Children, Environment and Education

Personal views of urban environmental education in Britain

Abstract

The work which went on in and around British schools in the 1970s and 1980s under the broad title of 'environmental education' gained an international reputation. Much has now changed within education in Britain, yet the key lessons from that period are regarded by the authors of this paper as just as relevant today. To adapt such principles to a new setting demands a clear reflection on exactly why and how the important innovations came into being and developed as they did. Without this review new pressures may lead to misuse of the ideas. This paper offers a challenging and personal view of a key period of thinking about children, environment and education.