Extracurricular Activities in Environmental Educational Clubs: A Way to Improve Learning and Anchor Environmental Culture In Qualifying Secondary

Abstract

The recent wave of reform in Education brought with it a lot of important changes to the teaching of science in secondary school, in particular by favouring the integration of new disciplinary and priority fields such as environmental education (EVE). However, it appears that, concretely, EVE actions are rather rare in our educational institutions given the lack of initial teacher training in this field. The context of this work is interested in showing how environmental education clubs can contribute to the improvement of environmental learning and education in qualifying secondary schools. The difficulty of combining environmental education with the teaching of life and earth sciences is associated with the difficulty of linking all school disciplines within a reformed national curriculum. However, it appears that, concretely, EVE actions are rather rare in our educational institutions given the lack of initial teacher training in this field. The context of this work is interested in showing how environmental education clubs can contribute to the improvement of environmental learning and education in qualifying secondary schools. The difficulty of combining environmental education with the teaching of life and earth sciences is associated with the difficulty of linking all school disciplines within a reformed national curriculum. The difficulties raised regarding the institutionalization of the EVE are very real and internationally encountered, but remain diluted through the sum of all the problems related to the new curricula. Despite all the socio-educational, political and economic constraints, it is important to insist that environmental education has its place in the fundamental education of young citizens today in a world they contribute to building. The systematic integration of the environmental dimension in the Moroccan education system can be conceived in two parallel ways: the disciplinary contents that must ensure the construction of skills and solid theoretical knowledge on the environment in the learners by providing them with the necessary knowledge as well as the practical and extracurricular activities provided by the clubs of the environment, considered a crucial and compulsory field, which allows multidimensional teaching linked to the concerns of society.