Evaluar el nivel de conocimiento de los agricultores del caserío de San Luis de

Schools often dismiss environmental knowledge or remain apathetic about integrating it.

Environmental education is often viewed as an add-on or “concealed and marginalised in policy

and practice” (Sterling, 2001). If students are exposed to environmental education, it is often through environmental science, where availability is “sporadic” at some schools and “negligible” in others (Sterling, 2001). Isabelle was one TC that felt prepared - “definitely in some ways” -

despite having no formal EE curriculum in the B.Ed. program. This was due to her belief that “being able to teach about the environment was a “mindset you have to have.” For Isabelle, knowledge of the environment came from “the care or love of wanting to change or do good”

rather than from being “a specialist of taking any extra courses.” Since her feeling of

preparedness seems to come from within, it is not surprising that the lack of exposure to EE in

the education program did not impact her negatively. Thea commented that the concurrent

education program seemed to leave out food literacy and its connection to the environment. She expressed, “within the [continuing Education] program I haven’t really noticed any relation to environment/food literacy which is kind of disappointing because I feel like these topics should

be included as well especially with the state that our worldwide environment is in.” TCs saw the potential and importance of food and environment, but it was not being addressed in the

education program.

While Smith felt prepared to teach EE due to his own outdoor work, he noted he has not

“heard much about the environment from faculty professors” but he did hear about it from an MT. Beth did not recall any mention of environment. She thought for a while then stated, “No,

nothing specific. The one teacher encourages us to talk about things we have done in our

placements and people have talked about social justice issues and is very encouraging.” Alex felt

that her interest in EE was not valued, saying “no it isn’t supported. So, I think if it was, us as

teacher candidates, would feel more comfortable with the subject.”

Holly said that environmental studies was “dismissed because it is not something easily

assessed…There are not a lot of parents out there saying teach my kid about the environment, make sure they appreciate it.” Isabelle noted that she has viewed “big math and literacy

initiatives” but a lack of “big environmental initiatives.” Diana noted the lack of food initiatives believing “schools mostly focus on waste management, because it directly impacts them. Whereas, something like food accessibility is not so readily available to discuss because the

the lack of impact at the school level, this is not always an accurate observation. Holly gives a

direct example of how food accessibility directly impacts her placement school. In terms of food

programs, Holly reiterated her opinion that there is “no discussion regarding food issues…no

discussion on what the food is.” While her school has a snack and lunch program she mentioned

it was a cooperative store run by a volunteer. The store acted as a delivery system but the school

missed a huge opportunity to create food literacy. Located in an “impoverished area attached to a

women’s shelter,” food was, for many, “a lifelong issue.” Whether due to a lack of appreciation or understanding, the difference of opinion about the lack of food and environment initiatives

impacts the support TCs feel.

Ella has experienced firsthand the obstacles to implementing environmental initiatives

(waste reduction program and green roof) and sees administration as a barrier to implementing

these projects. She told me how “frustrated and discouraged” she was when meetings with

administrators were continuously postponed. This was viewed as a roadblock to her future

teaching. She told me “so that is why I am thinking in the future, if I were to start a club and if

there was even the slightest bit of an obstacle with administration…it would be difficult.” Ella

was similarly frustrated, finding that success hinged on the cooperation and support of

administration as well as support from parents. She explained,

You can’t just do what you want to do already even if you have everything, you have the manpower, you have the vision. For some reason, they won’t let you.

Finn stated that EE “is not important in the school boards, it is not important in the schools, it is kind of looked at easy and silly” and students often “don’t know or don’t care”

Smith and Casey expressed concern about being viewed as a controversial teacher for

implementing EE and for not doing the job properly. The “tough work of good education”

(Jickling, 2003, p. 25) is to expand our questions, and on environmental topics to include

different voices and not shy away from controversy. This course of action, however, is often met

with little support. Smith believed he had to be careful not to upset parents by doing something

controversial:

How are we going to teach environmental literacy if we are afraid of doing anything? I

don’t honestly have an answer, but there is so much you can get in trouble for or people get upset about, if a parent sees as controversial you could be threatened and sued and

lose your job and go through all these meetings.

In summary, TCs put forth several barriers in teaching EE. These barriers will be further

expanded upon in the next chapter with what TCs felt were solutions to these issues. TCs felt

that a lack of knowledge and pedagogy limited their exposure to ideas and concepts, thus

affecting their overall confidence to tackle EE in their classroom. They believed the curriculum

did not leave adequate space or room to explore EE and they felt tied to tasks that needed to be

covered. There was a general concern about lack of time to teach EE. TCs had very little

knowledge that they were expected to integrate EE in their teaching. The education department

and the practicum placement experiences also posed some barriers – there was a lack of

opportunity to explore EE due to lack of support from MT’s or lack of resources or access to

outdoors. Overall, TCs felt that EE was not something that was appreciated and supported. The

consensus was that the B.Ed. program and the practicum experiences did little to inform, expose

or educate TCs on EE. They felt EE was underappreciated and underrepresented. Most TCs did

issues. This was due to the lack of engagement with the issues. It received almost no mention in