The Impact of an Education for Sustainability Unit on the Knowledge and Attitudes of Pre-Service Primary Teachers at an Australian University

Abstract

Environmental education in schools is seen as an important strategy in environmental improvement. The 'traditional' approach to environmental education has been to increase knowledge or raise awareness about the environment on the assumption that people would then be motivated to act towards the environment in a more responsible way (Hungerford & Volk, 1990; Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). Kelsey (2003) argues that this assumption is maintained today in programs delivered through the mass media as public education about environmental matters. However, the assumption that knowledge about the environment will lead to behavioural change has been criticised by a number researchers e.g. Fien (1993), Connell, Fien, Sykes and Yencken (1998), Elliott (1999) and Jensen (2002).