Eco-anxiety: Ontario Teachers’ Perspectives into Effective Pedagogy in Environmental Education

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3336102/v1

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Eco-anxiety: Ontario Teachers’ Perspectives into Effective Pedagogy in Environmental Education

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3336102/v1

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Eco-anxiety describes emotional responses such as fatigue, frustration, and anger toward environmental issues. In recent years, there is a growing concern among educators on how this emotion affects learning experience in environmental education. This qualitative study thus examines the manifestation and impact of this anxiety on learning interest, engagement, and motivation. Specifically, through interviewing two experienced Ontario teachers, it delves into its impact and implies professional development to promote environmental education in Ontario classrooms. Primarily, my research finds that anxiety is prevalent in practice; however, it also indicates that teaching anxiety contributes to this learning anxiety. Mainly, a lack of knowledge and experience in this education points to a systemic support that will combat anxiety and empower learners to address the challenge of Climate Change.

Educational Philosophy and Theory

eco-anxiety

teachers’ perspectives

professional development

environmental stewardship

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about eco-anxiety, a learning anxiety evoked by negative accounts of environmental issues in different learning environments. This anxiety, manifested in emotions such as frustration, fear, or anger, negatively affects learning interests and engagement in environmental education (see, e.g., Ojala, 2017; Sobel, 1997; Strife, 2012). Not only will this anxiety affect perception and understanding of environmental issues among young learners (Ojala, 2013), but it also implies a dispossession of power to address these issues because of the underlying disconnection between what students learn at school and what they see as challenges in home and community life (Zayer & Kelsey, 2010). Further, once this anxiety is escalated into inaction and non-advocacy, the shared challenge in Climate Change will not be addressed (Pihkala, 20I7). Therefore, this study investigates ways that this anxiety can affect learning interest, engagement, and stewardship. In addition, it also enquires into professional development that can empower teachers in their practice. Mainly, given that Climate Change becomes a reality, this study will provide educators with insights into understanding negative emotions and feelings to promote environmental education across curricula.

The paper will be divided into three parts. In the first part, I will review anxiety as a negative emotion in literature to delve its impact on engagement. In the second part, I will present interviews as my instrument of this qualitative research study and the findings followed through two Ontario teachers’ perspectives. Finally, a discussion will investigate professional development to empower teachers in their practice. What drives me in my study are the three following questions: How this anxiety affects the efficacy of environmental programs ran at schools now? How does it promote active citizenship rooted in the Ontario programs? How can it then affect teaching and learning efficacy in this area? In addition, my positionality as an international teacher from China propels me to investigate the impact of this anxiety on motivation, engagement, and efficacy of young students. I dedicate myself into promoting environmental education across cultural context to instill active citizenship, stewardship, and leadership among my students. I believe that with more training, every teacher will become advocates of their students to address the shared challenge in Climate Change.

This literature review is organized into two threads. In the first thread, I will examine this phenomenon in the global context to delve into its impact on engagement, interest, and motivation. When converging on ways to combat the anxiety, scholars consent that empathy fostered in authentic engagement with environmental education cultivates “critical hope” in stewardship (Ojala, 2017). When cultivating the “critical hope”, pedagogy such as personification of figures in the natural world (Sobel, 1997), critical reflection (Jensen & Schnack, 2006), and enhanced connection with the socio-cultural dimension of a place (Gruenewald, 2003) can instill stewardship in the learning experience. In the second thread, anxiety denotes a lack of support for both pre- and in-service teachers to implement environmental education programs or activities in their classrooms. Specifically, factors such as policy (Boeve-de Pauw & Van Petegem, 2018), school environment (Fazio & Karrow, 2013), and program protocols (Mokhele, 2011) determine the accessibility of this education to all students

Fostering Empathy through Authentic Learning Opportunities in Environmental Education

Among different age groups, children and youths are found to be most susceptible to ''value laden and emotionally charged" narratives (Lundholm, Hopwood, & Rickinson, 2013, p. 246). In fact, Sobel (1997) frames this learning anxiety as "ecophobia " to describe how this dispossession of agency is felt vividly by young children (p. 3). These views imply that anxiety becomes a natural defending mechanism for young learners to respond to negative stimulants beyond their imagination and understanding. Among studies, sub-field such as landscape-based learning (Brandt, 2013), informal learning environment (Kola-Olusanya, 2005), and place-based learning (Gruenewald, 2003) emerge to construct systematic approaches to enhancing connection between learners and their situated living environment. Feelings and emotions in these studies are valued, not overlooked, to extend the impact of environmental education.

