CREATING HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH CHILDREN – AN ACTION COMPETENCE APPROACH
Abstract
Drawing on a case study of a school in a low-income neighbourhood of an urban area in Botswana, the broader aim of this article is to explore opportunities available for developing learners’ action competence (i.e. their abilities to make decisions and act more independently or collectively) (Jensen & Schnack, 2006) to respond to environmental health issues in their school. Using focus group interviews and observations, selected primary school children are used in the study. The study further demonstrates how children can actually undertake action-oriented initiatives with the aim of developing some sense of purpose in these initiatives to improve their school environmental health.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
References
Breiting, S., Hedegaard, K., Mogensen, F., Nielsen, K., & Schnack, K. (2009). Action competence, Conflicting interests and Environmental education – The MUVIN Programme. Copenhagen, Danish University of Education. www.dpu.dk/site.aspx?p=3910.
Carlsson, M. & Jensen, B. B. (2006). Encouraging Environmental Citizenship: The Roles and Challenges for Schools. In Dobson, A. & Bell D. (Eds.), Environmental Citizenship. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 237-261.
Chawla, L. & Cushing, D. F. (2007). Education for strategic environmental behaviour. Environmental Education Research 13(4), 437-452.
Greene, S. & Hogan, D. (2006). (Eds). Researching Children’s Experience: Methods and Approaches. London: Sage Publications.
Gwebu, T. D. (2003). Environmental problems among low income urban residents: an empirical analysis of Old Naledi-Gaborone, Botswana. Habitat International 27(3), 407–427.
Hart, R. A. (1997). Children’s participation: The theory and practice of involving young citizens in community development and environmental care. London: Earthscan.
Hennessy, E. & Heary, C. (2006) Exploring Children’s Views through Focus Groups. In Greene, S. & Hogan, D. (Eds), Researching Children’s Experience: Methods and Approaches. London, Sage, 236-252.
Jensen, B. B. (1997). A case of two paradigms within health education. Health Education Research, Theory & Practice. 12(4), 419 – 428.
Jensen, B. B. (2002). Knowledge, action and pro-environmental behaviour. Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 325-334.
Jensen, B. B. (2004) Environmental and health education viewed from an action-oriented perspective: a case from Denmark. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(4), 405–425.
Jensen, B. B. & Nielsen, K. (2003). Action-Oriented Environmental Education: Clarifying the Concept of Action. Journal of Environmental Education Research. 1(1), 173-194.
Jensen, B. B. & Schnack, K. (2006). The action competence approach in environmental education. Environmental Education Research 12(3&4), 471 – 486.
Ketlhoilwe, M. J. (2007). Environmental education policy interpretation challenges in Botswana schools. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 24, 171-184.
Masson, J. (2000). Researching Children’s Perspectives: Legal Issues. In Lewis, A. & Lindsay, G. (Eds.), Researching Children’s Perspectives. Open University Press, Buckingham.
Maundeni, T. (2002). Seen But Not Heard?: Focusing on the Needs of Children of Divorced Parents in Gaborone and Surrounding Areas, Botswana. Childhood, 9, 277-302.
Mogensen, F. & Schnack, K. (2010). The action competence approach and the 'new' discourses of education for sustainable development, competence and quality criteria. Environmental Education Research, 16(1), 59-74.
Molebatsi, C. (1998). Urban Environmental Problems in Botswana. In Atlhopheng, J., Molebatsi, C., Toteng E., & Totolo, O. (Eds.), Environmental Issues in Botswana – A Handbook. Gaborone: Lightbooks. 131-155.
Nkate, J. D. (1999). Statement at the Hague Forum for the Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. The Hague, 8 -12 February, 1999.
Osei-Hwedie, K. (2004). Poverty Eradication in Botswana: Towards the Realisation of Vision 2016. Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies, 18(1), 7-18.
Rogoff, B. (1995). Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, and apprenticeship. In J. V. Wertsch, P. Del Rio, & A. Alvarez (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind. New York: Cambridge University Press. 139-164.
Rogoff, B. & Wertsch, J. V. (Eds.) (1984). Children’s Learning in the “Zone of Proximal development”. London: Jossey-Bass.
Roth, W. M. (2004). Activity theory and education: An introduction. Mind, Culture and Activity, 11(1), 1-8.
Schnack, K. (2008). Participation, Education and Democracy: Implications for Environmental Education, Health Education and Education for Sustainable Development. In Reid, A., Jensen, B. B., Nikel, J. & Simovska, V. (Eds.), Participation and Learning: Perspectives on Education and the Environment, Health and Sustainability. Copenhagen: Springer.181-196
Silo, N. (2012) A contradiction between Tswana authoritarian culture and democratic learner participation in environmental learning activities. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 4, (1)
Silo, N. (2011). Children’s Participation in Waste Management Activities as a Place-Based Approach to Environmental Education. Children, Youth and Environments 21(1) 128-148
Tabulawa, R. (1997). Pedagogical Classroom Practice and the Social Context: The Case of Botswana. International Journal of Educational Development, 17(2), 189-204.
Toteng, E. N. (2001). Urban Environmental Management in Botswana: Toward a Theoretical Explanation of Public Policy Failure. Environmental Management. 28(1), 19–30.
Tudge, J. & Hogan, D. (2006). An Ecological Approach to Observations of Children’s Everyday Lives in Greene, S. & Hogan, D. (Eds.), Researching Children’s Experience: Methods and Approaches. London, Sage. 103-122.
UNDP, (2005). Botswana Human Development Report. Harnessing Science and Technology for Human Development. Gaborone, PPCB.
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001252/Botswana_HDR_2005.pdf (retrieved 03/04/2008)
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (4th ed.). London: Sage.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v0i0.265
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 Nthalivi Silo, Mswela Naledi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).