Academic literature on the topic 'Environmental education – Zambia – Case studies'

This research reports on two action research case studies of participatory materials development in two rural community contexts in Zambia, namely Chiawa and Nalusanga. It aims to explore and articulate the relationships between community-based environmental education and participatory materials development in the WWF Zambia Education Project context; clarify participatory materials development processes by identifying the roles of different ‘actors’ in these processes and identify and analyse the contextual and other factors that may influence development and use of environmental education materials in rural communities. These aims were explored by means of a number of action research cycles of inquiry in the two communities. The study also articulates the significance of considering ambivalent globalising influences such as international conferences, debates, overseas development aid, national policies and how these shape and influence materials development work in a local context. In order to gain more insight into the local contexts, I developed contextual profiles on the two communities. These capture the contextual factors that influenced the participatory materials development processes. They include issues such as language, ethnicity, literacy, power relations and the local social economy, amongst others. Although this study has been predominately guided by the socially critical orientation to research and education, I have drawn on aspects of other research orientations. I have also explored some of the emerging critiques of the socially critical orientation. The findings of this study reveal the different roles participants can play in participatory materials development; participatory materials development processes as a learning process; the dynamics of participation in an African context; the role of language and literacy in materials development; the need for open-ended process models of learning amongst adult learners and the importance of merging expert and local knowledge in participatory materials development. This study opens up possibilities for further exploration of participatory materials development processes within the WWF ZEP context and beyond.

This is a qualitative study whose purpose was to investigate the community radio education practices and the museum outreach education activities with a view to understanding how a museum-radio partnership may be used to engage the Livingstone community in environment and sustainability learning. Environment and sustainability issues require a community approach in order to bring about sustained responses to environmental challenges. As such, the study worked with social learning ideas of engaging the community in environment and sustainability learning. The data was generated mainly from face-to-face semi-structured interviews involving three community radio stations, Radio Listener Clubs and museum experts. The data generated was then presented to a strategy workshop involving the Livingstone Museum and Radio Musi-otunya staff. Arising from this workshop, recommendations were made about the possibility of the museum working in partnership with the radio to engage the community in environmental education. The study has shown that much of the museum environmental education activities have been confined to exhibitions and lectures within the museum building, which has affected the number of people being serviced by the museum. These education activities are arranged such that museum expert-led knowledge is presented to the audience with minimal community engagement on the environmental learning content. The study has also shown that community radio programming provides opportunities for community-led social learning which the Livingstone Museum could make use of to engage the community in environmental learning. Community radio programming allows community participation through Radio Listener Clubs, in identification and presentation of local environmental issues. This makes it a suitable tool to address locally relevant environmental issues, by the local community. Environmental issues are different from one place to another. Therefore environmental education approaches that bring issues into the museum may fail to address the different environmental education issues in different community context. The study concludes by recommending that Livingstone Museum should explore the use of community radio so that their expert knowledge and that of the radio producers could be used to shape environmental education programmes to go beyond awareness-raising.

