Facilitation in Education "for" the Environment

Overview & Synopsis

The concept of education "for" the environment is well documented in the literature but is apparently less common in practice. Some of the reasons provided for this rhetoric-reality gap include: the controversial and political nature of the subject, the difficulty of empowering students into meaningful action, the challenge of using innovative methods, the difficulties associated with values education, and deficiencies in teacher preparation. Advocates of education "for" the environment encourage teachers to use student centred, experiential approaches yet provide little guidance to teachers on how to effectively utilise these approaches in their programs. There is a growing body of literature in the field of facilitation that is directly applicable to student-centred, experiential, environmental education. This paper will seek to demonstrate the relevance of facilitation skills, knowledge and experience to the effective implementation of education "for" the environment. (Contains 1 figure and 3 endnotes.)