Secondary school teachers’ understanding on key environmental issues: a study of nine secondary schools in Mufindi district

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general perception secondary school teachers had on environment and the key environmental issues of Tanzania in particular. The idea was to find out the knowledge secondary school teachers had, on environment and how it would help to plan and develop suitable environmental education programmes. This would help in developing various methods of teaching and conducting various types of research to develop further understanding of the problem facing one’s environment. The knowledge would further accelerate the process of attaining sustainable use of environmental resources in Tanzania. The study used a conceptual work from Goodlad (1979). Four research tasks and twelve questions guided the study. The sample included secondary school geography teachers and students (N=292). Data was collected through observations, documentary reviews, questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study revealed that, teachers’ understanding in the major environmental issues was little due to, lack of environmental education in their Diploma courses, lack of in-service seminars and workshops to mention a few. Hence the study recommends that: Teachers and students should conduct district environmental workshops and seminars focusing on newly EE topics introduced in the syllabus. This should go hand in hand with other school indoor seminars and EE team teaching within the school. Curriculum developers should seek opinions and advice from qualified environmental education teachers before developing the curriculum in question. For example, the sequencing of the syllabus and how to incorporate practical activities. Environmental agencies should treat local people as active participants in environmental conservation while improving also their life. Local participation could happen in form of tree planting activities and involvement of the local people in protecting the available forests by using their local knowledge.