The aim of this research project was to identify and measure the ZCAS brand in the higher education (HE) sector in Zambia and, through the study, identify areas for strengthening the brand‟s competitive position. ZCAS is earmarked for conversion into a university following the completion of a major infrastructure expansion project that has doubled its service delivery capacity. This transition requires rebranding and repositioning the institution as a university; and this research could play a significant role in this undertaking by providing insights into brand building in the Zambian HE sector. The research was carried out in two phases. The first research phase was a qualitative multiple case study designed to identify the principal branding elements in the Zambian HE market. Data were collected through three focus group discussions with first year students at ZCAS and twenty semi-structured interviews with marketing executives at ZCAS and twelve universities. Thematic and content analysis of the discussions and interviews revealed that the top five most considered HE branding factors in Zambia are teaching quality, fees, course availability, facilities and employability; while course availability, teaching quality and facilities emerged as the top three sources of competitive advantage. The study also revealed that the most consulted information sources about universities are print media, friends, education expos and electronic media, while the most prolific influencers of student choice are friends, parents and self. In the second research phase a conjoint questionnaire was administered to 390 first year students in eight HE institutions to establish ZCAS‟ competitive brand position in Zambia. Five principal branding attributes (i.e. teaching quality, fees, course availability, learning environment and employability) identified in the first research phase were employed in the conjoint analysis. The study revealed that ZCAS has a strong brand position because the most important elements in its brand model, i.e. course availability, teaching quality and facilities, are also the premier brand dimensions in the market. This study therefore adds to the increasing body of knowledge on HE branding, particularly in developing countries, by developing and then testing a brand orientation model for the Zambian HE market.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was contextualised in the broad process of change and transformation in education in South Africa In this study I investigate how SWAP (Schools Water Project) as a resource could possibly enable teachers to use the local environment as a means of promoting environmental learning in their classes: a professional development process for teachers. The purpose of this study is to understand and give meaning to the processes of professional development that might be made possible through using SWAP as suggestion materials for teaching about water quality issues in a local water source close to schools. This process was framed in my research question, "could an in-service process using SWAP as learning support material enable professional development in teachers working at rivers in a local environment?" It is organised as a number of delimited or bounded case studies within an interpretive paradigm. In this study the bounded systems are primary schools represented by a selection of teachers from the participating schools. The research process involved a short period of training for teachers to familiarise themselves with the resource, a supported field trip to provide an opportunity for hands on application and follow-up support visits to assist teachers with field trips and implementation of SWAP activities in their classroom practice. Data was generated at various stages and suggests that materials are an important facet of professional development and the SWAP materials proved to be a useful tool in this regard as evidenced through the development of new skills, acquisition of new knowledge and new ways of teaching. Issues that emerged were that in-service processes need to be organised over long periods of time and support is needed at school level to ensure meaningful implementation of curriculum innovations. An important insight developed is that professional development processes in schools occur in complex systems and are thus influenced by many factors that either support or hinder the process. These factors need to be recognised as impacting factors and taken into account during such processes so that they can benefit the process maximally and not hinder initiatives.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is globaal geraam binne die transformasie proses in onderwys in Suid Afrika, met die fokus op die nuutgevonde belangrikheid van omgewingsopvoeding in die hersiene Kurriulum 2005. Die studie fokus op hoe "n waterkwaliteitmoniteringstoetsstel (SWAP) moontlik kan bydra tot leerkragte se gebruik van die onmiddelike omgewing om omgewingsopvoeding in die klaskamer te bevorder; "n professionele ontwikkelingsproses vir leerkragte. Die doel van die studie is om die prosesse betrokke by die professionele ontwikkeling van leerkragte te verstaan, verklaar en daaraan betekenis te verleen. In die geval is die prosesse gekataliseer en ondersteun deur SWAP materiaal te gebruik om onderrig te gee oor waterkwaliteitknelpunte wat dalk bestaan rondom "n varswaterbron naby die skool. Hierdie proses word gestel in die navorsingsvraag: kan "n indiensopleidingsprogram wat SWAP as leerondersteuningsmateriaal aanwend bydra tot die professionele ontwikkeling van leerkragte om hulle onmiddelike omgewing as "n onderrigmiddel te gebruik? Verder, hoe verloop hierdie proses en wat verhinder of ondersteun die proses? Wat is die invloede op die leerkragte wat professionele ontwikkeling ondersteun of verhinder? Die navorsing is georganiseer in die vorm van 5 gevallestudies binne "n interpretivistiese navorsingsraamwerk. Die navorsingsproses het 'n kort werkswinkel vir leerkragte, "n uitstappie na hul naaste rivier waar hulle die toetse gedoen het en "n kritiese refleksie daarna, ingesluit. Die leerkragte is verder bygestaan deur opvolgbesoeke waar die fasiliteerder hul bygestaan het op uitstappies na die rivier en klasbesprekings. Data is gegenereer tydens verskeie stadiums van die proses en wys dat SWAP materiaal "n baie goeie ondersteuning was vir die ontwikkeling van nuwe vaardighede, die verkryging van nuwe kennis en die gebruik en ontwikkeling van nuwe strategiee in die klaskamer. Om sinvolle implementering van kurrikulum innovasies te verseker het ek gevind dat sulke professionele ontwikkelings projekte oor langer periodes geimplementeer moet word en dat gekonsentreerde ondersteuning by die skool nodig is om te verseker dat die indiensopleiding optimaalondersteun word. 'n Baie belangrike bevinding was dat die professionele ontwikkelingsproses plaas vind midde in die komplekse sisteem van 'n skool wat deur "n groot aantal faktore beinvloed word, beide ondersteunend of afbrekend. Hierdie faktore/invloede moet erken en in ag geneem word as beinvloedende faktore sodat die proses in leerkragte maksimaal kan gefasiliteer word.

