The integration of environmental education into the school curriculum : lessons for inclusion of sustainable development in higher education institutions

Central University of Technology through its Centre for Curriculum Development is mandated to equip academic staff members with among other skills incorporating sustainable development (SD) in the mainstream curriculum, where curriculum already seems to be overloaded. Inclusion of SD has become a burden on academics and the curriculum, because emergent expectations seldom consider the expertise and training needs required by academics to effectively deal with new curriculum additions, including SD. While universities still lag behind in their pursuit for SD, the school sector has made significant strides from which universities can learn. This paper presents the results of a study undertaken to investigate how national policy and educators provide for the effective integration of environmental education into the school curriculum as a conduit for transforming society. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken, followed by a questionnaire survey. Twenty randomly selected schools in Bloemfontein participated. Twenty educators and ten learners were randomly selected from each school to participate in the survey. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to elicit information regarding educators' knowledge of environmental education, their attitudes, integration into curriculum and the learners' general knowledge on environmental education. Results show that the school curriculum and policy offer opportunities for integration of SD/EE into the curriculum, but educators do not fully understand what methods to use. Raising awareness still remains as one of the most needed strategies to promote the inclusion of SD/EE in the curriculum.