1. EE and Teacher Education: engaging the challenge
Presented by: Chris Reddy
Stellenbosch University

2. Ideas for consideration
Teacher education – perspectives
A brief overview of EE and teacher education
Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ) – Policy
EE knowledge base and school subjects
Concluding ideas and possibilities

3. 1 Teacher education field
Teacher education – perspectives

4. Teacher education
Formal and systematic preparation of teachers for professional work (Garm and Karlsen 2004)
Tatto (1997:405) “organised, formal attempts to provide more knowledge and skills to prospective teachers”
General structure: foundational and methods courses
On site induction into situated contexts of practice – varying time periods

5. A brief overview of EE and teacher education2
EE links to teacher ed
A brief overview of EE and teacher education

6. EE and Teacher Ed
Fein (1991) identifies the historical inattention to EE in teacher education programmes.
If EE is to be one of the social agencies through which the transformation to an ecologically sustainable society is to be achieved, the role of teachers as change agents is vital (Fein 1991)

7. Resources and Studies
Rosenberg E (2009). Teacher Education workbook. Env Concepts, school curriculum, methods to support learning and resources directory, UNESCO (various) EEFS and other sustainable living and learning work
Reviews of EE and teacher ed work (Kenelly et al Aus), surveys (McKeowan-Ice USA), (Tuncer et al 2008 – Turkey), (Minguet et al 2011 – Italy): Pre and Inset
Need for ongoing work - possibilities

8. 3
Policy
Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ) – Policy

9. MRTEQ Provides ideas for teacher educators: Pg 15 and Appendix C
Subject specialist (at least two subjects)
Phase specialist
Competence in subject matter knowledge, practical learning

10. INTEGRATED AND APPLIED KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge mix (pg 47)
INTEGRATED AND APPLIED KNOWLEDGE
Disciplinary
Learning
Pedagogical
learning
Practical
Fundamental
Situational

11. Teacher skills and knowledge mix
The attitudes and skills of teachers are central in determining the mix of different types of knowledge, skills and affective objectives in EE programmes and the political and social interests that they serve (Fein 1991, Lotz and Robottom 1998).
Possible in teacher education?

12. EE knowledge base and school subjects4
EE and school Curriculum
EE knowledge base and school subjects

13. Curriculum focus (CAPS?)
Integrated with content of particular subjects- eg. Geography, Life and Natural Sciences
Knowledge of content prioritised
Status of subjects like science elevated in National curriculum in the UK (Littledyke 1997)
Pressures of covering extensive content – impacts on teaching practices

14. EE and science (CAPS?)
Littledyke (1997) – in the UK Science a core subject in curriculum
Pressures of curriculum – limited understanding of teachers, content knowledge issues
Shift – knowledge based, objectives (aims) and assessment led, instrumental and revisionist emphasis in Science
Regulated curriculum overall

15. EE approaches / focus
Gorodetsky and Keiny (1995:207) define environmental cognition as conceptual development regarding the dimensions of complexity, dynamism, interaction and involvement in conjunction with socio-economic problems
Currently science narrowly viewed and implemented as indicated

16. Concluding ideas and questions5
Projections
Concluding ideas and questions

17. Policy shifts in Teacher Ed
Garm and Karsten (2004:739)
“new reforms with subsequent structural and organisational changes do not necessarily change the basic culture”.

18. Teacher Ed and universities
Universities and agencies – contribute over time and knowledge base accumulated over time – development of disciplines
Type of knowledge – enquiry focused on questions and is answerable by methods appropriate to the various disciplines

19. Some perspectives - Education
Conceptual distinctions – thinking and how best to organize curriculum (Short 2002)
Generalised education and specialized preparation for scholarly and professional education – educative function of university (Educational institutions)
Conventionally: disciplinary knowledge – generated within a particular discipline – particular modes of enquiry (research)

20. Alternative viewpoints
Practical or mission oriented knowledge
Associated with various human activities – education, maintaining health, construction
Need arises in situation where these and other kinds of human activities pose questions that must be answered in order for successful action to be taken

21. Approaches What might or should be done to accomplish certain ends?
The actual or potential consequences of taking certain actions
Environmental issues like this – climate change and local issues in context

22. Disciplinary limitations
Disciplinary knowledge is not always appropriate for dealing with such questions
Practical intent of mission oriented questions presupposes that questions that are generated in particular contexts need to be formulated and answered in ways commensurable with such contexts
Disinterested intellectual approaches of disciplines are then not always appropriate

23. Context and change
McGrath (2008:115) – planned educational change often about implementation of international ‘best practices’
Crossley (1999) – context matters: for instance in the ways that international ideas are mediated at national levels … teachers, learners and communities respond to their local level to construct practices

24. Questions to consider Barnard, Muthwas – Kuehn, Grimmet (1997)
What constitutes a teacher education programme that adequately prepares preservice teachers for the challenge of teaching in a continually changing social, economic, technological and economic climate?
What kinds of experiences are needed to enable preservice teachers to transcend the limitations of the histories and biographies that have shaped them?

25. Curriculum processes Curricula often regulative – various levels
Curricula can be generative
Curricula need to be educative
Environmental issues foregrounded – 21st Century societal issues
Within and through Subjects / disciplines
Discipline and practical knowledge – methods and approaches mix