Behaviour is what people do. People perform a host of environmentally appropriate and inappropriate behaviours every day. Governments around the world have made numerous legal agreements that commit their countries to take responsibility for a suite of actions to change and move society towards sustainability. Such progress to sustainability depends on the behaviour of people in all walks of life, requiring changes in their way of thinking, living and working. These background notes provide a theoretical framework for developing education programs that lead to behaviour change for sustainability.

1. Background notes for a workshop facilitated by the author at the 2004 NSW
Environmental Education Conference, Gosford, NSW, Australia
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN CHANGING
BEHAVIOUR FOR SUSTAINABILITY
By Neil Dufty, Senior Consultant, Molino Stewart Pty Ltd
Behaviour is what people do. People perform a host of environmentally appropriate
and inappropriate behaviours every day.
Governments around the world have made numerous legal agreements that commit
their countries to take responsibility for a suite of actions to change and move society
towards sustainability. Such progress to sustainability depends on the behaviour of
people in all walks of life, requiring changes in their way of thinking, living and
working.
There are several theoretical models that grapple with how people change behaviour.
For example, Prochaska and DiClemente (1986) have formally identified the
dynamics and structure of staged behaviour change for individuals. They propose
that behaviour change occurs in the following five distinct stages through which
people move in a cyclical or spiral pattern:
1. Pre-contemplation
2. Contemplation
3. Preparation
4. Action
5. Maintenance
Rogers (1983) developed a stage-based model to explain how new ideas or
innovations are disseminated and adopted by communities. Rogers identified five
distinct stages in the process of diffusion of any new initiative or innovation:
1. Knowledge
2. Persuasion
3. Decision
4. Implementation
5. Contemplation

2. Rogers identified five audience types for the diffusion of change:
Innovators – lead the way for others and will be the first to adopt
innovation
Early adopters – open to new ideas that provide personal benefits
Early majority – will accept proven and moderate tasks
Late majority – uncomfortable with risk but will follow the mainstream
Laggards – will act to block progressive change
There are several ways to achieve behaviour change using one or more
environmental management tools including education. According to Young et al.
(1996, p. 5), prospects for changing behaviour will always be greater ‘if direct
regulatory approaches are overlain with a web of mechanisms that create a
financially attractive and voluntary atmosphere that encourages cooperation and the
sharing of information’.
Figure 1 shows the main options for behaviour change related to stormwater
management using four tiers in a triangle. The lower tiers, including education, are
best to address diffuse pollution sources where appropriate community behaviour is
critical. The upper tiers are best suited for point source pollution issues such as
improving sewage treatment plants.
Point Source
Specific groups
Regulation
Planning
Grants & Incentives
Education & Communications
Diffuse
Community
Figure 1: Some non-structural stormwater management tools
to change behavi our
The focus on behaviour change to achieve sustainability has led to a re-think of
approaches to environmental education. Monroe, Day and Grieser (2000, p.3) argue
that ‘knowledge alone doesn’t help or harm the environment. Human attitudes don’t
harm or help the environment. Human behaviours, on the other hand, have greatly
harmed, yet hold a great deal of hope for helping the environment. Those of us who
work for environmental sustainability must address human behaviour’.

3. Similarly, Neiswinder and Shepard (2002, p.267) state that to be successful
environmental education ‘programs must go beyond making people aware of the
problem and rather should focus on changing critical behaviours’.
The NSW government through its NSW Environmental Education Plan 2002-05 has
embraced the move from traditional environmental education to that which targets
behaviour change leading towards sustainability. The Plan notes that ’in NSW the
focus of environmental education programs has shifted in recent years, due to a
deeper understanding of the causes of environmental problems and how to prevent
them’. It concludes that these changes in the direction of environmental education
may be described as moving towards ‘education for sustainability’.
Implications of this shift in environmental education focus are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: Differ ences between ‘tr aditional’ environmental
education and ‘education for sustainability’ (EFS)
ASPECT
Problem
Solution
Connectedness
Time frame
Goals
Education
methods
Learners
Implementation
Legitimacy
TRADITIONAL
APPROACH
Pollution/end of the
pipe
Environmental
protection
Humans separate from
ecosystems
Present/short term
Awareness and
knowledge
Predominantly
information-based
Audiences/target
groups
Mainly top down
Predominantly
technical expertise
NEW EFS
APPROACH
Pollution/source
reduction
Sustainability solutions
Humans as part of
ecosystems
Future/long term
Changed behaviours,
practices and structures
Participatory and
experiential learning,
community development
and capacity-building
Participants/stakeholders
Through
partnerships/networks
Based on different ways
of knowing
Source: Learning for Sustainability: NSW Environmental Education Plan
2002-05 page 15
Environmental education programs can be developed using components of the new
EFS approach outlined in Table 1 yet struggle to be effective because enabling
factors (or ‘enablers’) such as appropriate community capacity, resourcing and
institutional arrangements are not in place. For example, a government agency may
be wishing to change a farming community’s behaviours in relation to protecting
riparian zones. The setting up of a local Landcare group with appropriate resourcing
and training may enable the education program to be more effectively implemented.

