4.6.1. Theme one: School-based factors that restricted
curriculum innovating in environment and
sustainability education
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4.6.2. Theme two: Overcoming challenges: Creating spaces
for innovating
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4.1. Introduction
In this chapter the qualitative data generated through individual interviews, reflective journals, document analysis and photo narratives are analysed and presented. In order to explore how science teachers who studied towards an Honours qualification engaged in curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education, responses that are related to the research questions are analysed.
4.2. Data analysis and presentation of findings
In order to provide a rich description of how science teachers engaged in curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education, the data was analysed inductively and themes were derived. Direct quotations from science teachers’ responses are presented in verification of the emerging themes. The literature review and associated theoretical constructs are presented in support of the emerging themes. The classification of the themes according to the specific research questions follows. Research question one is: What professional development related to innovating in environment and sustainability education is being offered to science teachers studying towards an Honours degree at a higher education institution? The themes which emerged are:
Lack of content related to innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
A call for more content about innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
Two themes emerged based on research question two, which is: What challenges did teachers encounter when working with environment and sustainability education before they engaged with the professional development programme at the higher education institution and did teachers display a transformation in their teaching after engaging with the professional development module? The themes are:
Professional challenges.
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Research question two has been included in this study for the following fundamental reasons. First, to enhance understanding that professional development is not a panacea to inadequate teacher knowledge. Second, to emphasise that the reasons for scheduling teacher professional development must be substantive. Third, to emphasise that teacher attendance to professional development programmes for the sake of compliance is usually ineffective. Lastly to provide insight into teachers’ valuing of professional development.
For research question three, How do science teachers who have engaged in professional development activities enact the curriculum by innovating environment and sustainability education, there two sub-questions.
Three themes emerged based on research sub-question 3.1, which is: What types of strategies do science teachers use when innovating in environment and sustainability education? The themes are:
Teaching strategies used by participants when innovating in environment and sustainability education.
Assessment strategies used by participants when innovating in environment and sustainability education.
Four themes emerged based on research sub-question 3.2, which is: Why do science teachers choose to use these strategies? The themes are:
Teachers’ enablement through the Honours professional development programme.
Enhanced teacher motivation based on improved learner responses and performance.
Deeper teacher understanding of the benefits of technology to enhance curriculum implementation.
School-based factors that enabled curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education.
Three themes emerged based on research question four, which is: What factors are
obstructive to curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education? How do science teachers respond to these factors? The themes are:
School-based factors that restricted curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education.
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Effective professional development: Creating progressive teachers through the Zone of Feasible Innovation.
The table below provides a summary of the research questions and the themes related to each question.
Table 4: Summary of research questions and themes
Research Questions Emerging Themes Research question one: What professional
development related to innovating in environment and sustainability education is being offered to science teachers studying towards an Honours degree at a higher education institution?
Lack of content related to innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
A call for more content about innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
Research question two: What challenges did teachers encounter when working with environment and sustainability education before they engaged with the professional development programme at the higher education institution and did teachers display a transformation in their teaching after engaging with the professional development programme?
Professional challenges
Contextual challenges
Research question three: How do science teachers who have engaged in professional development activities enact the curriculum by innovating environment and sustainability education?
Research sub-question 3.1: What types of strategies do science teachers use when
Teaching strategies used by participants when innovating in environment and
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innovating in environment and sustainability education?
sustainability education
Assessment strategies used by participants when innovating in environment and sustainability education
Research sub-question 3.2: Why do science teachers choose to use these strategies?
Teachers’ self-perception as drivers of innovative teaching in environment and sustainability education
Deeper teacher understanding of benefits of technology to enhance curriculum implementation
Factors that enabled curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education
Research question four: What factors are obstructive to curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education? How do science teachers respond to these factors?
Factors that restricted curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education
Overcoming challenges: Creating spaces for innovating
Effective professional development: Creating progressive teachers through the Zone of Feasible Innovation
Analysis of data
4.3. Research question 1
: What professional development related to innovating in environment and sustainability education is being offered to science teachers studying towards an Honours degree at a higher education institution?Data which emerged from the analysis of documents and teacher interviews are presented in lieu of question one.
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The Science and Mathematics Honours programme comprises five specialisation modules which are:
Teaching and learning in Science and Mathematics education 1
Teaching and learning in Science and Mathematics education 2
Assessment in Science and Mathematics education
Issues in Science and Mathematics education
Curriculum development in Science and Mathematics education
A document analysis of the module outlines for Teaching and learning in Science and Mathematics education 1 and Teaching and learning in Science and Mathematics education 2 revealed that science teachers are educated on learning theories, classroom environment, effective practices, practical work, communication and problem solving. The module Assessment in Science and Mathematics education emphasised the fundamental criteria underpinning assessment, various methods of assessment and the basics of statistics. The module Issues in Science and Mathematics education presented science teachers with concepts on the nature of Science and Mathematics, as well as indigenous knowledge systems, and controversial matters surrounding Science and Mathematics such as evolution and cloning.