This research was conducted in Luwero, a rural district in central Uganda, over a period of three years, half of which entailed fulltime engagement in a participatory action research process with VEDCO, an indigenous NGO. The study focuses on the educational processes involved in the translation of Uganda's environmental policy into action at community level. It looks at community-based education and development activities run by VEDCO among smallholder farmers. The study addressed four objectives. For the first objective I developed a conceptual framework through a review of theories informing education in general and environmental education, adult education, community education, and community development in particular. The second objective was to conduct a situational analysis to identify contextual issues related to policy implementation at community level. The third objective was to engage in a participatory action research process with the NGO in the farming community in response to the identified contextual issues, and the fourth was to explore and comment on environmental education methods used within a community context. PRA techniques, interviews, and other participatory data collection methods were used to generate the data. The study reveals contradictions that limit NGO capacity to make appropriate use of participatory education processes in implementing policy-related training at community level. Elements in the National Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture, for example, conflicted with the principle of sustainable development underlying the policy. VEDCO itself was changing from a social-welfare-oriented organisation into a commercial enterprise pursuing economic goals, which conflicted with its social goals. The capitalist development ideology of the donor was being adopted by VEDCO, which contradicted the goals of people-centred development. This was exacerbated by VEDCO's dependency on donor funds for its activities. Contextual issues like people's history; poverty, gender and inconsistent land policies further complicated the policy implementation processes. There were also inconsistencies in the epistemological assumptions and didactic approaches evident in the implementation. The study shows that the intended emancipatory education processes are more often supplanted by technicist methodologies. Thus, it exposes the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological tensions and contradictions within the field of education, particularly in relation to the `paradigmatic' orientations (neo-classical, liberal and socially critical/emancipatory) outlined in the literature. Conclusions are made at two levels: in relation to the study goals, of examining policy implementation at community level and in terms of the study's contribution to the understanding of current education theory in the context of sustainable development among communities.