Fostering Empathy through Place-Based Learning

The theme of fostering empathy through place-based learning emerges to emphasize the impact of place on a person' s worldview. Specifically, Brandt (20I3) notices that empathy, cultivated through a significant bond with a place, attaches a person to the geographical and cultural characteristics of a place. This attachment then strengthens and orients a person’s action against destructive change to a place. As Gruenewald (2008) once proposes the idea of "situationality", which the examination of a person' s positionality in relation to land, challenges deeply-rooted anthropocentric perspectives. Further, as these perspectives are ironically hierarchical within themselves. This examination overturns the dominated treatment of human beings to other living things in this world (p. 314). Therefore, empathy nurtured and sustained within a place allows learners to shift perspectives and view the world differently through these different perspectives.

In tandem with Gruenewald’s view, Palmer (1997) traces that stewardship instilled in early years connects itself with later-year actions. Outstandingly, emotions and feelings such as curiosity, wonder, and joy are easily cultivated through enhanced connections between a person and the environment. Fawcett and Alsop (2011) further propose a situated environmental knowledge, which emphasizes connections between science and the environment to enhance different learning experience. Learning within the environment is thus promoted to implant active citizenship (Louv, 2008).

Valuing Learning Opportunities in Informal Contexts

In a different lens, Kola-Olusanya (2005) argues that "free-choice environment”, characterized by non-defined and non-specified learning settings, gives children autonomy and agency in their own learning (p. 297). Such settings can include outdoor excursions, field trips, and visits to museums that will build upon knowledge in non-intentionally designed spheres. By expanding learning environment into outdoor spaces, teachers enhance experience through giving learners free choices to make in environmental education. This study thus sheds light on the format of learning experience, which can be intricate, highly characteristics, and “idiosyncratic” to affect engagement (Dierking, Falk, & Storksdieck, 2010, p. 362). It further implies studies on learning experience to investigate ways to promote environmental education across contexts.

Instilling Critical Hope to Combat Anxiety

This theme emerges as Ojala (2017) argues that "critical hope", instilled in programs, transforms learning experience (p. 78). This critical hope comes from close examination of a person's positionality in relation to the environment. Particularly, different from wishful thinking, “critical hope” propels learners to connect their learning with their experience and explore ways to address challenges (Ojala, 2017, p. 78). Learning is also co-constructed, as Ojala and Bengtsson (2019) further find that families’ communication modes influence children and youths’ engagement in environmental education outside of classrooms. Family involvement, as a result, enhances experience of young learners as they explore issues in this area.

In addition, Kurth and Pihkala (2022) indicate that this anxiety, worked as a false negative alert, provides educators with insight into learners’ concern and moral disposition to environmental choices. When given sufficient time to reflect on personal experience, learners’ self-efficacy enhances and their attitudes change. Thus, anxiety should be guided, not suppressed or overlooked, to empower young learners to choose conscientiously and responsively.

External Constraints Within the School System

In addition to fostering empathy and hope, external constraints limit the scope and impact of environmental education among students. Scholars find that constraints such as policy guidelines, school cultures, and customs limit teachers to integrate environmental education across curricula. Specifically, with overcrowded curricula, environmental education can easily become gentrified to enlarge gaps of knowledge and services among students in this area. Further, while not every student has opportunities to get exposed to outdoor education and wild nature, Wells and Lekies (2006) argue that stewardship may easily become a privilege, rather than an incentive, for students to engage themselves in environmental education. Thus, addressing external constraints within the school system allows wider access of students to environmental education in their schooling experience.

