Influences on and Obstacles to K-12 Administrators’ Support for Environment-Based Education

Abstract

The term environment-based education (EBE) describes a form of school-based environmental education that uses the environment as a context for integrating subjects and a source of real-world learning experiences. Because of the importance of administrator support in teachers’ use of EBE (Ernst, 2009), survey research was conducted to explore influences on and obstacles to administrators’ support for EBE implementation, as well as how those influences and obstacles differed from administrators’ supporting other forms of EE (environmental education). Results suggest positive environmental attitudes, environmental sensitivity, and receptiveness to EBE are important in efforts to encourage administrator support for EE, whether EBE or other forms of EE. Professional development, such as mentoring, observations, conferences, and self-study, as well as reducing the obstacle of safety/liability concerns appears to be of particular importance when encouraging administrator support for EBE.

Keywords:

• environmental education
• environment-based education
• influences
• school administrators

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author wishes to acknowledge the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota for funding this study.

Notes

^aReliability calculated using Cronbach's alpha.

^aReliability calculated using Cronbach's alpha.

^a n = 73; of these, 42 administrators were in the Partial-school EBE group and 31 were in the School-wide EBE group.

^b1 = not an influence to 5 = very strong influence.

^a n = 73; of these, 42 administrators were in the Partial-school EBE group and 31 were in the School-wide EBE group.

^b1 = not an obstacle to 5 = very strong obstacle.