Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:30:09.679Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disaster Education in Australian Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2015

Helen J. Boon  and
Paul J. Pagliano
Helen J. Boon*
Affiliation:
College of Arts, Society and Education, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Paul J. Pagliano
Affiliation:
College of Arts, Society and Education, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Helen J. Boon, College of Arts, Society and Education, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia. Email: helen.boon@jcu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Australia regularly suffers floods, droughts, bushfires and cyclones, which are predicted to increase and/or intensify in the future due to climate change. While school-aged children are among the most vulnerable to natural disasters, they can be empowered through education to prepare for and respond to disasters. School disaster education is essential to raise awareness among students and their communities and to encourage preparedness action. However, evaluation of Australian school-based disaster education programs has been limited. This article presents the results of a critical literature review of peer-reviewed publications on disaster education programs in Australian schools conducted through Scopus, A Plus, PsycINFO and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases. Results highlight a significant dearth of studies examining disaster education programs in Australian schools. Recommendations for future research are proposed to bridge knowledge gaps and establish disaster preparedness resources that support children's knowledge and preparedness for disasters.

Keywords

disaster educationschool childrenAustralianatural hazardssustainability
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , December 2014 , pp. 187 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2013). The Australian Curriculum. Retrieved October 15, 2013, from www.acara.edu.au/curriculum.htmlGoogle Scholar
Anderson, W.A. (2005). Bringing the children into focus on the social science disaster research agenda. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 23, 59–175.Google Scholar
Anderson-Berry, L. (2003). Community vulnerability to tropical cyclones: Cairns, 1996–2000. Natural Hazards, 30, 209–232.Google Scholar
Boon, H.J. (2011). School disaster planning for children with disabilities: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Special Education, 26, 223–237.Google Scholar
Back, E., Cameron, C., & Tanner, T. (2009). Children and disaster risk reduction: Taking stock and moving forward (Children in a Changing Climate Coalition Research Paper). Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.Google Scholar
Berry, L., & King, D. (1998). Tropical cyclone awareness and education issues for far north Queensland school students. The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 14, 25–30.Google Scholar
Bonanno, G. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 20–22.Google Scholar
Campbell, M., & Gilmore, L. (2006). Children's fears post September 11. In Proceedings of the 2006 Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society and the New Zealand Psychological Society (pp. 55–59). Auckland, New Zealand: The Australian Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Council of Australian Governments. (2004). Natural disasters in Australia. Reforming mitigation, relief and recovery arrangements. A report to the Council of Australian Governments by a high level officials’ group, August 2002. Canberra, Australia: Department of Transport and Regional Services.Google Scholar
Comer, J.S., Furr, J.M., Beidas, R.S., Babyar, H.M., & Kendall, P.C. (2008). Media use and children's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37, 622–630.Google Scholar
CSIRO. (2011). Climate change will continue worldwide. Melbourne, Australia: Author. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http:// http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Understanding/Climate-Change-Continues.aspxGoogle Scholar
Davie, S. (2013). Don't leave me alone. Protecting children in Australian disasters and emergencies: Government report card on emergency management planning. Melbourne, Australia: Save the Children. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/7921/301013_Dont_Leave_Me_Alone.pdfGoogle Scholar
Dufty, N. (2009). Natural hazards education in Australian schools: How can we make it more effective? The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 24, 13–16.Google Scholar
Ellis, S., Kanowski, P., & Whelan, R. (2004). National inquiry on bushfire mitigation and management. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Fothergill, A., & Peek, L. (2004). Poverty and disasters in the United States: A review of recent sociological findings, Natural Hazards, 32, 89–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, D., Rose, I., & Koskan, A. (2011). Pilot assessment of an experiential disaster communication curriculum. Disaster Prevention and Management, 20, 238–250.Google Scholar
