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curricula or syllabi that prescribe what should be taught in each specific school
subject. The issue of interest then, if we want to enact Environmental Citizenship in
formal secondary education, is to identify instances within the curricula that cover
the topics, teaching approaches and aims of Education for Environmental
Citizenship. If it isn’t included in the curriculum, Environmental Citizenship will
most probably not be addressed by the teachers. In this chapter we will show how
aspects of Environmental Citizenship are pinpointed in policy at a European level,
and also give examples of the national curriculum in some countries.
Young and Muller (2010) identify two main trends or traditions in curricula
development over the last decades. These traditions are extrapolated as trajectories
into possible futures, denoted Future 1 and Future 2. According to Young and Muller
(2010), a Future 1 perspective is characterised by a disciplinary content-driven curriculum where assessment is a focus. A problem with this curriculum principle is
that it does not provide students with the knowledge to tackle complex problems of
today’s society (Young 2015). However, the Future 2 perspective suggests integrating school subjects, promoting generic skills and facilitative teaching. This perspective focuses on phenomena instead of concepts, which might be more relevant from
a student’s perspective but could lead to insufficient disciplinary knowledge to fully
understand the phenomena according to Young (2015). To which trajectory does
then Environmental Citizenship and Education for Environmental Citizenship
relate? As can be seen in the chapters of this book, we would claim that it is more in
line with a Future 2 tradition, i.e. Environmental Citizenship is focusing on environmental, economic and social issues of society, and the goal is to empower students
as Environmental Citizens, with generic skills to enable them to counter environmental degradation.
Environmental Citizenship as an overarching construct, as outlined in this book,
can often be found in the central goals of education, i.e. in the general curricula as
a Future 2 perspective. Studies have shown that secondary teachers, in some countries at least, tend to focus on fulfilling the goals of the syllabi rather than looking at
the overarching curricula that informs syllabi (Sundberg 2005). Hence, this could be
one of the first hurdles or barriers to overcome if aspects of Environmental
Citizenship are already part of the general curriculum. How can we support secondary schoolteachers to look beyond the core content of their subject syllabi so as to
also address more general goals related to environment, sustainability and citizenship? Moreover, the disciplinary tradition of in-service teacher education programmes has been found to influence teachers to a high degree. In that way, the
teaching approaches and selection of content relate to more traditional teaching
rather than the progressive teaching approaches as suggested in environmental and
sustainability education (Borg et al. 2012, 2014; Stables and Scott 2002). Hence,
Education for Environmental Citizenship pedagogy that builds on student competencies for civic participation, contributing to environmental and social change,
could be expected to render more resistance when implemented at secondary school
in comparison to primary school.
A way to ensure that Education for Environmental Citizenship is addressed
within formal education at the secondary school level is to include Education for
N. Gericke et al.
curricula or syllabi that prescribe what should be taught in each specific school
subject. The issue of interest then, if we want to enact Environmental Citizenship in
formal secondary education, is to identify instances within the curricula that cover
the topics, teaching approaches and aims of Education for Environmental
Citizenship. If it isn’t included in the curriculum, Environmental Citizenship will
most probably not be addressed by the teachers. In this chapter we will show how
aspects of Environmental Citizenship are pinpointed in policy at a European level,
and also give examples of the national curriculum in some countries.
Young and Muller (2010) identify two main trends or traditions in curricula
development over the last decades. These traditions are extrapolated as trajectories
into possible futures, denoted Future 1 and Future 2. According to Young and Muller
(2010), a Future 1 perspective is characterised by a disciplinary content-driven curriculum where assessment is a focus. A problem with this curriculum principle is
that it does not provide students with the knowledge to tackle complex problems of
today’s society (Young 2015). However, the Future 2 perspective suggests integrating school subjects, promoting generic skills and facilitative teaching. This perspective focuses on phenomena instead of concepts, which might be more relevant from
a student’s perspective but could lead to insufficient disciplinary knowledge to fully
understand the phenomena according to Young (2015). To which trajectory does
then Environmental Citizenship and Education for Environmental Citizenship
relate? As can be seen in the chapters of this book, we would claim that it is more in
line with a Future 2 tradition, i.e. Environmental Citizenship is focusing on environmental, economic and social issues of society, and the goal is to empower students
as Environmental Citizens, with generic skills to enable them to counter environmental degradation.
Environmental Citizenship as an overarching construct, as outlined in this book,
can often be found in the central goals of education, i.e. in the general curricula as
a Future 2 perspective. Studies have shown that secondary teachers, in some countries at least, tend to focus on fulfilling the goals of the syllabi rather than looking at
the overarching curricula that informs syllabi (Sundberg 2005). Hence, this could be
one of the first hurdles or barriers to overcome if aspects of Environmental
Citizenship are already part of the general curriculum. How can we support secondary schoolteachers to look beyond the core content of their subject syllabi so as to
also address more general goals related to environment, sustainability and citizenship? Moreover, the disciplinary tradition of in-service teacher education programmes has been found to influence teachers to a high degree. In that way, the
teaching approaches and selection of content relate to more traditional teaching
rather than the progressive teaching approaches as suggested in environmental and
sustainability education (Borg et al. 2012, 2014; Stables and Scott 2002). Hence,
Education for Environmental Citizenship pedagogy that builds on student competencies for civic participation, contributing to environmental and social change,
could be expected to render more resistance when implemented at secondary school
in comparison to primary school.
A way to ensure that Education for Environmental Citizenship is addressed
within formal education at the secondary school level is to include Education for
N. Gericke et al.