Whose Gap? Whose Mind? Plural Rationalities and Disappearing Academics

The article recognises the usefulness of the model advanced by Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002), but argues for the need to recognise that the key term 'pro-environmental behaviour' is problematic. Also, a further problem with the model lies in its failure to account adequately for the role of the researcher in determining criteria for pro-environmental behaviour which then become a basis for evaluating educational success. Using an approach developed originally within cultural anthropology, it is argued that the Kollmuss and Agyeman model might usefully also be considered with the directions of its arrows reversed, so accepting that the definitions of pro-environmental behaviour towards which individuals (and groups) are predisposed may impact upon their values, attitude, and so on. Such an approach enables the definitions towards which researchers themselves may be predisposed to be explored.     

Outdoor experiences and sustainability

Positive outdoor teaching and learning experiences and sound pedagogical approaches undoubtedly have contributed towards an understanding of environmental sustainability but it is not always clear how, and to what extent, education can translate into action. This article argues, with reference to social learning theory, that role modelling, mentoring and sustainable practice, by outdoor educators and using outdoor experiences, can contribute to pro-environmental action by offering an array of possibilities to engender pro-environmental behaviour. Pro-environmental behaviour is situated on the spectrum towards the realisation of a sustainable ‘lifestyle’, which implies a stronger and more committed intent, but might constitute too radical a shift with implied structural change. Using Cooper’s theoretical framework of ‘awareness, empowerment and commitment’, the place of role modelling through long-term mentoring in real, lived, outdoor environments that embrace pro-environmental behaviour is illustrated but further empirical research is required to substantiate the evidence base.     

Some Insights on the Gap

In our response to 'Mind the gap' by Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) we review contemporary pro-environmental behaviour research and perspectives. We apply a social processes vantage point to reveal a blindness to the historical origins of these perspectives. Through drawing on a case in an African context, we illuminate the way in which experts in institutional contexts come to etch instrumental perspectives, and thus we probe the limitations of instrumentalist assumptions associated with pro-environmental behaviour research and perspectives. We also point to ideological blind spots and blockages that persist in disallowing social politics and history to illuminate the complexities of human social habitus, and we reveal some of the complexities that have been set aside in the Kollmuss and Agyeman article.     

Intra-provincial inequality in financing compulsory education in China: exploring the role of provincial leaders (1994–2001)

Elitism argues that the values and experiences of the political elite shape policy, while institutionalism contends that an individual's behaviour is constrained by institutional settings. This article shows that both perspectives work well overall, while offering persuasive arguments, but the former is dominated by the latter. This explains the reluctance of leaders to equalize education if doing so means sacrificing their future promotion. Although provincial leaders have substantial influence on education equalization, such influence is the consequence of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) personnel regulations. Two distinct patterns are revealed: whereas governors, being more promotable, are more likely to be significantly constrained by the “promotion rule”, party secretaries, as more terminal officials, are more likely to be restricted by the “rule of retirement”. A heteroskedastic linear model that takes into account the influence of the speed of a leader's promotion on the variance of their behaviour shows that the “faster runners” – those who are more quickly promoted – in a hierarchy are also the faster learners in their institutions and their behaviour regarding education equalization is more convergent.     

Influence of an Environmental Studies Course on Attitudes of Undergraduates at an Engineering University

Studies suggest that at engineering universities, where the percentage of males and engineering majors is high, pro-environmental attitudes are likely to be weak and may not change. The 15-item New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was used to measure differences in student attitudes before and after an environmental studies course. Results revealed students held more pro-environmental attitudes about the validity of the ecological crisis, the existence of resource constraints, and the delicacy of nature's balance after the course. Students did not shift their views regarding the domination of humans over the environment or their belief in human ingenuity to overcome resource limits. Engineering majors showed weaker endorsement of the NEP compared to non-engineering majors, but the increase in their endorsement after the course was statistically significant.     

Promoting pro-environmental behaviour in a community in Singapore – from raising awareness to behavioural change

Abstract

Despite heightened awareness about climate change, individuals remain rather indifferent to the issue. The reasons being that many public education programmes rely essentially on information dissemination and do not help individuals understand the given information. The authors believe that there is potential of environmental education for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour. The proposed transformative education for climate change (TrEC) programme focuses on three elements (knowledge, skills and values) to help individuals understand environmental issues and to empower them to take pro-environmental action. This mixed method study was conducted in collaboration with various government agencies and 173 residents in a housing estate in Singapore. The findings suggest that with better understanding (knowledge) about the climate change issue, individuals can make informed decisions (attitude) and be encouraged to adopt pro-environmental behaviour (action).     

