생태패러다임(NEP)의 관점으로 본 고등학생의 생태 관련 교육 경험에 관한 질적 연구

Abstract

Objectives To explore the role of education in the transition to ecological civilization, this paper analyzed the current ecological-related educational experience in school education, focusing on the ecological paradigm (NEP).
 Methods The research method used in this study is a qualitative study using interviews. In order to understand the ecological paradigm of students formed through school education, 21 second-year high school students were interviewed with ecological education experiences and ecological perceptions such as ecological crises, fragility of nature's balance, anti-anthropocentrism, anti-exemptionalism and growth limits.
 Results Students' ecological education experiences remained in narrow understanding and individual-level practice, such as “personal practice-oriented education,” and “science and technology to overcome the ecological crisis” were considered important. It also understood humans as the “top predator of the ecosystem,” the most superior being in the Earth's ecosystem. Underlying these experiences and perceptions was the “university entrance examination, which is more important than the ecological crisis,” making it difficult to actively pay attention to and practice the ecological crisis. Focusing on the new ecological paradigm (NEP), the meaning of their ecological-related educational experiences was analyzed as ‘a peripheral understanding of the ecological crisis’, ‘inclusion to growth ideology’, ‘solid human exceptionalism’, and ‘human-centered dualism’.
 Conclusions In the process of transition to ecological civilization, education should begin with criticism and reflection on the overall structure of society, economy, and culture based on the modern paradigm.