Deputy Minister of Water and Environment Affairs to lead Fundisa for change Eeducation for Sustainable Development (ESD) Teacher Education conference
The Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi will officially launch the Fundisa for Change Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Teacher Education Conference on the 28 February 2014, at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
The Fundisa for Change Conference was established through a partnership between the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI) GreenMatter programme, the National Teacher Institution and other partners. The aim of the partnership and conference is to strengthen environmental education within the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) framework of South Africa for the training of teachers on content on environmental issues.
The Fundisa For Change Programme emanates from a consortium of national environment and education sector partners in South Africa, to strengthen environmental learning and teacher education. This state-civil partnership implements a key objective of the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Environmental Sector Skills Plan, namely, to ensure a sustainable supply of quality skills in the environment sector, through environmental education and training capacity development in the Education, Training & Skills Development Seta and within tertiary education facilities, for teacher education.
The programme responds to two core issues:
- The curriculum content necessary for building national capacity for biodiversity management, sustainable use of natural resources, resilience to climate change, and building a green economy
- The quality of teachers’ knowledge and ability to teach ‘new’ environmental content.
This year’s conference will be held under the theme: ‘Building a national system of teacher education engagement for transformative environmental learning and education for sustainable development.’
Teachers and environmental practitioners will have the opportunity to be part of the sustainable development environment agenda, and express their ideas and knowledge gained in the Green Matter programme. GreenMatter is a catalytic public-private initiative that partners with South Africa’s Biodiversity sector in developing relevant and quality skills for our Green Economy, and for supporting the sectors transformation agenda.
The Fundisa for Change Conference and launch will take place over 2 days, on 27 and 28 February 2014.
Media are invited to attend the Launch Keynote Address of the Deputy Minister as follows:
Date: Friday, 28 February 2014
Venue: Emperors Palace, 64 Jones Rd, Kempton Park
Time of Keynote Address: 9h00 am
Media Interviews: 11h00 am
To RSVP please contact:
Xolani Ngqoshela
Tel: 012 310 3078
Cell: 074 668 0924
E-mail: xngqoshela@environment.gov.za
For enquiries please contact:
Peter Mbelengwa
Cell: 082 611 8197
E-mail: mbelengwap@dwa.gov.za
