The research into the environmental education competency of secondary school teachers was conducted using mixed research methods. The data were collected using the questionnaire and the structured interview. The teachers of eco-schools completed the questionnaire and teacher advisors as well as mentor teachers of the eco-school project participated in the structured interview. The research findings revealed that most respondents had a moderate level of environmental education competency that involved six aspects: knowledge of the environment, basic understanding of the environment, responsibility for the environmental education of professional teachers, planning and practice with regard to the environmental education, promoting learning about the environmental education and evaluation of the environmental education. The approaches to enhance the environmental education competency of secondary school teachers should involve multidisciplinary instruction learning, community-based learning, project-based learning, happy teaching and learning, and holistic learning management.

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the meaningful public participation in activities relating to the master plan development and, at the same time, propose some recommendations for improvement.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out with in-depth interviews of 35 key-informants selected from various stakeholder groups involving in public participation activities. The evaluation frameworks for meaningful participation were developed from various scholars.FindingsThe evaluation showed that the public hearings partially met the criteria of information provision and representativeness. However, there are rooms for improvement on participation in decision-making process, social learning and influence over policy decision-making. Therefore, this study proposes two recommendations. First, more flexible form of public participation is needed to enable discussions among various groups of stakeholders. Second, the organizer should communicate with stakeholders about how their opinions influence the final master plan in order to create sense of belonging among community members.Originality/valueThis research developed the evaluation framework for public participation in old town conservation master plan in developing country.

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