Other than resources and support, which is lagged to promote environmental education, training for both pre- and in-service teachers falls short to enhance teaching efficacy. Particularly, teachers ' readiness, linked to their prior training and knowledge, determines the scope and impact of environmental education programs they will implement at schools. In this process, Fazio and Karrow (2013) argue that administrative support plays a role in mitigating teaching and learning anxiety for a lack of training. Collaboration, as one way they indicate, can foster stewardship among teachers and students. This finding also substantiates previous idea proposed by Pedretti, Nazir, Tan, Bellomo, and Ayyavoo (2012), who argue that mentorship supports teachers to take risks and lead environmental programs in their practice. In addition, redistribution of resources through revised policy guidelines, as Mokhele (2011) argues, will eliminate barriers of access and allow wider participation from both teachers and students in environmental education. Thus, these external constraints need to be re-examined and challenged while promoting environmental education among students.

Through a qualitative approach, my study answers my questions by investigating how this anxiety affects interest, engagement and motivation of young learners in environmental education programs and activities at two Ontario schools, one of which was based in an outdoor education site. Specifically, through interviewing two teachers, this study provides insiders’ perspectives into effective pedagogy in this area. My dialogues with the teachers thus enable me to expand the nuances of teaching and learning experiences that affect stewardship of students later in their life. I designed my study to be small-scale and iterative to reflect the changing reality as well as responding to the constraints of conducting studies during the pandemic.

To understand the scope and scale of environmental education programs at school. I purposefully invited my Associate Teacher (pseudonym “Alice’), who teaches at the outdoor education site, and another secondary teacher (pseudonym “Kathy”), through a university-school network, to investigate learning anxiety in their practice. They are ideal candidates I can recruit because they have over one year of teaching experience, certified in Ontario, and dedicate themselves in environmental education at their schools. Thus, this purposeful recruitment, as Patton (1990) indicate, allows me to glean more insights into effective pedagogy.

I constructed each of my interviews to be 45 minutes long and included semi-structured questions to stimulate responses. These interviews also provided me with "privileged information", since this knowledge could only be gained by practitioners (Denscombe, 2010, p. 174). I collected their consent forms beforehand and transcribed their responses in a password-protected computer to ensure privacy and for future reference. Both of my interviews were conducted in Zoom, a virtual platform that records information, too.

After the interviews, I used both in-vivo and inferential codes to analyze responses and generate themes in my conversations. Specifically, both teachers’ responses in emotions and feelings overlap in keywords such as “depressing”, “lose hope”, and “anxiety”. These words were coded verbatim to investigate phenomenon behind. Responses related to pedagogy, administrative support, and accessibility were also categorized to facilitate analysis. In addition, ideas from the current literature were added to my notes to substantiate insights elicited from the interviews. The similarity between research insights and their thoughts convinces me that emotions and feelings affect engagement and thus the impact of environmental education on young learners.

A few themes emerge during the analysis. Primarily, teachers reported that students expressed feelings such as "tired", " anxious", and "concerned" when they are introduced with value-laden messages on Climate Change. As a result, teachers’ delicacy delivering the message induces “critical hope” in their approaches to addressing anxiety (Ojala, 2017, p. 78). In addition, teaching anxiety for a lack of experience in this area contributes to learning anxiety, as teachers’ self-efficacy affects the impact of instruction and assessment. Support within the school system therefore addresses anxiety in the promotion of environmental education.

Anxiety Induced by Environmental Inaction

Anxiety arises when inaction becomes a reality in students’ experience. Fatigue, often than not, replaces passion after learners realize that their actions will produce little impact in the community. For example, Kathy doubted what she saw as anxiety from one of her students might relate to her student’s involvement in environmental programs and activities at the school. Message students see in their life also adds to the powerlessness they experience to respond to the Crisis. Kathy later pointed out that public message is too obscure or “complicated” for her students to act responsibly. In addition, Alice observed different kinds of inequities that limit her students from accessing environmental education. “Obstacles” and “issues” still prevail and thus prevent students from meaningful engagement in this area. As Pihkala (2017) argues, this anxiety in fact opens a door for educators to understand the socio-cultural context in which anxiety is produced. Barriers outside of classrooms thus explain disengagement, fatigue, and a lack of motivation teachers see among their students. Exploring factors that limit students’ access to environmental education will as a result advocate for students to gain quality environmental education at schools.

