NIVEL DE DEPRESIÓN

Within this category teachers see that the way to improve the teaching of environmental education in the primary schools is ensuring that teaching and learning materials are available. For example, one of the teachers emphasized that the ministry also should provide teachers with teaching and learning resources. Because of a lack of teaching and learning materials most teachers just lecture and make the pupils write notes. They do not practice what they learn. With reference to teaching and learning materials, some of the teachers talked about the availability of teaching and learning materials in terms of textbooks while others talked about receiving guidelines for teaching environmental education.

C-V1. Availability of textbooks

The availability of textbooks was another suggestion put forward by the teachers. The teachers claimed that the unavailability of textbooks on environmental education, as stated in the earlier section on the constraints facing teachers, poses a big challenge in the teaching of environmental education. In schools where they had environmental education books, the teachers admitted that these were very useful to them and it made teaching easier. Regarding the issue of textbooks, some of the teachers suggested that instead of waiting for the government to produce books the teacher together with the pupils can develop their own books for the class to read. They gave two examples of small books which they wrote to teach the children about the environment:

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“Teaching and learning resources particularly books have to be available. For example, although we are expected to teach environmental education, there are no books which we can refer to. Text books are very important because they are the teachers’ source of knowledge.” (Pesa, F).

“I also suggest that just like in the other subjects, we need a pupil’s book and teacher’s guide in environmental education. These will help us know what to teach and what methods we should use.” (Chaka, M)

“Lack of books both for the teachers and the pupils is a big problem in the teaching of environmental education. The ministry should ensure that books on environmental education are available in schools. But the teachers can start solving this problem by writing small pamphlets or booklets on environmental aspects in the school which the pupils can read. For example, in our school I with a colleague have written two booklets on environment on “Our environment” and “Our Trees.”(Sina, M)

C-V2. Provision of teaching guidelines

Several teachers suggested that if environmental education is to be effectively taught, then it would be a good idea if guidelines can be issued for the teacher to use. They argue that guidelines help the teacher to know what to teach and how to teach it. Also they suggested that guidelines would be very useful because they have not been trained to teach environmental education when preparing to be teachers. The following excerpts may serve as illustrations:

“The first thing to develop would be guidelines for the teaching of environmental education in the schools for all the subjects. To have specific topics for every subject and every class from the primary school level to the college level. This will help the pupils get education that will help them in their lives in the community when they finish schooling.” (Kaji, M)

“Since environmental education needs to be integrated into the subjects that we teach, there is need for the ministry to develop guidelines to help the teacher in understanding how to implement it in his/her subject. The guideline should show the teacher what to integrate in each topic and what methods to use just as in the other subject teacher’s guides.” (Tunu, F)

From what the teachers said, it can be observed that the availability of teaching and learning materials particularly textual materials is essential. These concerns expressed by the teachers show that they heavily rely on textbooks and guidelines in teaching as the source of knowledge. This can be attributed to the way they have been trained and also the scarcity of other sources of knowledge in the schools.

However, it is encouraging to see some teachers have taken the initiative themselves and have written small booklets for their pupils to read. This can be seen as an indication that there are innovative and motivated teachers, a quality that needs to be developed.

4.7 Summary of results

The results have been presented according to the research questions. In the first research question where the teachers’ perceptions of environmental education and education for sustainable development were investigated, most teachers

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focused on the development of knowledge about the environment and sustainable development, respectively. The teachers’ perceptions reflect the way they perceive the environment and sustainable development. From the results of the study it could be identified that teachers perceived environment as a physical entity, while sustainable development was perceived as development that is continuous and focused on the future. Concerning teachers’ perceptions of environmental education most teachers perceived it as education that helps individuals develop knowledge about and how to take care of the environment. However some teachers perceived it as education that helps individuals develop various skills which included problem solving skills, skills for adapting to the environment and resource use skills. The teachers’ perceptions of education for sustainable development focused on knowledge about sustainable development which aimed at meeting people’s needs and empowerment of the people.

In general, most of the teachers’ perceptions of environmental education and education for sustainable development mainly focused on knowledge about the environment and sustainable development, and to a less extent on the aspect of skills. The assumption is that knowledge is the basis for other levels of thinking and taking action: first you get knowledge, and then you make decisions to take action for the environment on the basis of that knowledge. On the basis of these results it can be concluded that teachers perceive environmental education and education for sustainable development differently. This is because teachers have different experiences and exposures to these concepts which may have influenced their perceptions.

The results for research question two focused on the teachers’ perceptions of the integration of environmental education into primary education. The results are presented in three main themes. Theme one focused on the teachers’ perception of the importance of teaching environmental education in the primary schools, theme two on teachers’ awareness of environmental education being integrated into the subjects they teach, and in theme three the focus was on the teachers’ suggestions on how environmental education can be integrated into the school curriculum.

