Elementary Schools in Rural Honduras

Abstract

A study of elementary school teachers in rural Honduras was conducted to determine the best approaches for developing environmental education materials and teacher training programs for those schools. Four findings revealed wide differences between schools in the United States and those in the study area: (1) rural Honduran teachers had no more than a high school education, and about half had nine or fewer years of formal schooling; (2) dropout rates are high in rural Honduras—75% by Grade 4 and 84% by Grade 6; (3) teachers in rural Honduras usuany teach more than one grade level in the same classroom, and often three to six grades at a time in very remote areas; and (4) rural Honduran schools do not have telephones, plumbing, electricity, photocopying facilities, or easy access to bask teaching materials such as string, paper, glue, scissors, crayons, etc. These results suggest that U.S. environmental education models and materials may be based on assumptions about U.S. schools that do not hold in developing countries. The practice of simply translating materials for use in these countries may not contribute to the growth of environmental education in the developing world. A better approach would be to support in-country development of materials and programs.