Resources

The UN proposed sustainable development and environmental education in Agenda 21 as an educational goal for the twenty-first century. In many developed countries, environmental education has become an important part of education that is compatible with social development. China is also facing serious environmental problems that make more demands for mode of economic development and level of environment protection. Since the 1980s, although environmental education has been carried out in primary and secondary schools, its concentration was no more than imparting environmental knowledge. In order to nurture the idea of sustainable development for students and encourage them to take action for a sustainable future, the Ministry of Education of PRC has formally incorporated environmental education in the foundation course of primary and secondary schools. This guide aims to provide concrete advice for teachers and other educators to organize activities to foster students’ comprehensive understanding of the environmental system and develop their capacities to take responsibilities for environment protection in social life. It also gives advice for the school’s administrative departments to manage and support these activities, to exploit and develop multiple environmental education resources, and to apply different methods and strategies to environmental education. In addition, it provides methods of evaluating environmental education as a starting point to adjust and improve the implementation of environmental education.