De-Gentrify Environmental Education

Barriers such as inequitable distribution of resources and services, limited learning opportunities, and overcrowded and often Eurocentric curricula restrain the impact of environmental education on students. Thus, a systemic approach to dismantling the limitations advocate for a more equitable access to environmental education for all learners. Some of the advocacies include infusing the “wholistic Indigenous perspectives” (Alice reflected), conducting measurable and achievable “action research” (Kathy proposed), and promoting mentorship programs among teachers. Anxiety therefore, derives from little knowledge or experience with environmental education in students’ schooling experience. Expanding avenues to teach about environmental literacy as a result instills early stewardship among students.

Collaboration to Enhance Teaching Efficacy

This theme arises naturally as my teachers reflect ways that will enhance the teaching efficacy of their teaching fellows both inside and outside of classrooms. Most importantly, collaboration between experienced and inexperienced teachers affects readiness, “confidence”, and efficacy of young teachers. For example, Alice points out that environmental education can be integrated into other curricula to foster authentic engagement. Assessment and instruction can be modified to place learning outside of a regular classroom. Kathy also found that environmental education doesn’t “come to peoples’ mind” through her collaboration with other teachers. These attitudes can easily be influenced by peers when they actively engage themselves in environmental education. Collaboration thus sheds light on motivating both pre- and in-service teachers to share expertise in environmental education.

Notably, teachers’ attitudes toward environmental education also links itself to the impact of this education on their students. Particularly, Kathy noted that environmental education programs which are not “well-received” may not go far at schools. In addition, Alice denoted that teachers without a “growth mindset” tend to refine themselves from innovating pedagogy. Ensuring that teachers are “comfortable” with the current pedagogy developed in environmental education thus illustrates the connection between teaching and learning anxiety, as both teachers reflected that anxiety becomes prevalent among practitioners, too. Delving into teaching anxiety in fact reveals the gap of knowledge in pedagogy to relate this education to personal experience.

This study sought to unpack ways that eco-anxiety manifests itself among elementary and secondary students in classroom. Through investigating factors that lead to anxiety, it reveals systemic barriers faced by both teachers and students to access environmental education. Further, teaching anxiety arises to account for learning anxiety, pointing to under-developed training that constrains the impact of this education on students’ experience. These insights not only reflected well-accepted scholarly views in the current literature, but also point to less developed area such as the socio-cultural context in which environmental education will thrive. Most astoundingly, barriers of accessing resources, compounded with the intricacy of relevant pedagogy, undermine the impact on the learning experience. Therefore, through probing into the manifestation and effect of anxiety, the study argues that this emotion prevails in contexts in which resources are limited to sustain stewardship. Fatigue, denial, and anger, in addition to anxiety, ensue to account for a loss of agency. To empower learners, a systemic approach to tackling barriers and de-gentrifying environmental education will expand access of environmental education to all learners.

Limitation

The inherent limit of qualitative study determines that findings in this study cannot be applied across contexts; however, the scope of the perspectives of the two Ontario teachers bridges the gap of knowledge in pedagogy of environmental education. Further, insights from this study point to less known area such as systemic barriers that limit the impact of environmental education on young learners. Studies on administrative support as a result, will dismantle the challenge faced by students when they respond to Climate Crisis. My positionality also affects the analysis and findings in which they are produced. I thus acknowledge the potential biases that may skew insights of this study.

Competing Interests: The author declares no competing interests.

Ethics Statement: The study is reviewed by the University of Toronto Ethics Review Board.

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You are reading this latest preprint version

Eco-anxiety: Ontario Teachers’ Perspectives into Effective Pedagogy in Environmental Education

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Version 1

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Fostering Empathy through Authentic Learning Opportunities in Environmental Education

Fostering Empathy through Place-Based Learning

Valuing Learning Opportunities in Informal Contexts

Instilling Critical Hope to Combat Anxiety

External Constraints Within the School System

Methodology

Research Findings and Discussion

Anxiety Induced by Environmental Inaction

De-Gentrify Environmental Education

Collaboration to Enhance Teaching Efficacy

Conclusion

Limitation

Declarations

References

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