ghafoor Ghaznawi, Chief, Environmental Education Section, UNESCO,Paris, delivered the valedictory address for this programme.At the outset, while stating the objectives of International Training Seminar on EE,he expressed that the contributions made in the first part of the programme includ-ing the inaugural address, served as a platform for launching the agenda of the semi-nar on concrete grounds.He explained that the working documents consisting of EE in Technical & Voca-tional Education, Strategies for the Training of Teachers in EE, Procedures forDeveloping an EE Curriculum, EE in Nonformal Education and the EE Manual forEducational Planners, were selected to match the mosaic of educational develop-ment at the level of strategies and guidelines. The country reports also enhanced ex-change of information and made the work of the participants especially throughgroup work, more country-oriented and relevant to their respective local environ-ment and place of work.Dr. Ghafoor expressed that the seminar at NIEPA had coincided with the Interna-tional Conference on Sustainable Economic Development in Developing Countriesheld in Washington. He observed that both the Seminar and the Conference had dis-cussed similar environmental and developmental issues. He appealed to the par-ticipants to realise that the issues of environmental concern affected everybodyglobally especially when it concerned issues like ozone depletion, acid rain, globalwarming, land degradation, desertification, deforestation, unplanned urbanisation,over-industrialisation and high consumption life- styles.He pointed out to the happy coincidence of NIEPA's present programme in EE withthe celebration of the Earth Day 1990, the World over! He explained that the inter-national mass media was doing commendable work in releasing more relevant in-formation on environmental pollution and degradation affecting human life with aview to increasing public awareness about the environment.He observed that environmental problems of our time had become political issuesat national, regional and international levels, signalling the urgency of educating thegeneral public for a better understanding of these environmental issues for makingsound decisions. Therefore, it was imperative that the educational planners and ad-minstrators realise the need for EE and take it as a challenge for its development.Dr. Ghafoor acknowledged that the environmental awareness of the decision makersand the general public was on the increase as manifested through activities of EarthDay 1990 and the meetings and Conferences concerning environment education.However, environmental awareness is not enough in itself. Sound decisions and ac-tions for the protection and improvement of the environment are highly essential.These can be fostered and achieved through education through imparting environ-mental awareness, knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes. Ethically sound

37

and responsible decisions and appropriate actions concerning the environmental is-sues and problems would, in the long run, have a positive effect on us and our fu-

"ture generations. He stressed that the role of educational institutions and educationalplanners and adminstrators should become paramount while translating this blue'print into concrete actions.In the context of the present environmental concerns and events, the organisation ofthe EE seminar at NIEPA, expressed Dr. Ghafoor, was therefore timely and verymuchneeded for the orientation of educational planners and adminstrators from Asia,and Africa.

Appendix - V

Overview of Environmental Education

IntroductionThis modest paper sets out to argue that education must address itself to an ecologi-cal ethic for survival which in its spirit and substance would be one necessary steptowards a sane existence and meaningful progress. It is our contention that the ex-isting programmes on environment education have been unable to adequately carryout the agenda of environmental awareness at a time when the rate of environmen-tal degradation is worsening rapidly to such an extent that it is threatening the verysurvival of human civilization. The first part of the paper attempts to describe thestakes involved in the environmental crises and highlights the issues that are of en-vironmental concern often not recognised as so. Hence focus of existing environ-.mental education remains tangential and incapable of carrying out its prescribed roleand objectives. More specifically, environment education has not been able to ar-ticulate the inextricable link that exists between human societies and environment,a result of scientific and technological progress. The paper elaborates upon this criti-cal link which has had deterimental effects not only on the environment but in turnon human societies as well. Environment education, it maintains, has so far con-cerned itself primarily with the biophysical world. Rarely is human degradation dis-cussed even where the latter is a part of the global environmental crises.In the background of this crucial issue, it thus becomes imperative to view the na-ture of development programmes and the extent to which they contradict the broaderquestion of environmental preservation. The second part of the paper discusses this.It is from this take off point that the critical dimensions of environment in educa-tion and the problems thereof are analysed. Because of the rigid structures of theeducation systems, the need and place of environement education has been mar-ginalized. The paper brings out the myth of value-neutrality in education andanalyses the manner in which the ideologies of so called development have over-powered education systems to such a degree that the perspective of environmenteducation is not only status quoist, it has also made human beings unlearn their holis-tic relationship with the environment. The third and the fourth sections discuss themanner in which environment must become a critical component of education it-self.

* Prepared by Anjana Mangalagiri & R. Govinda, NIEPA, New Delhi.

40

The development of a future-oriented environmental responsibility is discussed inthe last section. Specifically, it deals with the possible planning and managementstrategies in this direction, a critical assessment of the present strategies and optionsfor the future. It underlines the fact that emotionalism about environmental crisismust not be an end in itself. Rather the need of the hour is to necessarily have afuturistic, long term planning on how environment must once again be returned toits central place i.e. become an integral part of the human and social survival.

How Does Environmental Crises Manifest Itself?The following cry of the well-known Indian Chief of Seattle around a hundred andforty years ago in North America is a very human and passionate plea towardsnourishing and saving this land of ours from destruction.

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is theashes of our grandfathers. So that they -will respect the land. Tell yourchildren that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach yourchildren what we have taught our children that the earth is our mother.Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit uponthe ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know: the earth does notbelong to man, man belongs to the earth. This we know: all things areconnected like the blood which unites the family.

This poignant plea of a tribal chief to the white settlers can ironically be read as aplea from a bygone non-literate civilization to the present day pedagogues for en-vironmental education. It can also be seen as a warning to us, for our civilizationtoday is like none other. Our scientific and industrial civilization threatens to fore-stall the possibility of a posterity. We inherited the planet from our predecessors butare vulnerable to deny that moral responsibility as predecessors. We know only toowell that in the event of a nuclear war, there will be no more civilizations to inheritthe planet, let alone write about our achievements and animations. What amulet isthere if any, against this impending disaster?After treating nature as an enemy to be 'broken, vanquished and dominated', we arenow presented with a victimized biosphere that must be protected, preserved,safeguarded and helped to survive. Ecological crises, environmental degradationpollution, deforestation, warming of the earth are some of the often heard sentimentsmeant to move people towards environmental protection, to save humankind fromthe imminent environmental apocalypse. Countless articles, books, classes,television documentaries and other exposes have been produced that chronicle ourenvironmental problems. However, neither these attitudes nor these actions enableus to pose environmental problems, let alone solve them. Current environmentalproblems are merely symptoms of a more profound crisis - one which does not justemanate from the destruction of nature by humans. The biosphere in itself does notneed to be protected. It is the place of humans in nature that is threatened by humandisregard and human refusal to take account of how the natural systems function in

41/•

which humans produce, reproduce and consume. And it is humans who block andeven falsify the necessary global approach to environmental problems.The national campaigns for environmental protection in themselves are facile. It isnot our sensibility, our effectivity, our emotional capacity that should be appealedto in such cases, but, more fundamentally, our instinct for self-preservation, our in-telligence and imagination. And this must be done through an approach that is nolonger sectorial-or haphazard or piecemeal but which reintegrates the individual,"his/her actions and their consequences on the environment in which they develop.

Does Development Contradict Environment?Human activity is organically linked to the type and texture of environment. The so-cial, economic, legal, political, geographic, historical, biological, chemical andphysical processes and aspects all have a direct bearing on environment and viceversa. Howevet these influences are not independent of each other nor are theystatic but in a constant state of interplay which in turn are shaped by the broader

, programmes and policies of development of a nation and its people. And it is herethat the environmental costs of economic growth and development have to be as-certained and assessed. We all know that building factories, working forests, quar-ries, mines or fields, constructing roads or sending humans to the moon, all these socalled necessary infrastructural ventures are performed with utilisation objectivesin mind, not to speak of economic profitability, but without adequate analysis of thecharacter, possibilities and priorities of the environment and its conditions. It isagainst this background that two important contradictions emerge facing the future

* humankind: the contradictions within development and the related failure of suc-cess.The contradictions within development which have external environmental costsare often enough evident. It is a fact that despite scientific advancements in our worldtoday there are a million young children who die every year and that million morelive incomplete lives damaged by malnutrition and ill-health. These realities are nodoubt preventable. The reasons for this global crisis and indeed its perpetuation arenot lack of scientific or technical knowledge. There are political and social reasonsand they reside in an economic system and its sustaining ideologies which renderthe weak weaker. Such ideologies blame poverty on the poor while legitimizing therich who continue to accumulate material wealth and political power. The silentgenocide is therefore rationalized. On our planet now reside two distinct types ofhuman beings. While one quarter of humankind inhabit two-fifths of land area, therest threequarters live in the remaining three-fifths. The resulting distribution ofGNP among the countries of the world is a telling tale.

42

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT PER HEAD OF POPULATIONFOR FOUR CATEGORIES OF NATIONS (1985).

Number of countries in Range ofGNP per Head Population in eacheach income category of population (in Dollars) category (in million)Low IncomeMiddle IncomeUpper Middle IncomeIndustrial Market

37362319

110-390420-1,5701,640-7,420

4,290-16,690

2,439.41,242.1

567.4737.3

Source: World Development Report 1987 (from Lacey and Williams, 1987).Note: The table excludes eastern European non-market economies and high income oil exporters.

The facts are startling. It shows that only a small proportion of world's populationshares in the modem consumer society with high levels of health and education.Only a small number can ever participate in this carnival of consumption. The richcountries of the world hold out an odd example of progress and material comfort tothe poor countries. They encourage them to participate in a process of developmentthat falsely promises to bring them all up to living standards comparable with the

- rich. Yet, that promise is of course unrealizable for historical and ecological reasons.In fact, we have only seen an increasing marginalization of the people of the thirdworld, just as they try to draw themselves deeper in the international market. It fol-lows then, that if the poorer countries were ever in a position to demand their shareof the goods and services provided for the rich countries, there would either have tobe a massive redistribution of them on a world scale which has never been possible,or a rapid depletion of the world's resources leading to an ecological crisis which

' seems inevitable, the trend having already begun./*

The power of the richest nations in protecting their advantages is exercised in manycomplex and often hidden ways. It rests in the control of large amounts of capital,in the domination of markets and their ability to control the terms of trade betweenthe richer and poorer sectors of the market. Sometimes, this power of the rich restson their control of armed force and sophisticated weaponry. A further importantpower factor is the ideology transmitted through a value system of economic growth.The concept of 'developing country' is an important ideological concept within thissystem. It presupposes that conditions and life chances are ever improving and evenmore, despite poverty, famines, natural catastrophes, and environmental disasters,the world is progressing.Related to this is the second contradiction — the failure of success. The politicaland economic ideology of the developed countries has maintained the theoreticalmodels of efficiency, productivity, GNP and so forth as the key elements of success,progress and development. It believes that systems must be based on efficientmethods of manufacture through the harnessing of the technological and financialpowers. Compelled by the search for profits and pulled by the desire to producemore, culture has come to be defined by a never-ending stream of products and sym-

43

bols promising new experiences, new facilities, new powers, new freedoms and newdesigns for new tastes and fashions. The growth oriented economists in their mis-guided starving for scientific rigour, are often enough reluctant to acknowledge thevalues beneath their models. Instead they tacitly accept euro- centric values thatdominate their cultures embodied in their social institutions. These values unfor-tunately lead to an overemphasis on high technology, wasteful consumption andrapid exploitation of natural resources, all motivated by a persistent obsession withmaterial growth. In particular, they disregard the social and environmental costs byeconomic activity. The global obsession with growth has resulted in a remarkablesimilarity between capitalist and communist economies. The two dominant repre-sentatives of these so-called opposing value systems are in reality not all that dif-ferentBoth are dedicated to industrial growth and high technology, with increasinglycentralized and bureaucratic control, whether by the state or by private multination-al corporations. Today's economic theories also accept, without questioning, pastconfigurations of power and unequal distributions of wealth both within nationaleconomies and between the Third World and other countries. Rigid, hierarchical in-stitutions dominate the global and national areas, their economic and political powerpermeating virtually every face of public life.The resultant effect is that today humankind has the power to plunder from almostany environment and to destroy the very foundations of our life: the soil, the seas,lakes and rivers, the forests and natural habitats, countless species and even the at-mosphere. And it is the third world that has been most affected in this process ofdestruction where the profit imperative has severely impaired the eco-system - notjust the natural but the human as well. Having been bought off by the fallacy of thelinear thinking of the highly unrealistic theoretical models of the developedcountries, development in the third world witnessed rapid industrialization more inconsumer goods and services than heavy industries, in agribusiness, large scale min-ing, conversion of agricultural produce from subsistance to cashcrop cultivation,large scale deforestation for setting up of development projects for instance of powergeneration, diversion of waters, contracting of forest woods, investment in nuclearenergy, etc.The concomitant effect has been the creation of a severe imbalance between agricul-ture and industry, sometimes the latter parasitic upon the former. The model of ef-ficiency and productivity for profitmaximization led Third World countries to investin industrial production rather than agriculture for sustenance causing large scalemigration, displacement of people, alienation from land etc. At the same time capi-tal intensive agriculture brought about particularly, by the so called green revolu-tion, not only consolidated land for cultivation by rich farmers who could afford thehigh cost of technology (an integral part of the green revolution programme), fer-tilizers, pesticides, technology intensive irrigation, etc. but also had a devastating

44

impact on the ecology of the area as a consequence of the inputs required for produc-tion of high yielding varieties. On the other side, the impact on humans was one ofmarginalization of the small farmer and increasing landlessness leading in turntowards migration to urban areas for survival, expanding cities, emergence of largetracts of suburbia, of illegal settlements that are today the inseparable ghettoes andslums of Third World development. In turn expanding cities have swallowed sur-rounding rural land reducing the area of land under agricultural production. Atanother level, agribusiness has replaced subsistence food with cashcrop.Besides, the destructive effect on the local ecology created new social relationswhich were oriented away from communal to privatized relations of production.Land became a scarce commodity as it began to be consolidated while pressure onland in terms of population increased. So overpopulation became an environmen-tal problem. In the same vein, the crowding of cities, the slums and ghettoes etc.suddenly became the concern of the official environmentalists who made thern outto be environmental hazards.The poor who have more children and the pligty of thedisplaced and marginalized people were now seen to pollute the environment - anenvironment which was already privatized for profit maximization.Are not poverty, displacement of people from land and their traditional occupations,the high incidence of crime, the exploitation of women, the killing of female babies,catastrophies like famine, floods etc much graver manifestations of the environmen-tal crises itself? Are we not paying lip service and again resigning to the soft optionof contending with the environmental crises by projecting aspects relating only tothe erosion and destruction of natural phenomenon as the environmental problems?Ironically, those who are affected most because of environmental degradation arealso those blamed for causing environmental problems. Is it because they are thedispossessed, inarticulate and powerless? That the role played by international capi-tal, trade relations, industrialization and high technology agriculture is what im-poverishes environment, meets with ideological objections from the powerful andpropertied, who have a considerable stake in the development process.

Why Must Environment be Considered a Critical Dimension inEducation?It is because of the overarching ideology of development discussed in the preced-ing section that the existing educational edifices have often enough lost the environ-mental dimension, which ought to have been a central consideration, within thecurriculum and its transactions? For one thing, human progress since the last twohundred years or so, as we know it since the industrial revolution has been basedupon the principles that perpetuate, preserve and indeed protect the institution ofprivate property. Indeed private property, in whatever form it exists or expresses it-self, has been the most celebrated concept of modern industrial civilization. All theapparatuses of the state as also the civil society are willy nilly geared towards the

>. production system that considers private property as a primary prerogative. Everyth-

45

ing that constitutes private property, at least in the eyes of the juridical system pos-sesses a sacred ring around it. So that our very common sense considers it, for his-torical reasons, as an institution par excellence. Our conception of civility andcriminality is based albeit other things upon the prerogatives underlying the protec-tion and violation of this institution. We have been accustomed to living in a societywhere damage to private property is seen to offend against order itself, in that thissocial order is imposed by eliminating all anomalies and ambiguities in the markeddomain of private property. Again, modem industrial society not only privatizesproperty but it also prioritizes private properties in order to augment material wealth.In contradiction to private property environment which is often enough commonproperty remains outside of the prioritised prerogatives of our existing social order.It does not easily fall within the purview of our juridico-legal edifice. It is no wonderthat environment has been a major casuality of contemporary human progress. Sinceit is not private but common property its protection has not been a primary preoc-cupation of contemporary society. As for instance the commons (both national corn-moms—village grazing grounds, forests, etc. and international commons—oceans,rivers, atmosphere, space, Antarctica and the Arctic etc.) have not meritedmeticulous legal protection nor has the international community devised effective,strategies of conservation. Furthermore, the traditional and customary institutionswhich were responsible at the community level such as the tribal clan or the villagecouncil have slowly but steadily disintegrated. The historical disintegration of col-lective solidarity where environment received a great degree of attention wascoupled with the inauguration of private and contractual institutions based uponprofit maximization. Thus, tribal communities which had eked out a living from theforest or mountain ecology for centuries were seen as responsible for the destruc-tion of ecology while private contractors or forest officers of state administrationobtained exclusive rights. The process of transformation was very rapid and coin-cided with the rise of industrial and commercial capitalism. In the third worldcountries it was inaugurated with different thrusts and tonalities depending upon thelocal conditions and compulsions of colonial administration.Yet, one general aspect needs to be noted which is of direct relevance to our pur-pose here. With the demise of institutions which were responsible for restorationand protection of environment something else declined too. This was the tradition-al knowledge systems relating to environment, the related skills and competenciesof protecting environment from the capricious cruelties of climatic conditions suchas cyclones, droughts, famines, etc. (though floods, and such conditions are conse-quences of ecological destruction than the other way around), the oral/verbal andother non-literate modes of transmission of environmental knowledge from genera-tion to generation as also within the same generation, and more importantly the dis-tilled folk wisdom and tribal genius with its spiritual overtones which is evident inthe Seattle Chiefs speech, have all but disappeared. It is a curious irony that anyserious attempt towards an environment education worth the name must relearn from

46 .

the past, non-literate, tribal and peasant societies, so that we can restore nature byinternalizing the external nature and the natural world within our souls - the humannature. To our mind environment education is but one significant vehicle to regainthe harmony between culture and nature, between the ecological and social, espe-cially between life and its conditions. Such an education, by the very logic of itscontent and recontexualization of that content, requires that we learn from societieswhere collective environmental concerns were predominant and the institutions ofprivate property were absent. At the same time, our venture would also necessitatethe harnessing of the entire repository of scientific knowledge and all that contem-porary scientific and technological advancements provide us in order to forge an in-timate connection between me developmental progress and environmental renewal.We need to extrapolate from the body of scientific systems all that reconstructs en-vironment and renews it within the concept of democratic development without in-dustry and technology exploiting the planet's ecological capital. Environmenteducation, in the true sense of the concept must recognize the fact that our civiliza^tion does not have any mandate from children and grand children to degrade the en-vironmental heritage that is a common patrimony. We cannot eat, rather overeat,from the pockets of posterity. This is a central, ethical and moral imperative under-lying this educational agenda.

Why is it Difficult to Preface Education with Environment?It can be said that our education system as it exists today, is about the managementof ignorance by specific power structures in the global society. It denies alternativeunderstandings, perspectives and interpretations because it works through a certainprocess of standardization. It is through this process that academic qualificationsreceive a certain value that is more or less fixed. Indeed, academic qualifications areto educational capital what money is to economic capital. So that in the market placethe same types of degrees can buy the same types of jobs. In other words, fixedamounts of educational capital fetch fixed salaries, irrespective of the biological in-dividuals who are supposed to receive these salaries in exchange for specialized orsemi-specialized services. Again, a determinate cost in labour and time can earneducational qualifications and vice-versa. This convertibility is guaranteed by stand-ardization which is an essential imperative in the educational system as we know it.A major casuality of such a standardization is the substantive skills and cultural

• capacities of individuals in the various socio-cultural environments. In different en-vironments differential cultural capacities and cultural competencies develop amongindividuals. Different communities possess within their own specific life conditionsreasonably different repertoires of strategies and skills to cope and even conceptual-ize their environments. In every culture and civilization, literate or non-literate,primitive or modern, agricultural or industrial, there is a stock of collective geniuswithout which life cannot perpetuate itself. This environment specific genius whichhas helped humanity to endure against the odds and adversities (strategies to cope

47

with environmental calamities and caprices) cannot be reduced to any single stand-ard. There are as many genres of geniuses as there are cultures and civilizations. Itis this which the contemporary educational and academic market fails to recognise,especially because of the inherent logic of standardization and convertability. It istherefore not at all surprising that the consciousness of atribal child aboutthe naturalenvironment around him/her often seems to be a liability from the point of view ofschool curriculum. Because of the logic of standardization the teacher who is respon-sible for the transaction of the curriculum (that is meant for universal acquisition ofone and all) instils foreign values to the environmentally aware tribal child that inthe long run decode him/her from the already coded environment that the child pos-sesses. As a matter of fact, the tribal children's own awareness of their environmentbecomes in reality an educational disadvantage for they often have to unlearn theirown cultural capacities in order to learn the curriculum. In other words, the childrenhave to forget environment in order to be educated. Perhaps educated is not the ap-propriate term here because how can we expect anyone to be educated if he or sheremains unaware of the environmental conditions that make life possible. Indeed tobe true to Tolstoy's educational insight, the appropriate term should be morerestricted. It is nothing more than literacy. So that environment is lost in that chasmwhich separates education and literacy. As ofcourse, environment becomes a far cryfor what we call functional literacy.Therefore, it is a real challenge for pedagogues and planners to bring environmentback into education. To restore environment in education is to return to the termeducation in the true sense of its meaning. Without environment, education is liableto be reduced to mere literacy and at the more advanced levels a jugglery of alphabetsand the art of the more sophisticated triple R's.Perforce, to restore environment to education would also provide the much neededinitiatives to rehabilitate the educated within their own environments. Hasn't educa-tion been blamed for switching off the best minds from their own societies and com-munities? Hasn't it been held responsible for alienating the young from themselvesand others? How often have the tribal educated returned back to develop their owncommunities or the social conditions in which these communities exist? These arecompulsions which environment education can scarcely afford to ignore.

