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Environmental Stewardship Education in Tuvalu, Part 1: The Role of Policy Alignment

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journal contribution
posted on 2025-01-30, 15:55 authored by Soseala TinilauSoseala Tinilau, Sarah Hemstock, Theresa Mercer, Matthew HannafordMatthew Hannaford, Andrew KythreotisAndrew Kythreotis

Environmental stewardship is crucial for fostering sustainable development, particularly in vulnerable small-island developing states like Tuvalu. Government policies and frameworks play a vital role in shaping the education system, but inconsistencies in policy alignment often hamper efforts to embed Environmental Stewardship Education (ESE) into the national curriculum. We aimed to answer four questions: 1. What formal policies shape Environmental Stewardship Education (ESE) in Tuvalu? 2. Are national educational and environmental policies mutually consistent? 3. Are these national policies consistent with regional and global policies? 4. What challenges hinder the implementation of ESE in Tuvalu? These questions were addressed using a study of regional, international, and Tuvaluan online-available documentary assessments of national policies and frameworks in conjunction with those obtained from the Education Department. Our findings revealed that a combination of Tuvalu’s environmental and educational policies was instrumental in shaping ESE. Nationally, educational and environmental policies are internally inconsistent, as well as being inconsistent externally with regional and international policies. Recommendations for improving policy alignment and the sustainable integration of ESE into the curriculum are provided. The second part (Part 2) of our review covers the development and delivery of effective curricula for ESE.

Funding

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

History

School affiliated with

  • Department of Geography (Research Outputs)
  • School of Natural Sciences (Research Outputs)
  • College of Health and Science (Research Outputs)

Publication Title

Sustainability

Volume

17

Issue

3

Pages/Article Number

872

Publisher

MDPI

eISSN

2071-1050

Date Submitted

2024-11-11

Date Accepted

2024-12-13

Date of First Publication

2025-01-22

Date of Final Publication

2025-01-22

Funder

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

Relevant SDGs

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequality
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships to achieve the Goal
  • SDG 16 - Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

Open Access Status

  • Open Access

Date Document First Uploaded

2025-01-22

Will your conference paper be published in proceedings?

  • N/A