De uitdagingen van Natuur- en Milieueducatie

While environmental education has been one of the aims of Dutch nature conservation advocates for a century, both the urgency and the scope of environmental education have increased over the last decades. In 1997 a special chair in environmental education was appointed by the ‘Stichting Bijzondere Leerstoelen Natuurbeheer’ (Foundation for Appointment of Special Chairs for Nature Management), with support from the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation. The article describes the activities of the chair in supporting education and research in the field of environmental education. A specialization for environmental education has been realized within the MSc Science Communication and Education at Utrecht University. The chair has engaged in several fields of research, such as development of standards for environmental education, development of conceptual frameworks and materials for e.g. education on pluralism in nature views, and evaluation of environmental education. Recent research themes include environmental education and civil society, and comparative research on environmental education curricula in Europe and China.