Progressive approaches to primary environmental education in a case study primary school in Tehran

Abstract

© 2011 Ghazal YazdanpanahIt is widely accepted that the principles of the humanistic approach to primary education are in harmony with the critical and transformative goals of contemporary EE and that there is much hope for such educational approaches to meet the global needs and expectations for incorporation of a critical teaching for the environment through primary education. In recent years NGOs in Iran have been involved in the formation of private pre and primary schools which pursue progressive approaches to education. The problems of environmental degradation in Iran, and the vital role which primary Environmental Education (EE) could play in progressive education in promoting awareness and expanding the culture of environmental protection, are investigated in this study in one of these progressive schools in Tehran. Through analysing students’ conversations while they were engaged in an environmental project using Pronoun Grammar Analysis informed by Positioning Theory, the culture of EE at one school was explored in terms of institutional values and social norms. The sources students draw upon to gain knowledge about and make meaning of environmental issues were also explored