Empowering teachers towards a darker green education, through an exploration of personal worldview

grantor: University of TorontoDiscourses of radical ecology present us with visions of transformative environmental education. This thesis seeks to empower teachers to implement such education in ways that respect and build upon the personal worldview of teachers. A qualitative study was conducted to this end, exploring the worldviews of four teachers committed to environmental education, and how their worldviews manifested themselves in their environmental education practices. The study indicates that participants' worldviews largely influenced the extent to which their environmental education practices are transformative. Implications of this study for teacher education are explored, focusing on whether the research process--which was designed to encourage participants to clarify and reflect on their own worldviews against a diverse range of views on the environment, including those of radical ecologists--was meaningful to the participants. Participants actively assessed this process. Future directions and practical activities for teacher empowerment are suggested.M.A