European portfolio for environmental education (EPEE) : a handbook for teachers

Abstract

Assessment is an integral part of learning and teaching environmental education. It is the means by which we obtain “information about students’ learning using multiple methods such as class and home work, project work, portfolios” using “multiple assessors including the teacher” (Chetcuti & Grima 2001: 77). Traditionally, assessment practices have taken the form of tests and examinations, which measure in a written format the knowledge that students have acquired in a particular subject area. These forms of assessment are not very relevant in the context of environmental education, which involves mainly the process of recognising values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness among humans, their culture and their biophysical surroundings (IUCN 1970). The ultimate aim of environmental education is, as described by Hungerford and Peyton (1986), to develop environmentally literate citizens through participation in problem solving. Evidence of this participation can only be obtained through alternative assessment methods. These alternative models of assessment are based on new principles and ideologies, which focus on the learner and on what he or she knows and can do. They also give a holistic picture of what the learner has accomplished rather than focusing on a single mark or grade obtained in an examination. Gipps (1997: 13) argues that good assessment practice should: · support learning and reflection including formative assessment, · be open and connected to clear criteria rather than be linked to comparative performance or others, and · include a range of assessment strategies so that all learners have a chance to perform well.