How can Education Meet the Environmental Challenges? (ThePlanning and Management Dimensions)An understanding of complex environmental relationships beyond the level ofnatural phenomenon demands both insight into health of the biosphere and into thesocial subsystems which are responsible for that health. Accordingly, UNESCOdemanded in the mid-seventies that environmental education should tackle not onlythe bio-physical natural environment, but also the man-made physical environmentas well as the political, economic, cultural, technological, social and aesthetic en-vironment (Unesco 1985:7). As of now, barring some exceptions (e.g. the Green

48

Movement in Germany) it is rare for an integrated approach that can cut across suchboundaries. Scientific development led to interpretations of natural world which ac-corded the principle of causation. This led to a mechanistic understanding of lifewhich increasingly excluded human beings from nature to the level of it becominga resource for human purposes. It is against this background that the science of ecol-ogy originated in the late 19th century when Haeckal coined the term for the obser-vation of functional and transindividual relations between living things and theirorganic and inorganic surroundings. It is this ecological approach that came to bedifferentiated into various biological subdisciplines (e.g. ecology of botany, ecol-ogy of oceanography and population ecology), before being incorporated into othernatural sciences. The ecological input in education curriculum thus came to limit it-self largely to natural sciences. Nature was analysed according to spatial, temporaland numerical categories, and according to utilitarian positivist paradigms. Thehuman factor, at the most, was considered as a quantitative input. The more naturalscience and technology subordinated complex life situations to input-output con-cepts and influenced environmental structures, the more distorted environmental un-derstanding became.Accordingly it is no surprise that environmental education had and still has a fixa-

; tion with the natural science approach. Although considerable changes with regard• to environmental concern have taken place among the public, in educational policyand in school teaching the main focus at all levels is still on partial aspects such asdeforestation, pollution etc. In other words there is a much stronger emphasis inschool curriculum on information than interaction. The activities, if at all, are con-fined again to study of biological phenomena through nature trails, care of environ-ment in terms of hygiene, study of pollution, water and soil analyses etc. Thoughsuch activities are useful and important, they cannot be ends in themselves as far asenvironment education is concerned.It is this attitude that has prevented a more holistic ecological comprehensionobliterating in the process the essential link between the natural world and socialrealities which are inextricably related to each other. Morever, where the relation-ship is realized, it is confined to the individuals' relationship to the environment,thus diluting rne rationale of environmental awareness ignoring the social condi-tions in which individuals are themselves located.As argued in the earlier part of this paper,.environmental crises are the products ofa complexity of factors, including the economic and political ideologies. Environ-mental education therefore cannot be confined to the roles and responsibilities ofthe individual. In order that it is meaningful, environment education must consi st ofa confluence of the political, societal, ethical and pedagogic standpoints. The designand development of an EE curriculum must incorporate interrelated positions andperspectives, the interactions of social ideas and values, and their concomitant politi-cal and economic structures, together with those of the environmental movement as

49

it has evolved historically. In this sense, the term environment education is itself anecessary misnomer. Unless we recognize that environment education is at the sametime an educational programme on human society, we are likely to marginalize thevery issues we seek to integrate into the curriculum.We ought to recognize that the political and economic systems both in ideology andpractice despoil, degrade and even destroy the environments upon which these sys-tems themselves depend. Additionally, these systems fragment and fracture humanrelationships to the detriment, misery and suffering of millions of people. The ra-tionale, if not the ethical response to this programme of absurdity must be examinedand re-examined in the interpretive and causal relationship between the dominantsystems and structures which govern human societies and their practices within theglobal environment Educational systems themselves require to appear before suchstringent practice of examination.Educators as well as those outside the realm of education are affected by publicopinion; governmental agencies approach environmental education according to na-tional concerns; and curricula tend to be changed according to developments invarious sciences. In this context, broadening of the school curriculum in accordancewith the public debate with respect to social and political issues is imperative so matthe process of education in school and the debate qut-of-school merges and enhan-ces the realness of the issues. To pretend that education is somehow value-free anddivorced from the central political and philosophical choices, is in fact, to in-doctrinate education which will only contribute to the rapidly developing global, so-cial, economic and ecological predicaments.If environmental awareness is part of a social construct of reality, then how can ithelp to reflect the interdependencies between nature and culture? The experience ofsome countries where this has been achieved to a considerable extent has shownthat:• all education levels have begun to pay attention to the basic ideas and concepts

of environmental education• environmental education is generally geared towards interdisciplinary ap-

proaches• schools not only inform the young but also initiate environmental skills and ex-

perience-based attitudes• environmental education emphasizes more on student behaviour and action and

less on information• social subjects have developed concepts of environmental education• there is a deep interdependence between natural and human ecology• the content of school timetable is enveloped in an overall ecological comprehen-

sion.

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In other words, what is actually needed is an eccological ethic of survival whichdemands a fundamental change in human attitudes towards ourselves and nature.An interface between the young, the education system and society at large explainsthis ethic:• young people need to recognize that environmental policy and decisions are final-

ly based on values which transcend scientific reasoning, and they need com-petence to make implicit value decisions explicit.

• educationhas to recognize that ecological disequilibrium can be overcome neitherby a natural science approach nor by moral value sets. The ethos of productivity,technological progress and the development of functional competencies must becounterbalanced by ethical and ecological imperatives.

• societies have to recognize that the globally disturbed ecosystems demand aneco-ethic which functions as a necessary condition for the maintenance of life in-cluding maintenance of human species.

The ethic demands increasing awareness that human norms, aspirations and partialcompetencies are the major causes of the crises, that an ecologically oriented valuesystem has to replace that which is economically oriented.The planning and management of environmental education is a reflection of howenvironment itself is managed by nations. As of now, environmental managementis distilled from developed country's experiences of conservation and planning, ex-periences which relate to industrial and post-industrial societies rather than under-developed countries. In this, the environment is usually only considered after thedevelopment objectives have been set. The environmental aspects of a developmentsituation are thus separated from the other aspects, often including economic andsocial factors. Furthermore, since very few projects undertaken in third worldcountries are primarily environmental in scope, development objectives complete-ly obscure any other objectives. Promoting conservation objectives ironically im-plies much more interference with the poor in rural areas, whose environmentalactivities are designed to secure a livelihood rather than profit. Environmentalmanagement thus runs the risk of degenerating into a means of enforcing social con-trol, not a means of escaping it. It divorces environmental objectives from the dis-tributive consequences which market processes and state power produce in thecourse of development and helps to ensure that those who are closest to the mostsevere environmental problems (deforestation, land alienation, water contaminationetc.) are most likely to be uprooted and relocated. -In these circumstances, it is evident that the objectives of EE would naturallyemanate from the dominant political and ideological apparatuses that governsmanagement of environment. Environment management and environment educa-tion are therefore closely linked with each other. To that extent, environment educa-tion is not free from political bias. When capital is dedicated to the transformation

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of nature, the social forces released are part of the process of environmental change.They need to be part of our analysis and part of the solution. They constitute themeans of creating value and, potentially, of recreating democratic environmentalpolitics.A start therefore has to be made with structural policies which allow the people, thepowerless majority to have a larger stake in the management of their environmentwhich in turn will influence the management of environment education. There aretwo reasons for this: it is the people who understand their own environments bestand ultimately, they are the only ones who will be in a position to implement sus-tainable development. It is well known that indigenous knowledge is often lost inthe course of severe environmental degradation. Efforts have to be made to buildthis experience into environmental projects not only at the national levels but alsofor environment educational projects. What is required today is a strategy which lo-cates management of environment education within a perspective of politicaleconomy.An apt example of this, are the attempts being made by the Green Party in West Ger-many. The focus of the Greens is to broaden and humanize the educational processwithout sacrificing academic standards. These include social and ethical educationas well as development of practical, physical and especially creative faculties thatare a basic human need. Instruction in the schools encourages ecological conscious-ness, socially responsible and democratic behaviour, and tolerance and solidaritytowards one's fellow humans, both within and outside the country. Any programmeof this nature cannot achieve success unless the teachers are trained alongsidetowards the new perspectives. Hundreds of teachers are trained every year in relatedsubjects as well as in interdisciplinary courses in environmental education.However, all this is being made possible by decentralizing education to the extentof allowing parents, teachers and students to govern and run the schools. This hasshown that participatory planning and management in education is one of the bestmethods by which environmental education becomes an integral part of not onlyeducation system but also the Weltanschauung of the students.Another attempt worth mentioning is being done in India by a voluntary organiza-tion, Ankur involved with nonformal educational activities. Amongst the activitiesconceived was a project known as the Development Education Project. Using thestaff of Socially Useful and Productive Work (SUPW) in the formalized schoolstime-table, this project encourages children's participation in experiential learningprogrammes to help children better understand issues that are otherwise perhaps dif-ficultto comprehend by children. These are poverty, hunger, gender inequality, com-munalism and the rapidly deteriorating environmental situation of the country. Allthese issues manifest in development education a frame of reference for sensitizingstudents on their social and physical environment. The attempt is to make students

52

aware of the fact that social and biophysical issues are parts of an integrated wholehi the understanding of environmental problems.

> \ 'The concept of Development Education in the Project thus ,

— allows space to individual students to pick and choose their own areas of in-terest from a range of activities. These activities are nonformal in approach,and introduce a new educational methodology;

— is designed in such a way that it follows through a problemsolving process;— is multi-disciplinary in character, in that it combines the different subjects of

classroom teaching: languages, sciences, social sciences, maths, humanities,art, etc. in an action- learning situation;

— has a different student-teacher relationship as compared to formal learning.This situation allows the two to be equal partners, learning from each otherand the situation they are confronting;

— fosters a spirit of cooperation by focussing on group-centred learning, ascompared to the competitive ethic that permeates the rest of the school situa-tion;

— evaluates the learner against himself/herself rather than in comparison to theperformance of others;

— assists students to look beyond the boundaries of the school syllabus and cur-riculum, by getting them to participate in an experiential learning situation.In this way it would complement and balance their educational experiences;

— sensitizes the child to the issues of primary concern in the world of today andtomorrow;

— encourages children to critically reflect on the social and political change sur-rounding them and, through such a process, to acquire the skills and conceptsthat they in turn will require as active agents of change.

As of course, environment education presupposes a new pedagogy; a pedagogic dis-course. While there can be no easy recipes provided and each national need wouldreinforce respective resources available within the culture and cosmology, we shallneed to reassess our existing educational strategies and tactics. As far as our scien-tific educational efforts are concerned, such a pedagogy must prepare for a sciencecritic and an education critic as necessary inputs in the move forward to a new levelof integration.Indeed the possibility of a future resides in our serious and self conscious attemptto forge that spirit of environment education, tenaciously transmit it to our childrenand future generations. The wisdom of the tribal chief must be coached in the scien:title language of our century and reproduced at every layer of our pedagogic dis-course and scientifically translated within and outside of our educational devices.

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We say every layer because we are increasingly becoming wary of the plethora ofpresent pedagogic prescriptions. We already have population education, sex educa-tion, science education, etc. And environment education can become yet one moreclass-room subject. But that is not what we think is environment education all about.That will only increase the volume of text-books and materials the children willcarry from school to home and.back. However comprehensively condensed into thepresent curriculum, environment education ought not to be reduced to another clas-sified subject.lt is essentially an approach that must inform education and educa-tional practice at every single stage of its production and transmission. So that themessage of environment must be translated into the very method of education if weare serious about delivering it. We must guard against reducing it into a subject mat-ter for that would defeat the cause and turn the message to only a manner.

References

BooksBhushan, S., R. Govinda and A. Mangalagiri, Environmental Education: Handbook for

Educational Planners (New Delhi: NffiPA & UNESCO-IEEP, 1990)Caduto, Michael, J.,A Guide on Environmental Values Education, UNESCO - UNEP, Series

13 (Paris:UNESCO, 1985).Croall, Stephen,EcologyforBeginners (London: Writers andReaders Publishing Company,

1986).Fukuoka, Masanobu, The One-Straw Revolution (Hoshangabd : Friends Rural Centre,

1978).Harrison, Paul, Inside the Third World (London: Penguin, 1979).Illich, Ivan, Tools For Conviviality (Glasgow: Fontana, 1973).Komarov, Boris, Destruction of Nature in the Soviet Union (London: Kogan Page, 1987).Lacey, Colin and Roy Williams, Education, Ecology and Development (London : Kogan

Page, 1987).PRIA, Land Ownership and Alienation in India (New Delhi : Society for Participatory

Research in Asia, not dated).Spretnak, C. and Fritjof Capra, Green Politics (London : Paladin Grafton Books, 1985).UNESCO-UNEPJnterdisciplinaryApproachesinEnvironmental Education- Envrionmen-

tal Education Series 14 (Paris: UNESCO, 1985).Unesco Institute for Education, A Comparative Survey of the Incorporation of Environmen-

tal Education in School Curricula (Paris: UNESCO, 1985).

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ArticlesBajaj, J.K., "Mindless Development", The Illustrated Weekly of India, March 1,1990, pp.

22-23.Goldsmith, M., "Economic Disparities and Development: A Proposal," Paper Presented in

the Conference on The Making of an Earth Citizen, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi January16 - 19,1989.

Goldsmith, M., "The Science Critic: A Case for New Creation", Paper Presented in the Con-ference on The Making of an Earth Citizen, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, January 15 -19,1989.

Salam, Abdus, "A Silent Genocide", The Courier, May 1988.Schleiches, Klaus, "Beyond Environmental Education : The Need for Ecological Aware-

ness," International Review of Education, no. 35 (3), 1989, pp. 257-281.Sinha, Arun, "Bhagalpur Blindings 10 Years After". The Illustrated Weekly of India, April

1,1990, pp. 22-23.Sunil, KP.,"Born to Die", The Illustrated Weekly of India, March 4 -10,1990, pp. 38-39.

Appendix -VI

Resume Of Country Reports

The participants made presentations of their respective country papers. A con-solidated summary of the Reports is given below.

Environmental Problems and Their CausesThe major environmental problems in all the countries (mainly Third World) per-tained to environmental degradation which, it was believed, was brought about bya multitude of factors. Pressures from rapid population increase, uncontrolled andlavish consumption of precious environmental resources, industrialization and con-sequent urbanization and injudicious application of science and technology in theexploitation of resources had precipitaded into a serious environmental crisis.Though developing nations had opted for industrialization based on the growthmodel they were yet to leam to channel and redirect economic input and output inways that would serve the needs of the growing numbers more justly. Most of theenvironmental problems had arisen due to their inability to make a judicious use ofthe environmental resources and disposal of waste in a manner that did not disturbthe steady state of their environment.Environment seemed to be afflicted simultaneously, with two separate sets ofproblems. On the one hand, large urban centres and industrial areas in some countrieswere suffering increasingly from environmental impoverishment through air, water,sound and soil pollution and through explosive population growth and on the other,countless rural communities were faced with glaring inadequacies of basic sanitaryfacilities, housing, food, potable drinking water, drainage etc. creating an environ-ment that threatened the human settlements with dire consequences.The phenomenal increase in population in most of these countries without cor-responding expansion of basic amenities of life had exposed a majority of thepopulation to conditions which were far from satisfactory from the environmentpoint of view. The population of Iran between 1980-89 indicates a growth rate of 4percent, whereas Uganda's population is currently approximately 18 million people,with a population growth rate of 2.5 per cent a year. Despite advances in educationand health care, life expectancy is still very low in Lao PDR and there are high levelsof infant mortality also especially in rural areas. High death and infant mortality arevery common in Sierra Leone.Deforestation was another major problem faced especially by countries that wererapidly industrializing. In some countries it had reached a critical level with devas-tating consequences like erosion of top soil, shortage of firewood and loss of produc-

56

tivity of the land, erratic rainfall, problem of water conservation, recurring floodswhich caused destruction of habitations, wildlife, fauna and flora. In India for ex-ample, each year 1.3 million hectare forests are getting destroyed, the increasingpressure of population and unplanned development added to the destruction anddegradation of forests. In Iran they have started to invade agricultural lands, forestsand pastures for the human settlements. In Nepal out of the total land are'a of 1,47,181sq.km., only 37.60 per cent is forest land. Besides this, deforestation in the moun-tain, plain and valley areas create huge problems for the environment of Nepal.Similar is the case of Lao PDR. Deforestation has risen drastically in Uganda be-cause there forest is the only alternative source for people's livelihood.The perceptible changes in the climatic conditions have been observed within a fewgenerations. Natural disasters like cyclones, tidal bores, floods and draughts wereregular features in India, Nepal, Lao PDR, and some of the African countries likeTanzania and parts of Uganda resulting in widespread land degradation. Thesecalamities caused heavy damage to lives and properties. The disturbing physicalsigns both of human and nature, indicate that the process of desertification has begunalarmingly in all countries. Desertification refers broadly to the destruction ofnatural resources and apparent advancement of the deserts by human activities likeover - use of land, lack of care and unwise treatment. Like Uganda, desertificationin Tanzania resulting through over - cultivation, overgrazing, poor irrigation prac-tices and deforestation, forced the people to abandon their land and migrate to otherregions or to urban slums. In Nepal, it is estimated that each year 1.7 millimetres offertile soil is wasted and about 13 per cent of the country suffers from soil erosion -which has accelerated the process of desertification in the hilly areas. If this situa-tion is left unchecked, it will lead to chronic famine and reduced standard of livingfor the majority of the disadvantaged population.Pollution and scarcity of water in most countries of South Asia and Africa pose aserious problem. Water pollution is the most serious problem in India and it is es-timated that about 70 per cent of water available in India is polluted. Sewage andindustrial waste has contributed to the pollution of water, air and soil in Iran,Malaysia, Tanzania, Nepal and many rivers in India. It has also resulted in the reduc-tion and contamination of water resources like fish etc. which ultimately affecthuman beings with deadly consequences. At the same time, construction of damshas adversly affected the national resources. Pollution is also being caused by humansettlements as a result of improper housing, dumping of garbage and animal waste.Air pollution especially in urban areas of India, Iran, Nepal and Malyasia is beingcaused by increase in the number of motor vehicles as also by industries whichrelease carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases detrimental to the health of thepopulation and the environment at large. It was felt that inappropriate and uncon-trolled use of science and technology has resulted in considerable destruction of en-vironment.

