250
15.3.2 Description of the Education for Environmental
Citizenship Pedagogical Approach
It is important here to identify the pedagogy that needs to be at the heart of Education
for Environmental Citizenship and can adequately promote the EEC Model. The
suggested pedagogical approach is one of the possible venues that could promote
Education for Environmental Citizenship. Of course other pedagogical approaches
could also be proved suitable to promote Education for Environmental Citizenship.
The starting point is a local environmental problem which draws on students’ interests and concerns, a problem that their community faces and they feel that they have
to do something about it. A starting point could also be a global environmental
problem with some local symptoms making students feel relevant and able to act as
agents of change as described earlier in the chapter. Students’ interests could be
stimulated using prompts such as pictures, videos, controversial news items.
The Education for Environmental Citizenship Pedagogical Approach includes
six (6) stages: Inquiry, Planning actions, Critical & active engagement and Civic
participation, Networking & Sharing in Scales (local, national, global), Sustain
Environmental & Social Change, and finally Evaluation & Reflection (see Fig. 15.6).
These stages are not in a strict linear sequence and an entry point can be any one of
the six which feeds better to the case. Each of these stages includes different steps
which all together integrate the Education for Environmental Citizenship
Pedagogical Approach as a comprehensive and holistic pedagogy. However, it is
important to emphasise that for either a teacher or student team it is not compulsory
to apply all the steps that are proposed below.
Inquiry stage includes five (5) steps: Data collection and analysis, Structural
causes, Inter- & Intra-generational injustice, Value clarification, and Outdoor placebased activities. During this stage students are going to carry out the data collection
and analysis which are necessary for the exploration of the environmental problem
studied. These data are important in order to have scientific evidence for their argumentation. Examples include data regarding the ecological importance of the relevant ecosystem, biodiversity data, climatic data, or social and economic data related
to the environmental problem studied. In addition, students should gain some information regarding the structural causes of the environmental problem under study.
For example, ineffective environmental laws or ineffective procedures to protect
nature, conflicting interests for a development or prioritising economic development against the protection of the environment. An important step for students at
this stage is to examine cases of Inter- & Intra-generational injustice relevant to the
environmental problem in focus. For example, students could observe accumulation
of wealth to specific developers (Intra-generational injustice) or infringement of
environmental rights and duties or even that future generations will be deprived of
some ecosystemic services (Inter-generational injustice). Value clarification is also
important at this stage. Students raise fundamental questions relating to the underlying values behind the environmental problem studied. For example, which values
underpin various stakeholder groups’ dispositions (e.g. developers, students,
A. Ch. Hadjichambis and D. Paraskeva-Hadjichambi
15.3.2 Description of the Education for Environmental
Citizenship Pedagogical Approach
It is important here to identify the pedagogy that needs to be at the heart of Education
for Environmental Citizenship and can adequately promote the EEC Model. The
suggested pedagogical approach is one of the possible venues that could promote
Education for Environmental Citizenship. Of course other pedagogical approaches
could also be proved suitable to promote Education for Environmental Citizenship.
The starting point is a local environmental problem which draws on students’ interests and concerns, a problem that their community faces and they feel that they have
to do something about it. A starting point could also be a global environmental
problem with some local symptoms making students feel relevant and able to act as
agents of change as described earlier in the chapter. Students’ interests could be
stimulated using prompts such as pictures, videos, controversial news items.
The Education for Environmental Citizenship Pedagogical Approach includes
six (6) stages: Inquiry, Planning actions, Critical & active engagement and Civic
participation, Networking & Sharing in Scales (local, national, global), Sustain
Environmental & Social Change, and finally Evaluation & Reflection (see Fig. 15.6).
These stages are not in a strict linear sequence and an entry point can be any one of
the six which feeds better to the case. Each of these stages includes different steps
which all together integrate the Education for Environmental Citizenship
Pedagogical Approach as a comprehensive and holistic pedagogy. However, it is
important to emphasise that for either a teacher or student team it is not compulsory
to apply all the steps that are proposed below.
Inquiry stage includes five (5) steps: Data collection and analysis, Structural
causes, Inter- & Intra-generational injustice, Value clarification, and Outdoor placebased activities. During this stage students are going to carry out the data collection
and analysis which are necessary for the exploration of the environmental problem
studied. These data are important in order to have scientific evidence for their argumentation. Examples include data regarding the ecological importance of the relevant ecosystem, biodiversity data, climatic data, or social and economic data related
to the environmental problem studied. In addition, students should gain some information regarding the structural causes of the environmental problem under study.
For example, ineffective environmental laws or ineffective procedures to protect
nature, conflicting interests for a development or prioritising economic development against the protection of the environment. An important step for students at
this stage is to examine cases of Inter- & Intra-generational injustice relevant to the
environmental problem in focus. For example, students could observe accumulation
of wealth to specific developers (Intra-generational injustice) or infringement of
environmental rights and duties or even that future generations will be deprived of
some ecosystemic services (Inter-generational injustice). Value clarification is also
important at this stage. Students raise fundamental questions relating to the underlying values behind the environmental problem studied. For example, which values
underpin various stakeholder groups’ dispositions (e.g. developers, students,
A. Ch. Hadjichambis and D. Paraskeva-Hadjichambi