A constructivist framework to prepare teachers for sustainable rural learning ecologies (original) (raw)
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Overcoming Adversity: A Holistic Response to Creating Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies
Journal of Human Ecology, 2012
The whole world is working towards creation of sustainable learning ecologies and mobilization of better and socially acceptable life through provision of transformed quality education for all. In order to achieve this, societies, in their different ecologies, should work collaboratively. This is, however, critical to achieve because most of the rural ecologies are faced with poverty, as such, it seems very difficult for them to render education support services. Another barrier is that gender inequalities exist in different parts of the world despite democracy that countries claim to be working in alliance with. Taking Lesotho as an example, several cases show how girls and women continue to be excluded from participating fully in the political, socioeconomic structures a nd other national plans through lack of access to quality education. It is therefore believed that through collaborative participation of different stakeholders, such as educators, parents, learners, different government ministries and non-governmental organizations, societies will be empowered to create sustainable rural learning ecologies for learners so that adversity can be overcome; and underlying issues that affect sustainable rural lear ning will be identified together with the solutions and strategies towards overcoming such issues will be predicted.
Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 2012
A reflective case study approach, including focus interviews, reflective/reflexive journals and analysis of project-based works of 30 pre-service teachers participating in an undergraduate course was employed to investigate the discrepancy between the teachers" constructivist conceptions and the actual practice. The identified discrepancy seemed to be an outcome of the difficulty in translating constructivism into teaching practice, but also of the misleading conception of constructivism as a homogeneous philosophy. Through reflective practice, the participants were able to deconstruct and reconstruct their theories and practices of teaching in more emancipatory ways addressing issues of education for sustainable development. The present case study helps understand the nature of change process towards teaching and learning for more sustainable future.
The ecosocial crisis we are involved in for the last decades demands an urgent change in the way human being deals with nature. Arguably, the hegemonic economic system cannot continue the same for long, since it entails a kind o colonialism that exploits land, communities, and natural resources beyond the possibilities of restoration. It is also arguable that western positivist science has contributed to this system, both justifying productivity over sustainability and creating a symbolic distance with colonized Peoples all around the globe, justifying therefore the exploitation of the land. It has been defended the need for an epistemological dialogue with agents that directly manage the territory, as those of the countryside. This work starts a common path that is purposed for grassroots organizations from rural environments and higher educators based on service-learning. We aim to analyze the motives, positions, and cultural practices of those grassroots organizations. We have performed two focus groups on videoconference, with 15 participants from 14 organizations. Topics on the relationship between education, sustainability, and the rural environment where discussed and recorded to inductive-deductive content analysis. The study was open to the participation of people from the organizations in the whole research process. In the discussion, we can see a critic to an educational system at the service of the hegemonic economic system, as well as a purpose for the naturalization, humanization, and diversification of both the economic and educational systems. The rural environment appears as a field of opportunity to develop practices of interdependence and ecodependence.
TD The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 9(2) , 2013
The National Framework for Quality Education in Rural Areas (DoE, 2006) draws attention to education in rural ecologies and scrutinises the role of HEIs in developing teachers who understand the diverse contexts and who are able to facilitate quality teaching and learning in such contexts. Drawing from the project 'New teachers for new times: Visual methodologies for social change in rural education in the age of AIDS', this article explores how the use of participatory and visual arts-based methodologies at a rural school can lead to sustainable teaching and learning environments that promote transformative and emancipatory classrooms. We draw on the focus group discussions held at the end of each school day as debriefing sessions with the six Intermediate Phase pre-service teachers 4 reflecting on their experiences of professional development and what was learnt about using 'new' methodologies in a rural farm school. We argue that when a cohort of pre-service teachers work together with in-service teachers using emancipatory pedagogies in a rural context, classrooms can get transformed into enabling and democratic spaces conducive for teaching and learning for all.
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 2013
The National Framework for Quality Education in Rural Areas (DoE, 2006) draws attention to education in rural ecologies and scrutinises the role of HEIs in developing teachers who understand the diverse contexts and who are able to facilitate quality teaching and learning in such contexts. Drawing from the project ‘New teachers for new times: Visual methodologies for social change in rural education in the age of AIDS’, this article explores how the use of participatory and visual arts-based methodologies at a rural school can lead to sustainable teaching and learning environments that promote transformative and emancipatory classrooms. We draw on the focus group discussions held at the end of each school day as debriefing sessions with the six Intermediate Phase pre-service teachers 4 reflecting on their experiences of professional development and what was learnt about using ‘new’ methodologies in a rural farm school. We argue that when a cohort of pre-service teachers work togethe...
