Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/54433
Title: Action-oriented approaches to teaching environmental science in Bhutanese secondary schools: Stakeholder perceptions
Contributor(s): Mongar, Kishore  (author); Quinn, Frances  (author)orcid ; Elliott, Sue  (author)
Publication Date: 2023
Early Online Version: 2023-01-04
DOI: 10.1080/00958964.2022.2157368
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/54433
Abstract: 

Bhutan aspires to balance sustainable socioeconomic development with environmental conservation to achieve Gross National happiness (GNH). There are apparent alignments between GNH and the principles of education for Sustainable Development (ESD), but we recognize the role of the Bhutanese socio-cultural context for critically examining any alignments or misalignments with pervasive Western action-oriented ESD approaches. We present one aspect of a PhD study by the lead author that explored the implementation of environmental science (ES) in Bhutanese secondary schools. He examined stakeholders' perceptions about action-oriented approaches to teaching, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with six principals, surveys and interviews with 14 teachers, surveys with 563 students and focus groups with 194 students. Findings indicated that students participated in school-based activities such as waste management and cleaning, in compliance with school-based directives to alleviate problems, rather than as a consequence of their own agentic decisions. Principals, teachers and students valued the idea of taking environmental action in ES, especially waste management, primarily for solving ecological issues and promoting intergenerational equity rather than for developing of action-competence. There is potential for leveraging existing school practices to enhance action-oriented approaches and, consequently, foster action-competence for the enhancement of GNH in Bhutan.

Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: The Journal of Environmental Education, 54(2), p. 132-147
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1940-1892
0095-8964
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 390105 Environmental education curriculum and pedagogy
390306 Secondary education
390401 Comparative and cross-cultural education
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 160105 Secondary education
160205 Policies and development
160302 Pedagogy
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Education

Files in This Item:
2 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.