Education for Environmental Action in the Community: New Roles and Relationships
Uzzell, D. (1999). Education for environmental action in the community: New roles and relationships. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29, 3, 397-413.
This paper will begin with a critical overview of environmental education as it is currently taught and practised, drawing on empirical data as well as structural and theoretical arguments. Five principal shortcomings are suggested: environmental education is invariably based on a teaching and learning model which is top-down and centre to periphery; environmental education does not lead to action competence; environmental education lacks authenticity; the track record of demonstrable success in changing the attitudes and values of children to the environment is questionable; the social, cultural and political context must facilitate participation and change. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of four models of the relationship between schools and the local community.