Pesquisa em Educação Ambiental
This article offers a set of unique vignettes or stories that attempt to illustrate examples of critical approaches to environmental education (EE) in diverse contexts. It draws from the experiences of five environmental educators in four different regions of the world. We detail the history of the emergence of critical consciousness in education in Brazil, and its application in a Brazilian region, then move to examples of critical educational responses to oppression in New Zealand and Zimbabwe, before closing with a critical examination of innovative teaching and research in Europe. Through this breadth of endeavour, we identify commonalities across these contexts such as the importance of participatory action and research to examine people-environment relations, particularly as constituted by indigenous peoples, and to interpret realities in ways that empower through learning-led social-ecological change. We argue that this critical approach can foster emancipation through indiv...
International Journal of Science Education, 2009
Strengthening links between school and community is critical for improving people's participation in environmental issues. However, Mexican education programmes are generally unrelated to rural students' life experience and are planned without considering either teachers' or students' opinions. This paper describes the participatory construction of a preparatory school environmental education programme in Ixtlan de Juarez, a Mexican indigenous community internationally recognized for sustainable forest management. The qualitative research methods used are based on the action research methodology. Results from interviews conducted with the preparatory school's headmaster, the coordinator, and nine teachers provided the needed documentation of the school site for contextualising learning activities. Feedback during focus group with six students, three teachers, five local communal authorities, and two researchers highlighted that all participants perceived the need for creating an educational programme focused on local forest management. The contents and activities of the programme were designed by the focus group's participants. The programme has been continuously taught by teachers and forest workers since 2005 and was officially integrated with the preparatory school science curriculum in 2006. This participative educational experience has thus transformed the mandatory school curriculum in Ixtlan.
Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 2021
This study explored environmental literacy level of both teachers and learners in rural primary schools, with the focus on knowledge, attitude and skills components. The study further examined how the components promote sustainable behavioural change in rural schools. A qualitative multiple case study design, guided by the interpretivist paradigm was employed where three rural primary schools, from Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province of South Africa were conveniently sampled. Data were collected through observations, document analysis, semi structured and focus group interviews. Three Grade 7 teachers each teaching Social Science, Natural Science and Technology, and 18 learners were purposively sampled to participate in semi structured and focus group interviews. Data were deductively and inductively analysed using content analysis. The findings revealed both nominal and functional environmental literacy levels of both teachers and learners, with limited contribution to sustainable behavioural change. The findings are attributed to teacher's lack of expertise in Environmental Education (EE) content; the limitations of a curricular framework in equally addressing the knowledge, attitude and skills components; and absence of policies and framework guiding sustainable behaviour. The study recommended reorienting and aligning the EE content curriculum with teachers' preservice training; ongoing in-service development and support; and the inclusion of polices that guide lifestyle and practices guiding sustainable behavioural change. This research provided insight into the progress of developing environmental literacy in rural primary schools.
Critical thinking as room for subjectification in Education for Sustainable Development
Environmental Education Research, 2014
Issues of sustainability are complex and often steeped with ethical and political questions without predefined or general answers. This paper deals with how secondary and upper secondary teachers discuss these complex issues, by analysing their aims for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). With inspiration from discourse theory, their articulations about students as political subjects are analysed. Critical thinking emerged as a nodal point in teachers' discussions. In this study critical thinking is articulated as having various qualitative meanings related to different epistemological views. On one hand, critical thinking is articulated to invite room for subjectification; but on the other hand, room for subjectification is challenged when critical thinking is articulated through the educational aims of qualification and socialisation. A consequence of changing epistemological view might be that political and ethical issues take a back seat.
Learners and practitioners can find themselves overwhelmed by the anxieties that arise from being immersed in the troubling discourses about sustainability. Constant exposure to the negative news about the triple crunch of unsustainability – biodiversity loss, the overexploitation of natural resources and climate change – combined with a confusing and contested debate about how to respond, threaten to stultify individual motivation to act to transform the situation for the better. This is the context for this dissertation, which initially explores the controversies and complexities around the sustainability agenda through an examination of the key critical literature as a way of gaining a better understanding of the issues and the way organisations are responding. The leadership of pro-sustainability change is also explored, discussing the role of communities, social movements and alternative sources of knowledge, as well as engaging with philosophical and ethical conversations. A participatory pedagogy in the spirit of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire is proposed as a mechanism for learners and practitioners to guide their pro-sustainability interventions. The history of this pedagogic approach is explored in relation to its relevance to the current debate. The dissertation aims to study the relationship between participatory pedagogy as an educational approach, and the leadership of a community pro-sustainability initiative. This is achieved by evaluating the author’s experience of participatory pedagogy in a higher education setting alongside his concurrent practice in implementing a community development project. This qualitative study represents a reflective ethnography using three forms of participant observation as the means to collect a rich source of empirical material, the analysis of which is then discussed and interpreted to address the project objectives. The key findings suggest that the participatory pedagogic approach has the potential to awaken conscientização – critical consciousness – in the learner, providing the foundation for generating a coherent personal stance towards sustainability. Such a stance engenders the confidence and mindset to lead pro-sustainability initiatives, the effective delivery of which are guided by an understanding of the appropriate approaches and roles to deploy in participatory practice. A visualisation of the relationship between these elements is offered for further critique.