Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan

Kishore Mongar

doi:10.29333/ejmste/12454

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Kishore Mongar ¹ ² ^*

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¹ University of New England, Armidale, AUSTRALIA² Samtse College of Education, Royal University of Bhutan, Samtse, BHUTAN^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Environmental science (ES) was introduced in Bhutan as an optional school subject for classes IX-XII to equip young people with the knowledge, values, and skills to protect the environment and promote sustainable and equitable use of natural resources in the pursuit of gross national happiness. Teachers are believed to play a crucial role in the effective implementation of ES, and this paper analyses Bhutanese teachers’ views on how well they have been prepared to implement ES. The interview data from 14 teachers and six principals showed that limited qualifications and professional development in teaching ES have resulted in lack of confidence in teaching ES, lack of pedagogical content knowledge, and lack of clarity about the ES objectives. These results suggest integrating more knowledge about education for sustainable development (ESD) into teacher education program to adequately prepare teachers to teach ES if required and integrate ESD principles into other subjects.

Keywords

Bhutan
environmental science
education for sustainable development
professional development
teacher training
gross national happiness

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 18, Issue 10, October 2022, Article No: em2166

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

Publication date: 13 Sep 2022

Article Views: 1379

Article Downloads: 822

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How to cite this article

APA

Mongar, K. (2022). Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 18(10), em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

Vancouver

Mongar K. Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2022;18(10):em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

AMA

Mongar K. Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2022;18(10), em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

Chicago

Mongar, Kishore. "Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2022 18 no. 10 (2022): em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

Harvard

Mongar, K. (2022). Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 18(10), em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454

MLA

Mongar, Kishore "Teachers’ preparedness to teach environmental science in Bhutan". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 18, no. 10, 2022, em2166. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/12454