![Sample our Language & Literature journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5941/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Language-Literature.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article examines approaches to environmental education (EE) in schools in Yogyakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia. To make sense of a situation where the education part of environmental education is almost non-existent, it draws on ethnographic data to demonstrate how Indonesian EE fits within the broader education system. The data show how much of EE is competitive, such that there is a focus on winning over environmental learning.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the educators, students and government officials in Indonesia who generously gave their time and shared their views on environmental education with me.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Note on contributor
Kelsie Prabawa-Sear is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Australia. Her research topic is on how environmental education can contribute to the development of environmentally active youth in Indonesia. Email: [email protected]
Notes
1 I acknowledge the use of the terms ‘Education for Sustainability’ and ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD). I chose to use the term ‘environmental education’ throughout my research and in this article because it was the term that most teachers and students were familiar with (pendidikan lingkungan hidup), and unlike ESD, it is explicit that it is about the environment and does not focus on development.
2 I use the terms ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’ with reservations. However, these terms are preferred to ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ due to the assumptions inherent in this pair.
3 This is not to say that they do not have any agency. See Parker (Citation2002) for ideas of subjectification of Indonesian students.
4 SDG 4.7 target is that
by 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development (CitationUNESCO).
5 Interview with National Programme Officer for Education, Jakarta, 31 January 2017.
6 While Adiwiyata is not a compulsory programme, some schools are told that they must participate to improve the school’s reputation or to give it a speciality to attract ‘better’ students. This number reflects schools that are participating in the programme at any level.
7 The two Yogyakarta schools in this article were at the national level.
8 Interview with head and deputy head of department of Parks and Sanitation, Surabaya, 7 January 2015.
9 This decree was referred to by various NGO staff and government officials, yet there is no official documentation of it.
10 Prakarya as a subject focuses on making or growing products that could be sold from home or on a small scale (small enterprise). In most cases it does not cover the business or economics of the enterprise, just the growing or making of it.
11 Madrasah are administered by the Ministry of Religion (MOR), rather than the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC). However, 70% of their curriculum comes from MOEC; the additional curriculum (30%) comes from the MOR. Both The Madrasah and The SMA were mixed gender schools with male and female staff and students. The Madrasah had approximately 70% female students. Both schools were situated within the Special Region of Yogyakarta, with The Madrasah in Yogyakarta city and The SMA close to the Yogyakarta boundary, but within the Bantul district.
12 These competitions are independent and not associated with the Adiwiyata programme.
13 The lack of environmental action in Surabaya’s universities suggests that high school students are not taking their environmentalism to university where there is no required participation.
14 The Environmental Agency and NGOs often used competitions as a way to encourage participation and to raise awareness around environmental issues.
15 Excuses were generally around it being early in the new school year (therefore insufficient time to get the programme started) and students needing to focus on forthcoming exams (mid and end of year).
16 This school employs a gardener and a rubbish collector who comes regularly to deal with the waste.
17 I was unable to include this school in my ethnographic study as it was located about 90 minutes from the part of town where I stayed so I could not get to the school as much as I would have liked.
18 I wrote her a letter of appreciation. She made it clear to me that this did not meet her expectations.
19 The student competition was judged by an ENGO staff member and myself. There were no set criteria for judging or scoring.
20 It was also the explanation for growing fruit and vegetables, and breeding catfish.
21 While some religious institutions are active in the environmental space, such as Green Madrasah, when asked what they could do to help with environmental problems, participants in my research often noted that they could pray for environmental solutions.
22 It is important to note that some Global North countries are still struggling with environmental policy and action, and, despite having a longer history of EE, they are not making the environmental progress that was expected when EE declarations and policies were written (P. Hart et al. Citation1999; Jickling Citation2016).
23 Principals now have the authority to allow students to graduate from high school despite failing the national exam. However, the national exam still dominates teaching and learning, and leads teachers, students and schools to focus on examinable subjects despite this recent change.
24 This generation of students is the most highly educated generation in Indonesia. Students therefore cannot rely on elders outside of school to teach them about some of the new, human-made environmental problems such as water pollution, plastics in oceans and global warming. This is not to dismiss religious and tradition-based education which can and should complement any environmental and scientific learning.
25 This would also provide opportunity for broader community involvement and non-formal learning.