As this pack is designed to evolve, the complete text is available on the ARPEGE website, http://www.coi-arpege.org, on which any additions, changes or suggestions can be posted.

The concept of environmental education, on which this teaching aid is based, and the underlying approach are described below.

• What is environmental education (EE) ?
• What is education ?
• Four criteria define education
• What is environmental education ?
• What are the overall objectives of EE ?
• How can these objectives be achieved in the classroom ?
• Why choose a participative approach ?
• Why choose project-based teaching ?

What is environmental education ?

Environmental education is a combination of two concepts, education and environment, that can be defined as follows (Goffin1) :

What is education ?

Education goes beyond information, communication, teaching or training. It is a complex learning process, the final aim of which is the development (fulfilment, blossoming, updating) of the individual within his or her social group, in harmony with the specific characteristics of the human race and condition, such as they are (re)defined by the ambient culture.

This final objective is achieved through a set of attitudes and behaviours, with respect to accepted values. The behavioural impact is individual (self), social (other) and environmental (living context).

Four criteria define education :

1/ Continuous: education is on-going, starting at birth and ending with death;
2/ Holistic: it concerns the whole individual in all dimensions: intellectual, affective, aesthetic, physical, motor, psychological, social, etc;
3/ Broad-based: it covers numerous dimensions of place, action and time, for example, the family, school, business, local activities, the street, TV programmes, meeting people, travel, and many others;
4/ Building responsibility: although, depending on the situation, the educational process can be accompanied, led or even imposed from outside by ‘educationalists’, the main actor remains the individual, who is ultimately responsible for his or her accepting the proposed way of life and following it daily.

What is the environment ?

This is the basic concept that is often ambiguous as it covers so many things. It can refer to:

1/ an objective reality, situated in a physical space, that is one or several living contexts,            whose biological, physical and societal characteristics can be described, for example, rural,   urban, semi-urban, work, leisure, agricultural, industrial, marine, coastal, mountain, local, regional or planetary;

2/ a specific issue, resulting from mankind’s technical or demographic evolution and forming          part of the three main types of social problems: the management of natural resources (water, air, soil, subsoil, fauna and flora), the protection of the quality of life (by actions against pollution, waste, disfigurement, congestion, degradation) and the   prevention of damage from natural hazards (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, drought, cyclones), technological hazards (production, transport, handling, consumption, storage of dangerous materials and products, including nuclear ones), food  hazards and military hazards (war), with their effect on the health, safety and life of the human population, as well as on the balance of nature and the life of the ecosystems that  make up the biosphere;

3/ strategic means of intervention (governance) to take in hand these problems and find solutions. To ensure sustainability, these solutions must be technically feasible, ecologically viable, economically sustainable and socially acceptable. Their implementation must be constantly monitored to see if they are actually improving living conditions and so the overall quality of life of the population.

4/a psychosocial domain, such as each individual sees and lives it in the different contexts        with which he or she develops and maintains a web of intimate relationships that influence his    or her personal development, sometimes positively and other times negatively.

To sum up, the definition could be:

The environment is a system of interactions between, on the one hand, natural and manmade factors – more precisely described in terms of resources and living space – and, on the other hand, human populations, their areas of action and their organisational structures, technical, economic, institutional and cultural.

What is environmental education?

Environmental education (EE) must be seen from a dual perspective, environmental and educational.

The environmental perspective. This concerns the acquisition of the knowledge, values, behaviours and practical skills needed to be able to contribute responsibly and effectively in preventing and solving environmental problems and in managing the quality of the environment. It entails first and foremost an education in favour of the environment, which aims at encouraging the active participation in managing resources, preserving the quality of living surroundings and preventing hazards.

The educational perspective. This concerns the personal relationship between the individual and his or her environment. This relationship, which ideally should be balanced and harmonious, influences the development and blossoming of all individuals within the groups to which they belong. It entails, therefore, an education through and in the environment.

EE aims, therefore, at the systematic acquisition of skills (approach) to influence the individual and collective behaviours with respect to the environment (result) and so achieve the overall development of all individuals and societies (ultimate aim).

EE is thus a set of educational methods that aim to promote individual and collective behaviours to ensure a harmonious relationship between the individual and his or her environment. Moreover, this harmonious relationship should also develop between the individuals themselves, given that they share the resources and species that make up this same environment. In this way, EE should help strengthen the public spirit and a responsible involvement in community life, for, in reality, the real issue is human development, that of all individuals, which in turn will enhance the quality of collective life, and that of the community and thus enable the continued development of the individual.

What are the overall objectives of EE ?

The United Nations international conferences of Belgrade (1975) and Tbilisi (1977) identified five overall objectives for EE:

Awareness: getting everyone concerned about the state of the environment;
Knowledge: about how the natural ecosystems and human society function and how they interact;
State of mind: arousing interest, positive attitudes, motivation to act, sense of values;
Skills: the capacity to identify and handle situations, facts, phenomena and problems concerning the environment
Participation: actively contributing within both the private and public spheres to the taking care of environmental problems.

How can these objectives be achieved in the classroom ?

It is essential to consider various aspects when working out appropriate teaching strategies.

Any fact, phenomenon, problem or situation concerning the environment should be considered in its entirety and complexity by bringing to light the multiple interactions between its components (environmental impact, the relevant authorities, the immediate, medium and long term consequences, the relevant legislation).