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Measures Taken for Their Solution and PreventionThese serious environmental problems call for concerted State action to combatthem effectively and mitigate the danger posed by them to the ecological system.In India a comprehensive integrated view of environmental problem and improve-ment with emphasis on the sustainable use of natural resources for developmentbegan to influence social policies and action in the early seventies. There are morethan 200 central and state laws today that can be interpreted one way or another toprotect the environment. Of these, about 30 major enactments related to protectionof environment are now being administered by the Central and State Governments.The Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1981, the Factories Act and In-secticides Act are some of the prominent ones. Besides these, to prevent or to limitthe damages and to eradicate the existing loopholes, the Government enacted theEnvironment (Protection) Act, 1986, which came into force from November 19,1986.In addition to these, India has a forest policy since 1984, revised in 1988. Recently,the Indian government announced that a sustainable forest policy correlated to tribalwelfare is being formulated and shall be announced by the year end. The govern-ment has also set up a National Forest Fund in the recent past.A national wild life action plan was adopted in 1983 which provides the frameworkof strategy as well as programme for wildlife conservation in future. The CentralDirectorate of Wildlife Preservation and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradunare the two nodal agencies for initiating and monitoring programmes and projectsfor wild life protection.The Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution was also es-tablished as a national apex body for the assessment, monitoring and control of waterand air pollution. A significant step in the direction of controlling water pollutionwas the setting up of the Central Ganga Authority in 1985. The action plan formu-lated for controlling pollution in the river is in the process of being computed. Last-ly, several laws seeking to protect the environment have been enacted. Despite somestringent acts, government legislations relating to environment are not functioningeffectively due to various inherent problems existing in them.In Iran, the government has taken some immediate actions and through mass media,the experts, physicians clergymen have begun to advise the families to control thebirth rate in order to check the population growth. Some recommedations have beenmade to instruct the people to make proper use of water. And the government hasestablished some official departments to prevent the devastation of forests and pas-tures. Some bills have also been passed to preserve the agricultural lands against airand water pollution. The government is yet to find an effective solution.In Malaysia, the legislation on environment was strengthened by the Department ofEnvironment on December 31,1988 for the control, abettment and protection of the

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environment. Surprise visits to factories and industrial areas and checks on motorvehicles on levels of smoke emission are carried out periodically by the Departmentof Environment. Legal actions are also taken with regard to violation and grossnegligence cases. Song contest, film/video/slide shows, visits to various institutionsand agencies, exhibitions, queries, library facilities and environmental publicationsare arranged at regular intervals by government and non-government agencies inorder to create awareness among the people.In Lao PDR the committee of Multi-National Ethnic Minority in cooperation withthe Humanitarian and Settlement Organisation, was being assigned the task to helpthe people to move from the hills to the plains for settling and request them to con-tinue the wetfield rice production or to take up other occupations like fishing, farm-ing or trading. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Irrigation is responsiblefor controlling the devastation of the forests. The Ministry of Education is given thepriority task of imparting environmental awareness through the literacy campaign.The Ministry of Public Health is also similarly vested with the task.In Nepal, during the sixth plan period (1980-85) various agencies carried out af-forestation, forest conservation, watershed management and similar other program-mes. The major programmes during the seventh plan were to impart environmentaleducation at the initial stage of construction and industrialization in order to reducepollution of air and water from the industrial waste.In Uganda, the government at the national level enunciated a policy in 1989, direct-ing all squatters within forests, forest reserves, etc. to evacuate, and even evicted thesquatters by force. The National Radio and the press are used to make the peopleaware about the possible dangers of deforestation.In Mongolia, in recent years, laws on health for the national use and conservationof land and water resources, forest, the earth, animals and plants have been adoptedin its consitution.

, Current Formal and Non-formal Environmental EducationProgrammes, Objectives, Approaches to Implementation, ResultsObtained and Problems EncounteredIn India, the national curriculum of elementary and secondary education publishedby the National Council for Educational Research and Training (1989), states twoobjectives of environmental education: (1) understanding of the environment andits limited resources and the need for conservation of natural resources and energyand (2) appreciation of various consequences of large families and overpopulationand need of checking population growth.The environmental studies approach is adopted throughout primary level by infus-ing the concepts of EE in the teaching of science and social studies. At the secon-dary level, though EE is not treated as a separate independent discipline, it has beenincorporated to some extent using infusion approach in science and social studies,

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in order to develop concern for a clean environment and preservation of the ecosys-tem.In 1988, the Ministry of Human Resource Development launched the scheme ofEnvironment Orientation to school education. This scheme is implemented throughthe Education Department in the states/UTs and the voluntary agencies having ex-pertise and interest in EE. The curriculum for nonformal sector has been developedkeeping in view the real life problems of the learners. The learning materialsprepared are not discipline based textbooks but self-contained and independentlearning units which are multi-disciplinary in content and structure. In India all kindsof mass media play a role in educating the people on environmental issues ofdevelopmental and other programmes.At the tertiary level, the university departments in the Jawaharlal Nehru Universityat New Delhi and University of Pune offer courses in EE (Environment Education).At the basic training level, there is no independent course/training related to EE. TheNational Council of Teacher Education (NCTE 1989) emphasies the need to"develop in students qualities of democratic citizenship and promote environmen-tal consciousness as one of the objectives of teacher education". Owing to this,recently some universities like Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi), University ofRajasthan and Dayal Bagh Institute of Education (Agra) have introduced EE as oneof the selective papers at the B.Ed. level.Many inservice programmes are organised by various agencies such as the NCERTincluding Regional Colleges of Education, the Centre for Environment Education(Ahmedabad) and State Institutes of Education (Sffis) for the training and orienta-tion of teachers at elementary level. The objectives of the programme are (i) develop-ment of knowledge, skills and attitudes concerning environment, its issues andproblems, and (ii) development of competencies in the teaching and supervision ofthe activities related to EE.In Iran the main objectives of EE are (i) to equip and familiarise the students withbasic knowledge of environment (ii) to eliminate illiteracy for living peacefully withtheir environment, (iii) to spread all branches of knowledge, intellectual skills andvalues pertaining to environment among the students and (iv) to train the studentsin such ways that they are able to acquire necessary abilities in learning about theirenvironment.The EE input is initiated in grades I to V at primary level, which is a part of theirPersian language and science subjects. Some references about EE can be seen in thetext book of Religion and Social Instruction of grade III. EE in guidance school isa part of applied sciences, Persian language, religion and geography. EE in the secon-dary school is part of biology, chemistry, geography and sociology. Nonformaleducation in EE is carried out through newspapers, radio, T.V., religious lectures inmosques, Friday prayers etc.

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The term 'EE' is associated v/'tfh\heBunumbuExperienceProjetboih at formal andnonformal levels of educational system of Sierra Leone. Such terms as geography,environmental and population studies have been used in higher institutions of learn-ing as in Njala and Fourah Bay Colleges. Similarly the Institute of African Studies,and Adult Education and Extra Mural Studies Departments in Fourah Bay worktogether towards creating awareness and interest in students in the study of the en-vironment and humans' relationship and interaction with the environment TheBunumbu Experience is a concept developed in Bunumbu Teachers College from aproject geared towards developing a curriculum for training teachers for the ruralareas. Assisted by experts, a Primary School Curricula was developed, taking intoaccount agriculture, community development and adult education, practical arts,home economics, curriculum development and teacher education. The objective ofthis teacher training programme is to use environmental technology in order to trainstudent teachers. The nonformal education in Sierra Leone is offered by a host ofagencies like the UN, UNESCO, UNDP, ILO, ODA/IDAADF, etc.In Tanzania the curriculum had been designed to cover the Education for Self-Reliance (ESR) goals. Subjects cover the children's home, village, school, district,region, nation etc. The coverage grows with the primary-secondary-tertiary levels.The schools and other government institutions are in the forefront in implementingthe EE policies. The significance of EE is emphasised in Uganda in schools andespecially in the Upper Primary and the Secondary Level of education in scienceand biology subjects respectively. The main objectives of EE in Uganda is to developawareness, knowledge, skills, attitude and participation.With the above objectives in mind, the following are the goals:

1. fostering clear awareness and concern about economic, social and ecologi-cal interdependene in both urban and rural areas.

2. providing every person with opportunities to acquire knowledge, values,attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the en-vironment and

3. creating new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and the societyas a whole towards its environment.

In Mongolia, an interdisciplinary approach has been adopted in introducing EE inthe school curriculum. The objectives of EE are to develop a system of scientificknowledge, attitudes convictions and responsibility. It is concerned with both thenatural sciences and social and humanitarian problems. At the primary level, educa-tion in nature care is provided for by a special section of the nursery schoolprogramme. At the general primary and lower secondary levels, four environmen-tal education components can be identified in the curriculum, like knowledge aboutnature, society and national use of natural resources. The environmental problemsare studied in school in the subjects like natural history, biology, geography, physicsand chemistry, history, social sciences, literature and arts.

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All schools are provided practical activities from classes I to X. A cumpulsory coursein environmental problems was started in 1987 in all teacher training institutions. Asystem of post- graduate training in ecology is also used. Keeping in view the educa-tional problems, many ministries, educational institutions, scientific and public or-ganisations, mass media and others are involved in environmental education.EE was introduced into the school curriculum at the primary level, and now to theupper secondary level in Lao PDR. At the primary level basic knowledge about theenvironment is taught through subjects like moral science, geography, history,physical exercise and painting, while at the secondary, environmental dimensionshave been integrated into natural science and social science besides other differentsubject areas in the school curriculum. The curriculum and syllabus of teacher train-ing schools are similar to the general education at different levels.The Ministry of Forestry, Agriculture and Irrigation in cooperation with the Mini-stry of Information and Propaganda, the Ministry of Education and Ministry ofPublic Health have taken the responsibility to impart nonformal education throughmass media and people's education. As a result of this, people in Lao PDR aregradually becoming aware of the effects of the interaction of the environment.Owing to lack of financial resources, the implementation of EE is not very success-ful as it ought to be.Nepal also has the policy of including the subject of environment in both formal andnonformal courses and has given importance to EE through exhibitions andpublicity. The environmental aspect is compulsory at the school and college leveland necessary steps have been taken to prepare the syllabus and text books. Stepshave also been taken to study the training opportunitiesiboth within the country andoutside. jIn Malaysia, a totally new subject had been introduced fully in the primary schoolscalled "Man and His Environment". It seeks to enable the pupil to function effec-tively in society and in the physical environment around him/her. Components likespiritual outlook, values and attitudes are taught through Islamic ReligiousKnowledge (for muslim pupils) and Moral Education (for non-muslim pupils) tomake students aware about their natural surroundings. The basic objectives of EEas a subject in Malaysian schools are (a) appreciation of the world around us, (b)awareness of current domestic and global problems and (c) motivation of action byall.

Current Environmental Education Programme for EducationalPlanners and AdministratorsIn many of the participating countries, separate programme for educational plannersand administrators on EE had not been developed. Even so, environmental studiespursued at the primary and secondary education levels serve the purpose for theorientation and training of educational planners and administrators.

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In India, in the recent past, several inter-country workshops, seminars and studyvisits have been organised by NCERT and NIEPA. Among them are ConsultativeMeeting on the Training of Curriculum Developers, Teacher Educators and Educa-tionalPlannersinEnvironment Education atNIEPAandEvaluation of and Develop-ing Guidelines for Environment Education Training Activities of UNESCO-UNEPInternational Environment Education programme at NCERT, New Delhi. NIEPAhas also organized international training programmes on EE and is shortly launch-ing on training of planners and administrators in EE at the national level.The other programmes on EE have been seminars or conferences. Three Interna-tional Conferences on EE have been organised by Indian Environmental Society.These conferences have been attended by educationists, educational planners, ad-ministrators and many others who=are interested. The University Grants Commis-sion has collaborated in similar programmes with universities or colleges.The Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Wildlife or-ganises National Environment Action Campaign (NEAQ, which covers a widevariety of target groups from school children to politicians. The Centre for Environ-.ment Education, Ahmedabad, in collaboration with the State Department of Educa-tion and voluntary agencies trains more than 6000 teachers and 200 to 300 resourcepersons in the country every year.Besides these, the Programme of Mass Orientation for School Teachers organisedas a centrally sponsored scheme through the NCERT, includes teaching of environ-mental studies at primary level as an essential component. A programme on "Sciencefor All" calls for inclusion of basic knowledge of science in the spheres of health,nutrition, sanitation, medicine, agriculture, industry and environment to improve the ,quality of life.Malaysia first endorsed the fundamental needs of sound environmental managementin planning and implementation of developmental programmes in the ThirdMalaysia Five Year Plan (1976-80). This policy still continues to be the thrust in theFifth Malaysia Plan (1986-1990). The Ministry of Education in Iran invited a groupof specialists from the environmental fields including university professors and out-standing scientists to cooperate with the text book writers and the adminsitrators.Uganda and Nepal were yet to initiate programmes in environmental education.

Suggested Priorities and Strategies for the Development ofEnvironmental Education for Educational Planners andAdministrators.For a programme of EE to be effective and meaningful, it has to be comprehensivein its scope and structure. In other words it has to cover students, teachers, teachereducators, headmasters, subject inspectors and higher functionaries involved ineducational planning and management EE is a heavily value-loaded, attitude-oriented and skill based area. It is therefore necessary that proper motivation,

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academic guidance and administrative support percolates regularly from the toplevels of functionaries involved in planning and administering policies to the lowerlevels of workers in the hierarchy. Hence it is of utmost importance that policies andprogrammes pertaining to EE be entrusted to persons with special training and ap-titude.Educational Planners and Administrators play a crucial role in the implementationof any curricular innovation and more so in EE. It is extremely important to accorddue recognition to this fact and take note of it in the overall planning and implemen-tation of EE programmes for different functionaries.India is a vast country, it may not be possible to cover all educational planners andadministrators through contact training programmes alone. It will, therefore, benecessary to employ different training models (UNESCO 1987) - superordinate,peer training and modular training models according to the demand and suitabilityof the situation. While training, it is necessary that the programme :

- is designed to attract all personnel from varying backgrounds, not simplythose with science background

- should deal with EE in all areas of curriculum, stressing methods as well ascontent

- should provide a holistic view of EE by stressing both cognitive and affec-tive elements

- must employ a variety of. instructional materials appropriate to the demandsof the situation

- should be motivational, especially for personnel without science background- should focus on the skills of gathering, recording and analysing information

for the purpose of decision- making and social action.It is necessary to employ a large number of methods and while considering these,preference is given to methods that involve analytical, experimental, active and two-way communication rather than passive, informational and one-way communica-tion procedures.To make the programme more effective, the following are recommended:

- EE may be infused at all levels of educationfrom pre-school to tertiary educa-tion

- To help understand their own environmental values and to help them deter-mine how to improve them, value analysis activities must be used more fre-quently

- Outdoor activities must be included as frequently as possible. However,classroom environment must not be neglected

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— Various kinds of media—television, video tapes, newpapers, periodicals maybe used frequently in. the class

— Use of free-cost/no-cost materials in the activities like gathering, analysis anddescription of data may be encouraged.

Some of the strategies suggested by Iran in this context were;— proper resource utilization— population growth control— provide facilities to make use of solar energy so as to support the natural ener-

gy resources— control usages of harmful chemicals affecting fauna and flora and the ozone

layer— resistance to developing atomic reactors to prevent pollution— inventing machines which reduce the amount of consumption of fuel and

reduce carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and other'poisonous gases

— lowering noise pollution.Uganda suggested that strategies like the Nairobi Plan of Action of 1977 to combatdesertification must be achieved. Population, health, industrial pollution, agricul-tural pollution, forest preservation and flood control must become integral to theplans for EE and accepted as an essential component of national educationalprogramme.In Lao PDR, the Ministry of Education needed to re-emphasize the specific objec-tives and programmes of EE through inservice training with a view to (a) equip theteachers, supervisors, educational administrators and planners with an essentialknowledge about environment and its allied problems, (b) familiarize the teachers,curriculum developers with useful methodologies and help to introduce the environ-mental subject in every teachers' training school, (c) disseminate knowledge, intel-lectual skills and values concerning preservation and development of naturalresources, (d) hold seminars regularly among educational planners and ad-ministrators.

Guidelines for the Incorporation of EE into Educational Objectives,Policies and Planning at National LevelEE is of critical concern for national development. Therefore, it is imperative thatnational level educational policies give prominence to environmental education inthe objectives and goals of education. The specific resource needs of EE have to betaken due note of while allocating resources for education. Implementaton of EEprogrammes entail training at several levels and production of technical resourcesupport.

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EE is not merely a matter of including a new subject in the programme of tradition-al education, it calls for new approach, new methods and content. To make EE moremeaningful, school and college education should be made more flexible with an em-phasis on local environment in which the schools exist. This demands measuresagainst the spirit of central evaluation that exists in most parts of the country atpresent.Owing to the overall slow-down inMalaysian economy, the government since 1988has drawn long term strategies in order to restructure the economy. This includesefforts to increase productivity, investment and job opportunities. Such strategiesput increasing pressure on the existing framework of environmental managementwhich has to be strengthened to meet the challenges of the nineties.The Tanzanian government has adopted the strategies to form national bodies likeNational Environment Management Council and Land Use Planning Commissionand regional bodies like conservation of land in Dodoma Hado and in ShinyangaHashi. Their main roles are to plan and implement the pilot demonstration project,establishment of a mechanism to carry out comprehensive monitoring, assessment,continuous process of evaluation and feedback for national planning and action andapplication at national level of the FAO-UNEP methodology.The identification of objectives is the first step towards implementation. The nextstep is the determination of priorities with the objectives. This would also dependon the policy determination. The actual planning starts with development of cur-riculum in the view of the objectives and priorities. Some suggestions made in Indiaregarding the planning for incorporation of EE into total education are to:

— introduce EE as an independent discipline at school level. Pilot projects fordeveloping such EE curriculum may be taken up

— integrate various concepts of EE into different disciplines in pre-service andin-service training courses. Special emphasis may be placed upon the train-ing of methodologies of EE

— introduce and develop self-learning modules in EE for functionaries at dif-ferent levels

— consider EE in a holistic manner in the context of the realities of the culturaland socio-economic milieu

— seek collaboration with various agencies in developing curriculum and in-structional material

To make the evaluation component a necessary part of planning and implementa-tion programme so that review of the progress may be made and corrective stepstaken up from time to time.

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Suggestions regarding the induction of EE into educational objectives in Iran em-phasizes on the people's awareness, appreciation, understanding and motivation foraction in environmental behaviour. The objectives perceived for EE are:

— in-service training for teachers in the subject— a separate subject on environment for those who are to be teachers— teachers, curriculum developers and educational planers offered courses with

various concepts of EE as an essential part of their subjects— provide facilities for teachers in university and colleges so that they are en-

couraged to obtain information on environmental education and incorporateit in the courses

— Department of Education to publish special guidelines in series, to help theteachers' self-learning pattern

— holding conferences and seminars with learned people and expertise— constant cooperation with international organisations and other countries.

In Lao PDR, the context of EE has already emerged in the curriculum especially inthe teacher's training school. The objective of environmental education should bere-oriented to:

— acquaint people with their environment problems. The mass media should bemore active

— prepare the pamphlets, posters and other materials to supplement the aware-ness of the environment among people

— hold international conference on EE to share experiences with each other incooperation with UNESCO or such other agencies

— seek aid and financial support to realise the programme— work jointly with Department of Education, Department of Environment and

the Ministry of Public Health to improve the concepts of EE— mount collaborative research into the problems of EE in member countries

and report to one another on regional basis among Asian Countries.In Nepal, the National Resources Conservation Commission formed in the SixthPlan to provide necessary guidelines at the national level to concerned agencies, hasnot been able to Junction effectively as desired. A separate environmental trainingcentre needs to be established to train the educational planners and administratorsand arrangement made for training and development of manpower expertise in con-formity with the multidimensional nature of environmental management

Appendix - VII

Resume of Unesco DocumentGuidelines for Developing Nonformal

Environment Education*

IntroductionConservation, preservation and better utilization of environment is one of the mostcrucial issues of today. This is perhaps one area where one witnesses the best of in-ternational concern and understanding. The Stockholm Conference was an earlymilestone in the development of EE. It emphasized the need for planning and or-ganising world-wide programmes of EE, not only for the formal sectors of educa-tion but for all sections of the community. The idea was further strengthened in therevised form of papers presented in Belgrade under the heading of 'Trends in En-vironmental Education', UNESCO, 1977. A unifying theme of this workshop was:

To develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, theenvironment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge,skills, attitudes, motivations and commitment to work individually andcollectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention ofnew ones. (The Belgrade Charter : A Global Framework for Environ-?mental Education; produced and adopted at the International Environ-mental Workshop at Belgrade, Yugoslavia, October 1975).

The objectives of E.E. were also summarised as:• Awareness: to help individuals and social groups acquire an awareness of and

sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems.• Knowledge: to help individuals and social groups acquire a basic understanding

of the total environment, its associated problems and humanity's criticallyresponsible presence and role in it.

• Attitude: to help individuals and social groups acquire social values, strong feel-ings of concern for the environment and the motivation for actively participatingin its protection and improvement.

• Skills : to help individuals and social groups acquire the skills for solving en-vironmental problems.

• Evaluation ability: to help individuals and social groups evaluate environmentalmeasures and education programmes in terms of ecological, political, economic,social, aesthetic and educational factors.

• Prepared by Sudesh Mukhopadhyay, NIEPA.

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• Participation : to help individuals and social groups develop a sense of respon-sibility and urgency regarding environmental problems so as to ensure ap-propriate action to solve these problems.

However, after this conference, on a continuous firm fooling or may be even ear-lier, a need is being felt for nonformal environmental education.

