The Environment in the Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology Learning Areas for General Education and Training in South Africa

Abstract

This article assesses the inclusion of environmental concerns in South Africa's Revised National Curriculum Statements for Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology. It comments on the state of environmental education in formal education in South Africa generally but more specifically in the areas mentioned. Challenges for advancing the project of environmental education in South Africa are noted and a collective effort focusing on the professional development of teachers is proposed.

Résumé

Cet article se penche sur l'inclusion de certaines préoccupations environnementales dans le nouveau curriculum national sud-africain pour l'enseignement des mathématiques, des sciences naturelles et des technologies. Il analyse la place qu'occupent les questions environnementales dans la formation scolaire en Afrique du Sud en général, et plus spécifiquement dans ces disciplines. Les défis à relever pour promouvoir la formation environnementale en Afrique du Sud y sont présentés, de même qu'une proposition d'effort collectif centré sur le développement professionnel des enseignants.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author thanks the three anonymous reviewers for offering helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Notes

1. I note that the principle is framed in anthropocentric terms because environment is strongly associated with social justice and human rights concerns. Reference to a “healthy environment” is a healthy environment for the benefit of human beings.

2. Curriculum 2005 was South Africa's first national curriculum framework introduced after the country's democratic elections in 1994. Because C2005 is an outcomes-based framework in this article I use Curriculum 2005 and South African OBE interchangeably.

3. Grades R to 9 represent the first 10 years of compulsory schooling in South Africa. Grade R is the reception year and grade 9 the exit year of General Education and Training (GET).

4. Specific/learning outcomes are distinguished from critical outcomes in South Africa's OBE system. The critical outcomes are generic and cross-curricula, whereas the learning outcomes are curriculum-linked outcomes. Each learning area/subject has its own learning outcomes used as a starting point in the design of curricula, which are then delivered up, requiring learners to attain the outcomes.

5. Assessment standards describe the level at which learners should demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes and the ways of demonstrating their achievement. They are grade specific and show how conceptual progression will occur in a Learning Area (Department of Education, 2002c).