Los proyectos de adecuación de tierras como unidades territoriales

Tilbury (1995) and Breiting (2009) stated that the push for EE, and later EEfS, resulted from great concerns about environmental problems in the world. These environmental problems then and now include global warming and climatic change, destruction of rainforests, biodiversity depletion, accelerating rates of land degradation and desertification, population and resource imbalances, pollution, the disposal of wastes, and others that are threats to the quality of human life and the ecosystems (Goodland, 1995; Miller, 2007; Sterling, 2001). In other words, the concern for environmental sustainability which started in the early 1960’s has led to EE which has been evolving with the goal of reducing environmental problems and their impact on natural and cultural environments (UNESCO, 1978).

People from many fields of life have tried to address environmental issues since the 1960’s with different focuses depending on their experiences, professional

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and social backgrounds (Braus, 1995; NZ Ministry of Education, 1999). Most educators understand EE in schools to be related to education outside the classroom, in the environment, where EE relates education directly to experiential learning, and attitude or behavioural change. Likewise, EE among scientists is often referred to as conservation and preservation of ecosystems and natural resources, while social scientists consider environmental education to relate to social, cultural and economic lifestyle, human behaviour management and protection (Goodland, 1995; Heimlich, 2002). Furthermore, economists relate EE to monetary gains or benefits (Braus, 1995; Goodland, 1995; Heimlich, 2002; Roth, 1970). Despite their backgrounds and main focuses, their common goal is sustainability of the biophysical environment which is the life support system without which neither economic nor social systems could exist (Goodland, 1995; UNESCO-UNEP, 1978).

Aims for EE were first proclaimed in the Tbilisi Declaration (UNESCO-UNEP, 1978) and were to:

foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political and economic interdependence in urban and rural;

provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment; and

create new patterns of behaviour in individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment (UNESCO-UNEP, 1978, p. 3).

That is, these aims would help the students develop: (1) awareness and sensitivity, and knowledge and understanding of the environment and the impact of people on it; (2) attitudes and values that reflect feelings of concern for the environment; (3) skills involved in identifying, investigating, and problem solving associated with environmental issues; and (4) a sense of responsibility through participation and action as individuals, or members of groups in addressing environmental issues (Bolstad, 2003; Braus, 1995; Eames,

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Cowie & Bolstad, 2008; Heimlich, 2002; Roth, 1970; Tilbury, 1995; UNESCO, 1978).

Firstly, EEfS can help learners to gain knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of sustainability issues (Tilbury, 1995). In particular, EEfS must focus on the underlying causes of issues which are usually unsustainable practices, instead of just concentrating on their symptoms (Jensen & Schnack, 1997). Both individual and systemic changes are required to resolve unsustainable practices. This requires redesigning many systems that are currently practiced in society (Sterling, 2001). Secondly, EEfS can develop attitudes and values that promote a concern for the present and future well-being of our planet and all of the life that it sustains (Tilbury, 1995). These attitudes and values include innovation, appreciation, participation, responsibility, cooperation, diversity, and sustainability (PCE, 2004). Thirdly, EEfS can help learners develop key competencies that promote active learning and future environmental sustainability including competencies such as thinking, communicating, managing, decision making and problem solving skills (Emmanuel & Adams, 2011; Jensen & Schnack, 1997). Fourthly, EEfS will provide the students with the opportunity to develop varieties of action skills that are needed for resolving problems by engaging them in identifying, investigating and resolving real environmental problems, making them action competent as individuals, and as members of groups and societies (Jensen & Schnack, 1997). In other words, EEfS can help students such as pre-service teachers to gain knowledge, values and competencies to take action for sustainability.

Despite the introduction of policies and curricula to support EEfS, in many countries, EEfS continued to languish at the margins of mainstream schooling, competing with other priorities (Eames et al., 2008; Tilbury, 1995). Researchers and theorists in EE began to examine the reasons why EEfS was not easily implemented, or in other cases implemented but not producing action competent people. Researchers and theorists sought to find out how schools might deal with the inherent challenges that EE raised for conventional

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approaches to curriculum and pedagogy and to articulate and define the characteristics of EEfS within a framework of educational theory (Gough, 2006; Tilbury, 1995). In addition to that, a number of authors contributed to a body of literature which articulates the characteristics of EEfS, especially the action orientation aspect (Bolstad, Cowie & Eames, 2004; McLean, 2003).

With this consideration in mind, Tilbury’s EEfS; Lucas’s education about, in and for environment; and local traditional EEfS frameworks are examined because all aspects in each of the three frameworks are addressed to stimulate and shape an action competent citizen. All three frameworks stress the importance of experience by practice and participation leading to action or action competence. As Barker and Rogers (2004) stressed, the platform to promote action and action competence is the provision of a variety of formative experiences and opportunities in which the learners get engaged in addressing problems in a variety of ways; and it is thinking, feeling and doing people that will become the agents of change. Furthermore, Barker and Rogers (2004) added that while being in the environment promotes first hand experiences, interpreting education in, about and for environment is holistically engaging hearts, heads, and hands, simultaneously promoting action competence.

The three frameworks are now examined that consider these characteristics of EEfS. These frameworks stem from Tilbury’s (1995) work, Lucas’ education about, in and for environment (Lucas, 1979), and local traditional approaches to learning about the environment.