Environmental Education: Principles and Guidelines for Teachers

There is a strong commitment to environmental content and issues of sustainability in a number of subjects in the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). Analysis of the CAPS shows that up to 50% of content in CAPS is about the environment or related to sustainability, and that environment and sustainability permeate a wide range of subjects. The newly approved HEQT for Teacher Education requires teacher education institutions and programmes to foreground environmental knowledge in their accredited programmes. However, teaching about the environment can be challenging as the issues are complex and much environmental information is new to teachers. Teachers therefore need to be introduced to relevant knowledge, teaching methods and assessment practices that will enable them to teach the existing environmental content in the CAPS more confidently and successfully. Environmental Education: Guidelines and principles for teachers will assist in this regard.