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The Australian-ness of Curriculum Jigsaws: Where Does Environmental Education Fit?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Annette Gough
Annette Gough*
Affiliation:
RMIT University
*
†Address for correspondence: Professor Annette Gough, School of Education, RMIT University, Po Box 71, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. Email: annette.gough@rmit.edu.au
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Abstract

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This paper reviews Australian Government actions related to environmental education, particularly in the past decade, and examines the actions forthcoming from two national action plans (Environment Australia, 2000 and DEWHA, 2009), the implementation strategy for the Decade of ESD (DEWHA, 2006) and developments related to the Australian Curriculum. This analysis is inspired by the Australian-ness of the metaphor of the curriculum as a jigsaw puzzle suggested by Robottom (1987), the seemingly constant battle for survival in the formal curriculum that environmental education has faced since the 1970s (Fensham, 1990; Gough, 1997), and the ongoing tensions between science education and environmental education in Australia's formal school curriculum.

Keywords

curriculumpolicyenvironmental educationeducation for sustainabilityaction plannational goals
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 27 , Issue 1: Special Issue: The “ness” of Environmental Education , 2011 , pp. 9 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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