What Went Well? Understanding the Culture of a Long-Term Israeli Environmental Education Primary School Program

Abstract

Using the perspectives, behaviours, and environmental values, beliefs, and norms of a school's staff, we investigated the features of a long-term environmental education program. This case study answers the following questions: How has the Lesser Kestrel environmental education program survived for almost two decades and become institutionalised into the school culture? What are the features of the environmental education program at Falcon School that allowed it to endure despite clear obstacles? We inductively analysed documents, focus group transcriptions, and individual interviews. Our findings indicate the goals of the Lesser Kestrel environmental education program and principles of values-beliefs-norms theory were strongly aligned along five main features: leadership and vision, human and economic resources, nature connectedness and conservation, community engagement, and tradition (which united the first four features). We conclude that these features work collectively to integrate the surrounding community into Falcon School's culture and long-term environmental education program.