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Improved Status for Environmental Education in Ontario Schools

Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education: Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future

On June 22, 2007 the Ontario provincial government, through Education Minister Kathleen Wynne and Environment Minister Laurel Broten, pledged its intent to accept and implement all 32 recommendations made by the Working Group on Environmental Education.

The recommendations were the work of a team of six environmental education experts and program directors including Dr. Eleanor Dudar (Toronto District School Board), Dr. Alan Foster (former director of the Kortright Centre for Conservation), Catherine Mahler (Ontario EcoSchools), Dr. Michael Fox (Trent University), Marlène Walsh (Canadian Ecology Centre) and Pam Schwartzberg (Learning for a Sustainable Future). Astronaut and scientist Dr. Roberta Bondar was chosen to lead the EE Working Group in this first-ever official review of how the environment and conservation are taught in Ontario schools. Its goal was to provide recommendations on ways to better support the teaching of environmental education to the newly created Curriculum Council. The “Bondar Report” recommendations were published in a report entitled Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future. It can be accessed at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingschools.pdf

Three main aspects of the report will be summarized/commented on here:
1. The proposed definition of environmental education. Environmental education is education about the environment, for the environment, and in the environment that promotes an understanding of, rich and active experience in, and an appreciation for the dynamic interactions of the Earth’s physical and biological systems, the dependency of our social and economic systems on these natural systems, the scientific and human dimensions of environmental issues, and the positive and negative consequences, both intended and unintended, of  the interactions between human-created and natural systems.
2. The 32 recommendations in Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future. They are interspersed with explanatory text through the document. The scope of the recommendations is comprehensive. The recommendations include policy, standards, research and consultation, accountability, assessment, responsibility for implementation, sound practice guidelines, guidelines for parent engagement, capacity-building and monitoring, cross-curricular focus, scope & sequence, study of environmental topics in each grade, substantial EE content in Gr. 9 Geography, 9/10Science, and 10 Civics, environmental action projects, additional environmental focus course, interdisciplinary links, specialist high skills majors program, co-op placements, professional development, workshops/summer institutes on cross-curricular EE, additional qualification courses, EE resource development, EE teaching guide, resource access, pre-service EE as teachable, and funding outdoor education.
3. EEON believes that the creation of a sustainable future is now the greatest priority facing nations worldwide. Sustainability as the goal of environmental education needs to be explicitly and clearly stated within educational policy, resources and supports. None of the 32 recommendations in Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future mention sustainability. In response to this concern, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne wrote (August 29, 2007): “We are committed to the development of an environmental education policy for Ontario schools, the establishment of standards to ensure that the quality and importance of environmental education is sustained throughout our curriculum policy documents, and the provision of opportunities in every grade throughout elementary and secondary schools for all students to learn about concepts and issues related to the environment, including sustainability.

A Policy Framework for Environmental Education in Ontario Schools: Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow

In February, 2009 the Ministry of Education released its policy framework Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow resulting from its commitment to implement the 32 recommendations of Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future. It is available at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/ShapeTomorrow.pdf. It acknowledged the power of environmental education to foster student engagement and the positive effect on student achievement and motivation. The policy framework provides the vision and a model for school boards in the revision or development a board’s environmental education policy. It is also recognized that the implementation of the policy framework for environmental education will occur over time and that it will be guided by local needs and conditions.

Unveiled in February, the Ministry of Education’s new policy framework for environmental education is radical, ambitious and transformative. It calls for environmental education all day, every day, everywhere. According to the policy document, the Ministry will “embed environmental education expectations and opportunities in all grades and in all subjects of the Ontario curriculum.” No other Canadian jurisdiction has moved so far down the environmental education path, and Ministry officials are unaware of any similar initiative in the United States. The policy document sets out goals, strategies and actions to be carried out by the Ministry of Education, School Boards, and Schools. The goals relate to Teaching and Learning, Student Engagement and Community Connections, and Environmental Leadership. It also provides Status Indicators, Facilitative Indicators, and Effect Indicators for Measuring Progress.

In announcing the seismic shift that places environmental education on a par with the curriculum’s commitment to numeracy and literacy, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne set out the new policy’s formidable objective. “Our goal is to have all students become environmentally responsible citizens by the time they graduate high school,” Wynne told some 500 educators attending a two-day environmental education symposium on February 25 and 26.

But the new emphasis involves much more than educating young people about the state and causes of our fragile environment. “The policy framework seeks to move beyond a focus on symptoms – air and water pollution, for example – to encompass the underlying causes of environmental stresses, which are rooted in personal and social values and in organizational structures,” says Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow.

Scope and Sequence of EE Expectations in the Ontario Curriculum

This document, available at http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/environment.html and at http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/environment.html, identifies both expectations connected explicitly with EE and those providing opportunities to make connections to environmental topics and issues.

Standards for EE in the Ontario Curriculum

This document, found at http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/enviroed/standards.html, describes the nature and scope of environmental education as reflected throughout the revised curriculum. The standards are described within the themes of community, knowledge, perspectives and action.

Article Environmental Education in Ontario in Professionally Speaking, June 2009

This article by Michael Benedict describes the changes in policy, approach and inclusion of environmental education in Ontario resulting from the Bondar Report in 2007.
http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/june_2009/enviro_ed.asp

Links to Related Documents in Other Jurisdictions

Education for Sustainability, Ministry of Education, Wellington, NZ
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/environ_ed/sustainable_future/futures_e.php

Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative
http://www.environment.gov.au/education/aussi