This article presents findings from a study that evaluated the impact of an Australian sustainability initiative, with a view to unravelling the realities of teachers’ implementation approaches. The paper outlines a study that reviews a government initiative in early years, primary and secondary educational settings that uses the Data Collection, Storage and Visualisations System (DCSVS) aimed at enhancing sustainability awareness and embedding sustainability as part of everyday practice in schools and early childhood services. It was also intended to offer school leaders, teachers and students avenues to engage with their consumption of natural resources. This in turn was anticipated to increase awareness about conservation, with the long-term aim to engage with the broader themes of sustainability. This article focuses on the role of teachers’ identities in enacting these policy initiatives. It highlights teachers’ enactment of the policies, the crucial role of school leaders in the process, as well as the deeper connections between curriculum and pedagogy.

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While it is well understood there is an urgent need to address global environmental problems, there is less understanding around how these problems can be addressed. At each level of government, policy is initiated as a response to a perceived problem. However, research has shown governmental policies are overly generalised which creates a universal approach, with little regard for contextual difference. This paper seeks to push back against unspoken assumptions surrounding Education for Sustainability (EfS) policy processes from development to implementation, showing that context is important in the interpretation of policy. Through a mixed method survey, the findings illustrate how EfS policies are often overloaded with infrastructure rather than educational benefits, minimising the policy objectives for sustainability as a cross-curricular priority. Three key points are raised to advocate for a new 'systems thinking' approach to policy implementation, with ramifications proposed to enable a more effective enactment of Education for Sustainability into curriculum.

AbstractWhat is distinctive or indistinctive about environmental education in schools and other formal education settings in India? In essence, what is thenessof environmental education in the Indian education system? Our responses to these important questions form the focus of this paper, shedding light on the historical, present and future directions (orness) of environmental education in India. In effect, we attempt to capture thenessof environmental education by considering practice, policy and research developments throughout the various contemporary and traditional environmental education movements. In so doing, we identify a theory-practice gap and a dire lack of research as some of the pertinent issues facing environmental education in India. In conclusion we discuss possible future directions that environmental education might take in addressing these issues.

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