Research publications

This study is to explore the relationship between transformational leadership and teacher commitment to ESD, and to examine the mediating effect of CTE in this relationship. This study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on ESD and teacher commitment by examining the role of leadership and collective efficacy in shaping teacher attitudes towards ESD. By exploring the mediating effect of CTE, this study seeks to provide insights into the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between transformational leadership and teacher commitment to ESD. To attain the objective, the study employed cross-sectional approach through quantitative method through survey and analyse using Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). This research is using the Bandura’ Social cognitive theory and Leithwood & Jantzi (2000) Transformational Leadership Six Factors. The study will involve 48 schools with 470 teachers as respondents from all Eco-Schools in Malaysia that won either Green Flag, Silver, and Bronze Award.

The paper deals with the topic of participatory environmental education and how this approach support students toward active and environmental citizenship. This research aims at evaluating the programme Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE), using qualitative research to reveal its strengths and weaknesses. It will help individual YRE Coordinators, as well as FEE to enhance YRE towards the development of important competences for a sustainable future. Planned interviews with students can reveal the motivations for engaging and staying in the programme, as well as the impact of engagement on their daily and school life. This can potentially motivate other young people to join the programme. The other interviewed group is coordinators and lecturers. Two different groups of participants in research ensure the reveal and identification of differences between settled methodology and daily reality of the program. In addition, the thesis will contribute to the development of knowledge on participatory environmental education at the science level.

This dissertation project focusses on the intersection between climate change (SDG 13) and quality education (SDG 4) in six Rwandan schools facing severe challenges in what the UN is terming the ‘triple education crises’ of inclusion, quality and relevance (UN, 2023). The project presents the results of a relational knowledge co-creation research project conducted by the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS) with 240 partners, and teachers, learners and parents in six Rwandan schools to gain a shared understanding of the education and climate change challenges and co-create solutions using the Eco-Schools problem-based learning pedagogy. The research reveals a negative relationship happening at the intersection between climate change and quality education which is interrupting successful implementation of both the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC), and the School Feeding Programme policies of the Government of Rwanda, affecting national progress toward SDG 4 and SDG 13.

However, by integrating climate action projects in the CBC, with practical skills and knowledge from parents and wider community members, education barriers caused by poor school conditions, and poor nutrition, health and comfort of learners are being removed, whilst the quality and relevance of teaching and learning in schools is being improved. While the transformative vision of education as a ‘new social contract’ (UNESCO, 2020) has been called unrealistic, this research aims to demonstrate how the Eco-Schools programme can reverse the negative relationship between climate change and quality education and support schools to simultaneously address the triple crisis of inclusion, quality, and relevance.

FEE have had great success internationally with the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programme. However, the uptake of the programme in Northern Ireland has not been as high as expected. This study will investigate what barriers existed within school that deter teachers from undertaking extra-curricular activities and environmental initiatives within their school. A semi-structured interview protocol will be used to examine the pressures that teachers face within school that prevent them becoming involved in the programme. Furthermore, their knowledge of YRE, the culture within their school, attitudes towards environmental initiatives and the influence of their school leaders will be explored. The aim of the study is to understand what challenges teachers are faced with when they are making the decision about whether or not to participate in the programme.

This research investigates teachers’ understanding of Circular Economy (CE) and their perceptions of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) pedagogies. Project proposals sent as applications to the Foundation for Environmental Education’s Educational Grants for Circular Economy Projects are analyzed. This thesis examines the extent to which teachers’ perception of CE correspond to current definition of the concept, and establishes whether pedagogies that teachers plan to use for their projects are appropriate according to current ESD pedagogies standards. The analysis uses two analytical frameworks, respectively based on Kirchherr et al.’s definition of CE, and Eilam and Trop’s ESD pedagogical framework. Results show that teachers’ understanding of CE is incomplete, and that the concept is often reduced to the notions of waste and recycling. Moreover, the pedagogies that teachers plan to use for their project were not appropriate according to current standards of ESD pedagogy. Several explanations are discussed, including the possible influence of cultural and socioeconomic contexts on teachers’ understanding of CE and ESD pedagogies, as well as possible misconceptions regarding the abilities of young children to understand complex environmental issues. Finally, results prove that the association between understanding of CE and teachers' use of ESD pedagogies is non-systematic. This implies that the level of understanding of SD themes does not impact the quality of ESD pedagogies used to teach about such themes, and vice-versa.

Over the past decades, implementing Eco-Schools programmes as a means of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has gained recognition from governments worldwide. Nevertheless, the programme’s impact was mainly discussed on the environmental dimension, and few were from a holistic perspective that addressed sustainable development as a whole. Therefore, this study aimed to fill the gap by investigating students’ differences in sustainability consciousness between Eco-Schools and ordinary schools. Sustainability consciousness unifies sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes, and sustainability behaviours from the sustainability dimensions of the environment, society, and economy. In total, 104 students in sixth grade from five schools in Finland participated in this study. The Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ) was used to answer the research questions. The participants were selected through convenience sampling and volunteer sampling methods. The results of t-test and Mann Whitney U test revealed significant differences in students’ sustainability consciousness and its subconstruct of sustainability behaviours, where students from Eco-Schools reported better scores than their counterparts in ordinary schools. The whole-school approach was highlighted as a possible explanation in the discussion. Moreover, the results also showed that compared with sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes were more important in bringing about behavioural changes. Several innovative pedagogies focusing on attitudes and behaviours were discussed in the implications. This study not only provides a reference for the stakeholders involved in the Eco-Schools programme but also contributes to the advancement of ESD locally

Anu Nieminen conducted her master thesis comparing Eco-School and non Eco-School secondary students in Nairobi and analyzing their difference of attitudes and behaviour towards environment.

The increased urban population growth together with the nowadays time allocation preferences are separating people from nature. In the light of the actual climate crisis humanity is facing, promoting a more environmental conscious society is crucial. Environmental education programmes have the potential to reconnect society with nature, but for doing it that it is necessary to be able to measure this connection. In this thesis, the main benefits from the connection with nature were identified, as well as a measurement tool identified, translated, and tested in Spanish-speaking countries participating in the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) Eco-Schools programme. An analysis of the potentials of this measurement tool and the Spanish speaking teachers view on the human-nature connection was executed, showing both positive and promising results.

Nowadays the humankind strives to reach higher and higher standards of living, disregarding the consumption of natural resources in their comfort and failing to think about what they will leave behind for the future generations. As the person’s quality of life depends on the environment in which he lives, it is important to change his environmental awareness in the context of sustainable development. The younger is the person, the easier it is to develop environment-friendly behaviour in him. Eco-school is one of the ways of “greening” students’ thinking. The aim of the study has been to find out how students’ environmental awareness is developed in Biology lessons in Grade 7, basing on education for sustainability goals, objectives and cross-cutting sustainable development key competencies. A study has been performed in eco-school A in 2018 involving 38 students in it. During the study the year topic of the eco-school “Waste” was integrated in 11 Biology lessons using diverse teaching/learning methods; students were surveyed and they also did a test. The obtained data were processed using SPSS programme. The results showed that students’ environmental awareness had improved: the level of knowledge and skills had increased; the choice of an environment-friendly behaviour had changed a little. However, the acquisition of one topic in one school subject is not sufficient to make students’ environmental awareness change considerably in all cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural domains