Greening agricultural education at the tertiary level: a case study |
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| Authors: | J Rowe BSc PhD MIEEM |
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| Institution: | Royal Agricultural College , Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England , GLJ 6JS |
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| Abstract: | Abstract College curricula are broadening to take into account environmental imperatives, the relatively slow rate of economic and policy change, along with the welter of technical detail which has been generated by agricultural development, militate against successful systematic environmental teaching. This is particularly true within a private institution which must be seen to be serving the immediate needs of the agricultural business community. It is useful in this context to consider the ‘natural environment’ as comprising: the ‘immediate’ countryside, where ‘nature’ functions under differing degrees of managerial constraint; the global environment, where non-sustainable resource use takes its toll; and the environment of the organisation, where ‘environmental soundness’ of practice and products can be assessed. A teaching strategy is suggested where these three ‘environments’ are addressed at the levels of the functional, natural science-based: the societal, embracing legislative and structural responses to pressures; and the level of individual managerial responsibility. The relative emphasis on each element can be adjusted to reflect individual course aims, with modular core teaching networked into allied subject syllabi in a rolling process of adaptation and compromise. The latter should extend to the college’s own activities in land and business management to legitimise the teaching strategy. |
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