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Environmental Educationand Primary GeographyBill ChambersPublished online: 29 Mar 2010.

To cite this article: Bill Chambers (1999) Environmental Educationand Primary Geography, International Research in Geographical andEnvironmental Education, 8:1, 90-93, DOI: 10.1080/10382049908667597

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Environmental Education and PrimaryGeography

Bill ChambersDepartment of Environmental and Biological Studies, Liverpool Hope University,Hope Park Liverpool L16 9JD, UK

Environmental Education and Primary GeographyGeography has traditionally made a major contribution to Environmental

Education. This paper traces recent developments in the curriculum in both theseareas and then considers recent research.

Environmental education and the national curriculumIn 1989 Environmental Education from 5–16 (DES) gave official recognition to

the curricular importance of environmental education. In 1990 EnvironmentalEducation was designated one of five cross-curricular themes by the NationalCurriculum Council (NCC, 1990a)

Since when the general trend has been to broaden content. By 1996 officialenvironmental education attempted to integrate environment and developmentin both the formal and informal sectors. (Jones, 1996) The Government strategywas, ‘to instil in people of all ages, through formal and informal education, andtraining, the concepts of sustainable development and responsible globalcitizenship’ (DfEE, 1996: 2). Yet the Schools Curriculum and AssessmentAuthority guide (SCAA, 1996) still gave only a narrow view of planning andteaching environmental matters through National Curriculum subjects.

Broader influencesAfter the 1992 Earth Summit a working relationship began with development

education and eventually a case was stated for the environment and development(SCAA, 1965). Citizenship, another National Curriculum cross-curricular theme(NCC, 1990b) became incorporated as concern increased about law and orderand a denial of the concept of community. This led O’Riordan to argue thatenvironmental education should be, ‘civic education with a large dose of activecommunity involvement’ (1996: 11), which was supported by QCA (previouslySCAA) in Excellence in Schools (QCA, 1998). This focused on citizenship, and drewlinks with moral values and personal development although the absence ofglobal citizenship was deplored by Oxfam (1997).

Another consideration was sustainability. Both national and local governmentresponded using Agenda 21 as the vehicle (DoE, 1994; LGMB, 1994). In 1998 arevised strategy was developed based upon social progress recognising the needsof everyone: environmental protection; prudent use of natural resources; and themaintenance of high and stable growth and employment (DoETR, 1998).

1038-2046/99/01 0090-04 $10.00/0 ©1999 W. ChambersInternational Research in Geographical and Environmental Education Vol. 8, No. 1, 1999

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Geography and the national curriculumIn 1990 the NCC claimed that:

Geography’s distinctive concern for area studies at a range of scales, fromthe local to the global, is particularly significant for environmentaleducation. But although all geography is environmental, not all environ-mental education is geography. (1990c: 75)

Thus in 1991 the National Curriculum focus at Key Stage 1 (Infants) was oninvestigating the quality of the environment, whilst at Key Stage 2 (Juniors) itwas on investigating how the environment can be managed and protected. In the1995 revision the position of the environment was retained. Since then theemphasis has remained on environmental quality and change, and its sustainablemanagement and potential for the study of environmental issues has remainedwithin the place study. In 1998 further curriculum changes released schools fromthe obligation to teach the full programme of study in foundation subjects suchas geography. The effects on environmental education are unknown.

Policy and practice of environmental education in England and WalesThere is little evidence of widespread environmental education teaching.

Smith (1996) examined 682 primary and secondary school inspection reports.Only 12% referred to environmental education, 2% had policies, 1% hadundertaken an audit and 10 schools had a coordinator.

Primary Geography and Research in Environmental EducationKnight (1993) considered primary geography ‘little researched’, since when

the Geographical Association has published a book (Chambers, 1995), a specialedition of Primary Geographer and several papers (e.g. Ranger, 1993; Simmons,1990, 1995) on Environmental Education. Between 1995 and 1998 five of eightresearch papers in Primary Geographer had a broadly environmental focus whilstPrimary Sources (Scoffham, 1998) contained seven research review papersconcerned with environmental issues.

Environmental knowledgeA considerable amount of research has been carried out into geographical and

environmental knowledge and concepts (Cullingford, 1996; Dove, 1996; Boyes etal., 1995, 1998). The research describes the nature and sources of misconceptions,and more recently the relationships among cognition, actions and ethics havebeen explored. General conclusions reached include the importance of peergroups and the popular media, well informed teachers and well structured andaccurate texts.

Environmental cognitionPalmer (1994, 1996) has researched the earliest development of environmental

concepts. Palmer also found that pre-school children have an understanding ofecological concepts, the effect of environmental change on species and a sense ofstewardship (Palmer, 1998). As they move through from nursery to infant school

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they are increasingly able to take a longer term view of issues and consequencesand make meaningful links between causes and effects of problems.

Attitudes to environmental qualityMuch geographical investigation focuses on environmental issues and change.

Fifty thousand children took part in the 1996 Land-Use UK survey. Of all theenvironmental issues which the children were asked to consider: ‘trafficoutnumbered all ¼ by a significant margin’ (Walford, 1997: 65). However, forurban children, improvements to housing, roads, amenities and open spaceswere the highest priority.

