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Are Educational Outcomes Relevant to Environmental Education Addressed by Primary School Teachers?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Julie Clark  and
Terry Harrison
Julie Clark
Affiliation:
Australian Catholic, University Sydney
Terry Harrison
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Abstract

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Concern exists over the extent to which environmental education is being addressed in Australian primary school curricula. This is especially so since the release of the nationally developed Statements and Profiles in eight key areas of learning because no documents specifically relating to environmental education were produced. This paper reports the results of a study in which a survey based on outcomes relevant to environmental education, as drawn from curriculum documents in use in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, was completed by a sample of primary teachers from both states. Results indicated that, in most schools, outcomes relevant to environmental education were being given significant attention. However, the extent to which different outcomes were addressed varied widely, as did the extent to which individual schools addressed outcomes over the years kindergarten/preparatory to year 6 (K/P-6). Implications for teacher education drawn from the findings are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 13 , 1997 , pp. 27 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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