New guidelines for environmental education

Forest and Bird, Issue 294, 1 November 1999, Page 8

New guidelines for environmental education

choolteachers now have a new document to help them with ‘environmental education. The Guidelines published by the Ministry of Education complement the existing curriculum requirements for Learning to Care for Our Environment. Published as Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools, the policy attempts to show how the environment is a theme in all seven learning areas that make up the New Zealand curriculum. Thus the environment appears as a theme in areas as diverse as science, art, and language, technology, social studies, mathematics and health. The definition of the environ-

ment is a broad one, including nature and the built environment, along with people and their values. The idea of the Guidelines is to show teachers how to identify opportunities in the curriculum to introduce environmental education. School boards will determine the extent to which environmental education is incoporated in the curriculum, however. Education is seen as a key factor in achieving the environmental vision arising from the Environment 2010 Strategy, the governmental response to international agreements on ‘sustainability. The idea is to guide primary and secondary schoolchildren towards playing their

part in ensuring ‘a sustainable future’. The aims of environmental education are five-fold, to help students develop: e awareness and sensitvity to the environment and related issues; e knowledge and understanding of the environment and the impact of people on it; e attitude and values that reflect feelings of concern for the environment; e skills in identifying and solving environmental prolems; e A sense of responsibility demonstrated through participation and action in environmental matters. The guidelines aim to communicate four key concepts: the

interdependence of life; sustainability; biodiversity; and personal and social responsibilities for actions. Both Forest and Bird and the Kiwi Conservation Clubs are listed as ‘active in the environmental area and may provide either advice or resources to support environmental education programmes.