McCloud (1995) found that whilst 6 to 7-year-old inner-city children wantedmore flowers and trees, the 10 to 11-years-oldd wanted active resources such asfootball pitches and swings. Environmental perception and improvement are atthe heart of Local Agenda 21 and Citizenship. McCloud (1995) found that Year 1children were naively positive about their school locality, but by the age of tenthey were unanimously negative. In another survey of almost 600 pupils whowere asked what could be done to make their area a better place, the highestpriorities were to ‘stop selling and taking drugs’ and ‘stop guns and knives beingsold and used’ (Chambers, 1998).

The Research Agenda· Of prime importance is to identify further the most formative influences on

children’s knowledge and attitudes. (Palmer et al., 1996; Morris & Stoney,1997).

· Next is the need to understand how these influences are understood andinternalised within the children’s mental schema.

· Then there is a need to identify sources and processes which lead tomisconceptions and misunderstanding and devise teaching and learningstrategies which overcome these problems.

· An important area is learning how knowledge, values and attitudes can betransformed into action for the environment whilst at the same timeavoiding indoctrination.

· Finally, research into ways of stimulating, managing and evaluatingcommunity-based environmental initiatives would be valuable.

ReferencesBoyes, E., Chambers, W. and Stanisstreet, M. (1995) Trainee primary teachers’ ideas about

the ozone layer. Environmental Education Research 1 (2), 133–145.Boyes, E. and Stanisstreet, M. (1998) Children’s ideas about cars and health: An

environmental motivator? Transport Research Part D: Transport and the Environment 3,105–115.

Chambers, B. (1995) Awareness into Action. Sheffield: The Geographical Association.Chambers, B. (1998) Children’s ideas about the environment. In S. Scoffham (ed.) Primary

Sources (pp. 30–31). Sheffield: The Geographical Association.Cullingford, C. (1996) Children’s attitudes to the environment. In G. Harris and C.

Blackwell (eds) Monitoring Change in Education: Environmental Issues in Education (pp.21–36). London: Arena.

Department for Education and Employment/Department of the Environment

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(DfEE/DoE) (1996) Taking Environmental Education into the 21st Century. London:HMSO.

Department of Education and Science (DES) (1989) Environmental education from 5–16.London: HMSO.

Department of the Environment (DoE) (1994) Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy.London: HMSO.

Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) (1998) Opportunities forChange. London: HMSO.

Dove, J. (1996) Student teacher understanding of the greenhouse effect, ozone layerdepletion and acid rain. Environmental Education Research 2 (1), 89–100.

Jones, J. (1996) The World in our Hands. London: Department of the Environment.Knight, P. (1993) Primary Geography: Primary History. London: David Fulton.Local Government Management Board (LGMB) (1994) Local Agenda 21: Principles and

Process. A Step by Step Guide. London: LGMB.McCloud, K. (1995) The change in children’s perception of the local environment from

reception to year six. Unpublished environmental studies dissertation, Liverpool HopeUniversity College.

Morris, M. and Stoney, S. (1997) Effective schools: Active students? In J. Parry and A. Scott(eds) Learning to be Green: The Future of Environmental Education (pp. 3–5). Economic andSocial Research Council.

National Curriculum Council (NCC) (1990a) Curriculum Guidance 7: EnvironmentalEducation. London: HMSO.

National Curriculum Council (NCC) (1990b) Curriculum Guidance 8: Education forCitizenship. London: HMSO.

National Curriculum Council (NCC) (1990c) Geography for Ages 5 to 16. London: HMSO.O’Riordan, T. (1996) Education for the sustainability transition. Annual Review of

Environmental Education 7, 8–11.Oxfam (1997) A Curriculum for Global Change. Oxford: Oxfam.Palmer, J. (1994) Acquisition of environmental subject knowledge in pre-school children:

An international study. Children’s Environments 11, 204–211.Palmer, J. (1998) Environmental cognition in young children. In S. Scoffham (ed.) Primary

Sources (pp. 32–33). Sheffield: The Geographical Association.Palmer, J., Suggate, J. and Matthews, J. (1996) Environmental cognition: Early ideas and

misconceptions at the ages of four and six. Environmental Education Research 2 (3),301–329.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (1998) Excellence in Schools. London:HMSO.

Ranger, G. (1993) Enhancing geography with environmental education. TeachingGeography 18 (3), 121–123.

School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) (1995) National Forum on Values inEducation and Society. London: SCAA.

School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) (1996) Teaching EnvironmentalMatters through the National Curriculum. London: SCAA.

Scoffham, S. (ed.) (1998) Primary Sources. Sheffield: The Geographical Association.Simmons, I. (1990) Ingredients of a green geography. Geography 75 (2), 98–105.Simmons, I. (1995) Green geography: An evolving recipe. Geography 80 (2), 139–146.Smith, P. (1996) Call to action. Annual Review of Environmental Education 1995. Reading:

Council for Environmental Education.Walford, R. (ed.) (1997) Land-use UK. Sheffield: The Geographical Association.

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