This paper was originally written as part of my Masters of Education study of environmental education on Rottnest Island, Western Australia. This paper describes an initial observation exercise employing ethnographic research techniques to reveal the motivations, culture and world view of the Rottnest Voluntary Guides, a group of people who volunteer their time to conduct free environmental tours for the public visiting the Island.

This observation exercise was followed up by an in-depth study, involving interviews with individual Guides, in an attempt to learn: how members of the group construct their world; what assumptions they make; what it is to be a member of that group; and why they chose to spend their time with the group.

Attempts to model the learning process in environmental education were seriously pursued during the latter part of the 1970's (Greenall Gough 1993) and became a preoccupation with many researchers during the 1980's. This article which contributes to this body of research reports on a study undertaken between 1988 and 1994 (Mahony 1994). The project focused on a process antecedent to the above model, namely the manner by which a person comes to understand and relate to his or her environment, on the premise that a viable environmental education should be based on this foundation.

This study of an adult rural population in the Wollombi Valley of NSW, Australia, combined a contextual historical survey with a qualitative field study derived from an interpretivist paradigm. It identified four intuitive and experiential ways of knowing which constituted well defined ideologies and for which the term ‘positions’ was adopted to convey an idea of their existential and entrenched character. The positions were designated Men of the Land, Earth People, Other Agenda Folk and Unaligned Individuals.

The development of an innovative environmental education program for teachers was the direct outcome of a doctoral study of land degradation in Australia (Stadler 1989). The Landcare for Teachers Program arose from my research into the issue of land degradation within an historical and policy context and found a need for knowledge and understanding among the wider population. The thesis argued for the role of education as a positive long-term strategy to change the attitudes and behaviour of the Australian community towards the environment.

Landcare for Teachers was developed at the University of Tasmania by the author in 1990 with National Landcare Program (NLP) funding. It has operated there successfully since and has been extended to other states from 1993. Teachers are a key target group due to their ability to transfer their knowledge and skills to the next generation of land managers and decision makers and to their multiplier effect. Yet while their work has become more demanding and complex, morale among teachers is low and the profession has poor community support (Schools Council 1990, p. 3). The educational program described in this paper was designed to provide teachers with little or no background in science with a basic understanding of the need to care for the environment and the skills and confidence to pass that understanding on to their own students.

Environmental education seeks to involve people in solving environmental problems. Hence, some environmental educators facilitate programs that focus on the development of skills through direct involvement in action programs, such as Waterwatch. However, many people do not feel confident and/or skilled to initiate, plan or undertake action projects. Therefore, environmental educators also facilitate programs that focus on helping people develop the motivation, skills and confidence to engage in action programs, such as A Council of All Beings. Facilitation of these two different forms of programs needs to build on the strengths and capabilities of the people involved so that their skills and perception of themselves as agents of change are enhanced (Kieffer 1984). Effective facilitation skills are essential for environmental educators because they often deal with contested issues, want to foster critical thinking among people and often mediate between community, government and individuals. The purpose of this paper is to: (a) demonstrate the relationship between empowerment, facilitation and social change; and (b) report on an action research process in which I sought to improve my skills in facilitation by using the program A Council of All Beings.

This particular case study looks at the problem of curriculum and professional development in environmental education at a small semi rural primary school in south western Victoria. In this paper the ‘study’ refers to the case study research at Elliminyt Primary School and the ‘project’ refers to a wider OECD-CERI ENSI project which included many other case studies other than the one described here.

To date there is a lack of research literature which indicates how environmental education is best implemented for people with a hearing loss and the contributions environmental education can make to their education and personal development. This research study focuses on environmental education for deaf students, taking into account low self-concept experienced by deaf individuals.

It should be noted that the terms ‘deaf’ and/or ‘hearing-impaired’ are used by authors for their descriptions of people with a hearing loss. These terms may be distinguished as follows:

In recent years, there has been a growing global movement towards sustainable development (defined in the Brundtland report Our Common Future as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED 1987)). Indeed, the Brundtland report, along with the revised World Conservation Strategy (IUCN 1990) and Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992) all place high expectations on environmental education as a key means of achieving sustainability. Changes for sustainability will affect individual lifestyles, and attitudes to, and relationships with nature, and education is a critical part of turning the idea of sustainable development into reality (Slocombe & van Bers 1991, p. 12). In arguing that our children should be educated for sustainable development, we must evaluate the arguments about sustainability and see what role environmental education has to play.

Jickling (1992, pp. 6-7) claims that various attempts to analyse the meaning of the term sustainable development have resulted in a ‘conceptual muddle’ which precludes the possibility of accepting any educational prescription for it. However, in drawing this conclusion, he appears to have neglected the alternative conceptions of sustainable development that have been proposed (Fien & Trainer 1993a, p. 14) and the values basis underlying them and, thereby, has not provided a critical direction for a pathway to sustainability.

There has been a major effort in Australian academic circles over the past fifteen years to develop a critical discourse in environmental education curriculum, pedagogy, history, and research (Henry et al 1981, Di Chiro 1987, Gough 1987, 1994, Robottom 1987, Greenall 1987, Fien 1993 a,b, Greenall Gough 1993, Robottom & Hart 1993). This discourse is critical of ‘mainstream’ approaches to environmental education that are alleged to be positivist, behaviourist, masculinist, and instrumentalist. Internationally, environmental educators have also considered various shortcomings of environmental education. There is general concern about unrealised aspirations, unrealistic expectations, definitional problems, values issues, conceptual obfuscation and questionable research endeavours (Brennan 1979, Disinger 1979, 1985, Williams 1979, Baer 1980, 1981, 1985, Knapp 1983, Roth 1988, Iozzi 1989 a,b, Gigliotti 1990, Marcinkowski 1990, Wals, Beringer & Stapp 1990, Ham & Sewing 1992, Leming 1992, Pinar & Bowers 1992, Ramsey, Hungerford & Volk 1992). Consequently, it can be asserted there are practical deficiencies of a moral, social, political, and ecological nature. If so, one conclusion about the development of the field of environmental education is that it is problematic and often contradictory.

This study was undertaken to examine the ways, and to what extent, boys and girls entering school have positioned themselves in relation to discourses about the environment and the implications this has for environmental education. I was inspired by Davies (1989) and Davies' and Banks' (1992) studies of the ways in which gender was constituted through the discursive practices of girls and boys and the ‘… political implications of the ways in which children are constrained by the dominant gender discourses …’ (Davies and Banks 1992, p. 2). I was also influenced by the current ecofeminist scholarship that looks at the political implications of the perceived right in Western cultures to dominate the non-human.

While I am anxious to avoid labelling the children as masculine and feminine based on their biological sex it is interesting to note that in my study of young children's perceptions of environment the discourses of male ‘culture’ ascendancy were more often taken up by boys, while the marginalised discourses that opposed culture as ascendant were more often taken up by girls. I am concerned with the implications of these gendered constructions of environment for girls, nature and environmental education reform.

The aim of the doctoral study outlined in this paper is to contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning of environmental education. The significance of environmental education as a strategy to address environmental problems has been documented widely in Australia and overseas. This study shows that as a strategy to solve such problems its success so far has been questionable.

The study assumes that there is a problem in the teaching and learning of environmental education and that the policy document, Environmental Education Curriculum Statement K-12 (New South Wales Department of Education, 1989) has not been adequately implemented.