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Outdoor and Environmental Studies: More challenges to its place in the curriculum

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Abstract

In Victoria, Australia, outdoor education has been a legitimate subject in the school curriculum for over 25 years. However its place has been debated and challenged over this period. This paper traces the history of the subject, its current status in the Victorian Certificate of Education, future challenges to its place in the curriculum — particularly from the Education for Sustainable Development agenda — and strategies for using challenges towards defining the subject with its own identity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Annette Gough PhD (Professor of Science and Environmental Education and Head of the School of Education)

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  1. Annette Gough PhD
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Additional information

She has been active in environmental education for over three decades. She is past president and life fellow of the Australian Association for Environmental Education and former editor of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education. She is the author of numerous books, book chapters and journal articles including Education and the Environment: Policy, trends and the problems of marginalisation (ACER, 1997) and co-author of Educating for a Sustainable Future: A National Statement on Environmental Education for Schools (Curriculum Corporation, 2005) and Outdoor and Environmental Studies (Thomson, 2006).

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Gough, A. Outdoor and Environmental Studies: More challenges to its place in the curriculum. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, 19–28 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03400854

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