150
Biology (Breiting 2007). Non-formal environmental education, such as awarenessraising campaigns and knowledge-sharing projects, often aims at changing peoples’
personal lifestyle, e.g. saving energy, recycling and/or buying organic food.
Traditionally, environmental education builds on the notion of fostering environmentally concerned and literate citizens (Hollweg et al. 2011; Kollmuss and
Agyeman 2002). These aspirations could be seen as a form of Environmental
Citizenship. However, Environmental Citizenship never was at the heart of our education and still remains a lively disagreement about the aims of environmental education that may lead to conflicting goals and outcomes (Schild 2016). An important
idea has been to build so called pro-environmental behaviour through cognitive and
affective learning. This is supported by several psychological models (e.g. Kollmuss
and Agyeman 2002; Ajzen 1991; Hines et al. 1987). Hines and colleagues, for
example, (1987) presented the model of responsible environmental behaviour. In
their model the possession of the ‘right’ environmental attitudes and environmental
knowledge is suggested to lead to raised intention to act pro-environmentally.
Similarly, in his theory of planned behaviour, Icek Ajzen (1991) argued that possession of attitudes and beliefs towards a certain action will lead to a higher likelihood
of performing the actual pro-environmental behaviour. However, Kollmuss and
Agyeman (2002) claim that the link between the right attitude and knowledge and
pro-environmental behaviour is not that clear-cut. In their model of proenvironmental behaviour, affective and cognitive components (constituting environmental consciousness), together with personal and societal factors, are suggested to
lead to pro-environmental behaviour (Kollmuss and Agyeman 2002). As a consequence of the idea of fostering pro-environmental behaviour, environmental education has led to a focus on the teaching of ecological knowledge and facilitating the
development of ecocentric attitudes.
Education for Sustainability (EfS) is often considered, in many educational systems (UNESCO 2009), to be an integrative concept of environmental education
where the ecological dimension of environmental education is more strongly supplemented with social and economic dimensions (Kopnina 2014). In formal teaching this often means that ecological science content is mixed with interdisciplinary
P. Sund
Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Stockholm University,
Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: per.sund@mnd.su.se
L. Sund
The School of Education, Culture and Communication, Malardalen University,
Västerås, Sweden
e-mail: louise.sund@mdh.se
N. Gericke
Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
e-mail: niklas.gericke@kau.se
D. Conti
Centre for Environmental Research, Documentation and Education CREDA, Monza, Italy
e-mail: daniela.conti@creda.it
G. Parra et al.
Biology (Breiting 2007). Non-formal environmental education, such as awarenessraising campaigns and knowledge-sharing projects, often aims at changing peoples’
personal lifestyle, e.g. saving energy, recycling and/or buying organic food.
Traditionally, environmental education builds on the notion of fostering environmentally concerned and literate citizens (Hollweg et al. 2011; Kollmuss and
Agyeman 2002). These aspirations could be seen as a form of Environmental
Citizenship. However, Environmental Citizenship never was at the heart of our education and still remains a lively disagreement about the aims of environmental education that may lead to conflicting goals and outcomes (Schild 2016). An important
idea has been to build so called pro-environmental behaviour through cognitive and
affective learning. This is supported by several psychological models (e.g. Kollmuss
and Agyeman 2002; Ajzen 1991; Hines et al. 1987). Hines and colleagues, for
example, (1987) presented the model of responsible environmental behaviour. In
their model the possession of the ‘right’ environmental attitudes and environmental
knowledge is suggested to lead to raised intention to act pro-environmentally.
Similarly, in his theory of planned behaviour, Icek Ajzen (1991) argued that possession of attitudes and beliefs towards a certain action will lead to a higher likelihood
of performing the actual pro-environmental behaviour. However, Kollmuss and
Agyeman (2002) claim that the link between the right attitude and knowledge and
pro-environmental behaviour is not that clear-cut. In their model of proenvironmental behaviour, affective and cognitive components (constituting environmental consciousness), together with personal and societal factors, are suggested to
lead to pro-environmental behaviour (Kollmuss and Agyeman 2002). As a consequence of the idea of fostering pro-environmental behaviour, environmental education has led to a focus on the teaching of ecological knowledge and facilitating the
development of ecocentric attitudes.
Education for Sustainability (EfS) is often considered, in many educational systems (UNESCO 2009), to be an integrative concept of environmental education
where the ecological dimension of environmental education is more strongly supplemented with social and economic dimensions (Kopnina 2014). In formal teaching this often means that ecological science content is mixed with interdisciplinary
P. Sund
Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Stockholm University,
Stockholm, Sweden
e-mail: per.sund@mnd.su.se
L. Sund
The School of Education, Culture and Communication, Malardalen University,
Västerås, Sweden
e-mail: louise.sund@mdh.se
N. Gericke
Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
e-mail: niklas.gericke@kau.se
D. Conti
Centre for Environmental Research, Documentation and Education CREDA, Monza, Italy
e-mail: daniela.conti@creda.it
G. Parra et al.