The values and activating methods in environmental education in the opinion of the students at higher vocational state schools in Poland

Abstract

Pro-ecological education related to the process of shaping human attitude towards the environment that surrounds him, is particularly associated with making the pupil aware of the fact that he is part of his own environment, and at the same time man constitues a cognitive and exploratory entity in his environment, which in turn can be: 1. natural environment in which the man is trying to explore it, discover its natural resources as well as its threats; 2. socio-economic and socio-political environment, which has been associated with the so-called “city” (polis) since ancient times; 3. an esthetic and ethical environment connected with moral aspects and defined values. In the present publication, we focus on the latter definition of environment, paying attention to its axiological aspects. Pro-ecological education can be perceived as a specific direction of education that has also developed its own methodology, and today has become a field of human education based on shaping his attitudes and behaviour. Additionaly, this trend encompasses education by providing a human being with knowledge about ecosystems, biosystems and sociosystems, considered not only from axiological and methodological, but mainly from existential perspectives. On the basis of the collected literature of the subject, which today is perceived as the field of education, it is essential to devote our attention to in the theoretical part of the publication so that we could undertake the analysis of specific data on the basis of the achieved results of our own empirical research. This type of education – like any other- needs to be also associated with values – especially pro-ecological ones that pedagogical axiology deals with.