2020 to 2040: Visions for the future of environmental education

Abstract

To address environmental challenges, it is essential to identify and set goals and priorities for environmental education, as well as strategies to achieve those goals. We surveyed environmental education professionals (n = 449) to identify their 20-year priorities for the field. High-ranked goals included expanding diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice in environmental education and increasing the presence of environmental education in the pre-K-12 curriculum. Four cross-cutting strategies were identified as ways to achieve multiple goals simultaneously: training, marketing, funding, and partnerships. The study additionally investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to address racial injustice have affected goals and priorities.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the North American Association for Environmental Education and its affiliates for distributing our survey to their members. We also thank the University of Florida Environmental Education Lab and Judy Braus for their feedback on the survey and project.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.