When this principle is applied to teaching, the chosen methodologies will be interdisciplinary in order to understand all the aspects of the situation. They will encourage the pupils to participate in the educational project by gaining their interest, motivating them and making them aware of the social usefulness of what they are undertaking. They will carry out a task in collaboration with other pupils, the teacher and also outside partners who are involved in the same work. The work will be carried out in the field through actions that are concrete and practical, and not just simulated or imagined. The relevance of the initiatives thus undertaken will be evaluated at various stages of the project. A positive or negative evaluation will show whether the results have been achieved and, if they have not, how the strategy should be adjusted.

All the activities undertaken and the behaviours adopted will be supported by values that are essential for the improvement of the environment and the advance of real development. Louis Goffin defines these values by the acronym STAR :

SOLIDARITY		with others, near or far, between regions, countries, etc (to encourage cooperation, mutual aid, devotion, sharing, etc)
TOLERANCE		showing respect and esteem for the diversity of human beings, societies, cultures (to respect, listen to the other person, collaborate loyally, remove prejudices towards other communities, etc)
AUTONOMY		taking in hand one’s life and behaviour, thinking about one’s deeds according to choices freely made (justifying the reasons behind an attitude or action, being able to form one’s own opinion, being proactive, taking action, carrying out research to know and understand, asking questions, etc)
RESPONSIBILITY		Being aware of the impact of one’s behaviour and commitments for the general good, but also considering the life choices for future generations (getting involved in activities, being aware of the worth of one’s actions, thinking about the short, medium and long term consequences of one’s acts or inactivity, etc)

A participative approach
Project-based teaching
Shared design of the teaching materials

Why choose a participative approach ?

It is becoming more and more accepted that each society should work out its own development model depending on its specific context, culture, resources and the values that it seeks to promote. This principle is extremely important in environmental management. It entails deciding on the priorities for each region while taking into account the situation in the field in order to manage environmental issues.

This is why ARPEGE has chosen a participative approach, with different levels of participation:

adaptation of the project-based methods by the regional leaders
identification of environment projects in the schools by the teachers
setting up of the project, with a systematic analysis of the issues involved by the teachers with the help of the regional leaders and field leaders, and thus participation in the decision-making process
planning of the actions identified and the approach chosen
follow-up and evaluation of the actions undertaken by the regional leaders, teachers and field leaders
adaptation and communication of the approach.

Why choose project-based teaching ?

Environmental education is not just a question of gaining specialised knowledge, however necessary it may be. It relies on project implementation that brings together action and thought, while going beyond the traditional learning framework, and often requiring field visits. It is indeed in action that the complexity of issues can be seen and concrete solutions sought. The project is obviously based on a methodology that is centred on the pupil and his representations. Project-based teaching when used in environmental education enables the development of inter- and cross-disciplinary approaches that are based on the freedom of initiative from a team of teachers and youngsters who choose to implement a common project with the help of outside partners.

Environment projects are based on the hypothesis that environmental awareness and the promotion of dynamic qualities in young people are closely intertwined. Improving the environment allows youngsters to use their critical faculty, creativity, intelligence and organisational skills. The active approach and learning in real-life situations are thus the best ways to reach the emotional, ethical and behavioural objectives, but the cognitive objectives of EE also need a new approach.

Project-based teaching is a special method in the sense that it is an active and different method that implies a non-hierarchical relationship between the teacher and the learner, motivation as a working condition as well as autonomy as an objective and a support. It enables the individual to approach and understand the environment in active manner, be in contact with his surroundings, become aware of the environment overall, bring out a variety of opinions and approaches, feel responsible for his own learning and his understanding of the relationship between man and the environment, become an actor and learn about citizenship.

In a project, the learning methods require active participation on the behalf of the pupils, be it individual and collective. Young people build up attitudes and behaviours through their own activities. They have a role in the running of the project and feel responsible for the work. The role of the teacher becomes that of guide, adviser, discussion partner and resource person.

The project method has several advantages, not only because the pupils learn by doing, but also because this teaching method is stimulating and brings about motivation. The pupils develop their capacity to think for themselves, analyse problems with a critical mind and solve them. They learn to work in cooperation, in groups and become active participants within a community. These skills are at least as important as factual knowledge when the pupils enter the adult world.

Designing together the teaching materials was a decision shared by all the actors in the ARPEGE project. Making a methodology suitable can be achieved more easily if the actors in the project base their actions on real-life environmental priorities. The first step in the field was thus the identification of the class and school projects by the teachers themselves.

The criteria for selecting the projects are as follows:

Relevance (referring in particular to the economic, geographical, historical, political, social and cultural context and to the analysis of the environmental impact)
Environmental priority
Feasibility
Suitability to the context
Participation of pupils
Durability

The project guidelines in the teaching pack have been worked out by the teachers in collaboration with the regional leaders, the PFN and the ATI. The projects have been implemented in the schools and are being continuously monitored for evaluation and control purposes. The guidelines are presented by theme and carry the names of the various co-authors. Although certain themes overlap, all the projects have been included so that common concerns of the various actors in all the regions involved in the project could be identified.

A second step was to record the achievements and write up background papers in answer to the questions raised. The queries concerned sometimes knowledge on the environment (information sheets) or the teaching links to be made in describing activities that pursue specific aims in connection with the competency-based approach (activity sheets).

It should be noted that some priority projects concern issues to do with food, hygiene and health. They become environmental issues when the teachers have approached the solutions to be implemented in relation to the children’s living surroundings. Other themes concern economic and social issues. So the materials in the pack go towards an education for sustainable development.

1 Goffin, Louis: Environmental education: an overview of the main issues, Les Cahiers de l’IRGT (Royal Institute for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and the Promotion of Clean Technologies, ASBL) - under the chair of HRH Prince Laurent of Belgium, No 8, December 2003

Maryse Clary-Pierre Giolitto, Educate for the environment, Hachette Education, Paris, 1994