Environmental education and geography teaching in primary schools

Abstract

Environmental education in elementary schools is one of the important issues related to the overall institutional education. During the last few decades we have witnessed threats to the environment which have made the environmental education of young people a necessity. The process of this education should be continuously examined and improved.. It has been noticed that along with education, it there is a growing need for more effective environmental training. The education system in schools is formed according to guidelines set by legislation, curriculum and educational standards relevant to the level of achievement of students and binding for all participants in the teaching process. An analysis of class 5-8 standardized geography curriculum emphasizes the lacks of environmental education goals, general and operational tasks, curriculum contents and instructions for teaching environmental protection related curriculum. With the aim of improving teaching methods and achieving better results concerning environmental awareness among students, the paper presents suggestions for improving the existing primary school geography curriculum.

Ekološko obrazovanje u osnovnoj školi pripada korpusu značajnih pitanja u sklopu ukupnog institucionalnog obrazovanja i vaspitanja. Poslednjih decenija postali smo svedoci izražene ugroženosti životne sredine, pa je ekološka edukacija mladih neminovnost koju treba kontinuirano proučavati i unapređivati. Pored obrazovne, sve više se ukazuje i na potrebu kvalitetnijeg ostvarivanja ekološke vaspitne komponente. Školski sistem je oblikovan pravnim aktima, nastavnim planom i programom i vaspitno-obrazovnim standardima u domenu postignuća učenika, koji su obavezujući za sve aktere nastavnog procesa Na osnovu sprovedene analize Pravilnika o nastavnim planovima i programima geografije od 5. do 8. razreda, u radu su istaknuti nedostaci programa u pogledu zastupljenosti ekoloških obrazovno-vaspitno-funkcionalnih ciljeva, opštih i operativnih zadataka, programskih sadržaja i uputstva za ostvarivanje programa u oblasti zaštite životne sredine. U cilju unapređivanja nastavne prakse i postizanja boljih efekata u pogledu razvoja ekološke svesti učenika, u radu su dati predlozi za korekciju postojećih nastavnih programa geografije za osnovnu školu.