9. METIRIA TUREI (Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
What initiatives is the Government implementing to support environmental education in light of the Labour-led Government - Green Party co-operation agreement?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) Link to this
I am pleased to support today’s announcement by the Green Party of $13 million over a 4-year period for environmental educational support for teachers and schoolchildren. The funding, which will increase progressively over the next 4 years, will be used in the following three areas: $7.4 million will build and support the national coordination of the existing education for sustainability programme; $4.6 million will go to the Enviroschools Foundation to support its programmes; and $800,000 will go to resources and coordination for total immersion and kaupapa Māori schools. Finally, I would like to thank the Greens for the way we are able to work our way through this Budget and for their strong advocacy of environmental education.
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
As the member will know, we have had responses from all around the education system and outside it to say what a good policy this is. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Morgan Williams, said that this is a significant funding increase and that he is delighted to see education for sustainability recognised. The World Wide Fund for Nature has also welcomed the investment, saying that this funding will give much-needed resources for environmental education for schools. I see that Irene Cooper, the national president of the New Zealand Educational Institute, has said that funding environmental education represents a sound investment in the future.
Steve ChadwickHow does this initiative build on existing environmental education programmes put in place by this Labour-led Government?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
This initiative does build on the already existing excellent policies of the Labour-led Government—initiatives in schools that have seen a doubling in the number of people employed to coordinate initiatives at a regional and national level, and enabling key programmes like Enviroschools now to be offered to 450 more schools. All of that builds on work around sustainable organic school gardens, the Sir Peter Blake Environmental Educator Award, support for learning experiences outside the classroom, and electronic resources and links on the Ministry of Education’s online learning centre.
Does the Minister agree that comprehensive environmental education from early childhood to tertiary will leave today’s children in a much better position to deal with the very serious issues of climate change, scarce oil resources, and environmental degradation, which sadly are our legacy and the legacy of previous generations?