Nonformal Environmental EducationThe term Nonformal Environmental Education implies 'Environmentalization' ofNonformal Education. The development of nonformal environmental education re-quires the incorporation of environmental education techniques into all processesof nonformal education.Nonformal education is characterised by the absence of operation in' a given set ofrules with a strict structure, curriculum and examination procedures'. Hence it isconsidered, at least theoretically, more capable of responding to local environmen-tal issues which have more social meaning and usefulness to the community and isless dominated by academic requirements.As mentioned earlier, in the World Environmental Education Strategy to 'educateall', especially in the context of critical happenings like people suffering from lackof food (Africa), environmental disaster of India (Bhopal, 1985) and the alarmingdeath of the black forest by acid deposition, it is felt that formal education is notenough. Hence the potentials of nonformal education are being explored. Thoughnonformal is seen as a flexible system of educating people, with equally flexible ap-proach to what goes into it, the target groups to whom environmental education canbe addressed to is also flexible.Traditionally speaking, nonformal education is viewed as education for the 'schooldropouts',' illiterate youth and adults'. But in the context of environment education,one is faced with a group of top decision makers, the middle level managers, thecommunity workers and the workers in different walks of life who may be uncon-sciously contributing to the hazards of environment rather than removing them. Asa result, the scope of nonformal environmental education becomes much wider thanthe traditional programme for adult and nonformal education. Media has been play-ing a great role to educate public at large to the crucial social issues. Environmentalso becomes more of a social issue than an area for deliberations in various subjectdisciplines, the value of which cannot be undermined.Some literature is available on environmental education and social awareness. Thisindicates that environmental awareness is on the increase and strategies for develop-ing it are being tried. However, the exact position about present awareness is notknown. The general public is not very much aware of the many environmentalproblems because the decision-making as well as the decisions about environmen-tal education are not spreading out of the limited circle of the so called planners andelite group of the society. This problem is more acute in the developing countries

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which are suffering from the effects of poverty and illiteracy. These two factorscreate a case for ignorance. Environmental matters are a far flung talk for the largemasses who must concentrate only on the fulfilment of daily needs. These peoplecannot be expected to attend to any social issue under conditions of deprivation ofbasic needs.

Understanding Environmental ProblemsAny guidelines for nonformal environmental education need to define the issues thatwould be highlighted in the context of target groups.The major environmental problems are emerging because of population growth,consequently requiring more resources and resulting into crises of energy, resourcedepletion, pollution, deforestation, desertification, extinction of species and ecosys-tem degradation.

PopulationIt is said that the population is doubling almost every twenty five years. The UN es-timates that about one half of the population is hungry or malnourished; threequarters does not have safe water to drink or adequate housing. A large majority ofhuman beings in the world today spend most of their working hours (or wakinghours) just trying to get enough food for themselves and their children to preventstarvation and effects thereof.However this problem is too complex to be solved by any single approach or tech-nology alone. Hunger is not necessarily the direct result of population growth.Smaller countries with very dense population (Hungary) are able to feed their peoplebetter than larger countries with equally or less dense population (Pakistan, India,Bangladesh). It is a combination of economic, social and political systems togetherwith population growth that makes the difference. Food supplies can increase byputting more land under cultivation, cultivating fresh water and oceans and raisingyields by using better agricultural techniques. But increasing productivity also needsto be viewed in terms of 'better land use' policies. It is necessary to develop in-tegrated plans for reducing world population birth rates, controlling agricultural pol-lution and mounting a massive attack on global poverty. !

EnergyThe world energy consumption is rising steeply, increasing almost 60 per cent be-tween 1900 and 1965. The demand for energy is doubling every 14 years and mostof the energy is consumed by industrial nations; whilst they only have 30 per centof the world's population, they use 80 per cent of the world energy (Miller andArmstrong 1982). Many forms of agriculture today depend upon substantial ener-gy subsidies i.e. the addition of fossil fuel energy to supplement the input of ener-gy through photosynthesis to agricultural systems.

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Many environmental problems have arisen due to huge energy consumption, par-ticularly that of pollution. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere haveensued and may possibly lead to a warming of earth's climate. Increased levels ofsulphur and nitrogen oxides lead to the formation of acid rain and the loss of treesand animals in forests and lakes. An increasing level of radiation in the environmentdue to accident associated with nuclear power and nuclear fission is potentially themost hazardous of all sources of energy.Alternative non-polluting as well as renewable energy sources such as solar,geothermal or wind, tidal and hydroelectric power etc. need to be more actively ex-plored. Biomass (plant material) is a widely available resource that can be producedrenewably often at low costs. Similarly, suitable substitutes for oil used largely fortransport, /are being sought. Brazil, Zimbabwe and Kenya have begun to use ethanolmade from carbohydrate producing crops. The National Ethyl Alcohol Programmeof Brazil has resulted in an approximate 30 per cent savings on the annual petroleumimports.

Resource DepletionHuman beings derive a number of resources from nature for direct and indirect use.Some of these resources like land, forests, wildlife, air and water are renewable.Other resources such as oil, natural gas, coals etc. are nonrenewable. One way oflooking at the use of resources is to use them wisely so that these can last longer, al-ternatively technological progress can replace some of the natural resources e.g. rub-ber can/is replaced by synthetics. The technocentrics take the second position andecocentric the first But what is important is to understand the 'finity' of the naturalresources and wise use of the same.

PollutionPollution occurs when excer ?ive amounts of waste accumulate in the environmentand affect humans and plants or animals in an undesirable way usually by causingenvironmental stress. Pollutants can range from those producing high environmen-tal stress such as heavy metals solid or radioactive wastes to those raising a lowerlevel of stress such as litter, noise and low levels of carbon monoxide. It is very im-portant to understand how a pollutant behaves within the environment especially theconcentration at which it is stressful. The level or threshold at which a pollutant canharm varies widely between pollutants and with different organisms. Pollutants maycombine and have a more severe effect than the sum of the two acting separately(synegism). Pollutants such as DDT and heavy metals (e.g. mercury) may be con-centrated in food chains (biological magnification). It can be appreciated thatproblems of pollution may be global (e.g. carbon dioxide build-up in the atmos-phere) and warrant intergovernmental regulation, national (e.g. toxic waste) or localor regional (river pollution, land fill).

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Deforestation, Extinction of Species, Ecosystem DegradationOne of the most rapidly vanishing living natural resources, the tropical rain forest,is disappearing at a rate of 7.3 million hectares a year. Half the world's plants andanimal genetic diversity is concentrated on only 60 per cent of the land surface most-ly in the tropical rain forests. If present trends are not reversed, humankind may wit-ness the elimination of one million of the planet's 5-10 million plant and animalspecies by the end of the century. Through their genetic resources these speciesprovide essential materials for agriculture medicine and industry and other economicuses. Most of the loss is occurring in the humid forests of Africa, Asia and SouthAmerica. Deforestation and mismanagement of the land (e.g. poor soil conservationand badly planned irrigation schemes) have a very significant effect on wateravailability. Mere planting of trees in orchards or on the road sides cannot replaceforest ecosystems.Urban ExplosionFrom 1900 to 1975 the number of inhabitants in cities with populations over onemillion has increased tenfold and that of cities with over five million inhabitantsmultiplied by twenty. During the same time, the population of the twenty five largestcities is more than quadrupled and will be increasing eight to ten times by the year2000, increasing their average size from two to sixteen million inhabitants. Beforethe year 2000 the world will have more town dwellers than country dwellers (UN-ESCO Courier, March 1985).The world wide tendency of people to crowd together has resulted in higher popula-tion densities of many cities. People have migrated from rural areas in search of al-ternative sources for earning. This unplanned growth has resulted in poor quality oflife. The urban population has grown much faster than the facilities for water, light,housing, and food. The job scarcity over the years has further added to unhealthyliving standards. The concentration of wastes on the outskirts of cities has resultedin the accumulation of wastes which could not be decomposed in a natural manner.This has created polluted air and many health hazards.Poor environmental sanitation and inadequate supply of safe drinking water is amajor factor leading to diseases in the cities, specially in slum areas. The capitaltown of Delhi has faced this problem in recent past and newspapers are full of suchnews from other parts of the country. Migrants who come to live in cities are sud-denly confronted with environment very much different from rural areas. This hasalso caused many emotional problems resulting in high rate of crimes, delinquencyand mental diseases.As mentioned earlier, unhealthy living conditions and uncertain source of incomehas caused the problems of malnutrition in the urban sectors contributing to healthproblems. This is further aggravated when developing countries do not have a na-

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tional system of health. As a result the medical services are also not available or ade-quate.In order to reduce some of the social and environmental problems in the cities, greenbelts can be maintained to halt blanket urbanisation; urban renewal is an essentialfactor in improved integration of inhabitants; planning must be smaller in scale andbetter adapted for the urban environment and implemented after community par-ticipation; energy conservation techniques must be developed. All these develop-ments have to be appropriate to local technical, administrative and financialcontexts.All environmental problems differ in their extent, diversity and complexity.Procedures for implementing changes vary from country to country and location tolocation; hence it is essential that participation of citizens in environmental issuesand planning procedures is advocated in order to produce the best chance of successfor the projects.

Resolving Environmental ProblemsThere is a Chinese proverb which says "if you plan for one year, plant rice, if youplan for 10 years, plant trees, if you plan for 100 years, educate people. In the con-text of environmental education, this proverb can be interpreted for the 'need to edu-cate people' as well as the three stages through which the approaches to environmenteducation have passed. Both ways, the need of the hour is to educate people toresolve environmental problems. Environment is no more a subject to be discussedby mediapersons, counting more upon the doom's day to hit the headlines. It is tobe an approach which would facilitate the awareness about preservation andregeneration.Secondly, there is a need to understand that a farmer or a villager - the immediateperson to be affected by environmental problems is as much involved in the processof destruction and regeneration, as is the planner at the top level. Hence atmicrolevel, it is a concern/or all.Nonformal EE would need to develop a curriculum that exposes the target groupsto different ideologies and imparts to them the knowledge, attitudes and skills whichwould help them to contribute to the solution of environmental problems.Community Participation and Pressure GroupsCommunity participation can often be a combination of defensive efforts mitigat-ing against undesirable change or developmental planned action attempting to alterthe situation in the best interest of the people. Much depends upon the politicalframework of a given country or the processes that have been evolved so far.In the developing world most people are poor and are often powerless vis-a-vis theentrenched elites. Participation is an educative process. It-produces confidence inthe participants especially in their ability to control circumstances instead of being

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controlled by them. Following this logic, community participation in developingcountries is likely to be development oriented at the initial stages. Later on thesegroups can become pressure groups for affecting the power structure either throughdirect lobbying or through the media coverage. Another aim of,the participation canalso be viewed as broadening the base of participants, for instance increasing thesocial activity of the women and illiterates.It has been suggested that participation in implementing projects reduces their costby mobilising unused local resources and free human energy. Even planners gainthrough this process by being aware of people's wants and dislikes and avoiding attimes disastrous errors.In developed countries local environmental pressure groups have resulted in thedevelopment of awareness by providing information, mutual support and motiva-tion. But for developing countries it would mean that groups base themselves onself-help motto but with the assistance of technical skills, materials and finances.

Environmental Ethics and Nonformal EEEnvironmental attitudes and ethics cover a wide range and are influenced by cul-tural, political and theological beliefs. Tribal cultures are characterised by ecologi-cally harmonious traditions of conservation and respect for all living things. Urbanindustrial development has given rise to conflictual rather than harmonious socialand economic relations manifested in rural-urban or industrial—agrariandichotomies. The rural, grassroots, community focussed approaches to nonformaleducation and development adopted by China, Cuba and Tanzania tried to ensurethe maximum participation of the rural community.

Profile of Resolution of Environmental Problems jThe following important messages appear from cross-country nonformal EEprogrammes.

— Search for alternative technologies or soft technologies characterised byecological self-sufficiency and suited to economic conditions of developingcountries.

— Environmentally hygienic technology, conservational and non-polluting,using renewable resources.

— It should be acceptable in the light of local cultures and traditions (e.g.biogas).

— Recognition of human or social implications of environment, e.g. youngCubans are expected to understand and manage the forces with which theywill struggle throughout life.

— Projection of nonformal EE from within the community rather than imposedexternally upon it.

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Methodology and TrainingMaintaining the quality of life amidst population explosion, increased consumptionand increased waste accumulation call for disciplined human decision. Human in-terventions are inevitable at all levels from local to the national. These cannot be adhoc and left to chance. These need to be guided by:

- Ethics of relationship of humans to environment in which the general wel-fare supejrcedes self gain and conservation is preferred to abuse.

- The direct beneficiaries of the intervention be held responsible for the con-trol of degrading effects and restoration of degraded environment.

- Mechanisms such as licensing fees, taxation and maintenance according toapproved standards be imposed seriously.

- The general public be made conscious of the unavoidable effects that mayresult from the environment abuse and be helped to tackle that effect.

The environmental education need to cover younger as well as older generations,urban as well as rural population and beneficiaries at the grassroot level and alsopolicy makers, decision makers and project implementers. The clientele groups fornonformal environmental education can be as under:

- Out-of-school children, — Youth outside formal education system- Community leaders and Members- Administrators- Industrialists at various levels- Workers

This list can be further developed as environmental education falls in the purviewof neither a single department nor relates to any one particular sector only - agricul-ture, industry, medicine, education, labour, social welfare, town planning and manymore deal with it in different facets.Hence it is difficult to identify a specific target group and a definite curriculum inEE.The planning, organisation and methodology of nonformal EE varies enormouslyfrom one country to another. Person to person communication and communicationthrough mass-media are some of the approaches. Some of the importantmethodologies being used are described below.Participatory MethodologyNFEE methodologies may either be participatory or non- participatory. The latterare those in which the target group members are passive receivers and would in-

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elude radio and television broadcast, press articles, visits to natural history museumsand formal exhibitions or listening to occasional lectures. Such programmes arequill common in many parts of the world and are normally aimed at informing thegeneiSl public. Most mass media, however, face the entertainment versus educationdilermfHt - programmes that are not entertaining enough tend to lose out on a largesection of the audience. Moreover, coverage of local environmental problems areoften ignored by radio or television either because they are not consi dered newswor-thy or are deemed unfit for public consumption by state controlled broadcastingagencies. Thus T.V. or radio needs to be decentralized and localized so that peoplewho form the 'object audience' can become 'subject participants' in the message.The augmentation of non-participatory EE programmes with those that are more in-teractive is most important for those countries in which environmental issues areimmediate and relevant to the day to day lives (or deaths) of the people. Further, insuch countries the formal education system is often disadvantaged by lack of resour-ces and high dropout rates and therefore NFEE programmes of a participatory na-ture assume increased significance.

Discussion and Problem Solving TechniquesAn effective teaching-learning strategy, especially for adults, is the discussion modeof interaction. A motivated and confident moderator can initiate a lively and wideranging discussion which incites people to question, analyse and debate uponvarious environmental issues and also stimulates them to seek further informationor plan subsequent action. In fact most non- interactive programmes like films, talksor poster exhibitions can be rendered potentially more effective if they are used bynonformal educators to initiate subsequent discussion amongst the viewers. Need-less to say, discussions on complex and often controversial environmental issues re-quire deft handling.NFEE educators could encourage groups to identify specific local problems for in-vestigation. Problems such as irregular or unsafe local water supply, effects of in-discriminate use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers, pollution caused by aneighbouring factory, radiation hazards of a nuclear plant, illegal felling of trees,unsafe mining etc. could be considered. Plans of action based primarily on the ex-perience of the target groups could be charted out with, wherever possible, the in-volvement of the local authorities. Such problem-solving projects, however, mayultimately indicate the need for more direct social action.

The Use of Popular TheatreThe use of popular theatre as a communication medium for developmental projectshas a long history. As a form of cultural expression using the local oral idiom,popular theatre can engage and hold the interest of people many of whom have beenalienated by the traditional approaches to literacy, adult education and development.Early use of popular theatre as a part of government sponsored mass education

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programmes was often designed to impart information in a one-way, top downfashion, topics chosen by central decision makers rather than engaging villagers inan authentic dialogue about their own priority problems. However, during the lastdecade popular or street theatre has been increasingly used as a two way communica-tion process, to develop critical awareness and generate a commitment to collectiveaction. In fact various other folk forms of cultural expression have also been crea-tively assimilated into theatre. An example of this approach is the Laedza Batanani(Wake Up - Let's Get Together and Work Together) festival in Botswana, which isa combination of socio-drama (including songs, dances and puppetry) and groupdiscussion, organized by the local community leaders in collaboration with exten-sion workers. Travelling people's theatres like the Jan Vigyan Jathas initiated by theKerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad, a voluntary organization of Kerala (India), havealso been used as an effective means of creating environmental consciousness.

Other MethodologiesThe above mentioned approaches and methodologies are operative while dealingwith a defined group like out- of- school children and illiterate adults. But someother techniques that can be used for educated but environmentally under-educatedgroups are:

— Inhouse discussions— Focussed print materials— Seminars on specific themes— Exhibitionsi

— Extension lectures— Multimedia packages

Media in Nonformal EEMass media is being utilised for the spread of EE messages to the general publicand specialised audiences. Newspapers, periodicals, radio, television and films aresome such important media. The following guidelines have been suggested for useof media in nonformal EE:

— by presenting regular, e.g. daily programmes in which environmental issuesare presented in an interesting and lively manner

— by ensuring that the educational potential of documentaries and otherspecialised programmes are maximised like including examination of en-vironmental problems to a documentary on world wild life or African Safari

— by incorporating an environmental perspective into existing educationalprogrammes

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- by ensuring that production teams are aware of and understand the environ-mental problems in their local settings.

Links with Existing Nonformal Education ProgrammesMany of the existing NFEE programmes adopt similar techniques and could easilybe linked to EE. For instance, adult literacy projects taken up by various groups indifferent countries could suitably address themselves to environmental issues of im-mediate concern to the participants. Similarly, agricultural extension work orprimary health schemes could be utilized too. In fact it is imperative that suchschemes perceive the environmental issue in a proper perspective and not as anesoteric, abstract notion in some way counter productive to local developmentalstrategies. For example, agricultural extension workers need to be made aware of amore penetrating, holistic view of agricultural technology so that they too may ques-tion the long-term costs of excessive use of pesticides or fertilizers. Indeed a moreradical approach to the training of personnel in adult education or other ruraldevelopment programmes is called for, in place of the narrowly conceived coursesthey are currently exposed to.Guidelines for a Training Programme for Teachers/Extension Workers in Nonfor-mal E.E.:

Main Objectives• to ensure that environmental educators have some understanding of the complex

relationships that exist in the environment• to ensure that environmental educators realise that human activities in the en-

vironment must be managed to ensure the sustainable utilisation of resources• to give a variety of first hand, practical activities in the environment• to ensure that environmental educators understand the way in which the learning

process differs with specific target groups• to give the opportunity for environmental educators to practice relevant and

varied teaching methodologies.Unit'1: Humans and the Environment

(a) The Biosphere(i) Plant and animal communities and the concept of an ecosystem

(ii) The circulation of substances and energy in the environment(iii) Self regulating mechanisms in the biosphere.

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(b) Environmental Care and Management(i) Human's exploitation of and impact on, ecosystems such as soil, forests,

coastal and fresh water habits. Suggestions for the improved managementof these life-support systems

(ii) Harmful substances in the environment, their source, effect and strategiesfor their reduction

(iii) Specific studies of local environmental problems e.g. overgrazing, woodcollection, urban stress, acid rain, etc.

Unit 2 : The Aims and Methodology ofNonformal E.E.(i) The learning process in (a) adults (b) children

(ii) Aspects of group dynamics to illustrate the importance of inter- and intra-personal relationships

(iii) Critical examination of specific E.E. programmes which use a variety ofmethodologies in differing combinations

(iv) Problem solving: on-site activities in a village/town situation to include:(a) information gathering from villagers/townspeople/extension workers

etc.(b) problem analysis and problem solving to include small-scale construc-

tive work(c) consideration of various schemes aimed at environmental monitoring.

(v) The production of teaching schemes, including audio-visual aids, basedon specific problems (see iv above).

Unit 3 : The Political Dimension ofEE.(i) Simple management techniques to ensure co-ordination of effort with par-

ticular reference to problem solving.How to influence(ii) government policy - the administrative system at local level, state and na-

tional level; the role of power groups(iii) aspects of environmental Law: the interpretation and enforcement of en-

vironmental legislation at national and local level.

Planning and Management ofNonformal Environmental EducationSo far the attempt has been to present the resume of the guidelines for nonformalEE by UNESCO-UNEP with some more information woven in from other sources.The following major points emerge:

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• The content of nohformal EE needs to be identified and tailored as per needs oftarget groups.

• The delivery methodology can be either based on 'integrated approach' or 'spe-cial inputs' for specific purposes.

• It is interdisciplinary and intersectoral by nature and hence calls for strong coor-dination at all levels within nations as well as at international levels. -

• Nonformal and adult education is the one of the most organised sector for thispurpose. Its experiences can be utilized to develop a sound policy on planningand management of nonformal EE.

The following observations can be examined for this purpose:• Nonformal EE activities may be addressed to specific target groups such as

decision makers, planners, administrators, executing students and people ingeneral.

• There must be clearly defined goals and objectives to delineate it from the scopeof formal education.

• The implementors of such programmes must be identified and their roles proper-ly defined.

• A task force or coordination committee or any such structure may be created atnational level across different departments dealing with environment relatedprogrammes and issues. This body should have corresponding bodies at state andother local levels to plan and manage context specific environmental issues.

• A nation-wide programme of environmental education may be chalked out.• Alternative approaches to programme implementation would need to be

developed. Materials for knowledge and skills development should be readilyavailable.

• Though much work appears to have been done to enhance awareness amonggeneral public, detailed information to more specific groups also need to beprovided.

• The basic thrust of nonformal environmental education would encompass the in-corporation of environmental items in education curricula and teaching materials.