Thesis (PhD) -- Stellenbosch University, 2001.<br>Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: My study investigates opportunities that may currently be available to enable the transformation of post-apartheid teacher education. I examine two case studies of my own professional practice. The first case study involves in-service education work that I performed with teachers in a local community, Grassy Park. The second case study represents work I performed with students in a pre-service education programme at the University of Stellenbosch. My study aims to: • Critically examine the implications of social issues, particularly environmental issues, for pedagogical practices generally and for South African pedagogical work in particular. • Critically review the changing socio-historical determinants of pedagogical practices in South African teacher education. • Investigate changing pedagogical practices by describing and reflecting on work done in my own professional contexts as a science/environmental teacher educator at a historically Afrikaner university. With respect to teacher education, Pendlebury (1998) argues that we are seeing shifts in public space, evaluative space, pedagogical space and institutional space from insulated space (hidden from public scrutiny) to a more porous space. In this study I am concerned with pedagogical space that, in Pendlebury's (1998:345) terms determines 'who may learn (or teach), how and what they learn (or teach), when and for how long and where'. I use these categories of Pendlebury (1998:345) together with Turnbull's (1997) perspectives on knowledge production as conceptual tools to frame my analyses of the cases. Although a significant part of my study focuses on classroom practices, I take pedagogy to have a much broader meaning that incorporates in Hernandez's (1997:11) terms 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and identities are formed'. This research report offers a brief insight into the complexities of change at the micro-level of classroom practices. But, importantly also contextualises these micro-level pedagogical practices within broader socio-historical determinants and provides praxiological comments on postapartheid education policies. The research also initiates an investigation into the social organisation of trust in post-apartheid South Africa.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie ondersoek ek die geleenthede vir die transformasie van onderwyseropleiding in die post-apartheidsera. Ek bespreek twee gevallestudies uit my eie professionele praktyk. Die eerste gevallestudie handel oor die indiensopleiding van onderwysers in Grassy Park, 'n plaaslike gemeenskap. Die tweede gevallestudie handel oor die werk wat ek met studente in 'n voorgraadse onderrigprogram aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch gedoen het. Die studie het die volgende ten doel: • 'n Kritiese ondersoek na die uitwerking van sosiale aspekte, met die klem op omgewingsaangeleenthede, op opvoedkundige praktyke in die algemeen en op die Suid- Afrikaanse opvoedkundige praktyk in die besonder. • 'n Kritiese oorsig oor die sosio-historiese veranderinge wat deeI vorm van die opleiding van Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysers. • 'n Ondersoek na veranderende opvoedkundige praktyke aan die hand van 'n beskrywing van en refleksie op my eie professionele werk as dosent in die wetenskap/omgewingsopvoeding aan 'n historiese Afrikaanse universiteit. Ten opsigte van onderwyseropleiding beweer Pendlebury (1998) dat verskuiwings in die publieke ruimte, evaluerende ruimte, pedagogiese ruimte en institusionele ruimte, plaasvind van 'n afgesonderde ruimte (verberg vir publieke waarnemimg/evaluasie) na 'n meer deursigtige ruimte. In hierdie studie fokus ek op die pedagogiese ruimte wat, volgens Pendlebury (1998:345), bepaal 'who may learn (or teach), how and what they learn (or teach), when and for how long and where'. Ek gebruik Pendlebury (1998: 345) se kategoriee saam met Turnbull (1997) se perspektiewe oor kennisproduksie as konseptuele raamwerk vir my analise van die twee gevallestudies. Alhoewel 'n beduidende gedeelte van my studie op klaskamerpraktyke fokus, moet die term pedagogie(k) volgens my 'n veel breer betekenis verband gesien word om ook Hernandez (1997: 11) se 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and identities are formed' intesluit. Hierdie navorsingsverslag lig die komplekse aard van transformasie op die mikro-vlak van klaskamerpraktyke toe. Van groot belang is ook die kontekstualisering van opvoedkundige praktyke op mikro-vlak binne die breer sosio-historiese veranderlikes en lewer praktykverwante kommentaar op die opvoedkundige beleid van die post-apartheidsera. Die navorsing dien ook as vertrekpunt om sosiale vertroue in die post-apartheids-Suid-Afrika te ondersoek.