A Survey on Environment Teachers' Awareness of the Teacher Role in Environmental Classes Introducing Controversial Issues

환경 쟁점 수업에서 교사의 역할에 관한 중등 환경 담당 교사의 인식 조사

The environment subject has been introduced to the national curriculum in 1992 in order to overcome serious environmental problems. As using environmental issues in a class, the environment teachers inevitably face some conflicts associated with their role. By applying the questionnaire survey to 192 environment teachers, this study was conducted to understand their attitude and awareness of teacher role in the issue-based classes. The results showed that the majority(92.2%) of the participants had willingness to share their opinion on the issues under consideration with their students. This result implied that environment teachers maintain a position considerably different from the position (value-free and fair) that has been favored and suggested by previous research. This discrepancy may has been related to the unique history and identity of the environment subject in Korea. Despite their high level of willingness, the environment teachers also seemed to experience several barriers to managing issue-based classes effective such as time management, low students interest, and limited teaching materials. To make environmental issue-based classes interesting and meaningful, additional efforts are need to develop issue-based teaching modules and provide both teachers and teacher students with opportunities for learning those modules and teaching strategies.