• Nongovernmental organisations, mass media and concerned organisations needto be encouraged to promote nonformal environmental education.

• Linkages between nonformal and adult education, adult literacy programmes in-cluding women's literacy and environmental education need to be better definedand implemented.

• Local groups may be encouraged for organising and supporting out-of-school ac-tivities arid young naturalists.

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• For policy makers and planners general awareness is not enough. Research resultson impact of various projects for modernization on environment conservation andpreservation need to be made available so that appropriate decisions can be made.

*i

• Advisors of environment may be attached to crucial departments and one of theirjobs would be to disseminate information to the persons working in those depart-ments.

• Trained manpower would be required to implement the nonformal EE program-mes as happens for other sectors. These will be— training the trainers mainly for formal and nonformal education systems- professionals engaged in assessment and management tasks- technical persons at the middle level to feed information on environmental

issues— Legal experts on environmental laws.

University departments specifically working on EE and open universities may beleaders in this direction and support nonformal EE.

ConclusionA number of organisations are involved in nonformal EE. Key roles are played byinternational agencies like FAO.. WHO, UNEP, UNICEF and UNESCO. Coordina-tion at international and national levels is the immediate need of the decade. En-vironmental issues have reached a stage when 'thinking globally and acting locally'seems to be the only alternative. It must involve all levels of society, it must be ac-tive and participatory. This is what nonformal EE is and aims at.

ReferencesIn addition to UNESCO-UNEP document the following materials have been referred to inpreparing this resume.Country Reports as Annex to Final Report on Non-formal Environmental Education for

Asia, University Pertanian Malaysia in cooperation with UNESCO-UNEP, 1985.NIEPA,EnvironmentalEducation:TrainingofTeacher Educators, Curriculumf)evelopers,

Educational Planners and Administrators, in collaboration with UNESCO-UNEP, 1988.NIEPAJnterRegionalTraining Course on Environmental Education for Educational Plan-

ners and Administrators, February 13-18,1989, in collaboration with UNESCO-UNEP,1989.

T.N. Khoshoo, Environmental Priorities in India and Sustainable Development, IndianScience Congress Association, New Delhi, 1986.

M.N. Palsane and Sudesh Mukhopadhyay, Social Awareness about Environment, IGNOU,New Delhi, 1989.

App -ndix -VIII

Resume of Unesco DocumentStrategies for the Training of Teachers in

Environmental Education

IntroductionThe role of education in understanding, protecting and solving problems related toenvironment has been greatly realised all over the world. Evidences to this are thenumber of international and national conferences/seminars held on the theme andthe several efforts made by different countries in introducing the perspective andscope at all levels of education.Environment education (EE) is regarded as a permanent process in which in-dividuals and the community gain awareness of their environment and acquire theknowledge, values, skills, experience and also the determination which will enablethem to act - individually and collectively - to solve present and future environmen-tal problems.Environmental education is not a separate discipline. It is an approach and a newthrust. It is interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, and hence draws its content fromvarious disciplines such as geography, physical and biological sciences, history,economics, political science, sociology, literature, etc. Hence, environmental educa-tion and training have multifaceted aspects, depending in the first place on the typeand educational level of the target group concerned. The spectrum of EE program-mes may range from a broad thrust at primary and secondary school levels to specificprogrammes for environmental managers, policy makers and politicians.With the impetus given to the theme at the Stockholm Conference (1972) and theagreement made on the need for immediate actions based on the international un-derstanding, and cooperation, today several countries have taken initiative in intro-ducing EE at all levels of school and college education. As an offshoot of such anunderstanding an international body namely United Nations EnvironmentalProgramme (UNEP) was set up.

* Prepared by M.J. Ravindranath, CEE, Ahmedabad.I am grateful to the Director, Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad for the computerfacilities »My thanks are also due to my colleague Shri L. Balasubramaniam for all the help rendered.

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Environmental education and training forms one Of the major components of thesupporting measures of UNEP. The joint UNEP-Unesco, IEEP programmelaunched in 1975 is the major programme which promotes general environmentaleducation at the national, regional and global levels. Through its active program-mes, IEEP has enabled some 40 countries to introduce EE into their educational sys-tems and programmes.Attempts have been made in these countries to examine the content and syllabus ofthe school education, enriching the content in terms of environmental experiences,developing appropriate teacher and student materials, and organising teacher train-ing/orientation programmes to bring.in environmental thrust and bias into classroomteaching. Although the efforts have been salutary, yet much requires to be done.It has been increasingly realised through all these efforts that an effective implemen-tation of EE in schools and colleges depends heavily, besides many others, ontrained personnel who are equipped with necessary skills and competencies fordeveloping and implementing EE programmes in the desired ways. Recognition ofthis need is explicitly stated in the report of the regional meetings of experts on en-vironmental education (1977). "The possibilities of integrating EE into formal andnonformal education programmes and the implementation of such programmesdepend essentially (without however underestimating the importance of other fac-tors) on the training of the personnel responsible for putting the programmes intoeffect".The document currently being summarized Strategies for the Training of Teachersin Environmental Education (1987) is one of the reports of Unesco-UNEP as aresponse to the identified deficiencies in the area of teacher training for effectiveimplementation of EE. The following paragraphs provide an abridged version of thereport. The resume has been cast under several headings for easy comprehension.Wherever found necessary, views and expressions have been reproduced as it is inthe report in order to minimise distortion.

OverviewThe document, while reviewing the several efforts made all over the world in thearea of environmental education and training, has as its main focus the concern toassist interested persons and institutions to develop strategies for incorporating EEinto the content and teaching methods of preservice and inservice teacher trainingprogrammes and courses. The document has two sub-focuses: first dealing with the-current efforts made in EE teacher training programmes and, second, the differentplausible strategies for training preservice and inservice teachers. While dealing-with the strategies, attempt has also been made to sort out some of the practicalproblems encountered during planning and implementation of the teacher trainingprogrammes and suggest alternatives for overcoming some of them.

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Need for Developing EE CompetenciesAny auricular innovation for its effective implementation depends upon teacherperformance. For it is the teachers who would, in the ultimate analysis, be interpret-ing and implementing the innovations.EE, as an approach and a new thrust, has its own content and methodological charac-teristics. If teachers are to be entrusted with the responsibility of bringing in the re-quired focus in their teaching, they need to understand and internalize thesecharacteristics. These when translated into specific teaching skills become EE com-petencies, which range from familiarization with the content (knowledge) to certainhigher cognitive and affective behaviours like evaluation, value clarifications, in-vestigative skills, etc. While some of these could be generic and applicable to a widerange of disciplines, there are a few which are.foundational. For purposes of claritythey have been placed under the following five categories.

1. Professional education2. Ecology3. Conceptual environmental awareness4. Environmental issue investigation and evaluation5. Environmental action skills

A few of the important competencies suggested in the document for incorporationin the strategies for EE are:

/1. Professional EducationThe effective EE teacher should be able to :

a) apply a knowledge of educational philosophy to the selection (and/ordevelopment) of curricular programmes and strategies to achieve both'general education and EE goals

b) utilise current theories of moral reasoning in selecting, developing and/orimplementing EE curricula which will effectively achieve accepted goalsof EE with selected receiver groups

c) utilise current theories of knowledge/attitude/behaviour relationships' inselecting, developing and/or implementing a balanced curriculum whichmaximises the probability of desired behaviour change in receivers. '

d) utilise current theories of learning e.g., Piaget, Bruner, Gagne in selecting,developing, and/or implementing curricular materials 'and teachingstrategies to effectively achieve EE goals with selected receiver groups

e) apply the theory of transfer of learning in selecting, developing or im-plementing curricular materials and strategies to ensure that learned

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knowledge, attitudes and cognitive skills will be transfered to life styledecision-making by receivers

f) select effective instructional methodologies which are appropriate fordesired cognitive and affective outcomes, receiver characteristics, andavailable facilities (e.g., time, money, personnel)

g) effectively implement the different teaching methodologies such as out-door educational methods, games and simulations, case study methods,etc., to achieve EE goals

h) develop and use effective means of planning for instructioni) effectively infuse appropriate EE curricula and methods into all disciplines

to which the teacher is assignedj) effectively evaluate EE curricula and methods achievements with

receivers in both cognitive and affective domains.2. Environmental Education ContentThe effective EE teacher should be able to :

a) apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to the analysis of environ-mental issues and identify key ecological principles involved

b) apply a knowledge of ecological foundations to predict the ecological con-sequences of alternative solutions to environmental problems

c) be sufficiently literate in ecology to identify, select, and interpret ap-propriate sources of scientific information in a continuing effort to inves-tigate, evaluate and find solutions for environmental problems

d) communicate and apply in an educational context, the major concepts inecology.

3. Conceptual AwarenessThe effective EE teacher should be able to select, develop and/or implement cur-ricular materials which will effectively make receivers aware of:

a) how human beings'cultural activities influence the environment from anecological perspective

b) how individual behaviour has an impact on the environment from anecological perspective

c) a wide variety of local, regional, national and international environmentalissues and the ecological and cultural implications of these issues

d) the viable alternative solutions available for remediating discrete environ-mental issues and the ecological and cultural implications of these alter-native solutions

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e) the need for environmental issue investigation and evaluation as aiprereq-uisite to sound decision making

f) the roles played by differing human values in environmental issues andthe need for personal values clarification as an integral part of environ-mental decision making

g) the need for responsible citizenship action in tne remediation of environ-mental issues.

4. Investigative Evaluation •The effective EE teacher should be competent to investigate environmental issuesand evaluate alternative solutions and to develop, select and/or implement curricularmaterials and strategies which wiU develop similar competencies in receivers, in-cluding: ( •

a) the knowledge and skills needed to identify and investigate issuesb) the ability to analyse environmental issues and the associated value

•• perspectives with respect to their ecological and cultural implicationsc) the ability to identify alternative solutions for discrete issues and the value

perspective associated with these solutionsd) the ability to autonomously evaluate alternative solutions and associated

value perspectives for discrete environmental issues with respect to theircultural and ecological, implications

*•' t

e) the ability to identify and clarify their own value positions related to dis-crete environmental issues and their associate solutions

f) the ability to evaluate, clarify and change their own value positions in thelight of new information.

5. Environmental Action StillsThe effective EE teacher should be competent to take positive environmental actionfor the purpose of achieving/or maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between qualityof life and the quality of environment, and to develop, select, and/or implement cur-ricular materials and strategies to develop similar competencies in receivers to takeindividual or group action when appropriate.The above competencies have been selected and recommended considering twomain criteria, viz., 1) skills/competencies which are specific to EE teaching, and 2)skills which are generic and applicable to teaching of related disciplines.A perusal of the efforts made in several countries would reveal that numerousstrategies have been employed both in developed and developing countries to incor-porate some of the above competencies, if not all, in the design of preservice andinservice teacher training programmes. The strategies have ranged from treating EE

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as a compulsory course in preservice training programmes to organising staff meet-ings, conferences, workshops, etc., for inservice teachers. In certain countriesspecilialized centres, viz., Teacher Centres have been established to disseminate EEinformation and materials. These efforts have been broadly categorised as under:

a) developing a specific course in EE methods to add to the curriculumb) infusing EE methods and foundational components into existing

programme coursesc) addition of other courses in the curriculum which deal with foundational

EE components.

Specific Efforts in Preservice TrainingThe document focuses on numerous examples of preservice teacher training effortsmade in several countries. The examples represent a broad spectrum of efforts, andbring out the variety in the programmes.One notices introduction of specialized courses in ecology and conservation ofnatural resources in the form of certificate and degree courses as prerequisities forteacher qualification (examples are the courses offered by university of Wisconsin,Columbia, Bulgaria, Thailand, etc.). One can also find EE being infused into generalteacher education curriculum to assist in developing selected competencies neededby the effective environmental educator, e.g., the courses offered by the four In-donesian national teacher training institutes. In certain cases, environmental topicsare used in the course to develop teacher competencies in using teaching techniquessuch as simulations, gaming, organising field trips and outdoor programmes, role-playing, team teaching, etc.What becomes evident from the review is that each of the strategies has its ownstrengths and weaknesses and they have been used because of certain practical con-straints like time, personnel, infrastructure, etc. It has been recommended that whileplanning for a preservice programme, one should consider the strengths of the aboveapproaches and courses be evolved accordingly.

Inservice Training ProgrammeWhile continued efforts are needed to improve both the quality and quantity ofpreservice training programmes, much more efforts are needed for training inser-vice teachers. The cases and examples cited in the document in respect of this givea wide scope of the approaches and strategies used for inservice training. They rep-resent approaches such as workshops, staff meetings and conferences and organis-ing continuing environmental education courses.The study of Pettus and Schwaab referred in the document is worth mentioning here.In a 1978 study by them, it was found that within Virginia (USA) schools, workshopsand courses were the inservice opportunities provided most frequently. The type ofEE inservice opportunities provided for Virginia's school personnel were as fol-

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lows: workshops (35.8%), graduate and continuing education courses (33.5%), staffmeetings (28%), conferences (26.1%), staff exchanges (10.6%), institutes (7.3%),released time for staff improvement (5.5%), correspondence courses (0.5%) andothers (3.2%).An examination of several other studies quoted in the document reveals that ex-posure on EE has varied within and among different countries. While most program-mes have catered to methodological competencies, a few have focussed on thecontent. It is being recommended that where a specific EE methods'course is notpossible, at least a comprehensive programme needs to be developed. Theseprogrammes should be comprehensive in terms of both generic arid specific skills,and strategies should be developed accordingly.The case of Governors State University in Illinois (USA) serves as a best exampleof the comprehensive EE programme. In this university a comprehensive EE leader-ship development project was conducted in 1975 for 32 teachers from 17 Illinoisschool districts. It was a one-year project, and upon completion of the course theteachers were expected to be able to:

1. demonstrate conceptual and practical knowledge about the natural andhuman-altered environments and their interrelationships

2. describe and analyse contempory environmental problems in terms ofnatural science and social science principles and relationships

3. utilise a variety of techniques of problem-solving and decision- making4. define value positions for current environmental issues5. assess the quality of available instructional materials for EE in terms of

educationally and environmentally sound criteria6. demonstrate a repertoire of techniques for organising and implementing

instruction using the environment7. demonstrate ability to formulate a generalised plan for infusion of EE in

the curriculum8. utilise processes for initiating, implementing, and evaluating changes in

instructional programmes.Such programmes could also be made available through Teacher Centres. Incountries like Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Nigeria and UnitedStates, one can find comprehensive courses on EE being organised through TeacherCentres. A Teacher Centre is a curriculum development and professional staff sup-port system, and it allows teachers to share human and material resources, to receiveindividualised and group assistance in a non-threatening environment. The most im-portant feature of such centres is that they are basically created to promote profes-sional improvements at the participants' own rate and on the participants' own terms.

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Recommended Models of EE Teacher Training ProgrammesAny effort to recommend a generalised training programme model encompassingall the EE competencies becomes difficult as one can see substantial diversity bothin content and methodolgy as well in the design and implementation of the program-mes. Further, the degree of competency required in various areas will also dependon the grade level, subject matter, and the target population to which the teacher isassigned. Added to this diversity, there are also certain practical constraints such as -availability of time in the course and the number of courses offered. It is in this con-text an outline of the processes of curriculum development as applicable to a typi-cal teacher training programme is suggested than a generalised model.The outline is based on the same three broad approaches referred earlier, viz., 1) aspecific course, 2) through infusion, and 3) addition of other courses in the cur-riculum to deal with foundational EE competencies.

Preservice Training ProgrammesWhile the first approach is an appropriate way to train teachers, many of the struc-tural and practical constraints such as prescribed or dictated curricular thrusts in thestudent teaching experience, lack of administrative interest or power, budgetary con-J

straints and above all traces of lack of environmental commitment among the preser-vice teacher population make the approach less feasible. •One way of overcoming this could be by correlating and integrating this approach"with the other two approaches. In other words, it would mean "environmentalising"of other courses so that both the generic and specific competencies are- achieved.While this may take care of the methodological and EE related competencies, muchwould be required to equip teachers on the EE content.Any approach to infuse EE content into the existing courses would involve anelaborate analysis of the course content for identifying points of infusion. Tofacilitate this process, course instructors could be provided with refined EE com-petencies list, and guided to analyze their own teaching and determine where thecompetencies are or could be taught. One can envision a teacher educationprogramme with environmental content infused into general education courses (i.e.,liberal arts courses) such as earth science, biology, chemistry, economics, socialproblems, music appreciation, religious history, mathematics, communications,literature, etc.The above holds true for course work specifically designed for teacher education.Environmental content could be infused into a general classrqom methods course,the student teaching experience, and special methods courses (e.g., science, maths,social studies, language, etc.). Where necessary plans should be initiated ^o developnew integrating courses or modify the existing courses. ^The approach described above, while it is appropriate for primary school teachers,would have to be modified for structuring programmes for secondary school

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teachers considering that secondary school teachers are generally given more depthin their Majors and Minors and less emphasis in professional education foundations.A viable alternative to the EE methods course may be to increase credits and timeallowed for the major teaching methods course (e.g., methods in science teaching)and to include a large section which trains preservice teachers to achieve EE goalsin their own discipline..An exemplary programme suggested in the document is reproduced below for thepurposes of discussion.

Environmentalised Preservice Secondary Education ProgrammeGeneral Education RequirementsTeaching Major

- Professional Education Requirements- Individual and the school- School and society- General teaching methods- (Major) Teaching methods including EE methods- EE teaching methods- Psychology of learning (cognitive, affective, conative domains)

Environmental Education Requirements (may be used in the above re-quirements)Student will take one course from each group below.

- Environmental Conservation Education- Resource Ecology and Man- Resource Ecology and Man- Conservation of Natural Resources- Natural Resources and Modem Society- Politics of Ecology

I ! • • ' .

- Citizenship Action in Environmental Issues

What becomes evident from the above is that if the goal of incorporating the en-vironmental dimension in the programmes, contents, and teaching methods ofteacher education is to be achieved, there is an obvious need for change. Further,the plans should also accommodate several of the practical constraints mentionedearlier. It should be considered that bringing about structural changes by itself is along drawn process and requires considerable amount of effort.In view of the fact that institutions and their requirements vary from place to placeand country to country, no attempt is made in the document to suggest specific chan-ges. On the contrary, the document describes some of the important variables which

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may have an impact on the planning and implementation of the preservice program-mes. It has been suggested that to effectively implement preservice programmesthese variables must be dealt with successfully. An annotated list of selected vari-ables which may affect the implementation of EE preservice teacher trainingprogrammes is provided in Appendix -1 of this paper. The Appendix -II suggestsa few occasions which could be used to influence the staff of the training institutesin implementing EE preservice programmes.

Inservice Teacher Training ProgrammesIf developing and designing preservice EE training programmes is one task, design-ing EE training programmes for inservice teachers is yet another stupendous task.This is because of the size of the teachers to be oriented or trained and the charac-teristics which they would have developed over a period of time being in the sys-tem. Three basic approaches are suggested in the document, with one morecombining the strengths of all the three (eclectic). The three approaches suggestedare:

a) Superordinate trainingb) Peer trainingc) Modular training

The superordinate training approach uses the hierarchial structure of the education-al system to facilitate inservice programmes. It is a two - phased model, with phaseone involving educational administrators being trained by a group of resource people(specialists), and these administrators in turn training teachers in the second phase.The steps involved in the approach are presented in Diagram -1.The peer training model utilises members of the faculty as trainers. These trainersare given intensive training experience in EE and in how to train their colleagues.They are then asked to conduct peer training sessions. These newly trained in-dividuals may also train additional peers, creating a desired "multiplier" effect.Diagram - 2 represents the different steps involved in the model.The modular training model is actually an individualised approach with self-learn-ing as the main core. This provides sets of self-learning packages on various topicsof EE. Steps involved in the model are presented in Diagram-3. The modules areself contained and self sufficient packages and may include a variety of instruction-al materials such as print materials, slides, video tapes, audio tapes etc. The learn-ing activity may involve participants in either individual or group tasks such asreading, discussions, field investigations, etc. Although each module, in the model,is visualised as an independent unit of work, in the overall, the modules would besequenced and organised around some hierarchial structure or theme.As regards the effectiveness of these models, it has been reported that all the threemodels have proved effective in bringing about desired behavioural changes as far

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as knowledge and skills are concerned. However, they have differed in their poten-tial with regard to development of certain attributes. Further, the evaluation studiesalso have focussed on pertinent problems in the implementation of the models. Forexample, evaluation of the peer model focussed on the problem of lack of credibilityof peer trainers. Similarly, inherent ineffectiveness is built in the model of modulesif the teachers are not motivated to self learning and working independently.As said earlier the task of training inservice teachers is not only a stupendous task,but also a challenging one. If the training is intended to be comprehensive of all theEE competencies, all the three approaches need to be considered for designing theprogramme. Such a model would be eclectic in approach, drawing the best of eachapproach.A few guidelines provided in the document for planning and designing an inserviceEE programme are given below.

