Ecocentric emphasis in environmental education subtopics (ecosystems, pollution and use of resources) in textbooks of 14 countries

Abstract

Two views of Human-Nature relation can be found: anthropocentrism and ecocentrism. In order to understand how school textbooks refer the human’s position in nature we analysed how the axis of analysis “Human as guest versus Humans as owners of nature” is present in the three topics of environmental education – Ecosystems, Pollution and Use of Resource – in textbooks of 14 countries from Europe, Africa and Middle East. A specific grid of analysis, which was constructed in the context of a European Project BIOHEAD CITIZEN was used in this study. Results show that this axis of analysis is present in the majority of textbooks addressing the above three topics but not in the “Biodiversity” topic. Textbooks for 12-15 years old pupils were the ones having more occurrences than those for 6-11 or 16-18 years old. The textbooks present mainly an ecocentric position, whereas the aesthetic, ethical and cultural aspects are limited and inadequate, limiting the full perspective of education for sustainable development.