ISSN 2329-9843
International Journal of Education Research and Reviews ISSN 2329-9843 Vol. 5 (2), pp. 918-925, February, 2017. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Misplacement between policy and practice: Initiating environmental education in school curricula in Botswana
Boko Kitso1, Kent Koone2 and Nonofo Moroka2
1Department of Environmental Science, Botswana College of Agriculture, Botswana.
2Departments of Environmental Science, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 19 April, 2015
Abstract
Botswana introduced environmental education (EE) in its school curricula in 1995 to be infused in all subjects as part of an overall improvement of the school curricula. The actual infusion in practice was left to the classroom teachers offering a unique opportunity to compare what they taught and perceived as being important in environmental education with the official programme and policy. A questionnaire was distributed to sixteen schools to evaluate the interpretation given to, and the impact of, the programme. The results from the analysis of the questionnaire showed that a high percentage of the teachers showed limited understanding of what they were expected to do under the EE programme and many were unable or unwilling to participate in it. The activities pupils/students were engaged in were too localised, mainly to school compounds, to make the impact expected of the programme. The study provided information on the corrections that were necessary to streamline what the teachers are practicing and the policy as originally designed.
Key words: Botswana, environmental education, policy, practice, curriculum development.