Evaluación de las competencias ambientales en las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES). Caso de estudio: Escuela Politécnica Nacional.

Abstract

The research evaluates the environmental competencies of students and teachers of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) and it is focused on three specific objectives: i) to identify the environmental competencies that teachers and students of Higher Education Institutions must have; ii) to analyze the current situation of the environmental competences of the teachers and students of the EPN; and iii) to propose strategies for teachers and students to improve the development and application of environmental competencies. In a first place, a bibliographic review was carried out to know the types of environmental competences. Students and teachers must have three types of environmental competencies, which are: i) cognitive environmental competencies based on environmental knowledge; ii) attitudinal environmental competencies based on attitudes, feelings and values and iii) methodological environmental competencies based on the behaviors that individuals have in their daily lives with respect to the environment. Subsequently, the survey proposed by the author Olaya Álvarez García (2015) was adapted to the context of the EPN. The application and analysis of the information collected allowed to know the current situation of teachers and students regarding environmental competencies, determining that teachers have better competencies than students. The attitudinal competences referring to pro environmental attitudes, feelings and values obtained higher average values than the other two competences. Finally, interviews were conducted with three expert teachers / researchers in the environmental area to deepen the results obtained and propose management strategies to improve the development and application of environmental competencies.