The Curriculum Development in Science and Mathematics Education module was designed to enable students to critically reflect on their beliefs and practices. These skills were envisaged to enhance their capacity to problematize and critically address relevant issues in education and improve their professional and academic practice. A common purpose of all these modules was to ensure that the teachers of Science and Mathematics are able to carry out research competently and to contribute to the ongoing development of this field of study. Document Analysis of modules revealed that innovation formed part of one module, namely, Curriculum Development in Science and Mathematics Education. This module aimed to educate science teachers on the approaches, implementation, evaluation, aims and purposes of curriculum development in Science and Mathematics education. This module was the focus of this study as innovation formed part of it.
The analysis of the module outlines provided a foundation for the entire process of data analysis. The analysis will now focus on the data generated through the interviews, reflective journals, photo-narratives and lesson plans.
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The following abbreviations will be used to distinguish data from each participant (science teacher: Participant 1 – P1 Participant 2 – P2 Participant 3 – P3 Participant 4 – P4 Participant 5 – P5 Participant 6 – P6 Participant 7 – P7 Participant 8 – P8 Participant 9 – P9 Participant 10 – P10
Views from the ten science teacher participants were solicited using individual interviews (II), reflective journals (RJ) and photo-narratives (PN).
Science teachers expressed two views regarding the professional development related to innovating in environment and sustainability education being offered as they studied towards their Honours degree.
These two themes are discussed below.
4.3.1. Theme 1: Lack of content related to innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
All 10 of the participants indicated that there was a lack of content related to innovation in environment and sustainability education in the Science and Mathematics Honours in Education degree.
All of responses from the participants clearly indicated that innovation in environment and sustainability education was only present in one module of their Honours degree. All responses from participants showed that they would have preferred content and pedagogy topics related to innovating in environment and sustainability education to have been included in all the modules of the Science and Mathematics Honours qualification. This indicated that participants believed that the professional development related to knowledge
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about innovating in environment and sustainability education that they had received was insufficient, and this had a deleterious effect on their teaching.
A review of the CAPS document for both Natural Sciences and Life Sciences indicated that the words innovating or innovation do not appear. The word creativity, which is closely associated with innovation or innovating, appears only once. This indicates that the CAPS curriculum appears to aim to engage teachers as technicians in the classroom rather than as innovators of curriculum. It is possible that because this Honours professional development programme, to some extent trains teachers to teach to the CAPS curriculum, a lack of content related to innovating in the CAPS curriculum is echoed in the content and design of the Honours professional development programme.
The following views emerged from the analysis of individual interviews:
We only did innovation in one module…curriculum development. (P2 – II)
In the Honours degree we had to complete five modules for Science and Mathematics, out of those five modules only one module included innovating. (P6 – II)
The following journal entries further reinforced the individual interview responses:
Only one module included innovation, which I feel was not enough. (P2 – RJ – Oct 2015)
In the Honours programme only the curriculum development module incorporated innovation… I am not sure if it was by choice. (P3 –RJ – Nov 2015)
Each of the 10 participants indicated innovation in environment and sustainability education was part of only one module. From the preceding responses it is evident that participants believe that the science cluster (faculty) at the university determines what content should be included or excluded in the modules. This resonates with Odora Hoppers’ (2001) findings that tertiary institutions exercise their power to add or subtract whatever content they choose regardless of the effect it might have on the student.
The following view arose from the individual interview:
Maybe they could have included innovation in another module. (P1 – II) The following journal entry affirmed the above response:
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I think there needs to be a review of the course because the university is not helping us by only including innovation only in the one module… (P8 – RJ – Oct 2015)
Participants viewed the dearth of content and pedagogy related to innovation in environment and sustainability as critical and placed some of the responsibility for this on the university which offers the professional development programme. This articulates with Frost’s (2012) assertion that professional development can be perceived as the engine that drives innovation. 4.3.2. Theme 2: A call for more innovation in environment and sustainability education to be included in the Science and Mathematics Honours degree.
The responses of all participants indicated that there should be more content and pedagogy related to innovation in environment and sustainability in the Honours degree. The following views emerged from the individual interviews:
Like we did Teaching and Learning 2, where we did practical work maybe innovation should have been included. (P1 – II)
Learning about innovation was helpful to me but it would have been more beneficial to learn about it in more modules… (P6 – II)
The following journal entries affirmed the above responses:
I would have liked to learn about innovation in other modules because it is really useful in teaching science. (P1 – RJ – Aug 2015)
But if innovation was in other modules it would help my teaching as I would be more exposed to innovation and I could then gain knowledge and skills to be a more effective science teacher. (P6 – RJ – Sept 2015)
The preceding responses indicated that participants had a vision of how innovation could have been included in other modules of the Honours programme. It is apparent that there was space available for innovation in the practical work aspect of science education. This resonates with Millar’s (2009) assertion that a majority of science teachers view practical work as the most productive area for learning to occur because learners have direct experiences of scientific phenomena when they do practical work. This enhanced space for learning that practical work creates can be filled with innovative practical tasks and activities
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that participants could be engaged with during other modules of this professional development programme.
