Addressing the Challenge of Preparing Australian Pre-service Primary Teachers in Environmental Education: An Evaluation of a Dedicated Unit

Title
Addressing the Challenge of Preparing Australian Pre-service Primary Teachers in Environmental Education: An Evaluation of a Dedicated Unit
Publication Date
2008
Author(s)
Kennelly, Julie Anne
Taylor, Neil
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8438-319X
Email: ntaylor6@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ntaylor6
Maxwell, Thomas William
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd
Place of publication
India
DOI
10.1177/097340820800200211
UNE publication id
une:3941
Abstract
Concerns have been raised for some time about the preparation of Australian teachers in the area of environmental education. Few tertiary institutions that undertake teacher education in Australia have specific units or modules dedicated to environmental education. This article reports on an evaluation of such a dedicated unit recently introduced to the BEd (Primary) award at an Australian university. Students were surveyed pre- and post-instruction and the findings indicate that most participants felt more confident about teaching environmental education. This was largely attributed to improved pedagogical content knowledge and an appreciation of how to integrate environmental education into the everyday learning of their students. The efficacy of this unit in terms of the motivation and confidence of student-teachers regarding environmental education lends support to those who call for more specific environmental education content in teacher education courses.
Link
Citation
Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2(2), p. 141-156
ISSN
0973-4074
0973-4082
Start page
141
End page
156

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