000 02413nam a22002057a 4500
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008 231020b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
022 _a0095-8964
100 _aMongar, Kishore
245 _aAction-oriented approaches to teaching environmental science in Bhutanese secondary schools
_b: Stakeholder perceptions (Journal Article)
260 _aPhiladelphia, PA
_b :Taylor & Francis Group
_c,2023
300 _a132-147p.
440 _aThe Journal of Environmental Education
_v, Volume 54: Numbers 1-3, 2023
505 _a***______{For Hard Copy, Please visit Library.}________***
520 _aAbstract: Bhutan aspires to balance sustainable socioeconomic development with environmental conservation to achieve Gross National Happiness (GNH). There are apparent alignments between GNH and the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), but we recognize the role of the Bhutanese socio-cultural context for critically examining any alignments or misalignments with pervasive Western action-oriented ESD approaches. We present one aspect of a PhD study by the lead author that explored the implementation of Environmental Science (ES) in Bhutanese secondary schools. He examined stakeholders’ perceptions about action-oriented approaches to teaching, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with six principals, surveys and interviews with 14 teachers, surveys with 563 students and focus groups with 194 students. Findings indicated that students participated in school-based activities such as waste management and cleaning, in compliance with school-based directives to alleviate problems, rather than as a consequence of their own agentic decisions. Principals, teachers and students valued the idea of taking environmental action in ES, especially waste management, primarily for solving ecological issues and promoting intergenerational equity rather than for developing of action-competence. There is potential for leveraging existing school practices to enhance action-oriented approaches and, consequently, foster action-competence for the enhancement of GNH in Bhutan.
650 _agross national happiness| environmental science| environmental education| sustainability| action-oriented teaching| Bhutan
700 _aQuinn, Frances| Elliott, Sue
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2022.2157368
942 _cPER
999 _c44539
_d44538