Environmental education (EE) policy and content of the contemporary (2009–2017) Mexican national curriculum for primary schools

Abstract

In Mexico a reformed curriculum is being implemented at the national primary level focused on the competence model and incorporating EE as a key element. This article reports our analyses of what theories, policies and/or EE related-contents were included in the documents that integrated this curriculum: general study plan, study programs of Grades and official students’ textbooks. Results indicate that in those official documents was incorporated a competence related to EE called ‘competences for the coexistence’, implying harmonic relationships with others and the nature. Additionally, EE for sustainability was included as a transversal topic expecting that contributes to reach the graduate profile of basic education that indicates that students should promote and assume the care of health and the environment. Nevertheless, it is not clear how it is expected that teachers implement EE in practice, lacking clarity of the environmental theory that support this curriculum.

Keywords:

• Primary school
• official curriculum documents
• EE curriculum analysis, Mexico

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge to the anonymous referees for their careful reading and feedback to improve this paper. Thank you to Dr. Rodrigo Huerta Quintanilla, from the Applied Physic Department, Cinvestav, for his useful review to strengthen the English writing, all contributed significantly to the final version.