- assessing the needs and preferences of the inservice teachers and involv-ing them in all the dimensions of the planning process

- securing the support of the administration (at all levels of the educationalsystem) for the goals of the inservice programme

- selecting competent trainers at any level who have adequate knowledge,skills, and the ability to establish rapport with trainees

- providing adequate time for the effective completion of training- assuring that necessary materials will be available at appropriate times and

in sufficient quantities- coordinating programme efforts between and within levels of the system- evaluating the process of the programme and revising plans accordingly.

The major steps involved in the planning of an effective EE inservice teacher train-ing programme are illustrated in Diagram- 4. The composition of the two commit-tees, viz., Steering Committee and Consultant Team are presented below as themembers would be responsible for planning and execution of the trainingprogramme.Steering Committee : This would be responsible for the planning stages. In otherwords, the members would be playing a key role in determining the final outcomesof the training programmes. The committee should essentially consist of membersfrom 1) educational administration stream, 2) motivated teachers from primary andsecondary levels, 3) the community, which would mean parents, businessmen,and/or government.Consultant Team: This should include individuals with proven competencies in theareas of 1) EE curriculum development 2) EE teacher training and 3) Curriculum

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implementation and evaluation. The team, in addition to the above, should also haveEE content experts.Diagram - 4 illustrates a hypothetical eclectic model worked out for training inser-vice teachers. It takes into its focus all the three inservice teacher training modelsdescribed earlier and also the operation of the steering and consultant committees.

ReferencesIn addition to the main document, viz., Strategies for the Training of Teachers in Environ-mental Education, prepared by Richard J. Wilke, R. Ben Peyton and Harold R. Hungerford,1987, the following documents of Unesco-UNEP International Congress on EE and train-ing, Moscow, USSR, 87, have been referred to, to prepare the resume:1. The State of the Environment: Education and Training Implications.2. Contribution of International Scientific Programmes To Environmental Education and

Training.3. International Comprehension and Problems of the Contemporary Environment The

Role of Environmental Education.4. Environmental Education Module for Pre-service Training of Social Science Teachers

and Supervisors for Secondary Schools, Vol.9, Unesco, 1985.

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Appendix -1: Annotated list of selected variables which may affect the im-plementation of EE teacher training programme (pages 104 -108)

1. Person(s) to Coordinate and Plan for Infusion (Primary Change Agents)If implementation of a preservice EE programme is to occur, some person or groupof persons must act as the primary change agents. These persons will act as coor-dinators - identifying and using the many variables which can act as driving forcesfor infusion. At the same time, the change agents must find ways to overcome thosevariables which could impede infusion. In institutions where there are many influen-tial and powerful persons acting as change agents, infusion can be more easily ac-complished. In situations where only persons having little influence or powerassume the role of change agents infusion will be difficult to achieve.

2. Inside AdvocatesIn a study of the adoption of programmes for gifted children, House^ emphasizedthat the presence of an inside advocate was important to the adoption of innovations.He found that members of a system rarely come together to agree on goals, defineproblems, and seek solutions. Rather, a person within the system usually sees it inhis or her best interest for the system to adopt an innovation and then moves the ideathrough the appropriate channels.In many institutions, potential inside advocates for the infusion of EE can be iden-tified. If these advocates exist, they can be helpful in building a strong base of sup-port within the administration and faculty for EE. For example, faculty who havesuccessfully infused EE into their own teaching may be very effective in generat-ing positive attitudes towards EE amongst their peers.

3. Faculty Attitudes Toward Infusion of EEFaculty can facilitate infusion by enlisting the support of administrators and by ex-hibiting their enthusiasm to other faculty. In some cases faculty are the focus of in-fusion decisions; in others, infusion may be dictated to them. In cases where thedecision to infuse EE is made above them in the hierarchy and passed down to them,faculty may abort the decision by passive resistance. Usually, faculty who are in-volved in planning for infusion will provide greater support for it. In all cases, posi-tive faculty attitudes toward infusion will help guarantee success.

[1] House, E.R., Steele, J. and Kerins, T. Development of Educational Programmes: Advocacy in aNon-Rational System, Urbana, Illinois, Centre for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evalua-tion, University of Illinois, 1970.

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4. Faculty Possession of EE CompetenciesThe degree to which the faculty of the preservice teacher training programme them-selves possess the necessary EE competencies is a critical variable. Obviously, ifone does not possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes one cannotdevelop the same in preservice teachers.

5. Administrative Interest and SupportAdministrators, through their functional roles as legitimizes or gatekeepers, are im-portant to the success of infusion. Their informal disapproval can act as a major bar-rier to a change agent's efforts. Often times official administrative approval isrequired for curriculum changes. Usually, administrators are the key to the neces-sary internal reallocation of funds for items such as supplies, textbooks, consultants,inservice time etc.

6. Peer TrainersOften the use of peers for training faculty can help to generate a positive effecttoward efforts to incorporate EE in the curriculum. Some institutions will have facul-ty members available who already possess EE competencies. If such a situation ex-ists, the use of these peers as inservice trainers can act as a driving force toward theinfusion of EE.

7. Consultants and EE SpecialistsIf preservice faculty require training to assist them in incorporating th&environmen-tal dimension, EE specialists and /or consultants may be necessary to assist with thistraining. In fact, EE specialists comprise a critical component of each of the inser-vice training models presented in the section of this document on "Inservice TeacherTraining". Thus, institutions with ready access to EE specialists and/or consultantswill be at an advantage compared to institutions not possessing, or having access tothese experts.

8. StudentsStudents can influence the success of EE infusion in their preservice trainingprogramme. Feedback from students will usually influence a faculty member's per-ception of the innovation. Students also report their reactions to other students, whomay, depending upon the reports, flock to the courses in question, or, carefully avoidthem. Thus, student support and feedback can be an important variable influencingthe infusion of EE.

9. Faculty Tenure and PromotionsIn an institution where the administration supports the infusion of EE, the abilitiesand willingness of individual faculty members to incorporate the environmentaldimension in their teaching can be considred when decisions are made regarding

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hiring, retention, assignment to courses, and promotion. Conversely, where no ad-ministrative support exists, faculty may be forced to devote their time and energyto areas of concern other than EE.

10. Faculty Inservice MechanismIn some institutions mechanisms for faculty inservice already exist. Where time isalready allocated for faculty inservice, or where team support strategies or peer train-ing are used, or where a teacher centre exists, faculty inservice will usually be morereadily accomplished.

11. Internal Funding•!

Institutional reallocation of funds will often be necessary to provide essential con-sultants, inservice time, supplies, textbooks, etc. An adequate base budget plus ad-ministrative support is necessary to achieve the required reallocation. Lack of eitherhas negative impact upon the infusion of EE.

12. External FundingFinancial support for the infusion of EE can sometimes be obtained from outside ofthe teacher education institution. Some institutions may have access to these exter-nal funding sources. For example, within the U.S.A. there are a variety of sourcesof external funds which could aid infusion. Examples include National ScienceFoundation programmes such as "Local Course Improvement", and "Comprehen-sive Assistance to Undergraduate Science Education"; Office of Educationprogrammes such as the "Fund for the improvement of Post Secondary Education";and, private foundation sources such as the EXXON Education Foundation.

13. Existing Institutional CurriculumIn some cases^ ^ almost all the necessary courses exist and can be added to a preser-vice programme to alleviate any EE competency deficiencies. In other situations,there may not be appropriate courses available to alleviate deficiencies. In some in-stances, courses within the preservice programme may already .develop most EEcompetencies; while, in other cases, little may be accomplished in existing coursesregarding EE competency development. /

[1] As in the example from Michigan State University provided in an earlier section of this documententitled "A Process for Curriculum Development in Teacher Training Programmes".

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14. TextbooksThe time of textbook change or selection can be important to those advocating theinfusion of EE. Certain textbooks are more environmentalized than others, and thuswill better aid in the development of EE competencies. Also, publisher repre-sentatives can often be used to provide evaluation data, cost/benefit data, consult-ant assistant, etc.

15. Resource UtilizationThe availability of resources and faculty use of same can influence the infusion ofEE. Where resource use is maximized instruction can be enhanced and infusionfacilitated.

16. FacilitiesThe availability of certain inschool and out-of-school facilities can be critical to theimplementation of a preservice EE programme. Consideration must be given earlyto facility needs as they relate to the curriculum. If facilities are not adequate, eitherthe facilities or curriculum must be revised to insure successful implementation.

17. Supplies and EquipmentThe question of whether an (institution has appropriate supplies and equipment toimplement a preservice EE programme is very important. What happens in aprogramme requiring the duplication of large numbers of worksheets when duplicat-ing supplies are lacking ? What about laboratory or field equipment? Is it availableor can it be obtained?18. Accreditation AgenciesRecommendations from accredition agencies usually carry immense weight withadministrators and faculty, hi cases where accreditation agencies support or en-courage EE training for teachers, both the administration and faculty will probablywork towards the implementation of an EE preservice programme. On the otherhand, accredition agencies may hinder the implementation of an EE programme byrequiring so many specific courses that little or no electives remain for those inter-ested in enrolling in an EE methods course or some other appropriate course, e.g.,ecology.

19. Regional/State/National Education AgenciesEducation agencies can influence the implementation of an EE preserviceprogramme in many ways. Personnel from education agencies often serve as con-sultants and assist with inservice training. In some states and/or nations educationagencies are responsible for textbook adoption policies. Education agencies mayeven have funds available to assist with implementation. The office of Environmen-tal Education in the U.S. Office of Education has provided funds for hundreds of

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EE curriculum development efforts. Finally, in some places such as Wisconsin(USA) the education agency may require all preservice teachers to complete cour-sework in EE or a related area.

20. Labour/Business/Professional OrganizationsThe leadership in professional organizations has the potential to facilitate infusion.Like all opinion leaders, the leaders in professional organizations have opportunitiesto influence their social system to innovate or to maintain the status quo. They canuse their authority to support new teacher training programmes or they can reward.

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Appendix - II List of Appropriate Occasions for Introducing EE InserviceProgrammes (page: 108)

Faculty meetingsBook and materials selectionBudget makingProfessional conferences orconventionsSocial occasions : picnics, dinnerparties, luncheonsLunch (in school)

Coffee breaks

NegotiationsPersonnel selection or assignment

PromotionsCourse changes

Curriculum revisionsLibrary acquisitions: bookspamphlets, newspapers, professionaljournalsGrading or testing

Teacher inservice programmesInstitute daysEvaluation, assessmentsAccreditation

Classroom visitation

Unplanned meetings in lounge orhallsConvocations or otherUniversity wide eventsEquipment purchase or assignmentsVisitors from other universities fromthe communityAdministrative meetingsActicles or announcements inprofessional journalsPublicity in local or regional papersChanges in legislation or policies

State and national meetings

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Superordinate Training Model

Environmental Education Specialists

University Staff

Education System Administrators

Additional Trainers (Administrators,Secondary Teachers, etc.)

Classroom Teachers

Diagram 1

Peer Training Model


Core Teaacher Trainers

Peer Training Centre

Prepare TrainingModules

Diagram 2

Modular Training Model


Act as Consultants tofacilitate learning

V

\OR

Classroom Teachers

Train Consultants from withinSystem to facilitate learning

Diagram 3

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Planning an Inservice EE Training Programme

Establish EE Steering Committee

Identify the Consultant Team

Assess the need for EE in the System

Assess teachers to determine:- perception of need for EE training- attitudes toward EE- attitudes toward inservice programmes- preference for inservice programme model

Define Objectives forInservice Programme

Analyze Assessment DataI

Determine General Formatfor Inservice Programme

Refine Expected Competencies tobe Developed

Set up Procedural Tasksand Time Limits

Present Plans for Review

Administration Inservice Staff Outside Consultants

Revise

Implement

Formative Evaluation

Summative Evaluation

Diagram 4

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Appendix - IX

Resume of Unesco DocumentEnvironmental Education in Technical and

Vocational Education*

The ContextThe process of development and the progress being made in practically all thematerialistic aspects of human activity has brought the question of environmentaldamage to the fore. As this is linked not only to the quality of human life but alsoto the very existence of life on the planet, it is receiving attention of all who thinkof the future generations and the progress of humanity not only in terms of physi-cal achievement of developmental goals, but also in terms of human needs, require-ments, aspirations including social, cultural and spiritual needs. The technologicaladvances have provided effective means of 'solving' most of the problems beingfaced by the human kind health, hunger, population explosion. Initially, th6 argu-ments were put forward that technology emancipates from drudgery and supportshuman dignity. These were justified in the context of moderate levels of scientificadvances" and their applications as technological inputs. The idea was that an op-timum degree of technology is essential for human existence.As a simple example, consider the case of women from economically backwardfamilies walking several kilometers to fetch water and devoting 80-90 per cent oftheir time in household chores, mainly collecting water, fuel and cooking etc. Ifwater and fuel could be made accessible to them, the above mentioned contentionwould be justified in their case. Contrary to this there is another viewpoint that tech-nological advances could destroy the human race. This school of thought has per-sistently emphasized the adverse consequences of technology. Essentially they arepointing towards the inequalities, unemployment and rural urban disparity whichhas been a consequence of technological applications. Going further, these argu-ments are strengthened by the familiar examples of nuclear and chemical weaponsprogrammes, toxic chemical industries and other similar adventures, or misadven-tures. The two examples clearly indicate that it is the quantum and context of tech-nology which determines the nature of its impact on the quality of life. When wetalk of technology and its consequences, we are talking of its impact in environmentand on environment. We are talking of the hazards to which human-race is beingexposed. The instances are innumerable.

* Prepared by J.S. Rajput, MHRD, New Delhi.

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We are all familiar with the dying forests, fields losing fertility, lake and waterstreams getting polluted and their water becoming unsuitable for human and animalconsumption, the effects of pesticides, insecticides, damage to aquatic life, gas leaks,explosions, industrial accidents and so on. We are also aware that all these could beattributed to three main components: ignorance, negligence and lack of account-ability. Probably the fourth could be added in terms of fast materialistic approachto life, which is getting intense day by day. Consequently, it can be said that it is thehuman factor which is the most significant in causing damage to the environment.Well, it is only the human beings who are capable of preventing the damage andcreating an environment suitable not only to the present generation, but also to thefuture generations. This obviously brings into focus various groups of community,particularly those who matter while planning and executing the process of develop-ment and its major linked aspects. Mainly, we could talk of engineers, technicians,technocrats and planners.One could immediately infer that adequate awareness and appropriate skills, com-bined with human sensitivity could help in prevention, reduction and elimination offactors responsible for environmental degradation and negative effects. It is thesefactors which could help in improving the environment and thereby the quality oflife. One could also identify four key components : awareness, knowledge, skillsand commitment to develop the perspective.When we talk of environmental education (EE) and technical vocational education(TVE), we presume that when young people join these ventures, they have alreadyacquired, to a certain extent, the following:

i) understanding of physical, cultural and socio-economic phenomenonii) developed capacity to analyse the things happening around them and

iii) preparedness to meet the future challenges with a capacity to anticipatethe changes that are likely to take place.

When they come to TVE, these aspects are to be augmented and given specific direc-tions in terms of particular areas of activity.It is in this context that we shall talk about the importance and place of environmen-tal education in technical and vocational educatioa While considerable work hasbeen done, the very concept of environmental education begins with the local situa-tions and understanding of the local surroundings. As such, all conceptual interpreta-tions have to be considered in the light of the specific needs of particular groups,area, regions or population. Subsequently, it does get linked to the totality of en-vironment in a global sense. This is obviously now well understood and appreciated.

BackgroundThreats to the Human Environment were the concern of 1971 Stockholm Conferencewhich attached major importance to the role of education in combating these threats

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being faced or were likely to be faced in future. The conference attached specificimportance to the role of EE and on these lines Unesco prepared and published anumber of studies on how environmental issues might best be covered in theprogrammes of instruction for general education at various levels. Attention wasalso paid as to what could be done individually and collectively; by young and byadults; what was urgently needed to be done for specific groups, like girls andwomen, the tribes and economically weaker sections of the society.Emphasizing the importance of developing understanding of the complex relationsbetween socio-economic development and importance of the environment was thefirst recommendation of the Tbilisi Conference (1977) which laid the basic aim ofenvironmental education -

to succeed in making individuals and communities understand the com-plex nature of the natural and the built environments resulting from theinteraction of their biological, physical, social, economic, and culturalaspects, and acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes and practical skillsto participate in a responsible and effective way in anticipating and solv-ing environmental problems, and in the management of the quality of theenvironment.

As regards the educational content, environmental education shouldprovide the necessary knowledge for interpretation of the complexphenomena which shape the environment and encourage those ethical,economic and aesthetic values, which constituting the basis of self-dis-cipline, will further the development of conduct compatible with thepreservation and improvement of the environment; it should also providea wide range of practical skills required in the devising and applicationof effective solutions to environmental problems.

The conference recommendations also deal with the target groups and indicate thatenvironmental education should cater to all ages and socio-professional groups inthe population. It lays special emphasis on social groups whose professional ac-tivities affect the quality of the environment and scientists and technicians whosespecialised research work will lay the foundations of knowledge on which educa-tion training and efficient management of environment should be based. At thisstage, five categories of environmental education objectives were identified: aware-ness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and participation. The emphasis was on considera-tion of EE in its totality as a continuous life long process, inter-disciplinary approachand examination of major environmental issues from local upto international pointsof view. Flexible approach in terms of educational methodology was also recom-mended.While the Tbilisi Conference made recommendations on broad environmental is-sues, specific problems have subsequently been dealt with by various special agen-cies like ILO, FAO, WHO, and others along with non-governmental organisations.

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Consequently, several documents and monographs have been published by theseagencies and Unesco. These include areas like environmental education and cur-riculum and training of teachers in environmental education. Training materials formanagers, companies and training instructors have also been attempted. It has beenemphasized that engineers and agronomists, industrial and agricultural techniciansand specialised skilled workers who are the principal groups of the system of tech-nical and vocational education need special environmental education for two dif-ferent reasons:

i) they participate in the development and production processes which in-fluence human environment, and

ii) they are themselves directly affected by the environment.It is towards both these roles that environment education must be directed whenforming part of technical and vocational educational processes.

Issues and RisksTechnical and vocational personnel require more than the general introduction intoenvironmental issues than those who attend to general education only. They need tolearn, appreciate, and evaluate the effects of their professional work on the environ- <"ment, the risk to nature at large involved in the types of operations they are perform-ing, the properties of the raw materials being used, the processes being designed andthe risks to those wh6 perform these and others around the work place. For a better "understanding, this could be classified into outer environment and the inner environ-ment. The outer environment is the world around, the inner is the work place. Thetwo obviously often overlap. It is neither necessary to make sharp distinctions, norgrade the various issues that need to be taken into account in environment educa-tion in TVE. They are essentially all very urgent and have to be handled according-ly. The essential features associated in terms of outer environment could besummarised as follows:

(i) the element within particular field of economic activity that may have animpact on the outer environment put people, flora and fauna at risk if theprocess gets out of control or, more commonly, if wastes are dispersed in-discriminately

(ii) know what can and should be done to eliminate the risk factors or to keepthem under control within permissible limits

(iii) know how to estimate the risks to calculate costs and benefits - includinglong-term environmental cost - of eliminating them.

For the inner environment the following four would be the major concern:(i) Organisational risks

(ii) Equipment-related risks '

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(iii) Process related risks(iv) Product related risks

Technical and Vocational Education SystemsThe TVE covers wide range of technological applications and such education isprovided at several levels. This complicates the design of programmes of EE in dif-ferent areas as well as levels. The programme designs have also to cover the adultgroups on environmental issues and several public and private bodies, educationalauthorities, labour inspectorates, technical research developmental institutions, etc.all of which have contributions to make in defining and designing priorities in EEfor TVE. The sensitivity of the situation can be well understood. The higher tech-nical education at the level of training of graduate engineers consist primarily oftheoretical studies with a complement of laboratory types of activities, trainingworkshops and project reports. Similar trends are formed at intermediate levels oftechnical education. Trends in lower technical and vocational education are morediverse and most of the countries are1 having a fresh look in these areas. Thosecountries which have accepted the uriiversalization of science education along withthe universalization of elementary education, have started work on the idea ofscience and technology education at lower secondary and secondary level. Alongwith thia/there is a tendency towards the revival of traditional apprenticeship prac-tices which play major role in training of skilled workers and could be of much morerelevance in understanding the EE in actual practice. Very specific attention is re-quired in designing EE keeping in view the degree of specialization on the one handand need to relate to the forms and fields on the other hand.Apart from the required pre-service programmes, the possibilities of offering spe-cial opportunities to the adults already working in these areas have also been ex-plored. The first may be the adult training and re-training system. The second isconstituted by the various extension services which have been expanding in therecent years. The third major target group is made up by public and privateenterprises. There could be variations in the classifications, but the objectives remainthe same.