4. These enablers are ‘catalysts’ for environmental education programs to achieve
behaviour change for sustainability (see Figure 2). The enabling factors may need to
be built, modified, extended or better coordinated to ensure the effectiveness of the
program. Additionally, according to some experts, ‘knowledge of sustainability’ is an
important factor in a community’s uptake of behaviours leading towards
sustainability.
Institutional arrangements
Sustainability knowledge
Networks
Education
Programs
Resourcing
Behaviour
change
ENABLERS
Partnerships
Infrastructure
Leadership
Information sharing
Figure 2: Some factors that enable education program s to
achieve community behavi our change for sustainability
Another feature of the EFS approach derived from Table 1 is the need for community
participation in the planning, implementation and evaluation of environmental
education programs.
There has been increasing concern about the use of traditional ‘top-down’
approaches to environmental education particularly by government agencies and
local councils (Baker 2002, p.2). This approach involves communities receiving
information mainly through one-way dissemination e.g. agency or council media
releases, publications. It can alienate the ‘recipient’ from the decision-making
process thus inhibiting sustainable behaviour change.
Elcome and Baines (1999) have developed a continuum (Figure 3) that shows a
range of community participation levels in environmental education programs.
No influence over outcomes
Informing
Consulting
Total influence over outcomes
Deciding
Together
Figure 3: Communit y participation levels
Acting
Together
Supporting
Community
Decisions

5. Organisations should seek to include the more participative approaches to
environmental education programs. Allen, Kilvington and Horn (2002, p. 9) suggest
the ‘increased user involvement not only helps keep research and information
transfer relevant, and encourages stakeholders to take ownership of outcomes. It
also provides key people in the wider community who have to work together with new
ideas and perspectives, which they will share with others thus paving the way for
improved user thinking and change’.
With the appropriate levels of enablers, participation in environmental education
programs and other behaviour change activities can lead towards community
empowerment. Empowerment enables communities to decide on and set their own
pathways towards sustainability.
Page and Czuba (1999, p. 10) stress that ‘to create change we must change
individually to enable us to become partners in solving the complex issues facing us.
In collaborations based on mutual respect, diverse perspectives, and a developing
vision, people work towards creative and realistic solutions. This synthesis of
individual and collective change is our understanding of the empowerment process.’
REFERENCES
Allen, W, Kilvington, M., & Horn, C. (2002). Using Participatory and Learningbased Approaches for Environmental Management to help achieve Behaviour
Change. Wellington, NZ: Landcare Research Report.
Baker, E. (2002). Preparing for Evaluation: Lessons from capacity building for
natural resource management. Paper presented to the 2002 Australasian
Evaluation Society International Conference.
Elcome, D., & Baines, J. (1999). Steps to success – working with residents
and neighbours to develop and implement plans for protected areas.
Switzerland: IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.
Monroe, M.C., Day, B.A., & Grieser, M. (2000). GreenCom Weaves Four
Strands. In Day, B.A. & Monroe, M.C. (Eds.) Environmental Education and
Communication for a Sustainable World: Handbook for International
Practioners. Washington D.C.: Academy for Educational Development.
Neiswinder, C., & Shepard, R. (2002). Elements of Successful Stormwater
Outreach and Education. University of Wisconsin Extension Paper. Madison
USA: University of Wisconsin.
NSW Council on Environmental Education (2002). Learning for Sustainability:
NSW Environmental Education Plan 2002-05. Sydney: NSW Government.
Page, N., & Czuba, C.E. (1999). Empowerment: What is it? Journal of
Extension, Vol 37, No 5, October 1999.

6. Prochaska, J.O., & Di Climente, C.C. (1986). Towards a comprehensive
model of change, In Miller, W.R., & Heather, N. (Eds.). Treating addictive
behaviours: Processes of change. New York: Free Press.
Rogers, E.M. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations, New York: Free Press.
Taylor, A., & Wong T. (2002). Non-structural Stormwater Quality Best
Management Practices – A Literature Review of their Value. CRC Technical
Report. Canberra, ACT, Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment
Hydrology
Young, M.D., Gunningham, N., Elix, J., Lambert.J. Howard, B., Grabosky, P.,
& McGrone, E. (1996). Reinbursing the Future: An Evaluation Of Motivational,
Voluntary, Price-based, Property-right and Regulatory Incentives for the
Conservation of Biodiversity. Canberra: Division of Wildlife and Ecology, the
Australian Centre for Environmental Law and Community Solutions.