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>Bibliography<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of this study is on Biology teachers in selected Namibian schools. The researcher seeks to understand how Biology teachers implement Environmental Education (EE) as part of the Biology curriculum as is mandated in the curriculum policy. Literature indicates that the EE curriculum and the science curriculum are underpinned by different philosophical and pedagogical perspectives. This prompts the research questions, and the subsequent research reported on in this thesis. During a case study guided by a qualitative interpretive paradigm, Biology teachers and Biology advisory teachers are interviewed about their experiences and actions and invited to make suggestions. In addition curriculum document analysis and observation are used. The data point to the aspects that can facilitate the implementation of EE in the curriculum, However the implementation of EE is associated with many obstacles and challenges. Teachers struggle to implement EE because of an inadequate understanding of EE and its underlying philosophy. Further enhancement of EE will also require the reduction of tensions between policy and practice, logistic barriers, and the gap between EE and science, while increasing the involvement of teachers in curriculum development, collegiality among teachers and principals, teachers and advisory teachers’ knowledge of EE, teachers and advisory teachers’ curriculum understanding and professional support. Teachers cannot achieve the objectives of EE unaided; therefore the establishment of EE co-coordinators in schools is suggested, since schools have failed to implement EE without such support. In addition, it is suggested that activity systems be studied in totality and that boundaries be crossed to enrich the outcome of EE. . Subject advisors are mandated by the government to support teachers experiencing problems, and it is suggested that ideas linked to the activity systems and activity theory be investigated and implemented to solve the problems. This should improve the implementation of EE as part of science teaching in the schools where the study was conducted and in other schools.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die fokus van hierdie studie was op biologie-onderwysers in geselekteerde Namibiese skole. Die navorser probeer om te verstaan hoe biologie-onderwysers Environmental Education (EE) implementeer as deel van die biologie van die kurrikulum wat in die kurrikulum beleid mandaat. Literatuur dui daarop dat die EE kurrikulum en die wetenskap kurrikulum word ondersteun deur "anders" filosofiese en pedagogiese perspektiewe wat die navorsing vrae gevra, en die daaropvolgende projek berig in hierdie tesis. Het egter Biologie-onderwysers se pre-diens onderwys sluit nie EE. Tydens 'n gevallestudie gelei deur 'n kwalitatiewe interpretatiewe paradigma, is biologie-onderwysers en biologie raadgewende onderwysers ondervra oor hul ervarings, aksies en voorstelle. Kurrikulum dokumente is ontleed en waarnemings van onderwysers in klaskamers in Benewens onderhoude en dokument-analise is gebruik. Data dui daarop dat die implementering word omring deur baie struikelblokke en uitdagings. EE is beperk tot opvoeding oor die omgewing en word gelei deur wetenskapsfilosofie. Dit lyk asof daar 'n gebrek aan begrip van EE en sy onderliggende filosofie deur onderwysers. Die meeste onderwysers noem baie struikelblokke as struikelblokke tot die implementering en dit sluit in logistieke hindernisse, en die gaping tussen EE en wetenskap, 'n gebrek van die betrokkenheid van onderwysers in kurrikulumontwikkeling, 'n gebrek van kollegialiteit onder onderwysers en skoolhoofde, gebrek aan onderwysers en raadgewende onderwysers se kurrikulum begrip en professionele ondersteuning. Terwyl, dokument-analise het gewys op die spanning tussen beleid en praktyk. Verdere data wys na die aspekte wat kan ondersteun as die inlywing van EE in die kurrikulum EE implementering, Biologie word gesien as 'n goeie voertuig vir EE, onderwysers benaderings is kennis van leerder, onderwysers se houding teenoor die implementering is positief. Advisory onderwysers kennis van hul algemene verantwoordelikhede, maar hulle lyk nie te verstaan hoe dit is van toepassing in EE weens gebrek aan EE kennis. Onderwysers kan nie die doel bereik sonder hulp, dus die vestiging van EE mede-koördineerders in skole word voorgestel, aangesien skole het misluk EE te implementeer sonder ondersteuning. Daarbenewens word dit voorgestel dat die aktiwiteit stelsels in totaliteit bestudeer word en dat die grense oorgesteek om die uitkoms te verryk. In hierdie verband, vakadviseurs mandaat deur die regering om onderwysers te ondersteun wat hindernisse ervaar, en daar word voorgestel dat die idees gekoppel aan die aktiwiteit en aktiwiteit-teorie ondersoek word en geïmplementeer word om die hindernisse aan te pak. Dit moet EE implementering te verbeter as deel van die wetenskap-onderrig in die skole waar die studie gedoen is.