Planning EE for TVESo far, we have attempted to make the following points:

(i) At the level of TVE the objective of EE is to reinforce the EE alreadyprovided

(ii) The component of EE included in TVE should cover both the outer en-vironment and the inner environment

(iii) Depending upon the level of TVE, there is a need to make distinction be-tween the content for, and practice of, the EE component

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(iv) EE is a life-long process for technical personnel. It needs to be continuous-ly replenished, re-emphasised and updated

(v) apart from those joining pre-service education programmes, multitudes ofchannels have to be explored to provide EE for those already working intechnical and vocational areas.

While it is generally accepted that those joining graduate level TVE programmeshave acquired an awareness of the major environmental problems, their physical,economic and social causes and consequences; the institutions for higher technicaleducation should still test their attitudes, knowledge and understanding on thesecounts. It needs to be ensured that appropriate steps are taken to fill in the gaps whichmight be identified. Similarly, at the lower levels of TVE where the initial under-standing is supposed to have been provided by the schools, the exposure would nor-mally have been limited. Here again a similar exercise will be required. The levelsof awareness and sensitivity have to be tested through well developed proceduresand appropriate planning in the initial stages. While the technology to be coveredwill differ depending upon the level of studies and the field of activity concerned, afew basic objectives could be set up for a change in the aims of technical and voca-tional education.

(1) to create awareness of and provide the required technological/economicknowledge and skills for identifying and dealing with the environmental

.problems relating to the principal products of the field of activity con-cerned; the possible elimination of such problems and the principal tech-nical solutions to them

(2) to create an awareness of and provide the required technological/economicknowledge and skills for identifying and dealing with the environmentalproblems arising out of the production processes which are current in thefield of activity concerned, including:(a) re-cycling or direct use of process by-products(b) waste disposal techniques, including separation technology applying

to polluting elements in air, water and solid materials; storage anddestruction of polluting and toxic agents and elements or, as the casemay be, their transformation into non- toxic waste

(c) appropriate restoration techniques when the production process invol-ves direct damage to landscape or other elements in the environment;this should include familiarization with standards, legislation orrecommendations by the competent authorities or other bodies

(3) to create an awareness of and provide the required technologicalknowledge and skills - for identifying and dealing with problems relatingto safety and health of those involved in the work process, including pos-sibilities for eliminating such environmental risks, or, as the case may be,

J07

protecting the individual or groups concerned, also including the main-tenance of such measures and the supervision of safe working methods.

Apart from covering the pre-service education components in detail, the discussionon TVE would be incomplete if the adults and the need for their further educationinvolving upgrading and in some cases, retraining is not examined and discussed indetail. The fast-moving technology makes continuous life-long and specifically tar-geted EE in TVE particularly important and necessary. Further, there has to be acorrelation between what older generation knew and what new is flowing in. Alsorelevant is the aspect that what the older generation has learnt did not lay much em-phasis on environmental aspects as the need for the same is not that acute at earlierstages. In the adult education component the targets can be prioritized and an as-sessment made by the essential learning needs of these target groups. Only then aneffective curriculum for training components can be designed.

Teacher TrainingAll TVE should be an integrated process combining three distinct elements, (i) studyof science and technology in terms of scientific principles applied and the nature oftechnology used (ii) development of skills in handling tools, equipments includingthe tools of research and development wherever required and (iii) ability to applytheoretical knowledge and practical skills in operational situations. While the threemay appear distinct and distant, EE should be a component of all the above three.Only then one could have an application of how an environmentally well organisedwork place is arranged. Often this aspect gets ignored in non-technical vocationalinstitutions. The ingenuity of the trainer will depend upon his capacity to assimilatethe components he intends to impart to the trainees in his institutional proceduresand conduct. This in itself is not an easy job and would require considerable homework on the part of the teachers. Each specialization requires different content andemphasis. Then comes the question of differentlevels. The group of technical educa-tion teachers is normally a heterogeneous group in terms of their levels, specializa-tion and approaches. They have to consider all the three locations : the classroom,the laboratory/workshop, and the full scale work situation. While pre-service com-ponents of Eli in teacher training would follow the line of arguments already indi-cated, the in-service training may be mainly directed towards:

(i) updating of knowledge as new developments take place and(ii) providing essential environmental education for those who have not

received teacher training and in particular those who have not benefitedfrom any formal, initial technical or vocational education.

The channels could be easily idenitified. There would be need to develop trainingmaterials of relevance.

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Summary and ConclusionsIt essentially amounts to restating the obvious need for further development of EEin TVE. The area has three major focal points:

- wide variety of environmental risks, including possible irreversible- damages, mainly having origin in economic and industrial activities- wide diversity in TVE in terms of levels and hence need to develop

programmes and materials suitable to each level- new evidence, based on research and consequences of new economic and

industrial activities, and hence the need for continuing environment educa-tion for all those who may have received initial EE during their preparatorycourses in TVE.

While technical staff at all levels have heavy responsibility for the protection of en-vironment, the range of their responsibility obviously varied between different levelsof work. Further, in developing countries there may be no direct link between theTVE that a person has received and his her actual area of activity and extent ofresponsibility. How far the specific target group oriented EE is going to be of useneeds consideration, taking other relevant factors into account. These need to beidentified before specific programmes are developed. This is necessary to enableEE to show clearly the economic, political and ecological inter-dependence of themodern world - the limited focuses of the work place, the gradually expandingperspective of the locality, the region, the nation and the global interdependence.The students and trainees need awareness of specific problem and risks they are like-ly to face themselves. In addition, they need to learn basic theoretical and scientificbases of technologies applied to solve the problems along with the totality of the im-pact. The basic objective and the goal are clear, the methodology and approach areto be defined, designed and applied with compact and comprehensive understandingand appreciation.

Appendix - X

Resume of Unesco DocumentEnvironmental Education Handbook for Planners

IntroductionThe concern for environmental problems has never been so high as it is now. Weare becoming more and more conscious that we have to reorient our attitude towardsthe use of environmental resources and re-educate ourselves to treat the environ-ment with greater caution and control. It is this realization that has given environ-mental education a place of prime importance.Considering the potential of education as an effective instrument in tackling the en-vironmental crisis, Unesco had launched the first phase of the IEEP programme inthe year 1975. The first intergovernmental conference on EE held at Tbilisi, USSR,in 1977 came out with specific demarcation of the nature, scope, aims and objec-tives as well as the repertoire of strategies to be adopted at the national and interna-tional levels for EE. The conference called upon the member states to incorporateinto their educational systems and initiate measures therein related to ecological con-cerns, environmental activities and awareness; it emphasized EE as a life-longprocess. It also stressed on the mobilization and utilization of all the educationalresources and capacities available in the community, based on real experience, andlocal needs. Keeping this in view, many countries have incorporated EE componentsin their school curricula and organized related teacher training programmes. Yet itwas insufficient.An important fact that emerged in the process was the need for preparing comprehen-sive plans for organizing environmental education activities having both short andlong-term goals. Equally important was the creation of effective mechanisms ofmanagement for not only implementing the planned programme but also for redefin-ing and redirecting the processes involved-based on continuous monitoring andevaluation.The parameters that go to define EE in a country are themselves dynamic in charac-ter. It is this fact^*tch makes planning for EE an extremely complex task, and atthe same,tiin^ui essential if quirement. The EE inputs have to become pervasive,characterizing all aspects of Education - formal, nonformal, and informal, as a life

Joij£ process of learning. Such kind of education develops not only the awareness

* Prepared by R. Govin<Lv.NIEPA, New Delhi.

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about environment but also ensures a positive reorientation in the attitude of peopleby infusing in them a desirable environmental ethic. This is possible if only EE be-comes a sustained movement supported by not just government authorities andprofessionals but by the whole community.An attempt is made in this Handbook to search for the possible solutions to the fol-lowing assumptions - formulation of a comprehensive policy on EE in terms ofglobal environmental concerns; nature of plan for EE based on short and long-termperspectives; management mechanism in the implementation of EE plans and typesof monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for required purposes. The contents ofthe Handbook offer only broad guidelines based on the above mentioned differentdimensions of EE. It hopes to provide the general outline for a planner to act. Alsothe Handbook hopes to form a comprehensive set of manuals for the planners of EEin combination with the series of publications brought out under UNESCO-UNEPprogramme on various dimension of EE such as teacher education, nonfbrmal educa-

f tion, vocational education and so on.

Framework for a National EE StrategyIt is realised that environmental conditions are not the results of m'ere physical con-straints but of a complex interaction among social, political, economic and tech-nological choices that a country makes. In this context, EE is a strategic interventionwhich takes into account the global conditions and constraints as well as nationalchoices and aspirations. With increasing interdependence among different peoplesof the world and a heightened awareness that environmental degradation is aworldwide reality, the need for urgent actions to counter the ill-effects of this situa-tion has been abundantly recognised by all the countries. Thus, every country hasto actively get involved in forging a worldwide movement for EE. This calls for thecreation of a national EE strategy based on national and global concerns. A plannerhas to be guided with some basic considerations for the formulation of such a strategywhich become the ground rules and guiding principles whether the planner is con-cerned with policy making, plan formulation, curriculum building or managementand evaluation of EE.A national environmental education strategy will have to specially reflect the con-ditions that characterise a particular country. This strategy will referto a comprehen-sive set of activities ranging from policy making to monitoring and evaluation. Thenational strategy consists of the following five major component processes:

1. Formulation of a National Policy on Environmental Education which ex-plicates its commitment to the cause of EE and the approach to be adoptedby the country for achieving the goals and objectives of EE.

2. Preparation of long-term and short-term plans for realising the goals of EEadopted by the country.

3. Formulation of specific programmes for implementing the EE plans.

Ill4. Working out implementation strategies for operationalising the various

programmes of EE.5. Creation of necessary organizational and management structures at nation-

al and local levels for implementing EE.6. Evolving a Monitoring Information System to oversee and ensure effec-

tive implementation of the EE programmes.Every component of the strategy has to remain sensitive and responsive to the mes-sages emanating from the field level operations and adapt itself to the changingdemands. Thus, a crucial characteristic of the national strategy is that it is conceivedas a system containing an effective inbuilt feedback mechanism. This requires stronginterlinkages among different components of the strategy. Also, the strategy has tohave an effective MIS in order to ensure that it is leading the environmental educa-tion efforts of the country in the desired direction.

Formulation of a National Policy on Environmental EducationPolicy making at the national level in any area of life has to be seen against thebroader framework Of national development. Policy making for EE is also to be con-sidered within this perspective. In this context it is necessary to view environmentas an essentially endogenous variable involved in planning the development process.Thus, it is imperative that the countries adopt environmental education policieswhich are integrated into their general policy framework for national development.The EE policy has to be country specific. Such a national policy on EE will seek theconcern, and active participation of all sections of the population. This will be ac-tively implemented by effective development planning and long-term commitmenton the part of national leadership. The EE policy must reflect the temporal dimen-sions of the environment in the country. In view of the above points, a planner hasto carry out at least two major exercises before arriving at a national policyframework on,EE. These include a detailed situational analysis of the environmen-tal conditions characterizing the country and an analytical understanding of the ex-isting planning and management structures operating therein with respect to formalas well as nonformal educational channels. These exercises should be followed byoutlining the scope for and methods of integrating EE inputs into the on-going educa-tional programmes. The framework for a national policy on EE has to emerge fromthese empirical exercises. Further the policy statement should include reference totwo important aspects. One is that it should make clear the position of the countrywith respect to environmental action as a whole. The second is that it should indi-cate the overall goal of all actions with regard to environmental education in thecountry.

•?.

The national framework for a policy on EE should give a clear indication of thecountry's commitment and approach towards the cause of environmental education.Fostering awareness and concern among the citizens regarding the inevitable inter-

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dependence among different dimensions of human life - economic, social, politicaland ecological, should be a basic policy orientation. The policy should accept thenation's responsibility to provide every person with opportunities to acquire theknowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improvethe environment. The policy should highlight the role of environmental educationin creating new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and society as a wholetowards the environment.

Planning for Environmental EducationThe dynamic nature of environment and consequently, of environmental education,make planning for EE a complex task. The planner has to make a careful assessmentof the country's environmental conditions and priorities and make critical choicesfor EE in an informed way. Planning for EE should also take into consideration, thecountry's educational history, its national priorities, past and current environmen-tal and social concerns. Preparation of action plans for EE at national level has tokeep in view several parameters as well as the framework provided by the nationalpolicy directives on EE:

1. Priority given to EE by the national leadership in the process of develop-ment planning and educational planning

2. Mobilization of resource support at national level3. Availability of voluntary action groups for EE at regional and local level4. Scope for adopting a decentralized participatory approach in the existing

practices of educational planning5. Consideration of overall public disposition as well as that of various

professional groups towards environmental action6. Role of past experiences in implementing EE activities.

In terms of national planning for EE, it becomes necessary to create a broad-basedgroup at the national level which is empowered with approach authority to takedecisions. Constituting such a National Planning Group headed by the Minister ofEducation or^any other appropriate authority will help start the initial planning ac-tivity for EE and also give the necessary support personnel for plan formulation.However, in constituting the National Planning Group, it is necessary to bear in mindthat planning for EE has to be. a broad-based, interdisciplinary activity involving notonly educational professionals but also representatives from other policy areas aswell as representatives of different socio-economic and ethnic groups. This neces-sitates a national action plan for EE with short-term and long-term goals. A generaloutline of action to suit different countries is required. Ten steps have been iden-tified in this Handbook for action plan such as :

Step 1 - Specification pf objectives

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Step 2 - Identification of target groupsStep 3 - Conceptual frameworkStep 4 - Programme formulationStep 5 - Institutional arrangementsStep 6 - Implementation planStep 7 - Inter-Agency coordination mechanismStep 8 - Monitoring information systemStep 9 - Resource planningStep 10 - Research and development

The overall programme framework is to be divided into operational sub-units orcomponents. Thus, the total plan framework becomes a composite of a number ofcomponent plans. The contents of the component unit depend on the particularcountry and its educational system.Academic planning is one of the integral aspects of planning which requires suffi-cient attention. It will be counterproductive to launch a programme without ade-quate academic preparation. Thus, a planner has to identify rightkinds of institutionsand individuals who can provide the necessary academic support for the programmein a continued fashion. For this, a series of curriculum planning exercises will haveto be carried out keeping in view the nature of inputs to be provided to the differenttarget groups. Finally, training and orientation of personnel in the implementationof EE play an important role.

Management of Environmental Education ProgrammesIn an appropriate system for management of EE programmes, the task is not simp-ly limited to infusion of EE inputs into curricula of different on-going programmes.Rather it is to facilitate access to appropriate EE knowledge and skills for every sec-tion of the population and on every aspect of the ecological system, so as to improvethe quality of life and ensure the preservation of the ecological system. This is thequintessence of the recommendations of the Tbilisi Conference on the aims of EE.The management of EE involves the establishment of administrative and super-visory mechanisms and also arrangements for developing academic resources.Though the administrative machinery and process to be created for implementingEE programmes vary according to the national conditions.dt is essential to evolvecertain coordination mechanisms at different levels for implementing the EEprogrammes. ;

Evolving a National Management Framework for EEA National framework may broadly consist of a three-tier arrangement involvingnational level, state or provincial and local level management mechanisms. Specific

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roles and management functions of the mechanisms at different levels have to beproperly defined. It is also necessary to identify the place of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the total framework.

Establishment of Coordination Bodies for Management of EEFor establishing Coordination Bodies for Management of EE, in every country, adesirable approach will be to identify suitable institutions from among the alreadyexisting ones and create a network. The task at the national level will be to create aManagement System which is network-based as opposed to the usual institution-based arrangements. In order to ensure the functioning of such a network-based sys-tem it is necessary to set coordination bodies at different levels - national, state/provincial which include decision-making as well as implementing personnel. Thefunction of the coordinating bodies will be to ensure the role and responsibilities ofthe participating agencies.In an area such as EE, effective cooperation of all concerned at the implementationlevel is imperative. This demands real ingenuity from the planner to devise innova-tive mechanisms for effectively-interlinking all field level agencies and individualsinvolved in EE activities.The individuals and social groups should gain awareness of the quality of their en-vironment and its preservation. It is not adequate to bring the community merely atthe implementation stage by making it as a people's movement. Involvement of thepeople has to be total and continuous from the inception to the completing of theprogramme. Thus planning and management have to be carried out at a micro level.For this, the over all framework for planning and management should have leverageto encourage and absorb local initiatives and variations in the programmeparameters.

Academic Resource Support System for EEUnlike other educational programmes, EE is not merely concerned with transmis-sion of some new knowledge, rather it is directed to the solution of the practicalproblems of human environment. Thus openness and flexibility are importantcharacteristics of EE. Therefore some components of EE may be provided throughspecified institutional channels, the remaining have to reach the public through high-ly informal means, identifying relevant academic inputs, for EE has to be interdis-ciplinary, utilising expertise from different fields of knowledge.The characteristics of EE demand necessary academic support in the form ofdevelopment and inflow of instructional material. Preparing EE personnel for effec-tively transmitting the EE inputs to learners and so on is a complex task which needsto be the responsibility of a specialised institution. Keeping this in view, the TbilisiConference recommended specialized units in every country for the purpose ofproviding academic resource support to organizations and individuals involved inEE. The academic resource support has to come in terms of at least three aspects,

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namely, curriculum development for EE, training of personnel involved in EE ac-tivities and organization of R and D activities for EE on a continuous basis.

R and D Actions for EENo EE programme can ever be considered completely developed and final. The con-ceptual as well as action dimensions have to continually undergo change and im-provement through Research and Development cycles. Considering the importanceof carrying out research in EE, the Tbilisi Conference recommended that the Mem-ber States,"... examine the potential of appropriate institutions to cany out researchinto the curricula and programmes in environmentaleducation and encourage neces-sary initiatives, including institutional cooperation." Being an interdisciplinary areaenvironmental education lends sufficient scope for professionals with varying back-ground to participate in research programmes related to EE. An important point tobe remembered in this regard is that EE is not just an academic area of study; theresearch and development programmes in EE should, therefore, be essentiallyproblem-centred and action-oriented.

Monitoring Information System for EEThe successful implementation of EE programme depends on the objective infor-mation regarding the field level realities. The need for an effective information sys-tem is particularly heightened in case of EE due to the complexity of the programmein terms of target groups to be reached, the organizational network for implementa-tion and the ever-changing nature of the auricular inputs in EE. Creation of suchan information base serves two important purposes with regard to'EE. One purposeis to monitor the efficiency and effectiveness with which the preplanned programmeis being implemented. The other is to evaluate the total programme of EE includingthe programme objectives keeping in view the policy directives and the demands ofthe changing ecological conditions. In the case of EE, information base required tocollect and process information must relate to the global as well as local environ-mental conditions.The process of information creation and utilization have to be integrated into thevarious monitoring and evaluation activities in EE. Three dimensions of such aMonitoring Information System (MIS) serve prime importance. These dimensionsare:

1. Quantitative and qualitative data on the environmental conditions charac-terising different parts of the country. The information base should providea comprehensive view of ecological map of the country facilitating macro

, as well as micro level targets for decision making.2. Empirical information regarding the needs and priorities for EE.3. The information base should contain details of the activities of the dif-

ferent agencies involved in implementing the EE programmes. This is

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necessary for effective inter-communication among these institutions andalso fertile dissemination of information among the general public.

4. Special efforts to deVelop information base on the voluntary actiongroups/non-governmental organizations and individuals involved in EEactivities.

5. Active involvement arid support of professionals and institutions withvarying disciplinary background in the implementation of EE and main-tenance of up-to-date information about them.

6. Quantitative and qualitative information about implementation of EE, in-cluding its progressive impact on the quality of life and the environmen-tal conditions of the people in general.

7. Data on different learner groups, their characteristics, age specifications,institutional affiliations, their specific requirements and so on. This be-comes necessary for the creation of academic resource support in a needbased manner.

Information Usage CycleIn order to provide the planner with relevant information about the field, it is neces-sary to effectively integrate the information base into the process of planning andadministration of EE. Building of an information base and its usage for planningand administration of EE at different levels and at different points of time shouldform an integrated cyclical process, as presented in Diagram 1.

Information Usage Cycle For Environment Education

GIVEN ENVIRONMENTCONDITIONS

IMPACT STUDIES OFENVIRONMENT

EDUCATION

POLICYFRAMEWORK FOR

EE

PROGRAMMEEVALUATION

ENVIRONMENTEDUCATION

PROGRAMMES

IMPLEMENTATIONPROCESSES

Diagram 1

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Channels of Information Flow and FeedbackApart from the MIS for EE, the planner has to find out the sources and modalitiesof creating such an information base, institutional arrangements required for thispurpose, and feedback and the channels for effective usage of the information baseto improve the system. The need for EE arises due to the environmental problemsperceived by the people, who are themselves the recipients of EE inputs. Thus, thebasic source of information about EE consists of people who form the target groupsfor various kinds of EE programmes. The information originating at this level is toflow through various institutional and individual channels of the-Monitoring Infor-mation System providing the necessary feedback at appropriate points.The structure of MIS indicating the channels-for information flow and feedback interm of different levels of operation is given in a diagramatic form (Diagram 2).Five levels have been identified in the EE implementation framework at which in-formation collection, analysis and transmission processes take place.