In theme one, all the teachers admitted that it was important to teach environmental education in primary schools. However they had different reasons why they think environmental education should be taught in primary schools. Their reasons they gave could be divided into two categories: development of knowledge, skills and attitudes among learners, and developing role models. In category two on the expectations placed on the learners after learning environmental education – that of being role models both at home and in the community.

Theme two focused on the teachers’ awareness of environmental education being integrated into the subjects they teach. The results showed that there are teachers who are aware that environmental education is integrated into the subjects that they teach and described how the integration is done. These teachers included those who teach science, social studies, vocational skills and to some extent languages (Kiswahili and English). In these subjects environmental education is either integrated as subject content and/or teaching and learning resource. However, there are teachers who claimed that they were not aware of

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environmental education being integrated into the subjects that they teach. The subjects included mathematics, and languages in some of the classes. However, concerning the way environmental education has been integrated into the various subjects, most teachers said that it is not clear. The results indicate that, teachers were not pleased with the way it was integrated into the subjects of the primary school curriculum because it difficult to know what is to be taught.

Theme three focused on teachers’ suggestions on approaches of integrating environmental education into the curriculum. While most teachers suggested that it could be included in the curriculum as a separate subject some suggested that it could be integrated into all the subjects as topics, and others suggested that it could be integrated into a few subjects whose content matches with the environmental education content. The teachers’ suggestions mirror the way the curriculum is organized in Tanzania. However some of the teachers recognize the interdisciplinary nature of environmental education. In general, the results indicate that there is need to reflect on how environmental education has been integrated into the school curriculum, so that teachers can implement it easily. The third research question which was on teachers’ teaching practices presented the teachers’ competencies in the teaching of environmental education, teachers’ experiences in teaching environmental education in different subjects, teaching methods, barriers facing teachers and suggestions on how the teaching of environmental education in the primary schools.

The teachers’ feelings about their competence varied as some said they were competent and others said they were less so. The teachers who said they feel competent attributed this to the training that they received both in pre-service and in-service training and also self-initiated. The teachers who claimed to be competent show the importance of training for teachers and also self-initiated learning to make teachers feel competent in teaching environmental education. The teachers' experiences of teaching environmental education in different subjects differed from one subject to another. Some teachers said that they taught environmental education as subject content in the form of topics, or by integrating it into subject content or using it as content for skills developing. The teachers in this category included teachers who taught science, social studies, geography and languages. These teachers referred to environmental education being integrated into their subjects as factual knowledge. Other teachers said that they integrated environmental education into their subjects through the use of teaching and learning materials and also through the use of the environment as a learning context. This category included teachers who taught mathematics, vocational skills and languages. This group of teachers saw that even when they use teaching materials from the environment and as a learning context is environmental education.

On the teaching methods which the teachers used in teaching environmental education, the results revealed two categories namely participatory and less participatory methods. The teachers who used participatory teaching methods focused on enabling learners to participate in the teaching process, develop thinking skills and social skills. However, from the lesson observations it was noted that although teachers said that they used participatory teaching methods,

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were limited to questions and answers, and to a lesser extent, group discussion. The teachers who said that they used less participatory teaching methods were concerned with content coverage and the management of large classes.

Focusing on the barriers facing teachers in teaching environmental education, the findings of the study revealed that there were barriers resulting from curriculum related factors, teaching and learning factors, and teacher related factors. On curriculum related factors the teachers said that the syllabi were not clear on what to teach with regard to environmental education and also the time allocated for one period was too short. Concerning teaching and learning related factors, the teachers were concerned with class size and lack of teaching and learning materials. They argued that the class size was too large to conduct practical or outdoor activities. This shows that there is a clear need for reducing class size and increasing the time allocated to a single period or to make the timetable flexible. Regarding teaching and learning materials, particularly text books, the teachers said that they were very few and in some cases not available. This barrier reflects the teachers’ perception of books as main sources of knowledge and skills which the learner needs to acquire.

The teachers who talked about teacher related barriers referred to the issues of teachers’ lack of expertise and lack of collegial support. The results suggest that teachers need to be provided with opportunities for professional development focused on environmental education so that they can develop a strong environmental education knowledge base which will also enhance collegial support among the teachers.

Finally, on the teachers’ suggestions as to how the teaching of environmental education could be improved, the results revealed two main categories of suggestions. While the first category emphasized the need for training, the second focused on teaching and learning materials. Regarding need for training, the teachers suggested that they should get both pre-service and in-service training in the teaching of environmental education so that they can teach it effectively. On the issue of teaching and learning materials, they suggested that books, teachers’ guides and other teaching materials for teaching environmental education should be available.

While in this chapter the findings of the study were described, discussion of the results will form the basis of the following chapter, and will be guided by the three research questions.

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