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Spirituality and Environmental Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Keith Skamp
Keith Skamp*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Work and Training, University of New England, Northern Rivers NSW
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Environmental education in Australian schools is generally becoming recognised as education for the environment, as distinct from but usually including education ‘about’ and education ‘in’ the environment (Greenall, 1987). This means that students of environmental education will be encouraged to develop an attitude of caring for the Earth (including the biosphere) and its resources, and to participate actively in maintaining and improving the quality of their environment. What encourages students (and ourselves) to move actively towards these goals?

The desire to ‘act’, it will be argued, comes from within ourselves. Until recently taking action for the environment has been seen as the top of a hierarchy of environmental education objectives. It has been assumed that an awareness of environmental problems leads to the acquisition of knowledge, which contributes to the development of attitudes and values and a feeling of concern for the environment, which then prompts one to take positive actions for the environment (see for example, Carin and Sund, 1985, p.88). However more recent research has attempted to formulate theoretical models identifying the factors (and their possible causal connections) which result in individuals taking responsible environmental action. Hines et al., (1988), for example, hypothesised that personality factors (such as one's ‘locus of concern’), knowledge of issues and action strategies, and action skills were positively correlated with taking responsible environmental action. The causal connections are problematic however and Iozzi(1988) concluded that simply being aware of environmental concerns and knowledgeable about them does not automatically lead to taking action for the environment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 7 , January 1991 , pp. 79 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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