TITLE:
Exploring Students’ Views on Orientations of Environmental Education at the University of Namibia
AUTHORS:
Alex Tubawene Kanyimba
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Education, Education for Sustainable Development, Higher Education and Training, Participatory Action Research
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.8,
May
6,
2014
ABSTRACT:
This study explored
the neo-classical or behaviourist, liberal-progressive and socially-critical
educational orientations, from the perspective of the students at the
University of Namibia. It is argued that educational orientations
are important in environmental education, because they propound
teaching methods, used to teach environmental education topics. Students urged
educators to apply each of the educational orientations depending on the
students’ ability, previous experience and existing knowledge on the topic. The results show
that the teaching methods propounded by these educational orientations
contributed to behaviour development, because students were solicited to apply
eco-management actions and persuaded others to address the environmental
challenges in own settings. It is recommended that the institutions of
higher education operationalises a multi-dimensional social ecology in which
the solicited environmental actions are shared with the university community
and the wider public using the institution’s communication channels. In this
way, change-oriented learning, which contributes to
behaviour development necessary to address the environmental challenges, will be fostered.