Caring about tomorrow: future orientation,environmental attitudes and behaviors

Almost any pro-environmental behavior arouses a temporal conflict, as protecting long-term interests requires the sacrifice of short-term ones. Similarly, many health promoting behaviors may involve present discomfort for the sake of future well-being. In both contexts, health or environmental, developed future orientation (FO) is required to succeed in achieving long-term goals. This study examined FO, measured by Zimbardo's time perspective inventory (ZTPI), in both contexts in a sample of 333 Israeli undergraduate students. FO correlated positively with health concern and behavior. In the environmental context, the results were different. Highly future-oriented (according to ZTPI) respondents did not express stronger pro-environmental attitudes, and their willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the environment was significantly lower. They adopted pro-environmental behavior only if it coincided with their personal benefit. The study suggests that the future of the environment may not be perceived in the same way as people's personal future health. The implications for environmental education and communication are discussed.     

Determinants of young Australians’ environmental actions: the role of responsibility attributions,locus of control,knowledge and attitudes

The current study investigates determinants of young Australians’ pro-environmental intentions and actions. Two samples of young people took part in the research: 12 - 17-year-olds (N = 1529) currently in secondary schooling and 18 - 24-year-olds (N = 2192) in post-secondary schooling or workforce. All participants completed an online ‘Youth and the Environment Survey’ that assessed perceived responsibility of community and government to protect the environment, locus of control, environmental concern, self-reported environmental knowledge, pro-environmental intentions, pro-environmental behaviour and environmentally harmful behaviour. Attributing greater responsibility to the community was related to more positive environmental intentions and actions, whereas, attributing greater responsibility to the government for environmental protection was related to more negative environmental intentions and behaviour. In addition, young people with higher environmental concern and knowledge, and a more internal locus of control in relation to the environment, reported stronger pro-environmental intentions and behaviour, and less environmentally harmful behaviour.     

Traversing the Gap: Concientización,educative-activism in environmental adult education

Although many individual behaviours have changed and a plethora of collective pro-environmental actions are taking place worldwide, environmental problems continue grow. From a framework of environmental adult education, I believe that by continuing to concentrate on behaviour modification and awareness-raising, we ignore the strengths, knowledge and power of people on the streets, as well as the larger structural and ideological problems at the root or environmental destruction. It is crucial that adult educators, those working with the 'public', acknowledge the serious and sometimes fatal risks of taking political action while encouraging the potential of people to make change through critically-focused educational-activist work.     

Australian Secondary Students’ Views About Global Warming: Beliefs About Actions, and Willingness to Act

A 44-item questionnaire was constructed to determine secondary students’ views about how useful various specific actions might be at reducing global warming, their willingness to undertake the various actions, and the extent to which these two might be linked. Responses (n = 500) were obtained from students in years 7 to 10 in three schools in NSW, Australia. For some pro-environmental actions, the degree to which students professed a willingness to act was greater than might be expected from the extent to which they believed the action to be useful. Such actions are those that involve minimal inconvenience such as switching off un-used electrical appliances, or those that are becoming well embedded in social practice, such as recycling. For other pro-environmental actions, the degree to which students were willing to act seemed less than might be expected, given the extent to which they believed the action to be useful. Actions concerning personal transport, such as buying smaller cars or using public rather than private transport, and obtaining more electricity from nuclear power stations, fell into this category. Here, there are disincentives to acting in a pro-environmental manner relating to personal inconvenience, or concern about nuclear power. The data were also explored to determine the strength of the relationships, for each action, between students’ professed willingness to act and their belief that an action would be effective. This suggested a measure of the potential effectiveness of education about that action. For some actions, this relationship was weak; in such cases, altering belief about the usefulness of the action might not be expected to produce major changes in behaviour. Issues concerning public transport were of this type; clearly, for issues such as these, other approaches and/or inducements may be needed to persuade people to adopt pro-environmental behaviour patterns. For other actions the relationship was stronger, so that in these areas environmental education could well be effective, especially if a large proportion of the population are not already willing to undertake that action.     

