Environmental Education and Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum

Social studies education aims to enable students to participate in a changing society as informed, confident, and responsible citizens.

Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 8

Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1997) contains a range of achievement objectives that provide opportunities for integrating the aims, key concepts, and key dimensions of environmental education with social studies programmes.

The following two sections, organised by level and by strand, identify strands and achievement objectives in Social Studies 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 24 and 25 of Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools.)

The achievement objectives of the social studies processes, listed inside the front cover and described on pages 15–18 and 51–55 of Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum, provide ways for student to develop essential skills. These processes are Inquiry, Values Exploration, and Social Decision Making.

By developing skills through the Inquiry process, students will meet Aim 4 of environmental education, which is to develop the "skills involved in identifying, investigating, and problem solving associated with environmental issues".

Through the Values Exploration process, students can explore and analyse their own values and those of others in relation to issues in society. This will also contribute to meeting Aim 3 of environmental education, which is to develop "attitudes and values that reflect feelings of concern for the environment".

The Social Decision Making process, in which students apply their knowledge to make decisions about possible social action on a range of issues and problems in society, will contribute to meeting Aim 5 of environmental education, 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".

The key environmental education concepts of interdependence, sustainability, and personal and social responsibility for action, as well as a number of Māori concepts, including whenua, mauri, rangatiratanga, taonga, hauora, rāhui tapu, and kaitiakitanga can be developed through social studies. Some of these, and other important concepts in social studies, are identified on page 14 of Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Social studies provides opportunities for exploring the key dimensions of environmental education. Learning in social studies can be undertaken through education in the environment, such as when students visit a local area with tangata whenua to observe evidence of historical occupation or when they undertake road-user surveys. Education about the environment can be pursued through a range of learning experiences, such as investigating ways in which humans have affected the Antarctic or the rainforest. Education for the environment will occur when students act on their learning in ways that maintain and improve the quality of the environment, for example, when students take responsibility for cleaning up a local beach, river, or park.

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