Strategies Toward the Inclusion of Environmental Education in Educator Preparation Programs: Results from a National Survey

A national study was conducted to investigate the inclusion of environmental education (EE) into educator preparation programs across the United States. Responses from teacher educators in institutions of higher education indicated that the infusion of EE into educator preparation programs is limited and varies greatly across the nation. Findings also identified more barriers than supports for the inclusion of EE, and there exists minimal knowledge and use of the North American Association for Environmental Education Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators by teacher educators for programmatic development and assessment. The results also indicated that most state licensure programs have few or no requirements related to environmental education, and in the majority of educator preparation programs, environmental education is not institutionalized.