The responses of participants indicated that they perceived knowledge and skills related to innovation in the teaching and learning of science as being necessary. This resonates with the assertion by Ferrari et al. (2009) that innovation must not only be viewed as an opportunity, but it must be seen as a necessity. Kärkkäinen (2012) provides a more holistic view on the need for innovation because he states that in order to improve the quality of education, entire education systems need to become more innovative. Participants in this study expressed the view that the science cluster at the university should review the modules that do not include innovation.
The following views emerged from individual interviews:
Maybe they must review the modules and include innovation. I did write that in my module evaluation. (P7 – II)
The preceding views were supported by journal entries. The following excerpt attests to this: After going through all the modules I feel that maybe the lecturers must change the course next year, innovation should be in more modules. I stated that on the module evaluation. (P7 – RJ – Nov 2015)
A majority of participants expressed the view that the B.Ed Honours programme should be reviewed, with a view to revision. The responses of many participants reflected a call for the inclusion of more content and pedagogical knowledge related to innovation in other Honours modules. This call was expressed in both data sets, the individual interview transcripts as well as the reflective journals, and indicated that it was a strong view that participants possessed. The preceding responses highlight the importance of student feedback or evaluation of modules for improving the professional development programme. This resonates with Jara’s and Mellar’s (2010, p.709) assertion that “the collection of student feedback is seen as a central strategy to monitor the quality and standards of teaching and learning in higher education institutions”.
Participants also regarded their personal involvement, in the development of the modules as important. This adds credence to the contention by Ferrari et al. (2009) that the teacher is the fundamental element in educational innovation. Participants viewed the modules as useful to
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their teaching but a majority indicated the need for more content and pedagogy related to innovation in the Honours degree.
4.4. Research Question 2:
What challenges did teachers encounter when working with environment and sustainability education before they engaged with the professional development module at the higher education institution and did teachers display a transformation in their teaching after engaging with the professional development programme?In responding to this question, two themes emerged from the analysis of data. The first is the professional challenges which had been experienced by science teachers when they taught environment and sustainability education, before they had studied the Curriculum Development in Science and Mathematics education module. The second theme relates to the contextual challenges which had been experienced by science teachers when they taught environment and sustainability education, before they had studied the Curriculum Development in Science and Mathematics education module.
The challenges experienced by participants will be explored according to the following sub- themes illustrated in Table four:
Table 5: Challenges prior to engaging in the Honours professional development module experienced by science teachers when they taught environment and sustainability education
A tick indicates that the participant experienced that theme as a challenge.
A cross indicates that the participant did not experience that theme as a challenge.
THEME1 – Professional challenges P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 Lack of knowledge and skills related to
teaching strategies/methods to innovate when teaching environment and sustainability education
Ineffective professional development regarding innovation in science teaching
THEME 2 – Contextual challenges
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and other stakeholders
Lack of resources in school X X X X X X
Table five, which illustrates data generated from individual interviews with participants and reflective journals written by participants reveals that all participants experienced some form of challenge, which included the inability to use apposite teaching strategies/methods to innovate when teaching environment and sustainability education. All participants also declared that professional development in four out of five modules of the Honours programme was inadequate, with regards to content related to innovation. Participants two, nine and ten expressed a lack of support from school management as a challenge, and participants two, six, nine and ten all indicated a lack of resources in school as a challenge. The challenges experienced by participants will be examined according to the following themes:
Professional challenges:
Lack of knowledge and skills related to teaching strategies/methods to innovate when teaching environment and sustainability education
Ineffective school-based professional development related to innovation in science teaching
Contextual challenges:
Lack of support from school management Lack of resources in school
4.4.1. Theme 1: Professional challenges:
Lack of knowledge and skills related to teaching strategies/methods to innovate when teaching environment and sustainability education
All participants revealed that prior to their engagement with the Honours module, they did not have sufficient knowledge of teaching strategies or methods of how to innovate when teaching environment and sustainability education.
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Before the Honours module I was not confident of teaching environment and sustainability education because I did not know how… (P1 – II)
Environmental education is hard to understand for me even as a teacher… I was not sure how to explain it to learners. (P3 – II)
Teaching it was really challenging because the textbooks were not clear… they have examples that are hard for learners to relate to… (P7 – II)
I was not confident teaching environment and sustainability education to learners because I did not have any method to make it easy for them. (P9 – II)
The subsequent journal entries affirmed the preceding responses:
I did not know how to teach EE before the professional development… (P1 – RJ – Aug 2015)
Previously I rushed through the section on environment and sustainability education just to get through it… (P9 – RJ – Oct 2015)
To teach it (environmental education) is hard, I struggled to find a method that simplified the concepts for learners to understand… (P10 – RJ – Oct 2015)
The responses of participants revealed an indirect awareness that they did not possess the