Gaps in Mind: Problems in environmental knowledge-behaviour modelling research

For decades, researchers in the social sciences and in education have sought to understand and map the factors that lead people to move (or to fail to move) from environmental knowledge to 'pro-environmental behaviour'. In this article, we explore some conceptual, epistemological, methodological and practical 'gaps' that seem to reproduce themselves in successive instantiations of this quest. The purpose of this article is to help build the critical perspective that comes with problematizing the very project of knowledge-behaviour modelling, identifying the positivistic residues still present in the enterprise, and suggesting that modelling may be more useful in domains of greater scale. Focusing on the 'Mind Gap' model developed by Kollmus and Agyeman (2002), we discuss the 'gap' between contemporary educational research and knowledge-behaviour modelling research that is the cumulative effect of (1) the critical thinking - 'behaviour change' gap; (2) the 'reflective practitioner - 'researcher as authority' gap; (3) the two literatures gap; (4) the conscious - non-conscious gap (tied to reason and habit in moral agency); (5) the direct action - indirect action gap (tied to privatizing environmental morality); (6) the gender gap; and (7) the internal - external gap (tied to ignoring the complexity of moral agency and cultural identity).     

From childhood nature experiences to adult pro-environmental behaviors: An explanatory model of sustainable food consumption

Abstract

In two studies, the role of nature experiences and social norms during childhood is explored next to adulthood biospheric values, connectedness to nature, environmental identity, and objective knowledge in relation to pro-environmental behaviors. Study 1 (N?=?185) tested the hypothesized model in the realm of general pro-environmental behaviors and sustainable fruit consumption on a sample of students. Study 2 (N?=?155) tested the model in the realm of sustainable seafood consumer choice on a general population sample. Path analyses show consistent results across samples. Results show that childhood nature experiences and exposure to pro-environmental social norms during childhood are related to adulthood development of connectedness with nature and biospheric values; these, in turn, help in shaping adulthood environmental self-identity ultimately influencing the enactment of sustainable food choices during adulthood. These findings point toward the relevance of childhood experiences for pro-environmental behaviors as compared to the provision of information. The role of objective knowledge across samples is inconsistent, thus requiring future investigations.     

A Risky Business? Mature Working-class Women Students and Access to Higher Education Correspondence : Diane Reay,Kings College London,UK. E-mail: Diane.reay@kcl.ac.uk

This article looks at the experiences of a small, qualitative sample of 12 working-class women attending an Access course in a large, inner-city further education college. The risks and costs involved in making the transition to higher education were evident in the women's narratives, and both material and cultural factors inhibiting their access to higher education are examined. The desire to 'give something back' which motivated all these women's attempts to move into higher education is discussed. The women were either juggling extensive labour market commitments or childcare and domestic responsibilities with studying. In such circumstances, when any sort of social life is sacrificed, what becomes visible is time poverty, and, in particular, a lack of time for 'care of the self'. Six of the women were lone mothers and it is further argued that complexities of marital status intersect with, and compound, the consequences of class. Beck's thesis of individualisation is used as a backdrop to the women's stories in order to highlight the costs of individualisation for the working classes, but also to problematise the discrepancies and disjunctures between projects of the self and the women's experiences of returning to education. The article concludes with an exploration of the consequences of a policy of widening access and participation for working-class mature women and suggests that, while currently all the change and transformation are seen to be the responsibility of the individual applicant, universities, especially those in the pre-1992 sector, need to change if they are to provide positive experiences for non-traditional students like the women in this study.     

Moulding urban children towards environmental stewardship: the Table Mountain National Park experience

The environmental integrity of many urban protected areas in developing countries is at risk and the important mission to reach out to people living close to them provides a special opportunity to spread the conservation message. Guided visitation to urban national parks with the necessary and appropriate interpretation can contribute towards environmental education in general and can also be the point of departure in nurturing environmental stewardship. The research reported here focuses on the evaluation of a three-day nature-learning experience by schoolchildren to Table Mountain National Park. Data were collected through pre- and post-visit questionnaires and supplemented by informal discussions with learners and teachers. It was found that the environmental interpretive programme had a minimal impact on the learners’ environmental knowledge, it had a reasonable impact on the pro-environmental attitudes but the findings also indicated that the behavioural impacts were limited. Other important findings were related to behaviours of learners towards environmental issues in general and critical areas in simple pro-environmental behaviour that could be emphasised in future edutainment experiences to contribute more substantially towards moulding stewardship behaviour among young school children.     

