Abstract
Concepts of 464 university freshmen towards Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) were analyzed. Responses were classified into seven main categories: ‘ecological aspects’, ‘ecological problems’, ‘economical aspects’, ‘social aspects’, ‘environmental attitudes’, ‘environmental behavior’ and ‘education’. Analyses of sustainability concepts show a large discrepancy between EE and ESD, whereby the latter includes an additional sub-group: ‘the next generation aspect’. Labeling individual sources of EE in a retrospective assessment identified the family as the most important source of knowledge, followed by media, school and outreach. Further differences were detected between students’ self-perception and their ideal conception of environmental behavior, by using the scale Inclusion of Nature in Self (INS). Only some EE statements produced higher (unfulfilled) expectations ‘economic aspects’, ‘environmental behavior’ and ‘ecological problems’. In contrast fewer (unfulfilled) expectations were observed in the categories of ‘education’ and ‘ecological aspects’.
Highlights
Overview of Environmental Education historyIn addition to Environmental Education (EE), the term Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been in use for several decades
The sustainable aspect according to the Rio-conference [11] is in line with a newly observed sub-category named ‘ generation’ and only included in ESD, which is considered as an expansion of EE
This may show a general tendency towards economic growth, this topic was not included in questions about expectations in ESD
Summary
In addition to Environmental Education (EE), the term Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been in use for several decades. Do the concepts behind EE and ESD overlap? Initial approaches to natural phenomena in EE go back to early European Educational Reformers (e.g. Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Goethe and Humboldt), long before ‘EE’ was defined, and before the attempt was made to integrate EE approaches into a general concept of education [1]. The process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture, and his biophysical surroundings. EE entails practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behavior about issues concerning environmental quality” [2]. A few years later, the term EE was recognized at the UN.
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