Developing a green curriculum in schools

THIS week we want to explore the role that a green curriculum can play in environmental conservation (EC). A green curriculum is a course of study in schools that mainstreams Environmental Management (EM) principles across all school activities. There is now a growing imperative need to impact positively on children so that EM becomes their way of life.

The school should play a pivotal role as children spend most of their time in schools. It is in that light that we should advocate for the effective mainstreaming of Environmental Education (EE) in the school curriculum. Children should be taught to live sustainably at a tender age. They should know that the clothes they wear, the comfort that they enjoy in their homes and the food they eat comes from very limited resources.

As a result these resources should be used sustainably. Learning institutions should teach basic principles of how nature sustains life and an understanding of the implications of anthropological activities on the environment.

Teachers should be taught this complex art of infusing EE in all the subjects. Education should be modeled to raise the consciousness of children. This helps them to understand that resources are not ubiquitous. Schools should simplify environmental concepts so that even children in early childhood development can master this information.

Although infusing environmental concepts in school activities may seem an insurmountable task. It is possible with training. This practice of merging fundamental ecological principles nurtures the knowledge, skills and values essential for sustainable living. Appropriate methodologies and strategies that foster sustainable living should be supported.

Experiential learning, discovery learning, excursions, learning by doing, learning by seeing are some methods that can be used. Short term and long term projects which are usually a preserve of elite schools should be allowed to filter into all public schools. Some of these methods should be interdisciplinary, subject specific and age appropriate. Teachers who are very crucial in this process should actively engage students in and out of the classroom so that learning of concepts is simple and spontaneous.

This learning should be purposeful so that it motivates students intrinsically. Children should be informed and consulted through participatory, child friendly and learner centred meth- odologies.

For examples some teachers and mothers often rebuke children for throwing away food left overs. Children need to know why this is wrong. Perhaps the parents also don’t know. The reasons go beyond saving your household income. When homes waste more food, farmers grow more food to feed the wasteful households.

This requires opening up more land and the use of more fertlisers that pollute the rivers. Resources are limited. One day they are going to be exhausted if they are taped indiscriminately. The land will loose its capacity to produce food if used unsustainably. Nature has a self cleansing and self replenishing capacity only if resources are used sparingly.

Teachers should assist children build a holistic view of the relationship that exists in the ecosystem. This way, children can learn day to day practices that are compatible with nature’s processes. EE mainstreaming strives for a new dispensation, a new world order where people act responsibly.

Children should be afforded an opportunity to capture imaginations of the ideal environment so that they aspire for it.

This will further their knowledge, stewardship and civic engagement. Schools should be able to show that there is a close relationship in the developing world between environmental sustainability and poverty reduction.

This eco-friendly curriculum should help Zimbabwe to maneuver along with other countries in supporting international treaties. This includes the UNESCO Goal of Education for Sustainable Development and the UN’s declaration of A Decade of Education for Sustainable Development These are important targets which can be met by interventions like mainstreaming EE in schools. It is logical that if children are armed with the relevant knowledge when they leave school, they will develop a culture of environmental awareness and activism in their communities. Informed citizens are patriotic and are cognisant of the growing worry of the environment’s reduced capacity to generate clean water and food.

This should be a big worry for you and me. This is further exacerbated by Global Warming and Climate Change. The world is slowly being left with fewer and fewer alternatives to perpetuate the survival of man.

If all the children know this and it practically leads to sustainable change of attitudes and behaviour, then the battle is half won.

To counter some of the consequences of our irresponsibly behaviours children should be taught holistic environment copying mechanism, disaster mitigation and management. This will help them to respond to risk and vulnerability.

To enhance the sustainability of mainstreaming EE teachers should build on community based initiatives (Indigenous Knowledge Systems).

The use of the participatory model of the Eco-schools or Green schools concept can be adopted. In this framework schools are given a set of environmental standards to abide by in the school.

The Green Curriculum should catch the children young

After an agreed time the school is audited against these standards. It is just like a financial audit, so exciting and children will enjoy it.

Marks are then recorded and schools that excel are rewarded. Examples of standards in this competition include methods of recycling of waste, waste disposal, tree planting and energy saving in the school. Colleges and Universities should not be left out in all this. At this crucial stage EE principles should be consolidated. The curriculum at tertiary level should strengthen ecological ethics

Its time schools support children to learn that life is made up of interconnected variables. Schools should help children marry the relationship between the actions of today and the subsequent consequences in the future. lessons should be traced to the environment.

For some schools and colleges the real practice may be hidden and lost in the rhetoric of “mainstreaming”. It really has to be effective and auditable mainstreaming.

Finally David Orr said “there is a race between education and catastrophe. This race will be decided in all of the places including classrooms, that foster ecological imagination, critical thinking, awareness of connections, independent thought and a good heart”. Till next time, have an ecofriendly weekend.

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