Hope and climate change: the importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people

Although many young people think climate change is an important societal issue, studies indicate that pessimism is quite common. Finding ways to instill hope could therefore be seen as vital. However, is hope positively related to engagement or is it only a sign of illusory optimism? The aim of the study was to explore if hope concerning climate change has a significant relation to pro-environmental behavior as well as an impact on behavior when controlling for already well-known predictors such as values, social influence, knowledge, and gender. Two questionnaire studies were performed, one with a group of Swedish teenagers (n?=?723) and one with a group of Swedish young adults (n?=?381). ‘Constructive’ hope had a unique positive influence on pro-environmental behavior. Hope based on denial, however, was negatively correlated with pro-environmental behavior in the two samples and was a significant negative predictor in the teenage group. The conclusion is that hope is not only a pleasant feeling but could also work as a motivational force, if one controls for denial. Implications for education concerning sustainable development are discussed.     

The impact of childhood reading on the development of environmental values

Direct experiences of nature are becoming less common in our urbanised world and little research exists regarding the impact of less direct experiences, particularly how childhood reading relates to the development of pro-environmental values. This study differs from previous reports into the influence of books, as it concentrates on the potential influence of fiction rather than factual or scientific texts. This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with 31 educators at Eastern Australian Environmental Education Centres to understand the relationship of childhood reading and value development. Findings reveal that participants: (a) recall predominantly fictional reading material; (b) recall stories by Tolkien, Blyton and Rowling as pro-environmental influences; and (c) commonly exhibit the counter-intuitive influence of fantasy/SF stories in their formative years. Stories will never replace authentic childhood experiences in the natural environment; however, judicious use of appropriate stories could be a valuable teaching strategy as readers often unquestioningly accept information from stories.     

Promoting pro-environmental attitudes and reported behaviors of Malaysian pre-service teachers using green chemistry experiments

Environmental degradation is a general problem but it is often more serious in developing nations where levels of awareness are lower than in industrialized countries. There is, therefore, a need particularly in developing countries to increase pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. In this paper, we report the results of a quasi-experimental study designed to change environmental attitudes and environmental behaviors among 263 science pre-service teachers. The treatment consisted in the form of a green chemistry curriculum. We found statistically reliable changes in environmental attitudes, as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm, and in eight self-reported environmental behaviors. The Bayesian t-test suggests that the evidence for the changes to have been the result of the green chemistry curriculum is decisive. We conclude that the green chemistry curriculum constitutes a suitable context: (a) for supporting pre-service teachers in their development of pro-environmental attitudes and (b) for changing the levels of self-reported pro-environmental actions.     

Post-metatheorizing Environmental Behaviours in Environmental Education

A five-participant dialogue is constructed using Kollmuss and Agyeman's (2002) model of pro-environmental behaviour, Stern's (2000) coherent theory of environmentally significant behaviour, the Hart and Nolan (1999) and Rickinson (2001) critical reviews of the environmental education research literature and this repondent's views. The dialogue demonstrates how metatheoretical development might selectively sensitize and circumstantially advance the practical aspirations of environmental education.     

Environmental Education for Behaviour Change: Which actions should be targeted?

One aim of environmental education is to enable people to make informed decisions about their environmental behaviour; this is particularly significant with environmental problems that are believed to be both major and imminent, such as climate change resulting from global warming. Previous research suggests no strong link between a person's general environmental attitudes and knowledge, and his or her willingness to undertake pro-environmental actions, so this study focuses on some specific issues. Using survey methods to produce quantitative data about students' beliefs concerning the usefulness of specific actions and their willingness to adopt them, novel indices have been constructed that indicate the potential of education to increase students' willingness to undertake those actions. The findings imply that altering a student's belief about certain issues will have little effect on their willingness to act. This can be because most students, even those with only a weak belief in the efficacy, are prepared to take action anyway. Conversely, it can be because a majority, including those convinced about the efficacy, are not prepared to take action. Education about such actions, where there is only a weak link between believed effectiveness and willingness to act, may be ineffective in terms of changing practice, because other factors such as social norms and situational influences dominate. For such actions other strategies may be required. For another set of actions, however, the benefits of education in changing practice seemed more positive; increasing recycling, reducing the use of artificial fertilisers and planting more trees are examples.     

Men in academic school psychology: A national survey

There is a paucity of research examining the experiences and perceptions of men employed as school psychology academicians. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain male school psychology academicians' perceptions of their respective academic climates, levels of support, incidences of harassment, and levels of stress, and to compare these results with a previous survey conducted with women in similar positions. A total of 146 male school psychology academicians (41% response rate) completed the 48‐item survey entitled, “Men in School Psychology: Academia Questionnaire.'' The findings suggested that men were more likely than women to indicate that climate and opportunities within their department were equal, whereas women indicated that the climate and opportunities tend to favor men. When men indicated that inequalities exist, they reported believing that women were favored. Results are discussed in terms of implications for faculty in school psychology. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.