Environmental Citizenship Practices in the Initial Training of Basic Education Teachers: A Case Study

Abstract

According to the European Environment Agency, the great challenge of this century is focused on sustainability. In this context, it is essential to have a multiplicity of actors and initiatives that make it possible to increase citizens' environmental awareness and rethink behaviours and lifestyles. This study, focused on the initial training of Basic Education teachers in Portugal (responsible for the first 6 years of schooling), faces these future professionals and their students as agents of environmental education trained for social transformation. In accordance with this perspective, work proposals were developed based on an Education for Environmental Citizenship approach with the aim of understanding how the involvement of teachers in these activities, using Web 2.0, can contribute to the development of skills allowing for informed decisions and individual and collective actions in the face of local, national and global emergencies, as defended by UNESCO. Some results of a qualitative case study are presented, obtained through an in-depth semi-structured interview carried out at the end of the intervention. The content analysis allowed to verify that this didactic approach contributed to the construction of knowledge about the environmental issues addressed, capacities, and the promotion of pro-environmental values and attitudes. It is concluded that Environmental Citizenship practices enable an active and innovative approach in science teaching through the participation of future teachers in community actions, namely in the context of distance learning.