Environmental Education and Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum

All four aims of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) are relevant to environmental education. The health and physical education curriculum contains a range of achievement objectives that provide opportunities for integrating the aims, key concepts, and key dimensions of environmental education with health and physical programmes.

The following two sections, organised by level and by strand, identify strands and achievement objectives in Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum and suggest some associated study topics that could be used to meet the aims of environmental education and explore its concepts and dimensions. (This is the online version of the table on pages 26 to 29 of Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools.)

The health and physical education curriculum strand Healthy Communities and Environments contributes both to Aim 4 of environmental education, which is to develop the "skills involved in identifying, investigating, and problem solving associated with environmental issues" and to Aim 5, which is to develop "a sense of responsibility through participation and action as individuals, or members of groups, whānau, or iwi, in addressing environmental issues".

Promoting the attitudes and values of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum contributes to meeting Aim 3 of environmental education, which is to develop "attitudes and values that reflect feelings of concern for the environment".

The key environmental education concepts of interdependence and personal and social responsibility for action are strongly linked to the Māori concept of hauora as described in the health and physical education curriculum. Hauora comprises taha tinana (physical well-being), taha hinengaro (mental and emotional well-being), taha whānau (social well-being), and taha wairua (spiritual well-being).

The key environmental education concept of personal and social responsibility for action is also embodied in the health and physical education curriculum strand Healthy Communities and Environments and in the underlying concepts of Health Promotion and the Socio-ecological Perspective. These and other important concepts in health and physical education are outlined on pages 30–34 of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Health and physical education provide opportunities for exploring the key dimensions of environmental education. Learning in health and physical education can be undertaken through education in the environment, such as when students develop physical skills in outdoor education. Education about the environment can be pursued through a range of learning experiences, such as when students examine the effects of water purity on human health or undertake studies of the effects of extreme cold on the human body. Education for the environment will occur when students act on their learning in ways that maintain and improve the quality of the environment, such as when they work to improve the quality of recreational facilities in their community.

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