Taking an overview

Not-withstanding the way that methodology has been conceptualised in the previous section, the key issue is to adequately theorise both the 'problem' and possible solutions since, as will emerge as this thesis unfolds, this impasse appears to be a general one within the field of environmental education.

The PBM approach, at first glance, fits comfortably with this study since it seeks to go beyond teachers' experiences to the causes that shape that experience, and to cautiously attempt to improve the situation. Keeping in mind Robinson's (1993) contention that any solution must accommodate the theories of practitioners as the basis for discussing their work, case study research is seen here as an attempt to understand teachers' experiences and theories.

It is clear however, that teachers' lives are not a composite of self constructed discursive practices as some researchers propose. Whether or not they are cognisant of it, and in many cases they are not, teachers' professional lives are shaped by the organisational practices and policies adopted by a school's senior staff (see Marshall and Ball, 1 999; Jeffery, 1999; and Troman, 1999). These are clearly influenced by the structure of the curriculum, the school review process and changes in the regulations governing schools. These are wider social forces.

Some teachers within the research, it will be seen, did not link the increased demand for paperwork with imminent school review or understand that the emphasis on Literacy, Numeracy and computer technology are driven by Ministry of Education policy. These are clearly aspects of education that are widely understood in general terms but do not always appear to be understood by teachers. That these aspects of teachers' work are driven by deeper causes is also beyond dispute. The political ideologies in ascension through the late 1 980s and 1990s resulted in changes in New Zealand society in general, including education, that can be seen as influencing teachers' work (Codd, 1999; O'Neill, 1 997). A good example of this is that the ability of parents to move their children to other schools is seen as influencing the lives of teachers within this research in a number of ways. It is one manifestation of an economic theory of competition which neo-liberal ideology seeks to strengthen in order to shape social thinking towards economic ends. Our ability to know is uncertain however, so the research seeks to consider the wider and narrower social contexts in which and from which teachers' statements emerge. It then

seeks to cautiously attempt to understand something of these layers of social reality in order to understand teachers' lives and the way they act in response to the concert of forces that act upon them.

As has been mentioned, this is done from two directions. One is to capture and seek to understand the empirical reality of teachers' lives and through that to attempt to unpack something of the school's organisation and the range of responses to the causal mechanisms that are at work in education that these reveal. The other direction is a review of the scholarly literature and other sources that, through discussions of policy, practice and society, shed light on the nature of those underlying mechanisms. Both of these, I contend, must contribute to both an accurate description of the environmental education impasse and any tentative solution theories that might emerge to address it. This wider search for information and evidence forms part of the composite methodology described in Fig 4.1 above.

This approach raises some deeply seated theoretical issues however. Ethnographic research rejects the judgement of the cultures explored based on external criteria. In contrast, much sociology, particularly neo-Marxist theory, requires social analysis and critique in pursuing social justice. Underlying these differences in approach are different views of both the world and about what constitutes knowledge. These issues need to be reconciled in proposing this composite methodology.

Problem-based methodology does suggest a route by which solutions can be developed, through critical dialogue. This attempts to resolve the inconsistencies between theories without falling into the abyss of relativism. The criterion of 'effectiveness' provides a point of traction for bringing about change. For schools, effectiveness must be related at some point to enactment of the curriculum. The statements on environmental education already mentioned provide another set of criteria for reviewing effectiveness and these two external frames of reference can be brought to bear on practice through PBM. Caution is needed here though, because while enactment of the curriculum is part of the statutory function of schools, environmental education intentions are a body of wider social theorising that has occurred outside formal education.

PBM however, has some limitations that make it resistant to the application of macro­ theoretical positions such as those contained in the Tbilisi Declaration (UNESCO-UNEP,

1 978). It is claimed however (Robins on, 1993), that PBM bridges the three major research paradigms that dominate educational research, but rejects aspects of all of them. In

acknowledgement of the scope of the 'problem' impasse discussed here, the deeper claims and limitations of PBM mentioned, and the complexity of the composite methodology proposed, PBM warrants a deeper description and analysis and this is the subject of the next section.