Channels of Information Flow and Feedback at Different Levels

NATIONALLEVEL APEXBODIES-Planning- Co-ordination.- Resource

Support

•STATE LEVELINSTITUTIONS

• STATEACADEMICRESOURCECENTRES

•OTHEREDUCATIONAlliNSTrrunoNsIINE.E.

•LOCALRESOURCECENTRE AND

•LOCALCO-ORDINATINOlBODY- Teacher Training

Inst- Other Training

Institutions

FIELD LEVELAGENCIES INCURRICULUMTRANSACTIONTO LEARNERS- Schools- Colleges- Voluntary

Organisations

LEVEL-5 LEVEL-4 j LEVEL-3 j LEVEL-2 __ |__ LEVEL- 1Diagram 2

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The above approach presents the outlines for one possible model for organizing aMonitoring Information System for EE. This may not become applicable in all thecountries. The model needs to be suitably modified and adapted according to the en-vironmental conditions and other factors prevailing in the respective countries.In almost all countries, not much thought and action have been devoted to the taskof creating an effective system for monitoring the planning and implementationprocesses of EE. This may be due to the activities on EE being relatively on a smallscale. But with increasing concern for environment all over the world, EE activitiesare bound to expand covering a larger section of the population and utilizing a varietyof channels for transmitting the messages of environmental education.

Appendix - XI

Resume of Unesco DocumentProcedures for Developing an Environmental

Education Curriculum*

OverviewThe document prepared by Harold R. Hungerford and Robert Ben Peyton is an im-proved version of an earlier discussion guide entitled' Strategies for Developing AnEnvironmental Education Curriculum'. It suggests the means of implementationrather than the need of EE. It has been developed with the following goal of EE inview: 'to aid citizens in becoming environmentally knowledgeable and, above all,skilled and dedicated citizens who are willing to work individually and collective-ly, towards achieving and/or maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between quality oflife and the quality of the environment'.The authors have emphasized that EE must develop problem solvers and also itselfshould utilize problem solving approaches.The fast growth of EE since seventies calls for extending its scope beyond aware-ness of environmental issues to discovery of learners' interactions with environ-ment. Also the learners should develop investigative, evaluative and action skillsboth learning about them and also using the same. In addition EE curriculum shouldhave scope for generic and basic mental skills necessary for developing problemsolving skills.There are four chapters dealing with: Introduction to the Document; Patterns in EE;Environmental Education Curriculum and Materials Development; and Con-clusions. The Appendix 'A' provides sample lessons developed to reflect problemsolving nature of EE curriculum. A bibliography at the end provides information onEE related materials and auricular projects being used in different places.The introductory chapter gives the basis and background of the development of thedocument. The document intends to serve as base material for EE curriculumdevelopment. It provides a set of guidelines valid for curriculum development atlevels of school/community, region or a nation without being prescriptive. Thestrategies for developing curriculum in EE and also the development of materialshave been discussed including the teacher training and evaluation. The authors feel

* Prepared by J.S. Gill, NCERT, New Delhi.

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that in order to achieve internationally accepted goals of EE, the broad guidelineselaborated in respect of EE curriculum development programmes must be adheredto though there may be slight variations at local or regional levels.The importance and critical role of chapter III has been highlighted in the Introduc-tion itself. This includes curriculum tasks, available.patterns and criteria for decisionmaking in curriculum development process. The total process has been depicted inchapter IV through a flow chart.

Development and Growth of EE :The second chapter tries to elicit patterns in the development of EE with time. Sincethe beginning, there are large number of instances in history of humans' interactionswith environment. One finds these references in folklores, bibilical and other earlywritings. The roots of EE can be traced to centuries old conservation movements.Societies evolved perspectives regarding environment and use of available naturalresources through these movements. .The texts used in schools sponsored by religious groups included virtues of humanbehaviour and attitudes towards environment and resources. The nature study move-ment and formal introduction of conservation education through science teachingadded to the promotion of EE. This was followed by outdoor education and formalarrival'of EE in the seventies. Environmental education as a separate entity hasemerged only recently.The UNESCO launched worldwide efforts to bring EE into world prominencethrough a survey to assess resources forEE and identify needs and priorities of mem-ber states. This survey brought out insufficiencies in world education programmes,lack of interdisciplinary and problem solving approaches and the tendency to reduceEE to natural aspects only.The establishment of UNESCO-UNEP-IEEP led to many seminars culminating inthe inter-governmental conference at Tbilisi in 1977. This conference helped inuanimity among nations to promote EE by involving citizens at all levels for theresolution of environmental problems. The goals of EE agreed upon by memberstates have been internatio'nally accepted. The objectives identified by the Tbilisiconference range from awareness to citizen participation. It extends role of EEbeyond ecology. Interestingly the majority of EE curricular programmes emphasizeEE goals but very few have tried to bring social relevance to EE.One would find diversity in current pattern of EE curricula. It ranges from ecologyto efforts to show relationship, between ecological concepts and environmental is-sues. A few programmes deal with participation. It is hoped that all future curriculawould concentrate on citizens' participation as envisaged by Tbilisi conference. Allcurrieular attempts intend to inculcate environmental ethics. There are many projectsdeveloped for Nordic countries, West African villages, Columbia and Israel.

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The curriculum developers can utilize the research studies that demonstrate thatlearners are trained in citizenship participation.EE Curriculum and Material DevelopmentChapter III provides guidelines for developing an EE Curriculum. The general con-census among environmental educators is to train learners to become environmen-tally literate citizens through EE curriculum. The sum total of all experiences aregained by learners in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and human behavioursassociated with quality of life and the quality of environment constituted EE cur-riculum. It implies acquisition of conceptual knowledge, attainment of problem solv-ing skills; scope for modification of beliefs and values and training in appropriatecitizenship behaviours.The entire process of curriculum development can be illustrated as:

Curriculum Development Process

Identification of goals and objectives

Evaluation in contextof learning and cur- Identification and organization of subject-riculum goals and objectives matter

Identification of methods of teaching'

Diagram 1

The other critical elements in the process are: determining the validity of goals; as-sessing the need for inservice teacher training, suitability to available physical andfinancial resources of the school, and criteria for all the steps involved in the process.

Essentials to Launching of EE Curriculum DevelopmentBefore launching any EE curriculum projects, the developers must decide about es-sential features as the basis for such a venture.

1. One has to decide about the format or approach for curriculum develop-ment. Generally two models are used. The authors, for the purpose of thisdocument, categorize these models into:a) Interdisciplinary approach (single subject)b) Multidisciplinary approach (Infusion of many subjects)

. In the single subject approach, a discrete course or series of courses or other cur-ricular package is developed by drawing subject-matter from other disciplines. Inthe multidisciplinary approach, the EE components are infused into existing dis-

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ciplines in the curriculum. Both the models have merits and demerits in respect ofcurriculum development, teacher training, implementation, evaluation and scope forindepth coverage of environmental issues. For example comprehensive evaluationis easier in single subject aproach. It is also easier to identify and sequence the com-ponents in single subject rather than in existing curriculum.

2. EE curriculum project aiming at producing environmentally literatecitizens must incorporate strategies for both acquisition and transfer ofknowledge, skills and attitudes to enable the learners to use them in theirlives. The researchers (Travers, 1972) have shown that transfer ofknowledge and skills is more likely to occur:

when students experience diversity of problems- when students learn to apply principles in situations with distracting

and irrelevant elements- when opportunities are provided for the pupil to learn and use

knowledge in a variety of situations.Though these principles are true for both single subject and infusion approaches,they provide better support for the infusion of EE in existing disciplines. In the lat-ter they can apply environmental knowledge and problem solving skills in a varietyof situations. Many of the EE expectations are already reflected in other disciplines.For example civics - they study how their government works but are not able toapply as citizens in solving environmental or other problems. The important pointis that the learners must be taught about use of the knowledge gained while learn-ing. This is essential irrespective of the approach (single subject or infusibn) adoptedin curriculum development. Effective curriculum may use both approaches with in-creasing use of interdisciplinary materials at higher levels, where greater com-prehension is required.The need for acquisition and transfer of learning in EE is reflected in the GuidingPrinciples outlined by the Tbilisi Conference. These must be built in any EE cur-riculum development project. After deciding about the format or approach to cur-riculum in light of the guiding principles for EE, the next important task is theidentification of goals of the curriculum.

Identification of GoalsA large number of models or projects dealing with EE curriculum development areavailable. All of them utilize the goals suited to the target group and area for whichcurriculum is being developed. The curriculum developers can make use of goalsand objectives established by the Tbilisi Conference. The categories of objectivesrange from awareness to knowledge, attitudes, skills and participation.The authors believe that these goals and objectives would be highly appropriate ifintermediate set of goals are developed. This provides specific goal statements,

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which should be translated into instructional objectives around which EE materialscan be developed.The authors have used a set curriculum development goals validated by environ-mental educators with Tbilisi declaration and specifically designed for NorthAmerica. These have been categorized into four levels (Table 1). These levels areextremely important in the spiral development of knowledge, skills and attitudespresented to learners with their age. The developers have compared these goals withthose of the Tbilisi. Similarly developers can develop goals and compare with ac-cepted Tbilisi objectives.

Table 1Levels of Curriculum Development Goals

Level I Ecological Foundation Level (To provide knowledge of ecological concepts)Level n Conceptual Awareness Level - Issues and Values CTo develop conceptual aware-

ness about influence of individual or collective action on quality of life and qualityof the environment)

Level HI Investigation and Evaluation Level (To provide knowledge and skills necessaryfor learners to investigate issues and evaluate alternative solutions)

Level IV Environmental Action Skills Level - Training and Application (To develop skillsnecessary for taking positive environmental action for maintenance of balance be-tween both quality of life and environment)

Advantages of Using GoalsThe goal statements of the curriculum are to :-

- allow developmeMLof problem investigation and solution skills- allow coverage of crucial socio-cultural issues- allow development of comprehensive and holistic environmental educa-

tion curriculum- promote the development of citizenship responsibility skills- provide opportunity for learners at all age levels to demonstrate these skills

through responsible environmental behaviour- permit coverage of local issues and problems.

The authors have proposed an instructional model (Diagram 2) by using a set ofgoals mentioned above.

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Curriculum Development and Instructional Process

r ~iiii ir ~! ——| Curriculum| Development i| goals | ~>

1 Al |1 ——— , ——— J ————

f

InstructionalObjectives

A

1L

— >

Pre-testingBl

> fInstructionalContent and

MethodB

—— >Post-testing

ofInstruction

C

1 Curriculum }' Evaluation |

"!- D iL . J

11

_ j

Diagram 2

The model has all the components shown in Diagram 1. A,B,C, and Bl constitutethe heart of the process. Al and D show the other two important components related ""to otherparts. Al component discussed earlieris the basis of the curriculum. Evalua-tion effort in curriculum process helps in determining the success of other com-ponents. The following information about each component in the model would beof interest to the curriculum developers.

Instructional Objectives (A)It establishes what the learners would learn and what the instructor w.ould teach. In- >structional objectives of any project should be based on (a) curriculum goals (b)scope and sequence of proposed curriculum (c) expected outcome behaviours oflearners (d) starting abilities of learners (e) resources available:! T^hese objectivesshould be stated in performance terms which would help in the measurement of ac-quisition during and end of instruction.The advantages of performing objectives are many. They help in (a) logical sequenc-ing of content, (b) effective communication of expected outcomes, (d)'evaluation ofinstruction and curricula, (d) efficient learning (e) facilitating pre-testing, (f)measurement of acquisition of specific goals.

Pre-testing (Bl)It is important if new concepts are taught or learners are unfamiliar. It nee'ds to beconsistent with objectives and anticipated instruction.

Content and Methods (B)The content used may differ from school to school or place to place and initiallyshould be from the immediate concern of learners. Another important aspect is

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designing suitable methods for imparting instruction. For example a field trip maybe more useful than a lecture; debate may be better in value clarification than simplereading about issues. Availability of instructional materials, library and laboratoryresources would influence identification of content and effective teaching methods.

Post-testing (C)Many objectives may be tested or measured during learning itself alongwith evalua-tion at the end of the instruction. This would be more true in value clarificationduring debate and simulation activity. Evaluation at any stage should be on the ob-jectives stated and also be consistent with instruction. It will be simple if perfor-mance objectives are stated clearly. Evaluation through measurement of success oflearners, also indicates the success of instruction and the methods employed.

Guidelines for Organizational StructureIn order to undertake EE curriculum development project certain organization in-puts are necessary. The various steps suggested by the authors are given in Table 2.Each member of the team has a specific task such as his/her specialization, coor-dination, administration, community involvement etc.

Table 2Overall Curriculum Development Committee (TEAM)

Core Development Team (CDT) Recommended Support Team (RST)Members Members

Content area specialist Curriculum specialistGeneralist EE specialistTeacher Coordinator Environmental scientistRepresentative of administration Community representative

Program evaluation specialist.

The size of the team, time of involvement of members and specific tasks would bedetermined by the scope of the curriculum.The important tasks of this team would be to :

'"'..'- collect resources,- curricular materials and references- develop curriculum scope (goals) objectives and sequence (assign content

areas to grade levels).- evaluate existing programmes to explore .potential of EE infusion

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- develop inventory of available community/regional resources- prepare EE curriculum- develop plans for pilot/full scale implementation- develop a comprehensive evaluation programme.

The composition of different teams and their tasks could be worked out throughproblem solving sessions in smaller groups. For example a question/problem isposed to a group. Members individually generate ideas and write down. These arewritten on a board. The group discusses with clarifications. Members agree on theimportance of idea and through discussions it is finalized. Other points for suchgroup exercises could be identification of responsibilities; establishment ofpriorities; identification of major constraints; identification and selection of content;establishment of guideliness for selecting teaching methods and coordination for in-fusion of EE into disciplinary curriculum.The major organisational task for all team members would be to:

i) collect reference materials and resources to establish a reference library.These reference materials could be related to curriculum development, im-plementation, evaluation; learning theories; EE philosophy; ecology andenvironmental sciences; environmental issues and EE curriculumsamples.

ii) Plan curriculum, scope and sequence.This phase of the development process is critical as it would determine the develop-ment of curricular materials. The scope defines the extent of coverage by the cur-riculum in terms of objectives (cognitive, affective and psychomotor), or statementof ideas or concepts. The sequence assigns these elements to grade levels based ona hierarchy of concepts, skills and attitudes. It shows integration of concepts throughgrade levels and across appropriate disciplines. It is done by :

- expanding separate goals within each goal level into specific knowledge,skills and attitude objectives

- assigning these objectives to appropriate grade levels- assigning objectives within grade level to different disciplines.

The development team must delineate the nature of knowledge and skills componentfor identification and investigation of issues. This would help in their translationinto objectives. Table 3 below illustrates the sample objectives at each goal level.\

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Table 3Goal Levels and Sample of Objectives

Goal Level____________________Sample Objectives_________________

I Learners will be able to- conceptualize flow of energy- give examples of successional change in ecosystem.

II - communicate definition of the term environment.- enlist ten environmental issues

in - idenfify agencies for seeking- information on issues listed- survey to gather information-•; evaluate survey

IV - "apply action analysis criteria- identify persuasive action- identify modes of persuasive action

The team should utilize the available curriculum models may be in the form of out-door education, nature studies etc. for delineating the scope of the curriculum. Forsequencing the curriculum into grade levels (age groups) help of a curriculumdevelopment specialist must be talcen. While developing the sequence, the follow-ing points will be quite useful.

a) Use of hierarchy inherent in scope: 'for example elementary concepts ofecology should precede consideration of environmental issues.

b) Application of learning theory - certain objectives may not be appropriatefor some learners. For example evaluation of alternative solutions to en-vironmental problems may suit learners capable of formal thought patternsrather than of primary grades.

c) Spiral development of concepts, skills, attitudes through grade levels withincreasing depth and complexity with successive exposures.

The points discussed above help in vertical sequencing of components identifiedwhile the horizontal organisation involves sequencing into grade levels through ap-propriate disciplines (subject areas). The content specialists would be of significanthelp. However the team can consider the following questions while working out EEobjectives of different subjects within grade levels.

1. How can existing disciplines help in achieving objectives of EE?2. How can EE objectives be useful in accomplishing objectives of other dis-

ciplines?3. How often can EE objectives be reinforced throughout the curriculum?

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4. How can infusion of EE be accomplished utilising existing facilities andexpertise?

5. Are the EE objectives more appropriate to single subject or infusionmodel?

6. How can EE objectives be infused to promote acquisition and transfer?The above exercise would help in the utilization of existing curricular programmesthrough adaptation of instructional materials to local needs. In order to localize thecurriculum inventory of community resources, local case studies should be avail-able to the writing teams.

Implementation of EE CurriculumThe successful implementation of curriculum depends on many factors. A largenumber of curricular efforts do not succeed because of faculty implementationstrategies. The success at school level is largely determined by preparation ofteachers. It is essential that teachers themselves get training in EE curricula whichthey are expected to teach i.e. they should not only acquire (knowledge, cognitiveskills and affective attributes) but transfer the same to their teaching. The teacher"preparation should:

- focus on complex nature of EE i.e. basic ecology, field and laboratory ex-perience in environmental science, knowledge of environmental issues,problems of resource management, competencies in problem identifica-tion, investigation, evaluation, action, value clarification

- provide experience of multidisciplinary curriculum- provide scope of infusion approach in preservice teacher training •?- familiarize with philosophy and goals of EE and models- provide training at elementary level in the use of EE content for develop-

ing general education skills like reading, mathematics and language- train teachers in the use of local resources.

The nature of implementation would vary with educational structure, school, regionor country and also the nature of curriculum itself. It is difficult to prepare guidelinesin view of diverse factors. The authors have provided broad guidelines in the formof checklist which can be modified as per need.The variable associated with implementation has been classified into (a) in-schoolvested interested groups (b) out-of-school vested interest groups (c) critical con-comitant variables. The checklist provides probable agencies whose involvementand approval would smoothen the implementation process. The third category is ab-solutely crucial to the implementation process. The following points may be con-sidered for inclusion in the checklist of these variables.

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1. Scheduling/Time Considerations : (school organization, Nature of cur-riculum)

2. Programme Coordination3. Pre-and Inservice Training of Teachers.4. Facilities (adequacy, relevance).5. Resource Utilization (use with safeguard tendency)6. Materials and Equipment

i

7. Budget.We have discussed various aspects of curriculum development process involvinginstructional model and its implementation. The last phase of the process is evalua-tion of all efforts to assess successes and failures and undertake modification ofvarious inputs into the curriculum as a whole.

Comprehensive EE Curriculum EvaluationThe assessment of learners' success in achieving the set of objectives is only onefacet of curriculum evaluation. The authors have suggested a comprehensiveevaluation strategy. The important aspect of evaluation is to determine the internalconsistency between goals, objectives, instructional procedures, and learner'sevaluation strategies. Curriculum evaluation should be an ongoing, continualprocess to be used even during the development phase. Immediate remediation ofinconsistencies through curriculum revision should be done. The curriculum evalua-tion is generally dealt in two parts:

i) Assessment of acquisition of objectives is done through measurement. Itis a process in which learner's reflect desired behaviours. Measurementof the extent of learners' involvement in citizenship action with respect toenvironmental issues is done by designing measurement tools. Environ-mental action of learners can be assessed through direct observation orthrough self reporting exercise or other sources like parents or communityrepresentatives. The data collection is the measurement phase of evalua-tion.

ii) This information can be used to make judgements about effectiveness ofcurriculum which would in fact be evaluation.

The functional environmental education curriculum thus comprises comprehensiveset of goals, objectives, instructional procedures, student evaluation mechanism fordifferent age groups or grade level. It involves interaction of large numbers of peopleat different phases of development, implementation and evaluation of curriculum.This has been illustrated by the Flow chart shown in Diagram 3.

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The EE Curriculum Development Process

ESTABLISH CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Team LeaderCore Development Team Recommended Support Team

PREPARE DEVELOP]VPMENT FRAMEWORK

Identify Constraints Impinging on Collect Appropriate ResourcesDevelopment and Implementation (Curriculum Materials, References)

Establish EE Format and Guidelines for Curriculum Development

TADOPT STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND GOALS

VDEVELOP CUR UCULUM SCOPE

VDEVELOP VERTICAL ORGANISATION

(Sequence Through Grade Levels)

IDEVELOP HORIZONTAL ORGANIZATION

(Assign Scope Across Subject Areas Within Grade Levels)

ANALYZE EXISTING PROGRAMME INVENTORY AND EVALUATECOMMUNITY REGIONAL RESOURCES

-^•PREPARE CURRICULAR MATERIALS"*-

Adapt Curriculum Material Develop New Material•Organize Curricular Materials into the final Format•<——'

STANDDEVELOP PLANS FOR PILOT AND FULL SCALE IMPLEMENTATION

Plan for Approval by Ihschool andout-of-School Vested Interest Group

Plan for Critical Concomitant Variables

/EiDEVELOP COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION PROGRAMME

1IMPLEMENT EVALUATE REVISE

Diagram 3

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