Planning Environmental Education Programmes within the New Zealand Curriculum Framework

The following steps outline a planning process for Environmental Education programmes.

Step 1: Identify students' needs

Effective Environmental Education will occur when students' learning needs are considered and when the issues chosen for study are meaningful and relevant to them. Provide opportunities for students to identify their learning needs, which will form the basis for teaching and learning programmes.

Questions that help to identify students' needs include:

What are the natural and built environments in which students live, work, and engage in leisure activities?
What environmental issues do students encounter in the course of their daily lives?
What environmental issues are topical for them at a global, national, local, and school level? (See Environmental Issues for suggestions.)
What issues relating to environmental degradation are of concern to students?
What environmental activities are students already engaged in, and what opportunities do they have for other activities?
What attitudes do students have to environmental issues, and how do they reveal these attitudes?
What knowledge, understandings, and skills will students need in order to engage with environmental issues?

Step 2: Review current programmes

Current teaching and learning programmes will already include aspects of environmental education. Reviewing these programmes will help to identify the extent to which they cover the aims, concepts, and dimensions of environmental education.

These questions may help in reviewing the Environmental Education components of current programmes.

Which of the following aims of Environmental Education are developed in our current teaching and learning programmes?

–	awareness and sensitivity to the environment and related issues;
–	knowledge and understanding of the environment and the impact of people on it;
–	attitudes and values that reflect feelings of concern for the environment;
–	skills involved in identifying, investigating, and problem solving associated with environmental issues;
–	a sense of responsibility through participation and action, as individuals or members of groups, whānau, or iwi, in addressing environmental issues.

To what extent do our programmes cover each of the following key environmental concepts:

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interdependence,

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sustainability,

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biodiversity,

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personal and social responsibility for action?
To what extent do our programmes reflect Māori views of the environment, for example, tangata whenua, mauri, rangatiratanga, taonga, hauora, rāhui tapu, and kaitiakitanga?
To what extent do our current programmes include the three dimensions of environmental education?

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education in the environment;

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education about the environment;

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education for the environment.

Step 3: Identify new opportunities for the inclusion of Environmental Education within the New Zealand Curriculum

Analysing the school's current provisions for Environmental Education is likely to identify gaps. Using the curriculum outlines in the section on curriculum statements, identify opportunities for meeting the aims and exploring the concepts and dimensions of Environmental Education in teaching and learning programmes based on the New Zealand Curriculum statements in English and/or Māori. Other opportunities are provided by senior secondary school subjects such as geography and biology. (Outlines for these subjects are not included because of the proposed changes to senior school qualifications.)

Step 4: Identify possible links between school programmes and initiatives undertaken by regional and local councils and by community agencies

Community agencies and regional and local councils can provide valuable support for school programmes. By establishing links with the initiatives of these groups, schools can access specialist expertise as well as help to build community-wide partnerships.

Organisations that could provide valuable support for school Environmental Education programmes are listed in Useful organisations.

Step 5: Decide how Environmental Education will be managed within the framework of the New Zealand Curriculum

There are a number of ways of managing programmes to meet the aims of environmental education. As The New Zealand Curriculum Framework states on page 8:

Schools may achieve a balanced and broad curriculum in a number of ways; for example, by organising their programmes around subjects, by using an integrated approach, or by using topic or thematic approaches.

These ways include the following:

Develop programmes within the context of the achievement aims and objectives in one curriculum area. The examples in the section on curriculum statements illustrate this approach.

Develop programmes based on cross-curricular themes, using achievement aims and objectives from two or more curriculum areas. This approach takes advantage of the many links between the learning areas of language and languages, mathematics, science, technology, social sciences, the arts, and health and physical well-being. Examples of this approach can be found in Cross-curricular themes. These five examples use selected achievement objectives from various curriculum statements and link them with the Environmental Education aims. They are:

–	My Local Environment (level 1)
–	New Zealand's Indigenous Trees: Tree Planting (level 3)
–	Waste Disposal (level 4)
–	Marine Reserves (level 5)
–	The Resource Management Act 1991 (level 7)

Use an action-oriented approach. This approach focuses on helping students to develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, and attitudes and values that they need for taking action on local, national, or global environmental issues. An outline of this approach can be found in Action-oriented approach.
Develop an environmental studies course. Such a course would enable students to undertake extended study of environmental issues.

Step 6: Develop programmes based on effective teaching and learning approaches

Learning in Environmental Education will be enhanced when students undertake purposeful learning activities in relevant situations and have opportunities to gain first-hand, practical experience. Within the context of learning in, about, and for the environment, this teaching approach will help them use their developing awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and skills in everyday life.

Effective learning in, about, and for the environment relies on teachers who can achieve the aims of Environmental Education by:

planning programmes that are based on the aims of the national curriculum statements and that meet their achievement objectives;
in their programmes of work, selecting and implementing teaching and learning strategies that help students to develop the essential learning skills;

using a variety of teaching and learning approaches and encouraging students to reflect on their behaviours, attitudes, and values. These approaches could include:

–	education outside the classroom (EOTC),
–	inquiry-based learning,
–	games and simulations,
–	case-study approaches,
–	community-based learning,
–	experiential learning,
–	independent or group investigation of local environmental issues,
–	evaluation and action in environmental problem solving;

providing opportunities for students to use their new knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills in making lifestyle decisions;
creating and maintaining a learning environment where students can share their ideas, express their values and beliefs, and feel supported and challenged;
effectively assessing both cognitive and affective learning in environmental education.

(The methods listed above are adapted from Overcoming the Barriers to the Successful Implementation of Environmental Education through Teacher Education from the UNESCO Asia/Pacific Regional International Experts' Meeting, 1993.)

Step 7: Select appropriate resources to support teaching and learning programmes

The Environmental Education Directory New Zealand has been produced by the Ministry for the Environment. It can be accessed at http://www.eednz.org.nz or by contacting the Ministry for the Environment, PO Box 10 362, Wellington.

When selecting resources for programmes, consider the following criteria:

Content: Is the resource compatible with the aims, concepts, and dimensions of environmental education? Will it help students to meet the achievement objectives in relevant curriculum statements?
Skill development: Which of the essential skills will it help students to develop?
Language level: Will students be able to read it? What extra assistance may be needed to help students with the language?
Student interest: Does it contain information that is relevant to students' interests? Is it presented in a way that will engage their interest?
Date: Is it up to date? If not, does that matter?
Bicultural perspectives: Is it accessible to both Māori and non-Māori students? Are Māori perspectives included in areas where learning about New Zealand is important? If not, how will this be managed?
Multicultural perspectives: Does it provide perspectives that acknowledge and explore different cultural views? If not, how will this be managed?
Gender perspectives: Is it non-sexist? If not, how will this be managed?
Balance: Does it help to provide a balance of perspectives when set alongside other resources?
Genre: Does the way information is structured and presented complement other resources and extend the range of genres available to students?

Step 8: Plan how evaluation will be carried out

Evaluation is an important component of Environmental Education because it provides information on the extent to which the aims of Environmental Education have been met. It helps in reviewing teaching and learning programmes and considering how they might be improved.

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