Hennessy, K., Fitzharris, B., Bates, B., Harvey, N., Howden, S., Hughes, L., Salinger, J., & Warrick, R. (2007). Australia and New Zealand: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In Parry, M., Canziani, O., Palutikof, J., van der Linden, P., & Hanson, C. (Eds.), Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (pp. 507–540). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jimerson, S., Brock, S., & Pletcher, S. (2005). An Integrated model of school crisis preparedness and intervention: A shared foundation to facilitate international crisis intervention. School Psychology International, 26, 275–296.Google Scholar
Kriewaldt, J., Butler, D., Doyle, D., Freeman, J., Hutchinson, N., Parkinson, S., Terry, E., & Boscato, M. (2003). Curriculum overview of hazard education in Australia. The Geography Bulletin, 35, 62–65.Google Scholar
Mitchell, T., Haynes, K., Hall, N., Wei, C., & Oven, K. (2008). The role of children and youth in communicating risk. Children, Youth and Environments, 18, 254–279.Google Scholar
Norris, F., Friedman, M., Watson, P., Byrne, C., & Kaniasty, K. (2002). 60,000 disaster victims speak: Part I. An empirical review of the empirical literature, 1981–2001. Psychiatry, 65, 207–239.Google Scholar
Norris, F., Stevens, S., Pfefferbaum, B., Wyche, K., & Pfefferbaum, R. (2008). Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 127–150.Google Scholar
Ollendick, T., King, N., & Frary, R. (1989). Fears in children and adolescents: Reliability and generalizability across gender, age and nationality. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 19–26.Google Scholar
Pagliano, P.J. (2012). An assessment of policies guiding school emergency disaster management for students with disabilities in Australia. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 9, 17–26.Google Scholar
Paton, D., & Johnston, D. (2001). Disasters and communities: Vulnerability, resilience and preparedness. Disaster Prevention and Management, 10, 270–277.Google Scholar
Peek, L. (2008). Children and disasters: Understanding vulnerability, developing capacities and promoting resilience-an introduction. Children, Youth and Environments, 18, 129.Google Scholar
Peek, L., & Mileti, D. (2002). The history and future of disaster research. In Bechtel, R. & Churchman, A. (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 511–524). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Quarantelli, E. (1998). What is a disaster? Perspectives on the question. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ronan, K. (1997a). The effects of a series of volcanic eruptions on emotional and behavioural functioning in children with asthma. New Zealand Medical Journal, 110, 11–13.Google Scholar
Ronan, K. (1997b). The effects of a ‘benign’ disaster: Symptoms of posttraumatic stress in children following a series of volcanic eruptions. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 1. Retrieved from http://massey.ac.nz/*trauma/Google Scholar
Ronan, K., Crellin, K., & Johnston, D. (2012). Community readiness for a new tsunami warning system: Quasi-experimental and benchmarking evaluation of a school education component. Natural Hazards, 61, 1411–1425.Google Scholar
Ronan, K., & Johnston, D. (1999). Behaviourally-based interventions for children following volcanic eruptions: an evaluation of effectiveness. Disaster Prevention and Management, 8, 169–176.Google Scholar
Ronan, K., & Johnston, D. (2001). Correlates of hazards education programs for youth. Risk Analysis, 21, 1055–1063.Google Scholar
Ronan, K., & Johnston, D. (2003). Hazards education for youth: A quasi-experimental investigation. Risk Analysis, 23, 1009–1020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, R., Shiwaku, K., Kobayashi, H., & Kobayashi, M. (2004). Linking experience, education, perception and earthquake preparedness. Disaster Prevention and Management, 13, 39–49.Google Scholar
Shiwaku, K., Shaw, R., Kandel, R.C., Shrestha, R.N., & Dixit, A.M. (2007). Future perspectives of school disaster education in Nepal. Disaster Prevention and Management, 16, 586–587.Google Scholar
Smouldering Stump. (2013). The Smouldering Stump campaign flyer. Kinglake, Ausralia: Author.Google Scholar
Turner, R.H., Nigg, J.M., & Paz, D. (1986). Waiting for disaster: Earthquake Watch in California. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanaspongse, C., Ratanachena, S., Rattanapan, J., Chutong, S., & Intraraksa, R. (2007). Training manual child-led disaster risk reduction in schools and communities. Bangkok: Save the Children Sweden –Southeast Asia and The Pacific Regional Office.Google Scholar
Whitney, D., Lindell, M., & Nguyen, H. (2004). Earthquake beliefs and adoption of seismic hazard adjustments. Risk Analysis, 24, 87–102.Google Scholar
Wisner, B., Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., & Davis, I. (2004). At risk: Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar