Long-term evaluation of proactive attitudes toward disaster education in Nepal

Abstract

This study proposes a change in the approach to evaluating disaster risk reduction (DRR) education from short-term knowledge transfer to a long-term action-oriented approach. Furthermore, the study recommends introducing a chronological and progressive evaluation method that follows learners in DRR education from the beginning, rather than evaluating retrospectively. Thus, the study discusses the strong tendency in the literature toward the short-term knowledge-transfer evaluation paradigm and its problems from two viewpoints: inconsistency between what is evaluated and what needs to be achieved, and dissociation of knowledge from action. Three studies on long-term evaluation have solved these problems; however, they did not evaluate how the proactive attitude grows and is evoked. Thus, this study describes the chronological development of a DRR education exchange program between Nepalese and Japanese students and the progressive change in attitude of Nepalese students from 2001 to 2015. It was revealed that the education contributed to fostering the learners' proactive attitude, which they maintained even after graduation. The learners promoted the construction of earthquake-resistant houses in their village and contributed to decreasing structural damage sustained from the 2015 earthquake. More importantly, the study clarified that the learners’ attitudes evolved to become proactive, and that this proactive attitude was maintained for more than 10 years throughout three phases: educational, participation, and independent action. The study recommends that researchers change their approach to evaluating DRR education to a long-term action-oriented approach. Accumulation of data for long-term action-oriented evaluation leads to the ability to explore an effective education methodology that fosters a proactive attitude in learners.