In 2021, SEEA surveyed 617 teachers and 127 administrators at schools across the southeast states to better understand access and barriers to environmental education. Of those who responded, 47% were Title I schools and 40% were located in disadvantaged communities, as defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool. The demographics of students attending schools who responded to this survey were 45% white (not hispanic), 24% black or african american, 16% hispanic or latino, 3% asian, 0.4% american indian or alaska native, and 0.1% native hawaiian and pacific islander. This is/is not reflective of demographics in the southeast. The findings from that survey are summarized below. 

Findings Summary

Outdoor Learning

The following section covers our findings around outdoor learning and outdoor learning spaces at schools. An outdoor learning space is any outdoor area that is or can be used to teach outdoors at a school. These spaces could be formal outdoor classrooms, improved outdoor facilities, or simply natural spaces. Environmental education (EE) is a process that helps individuals, communities, and organizations learn more about the environment, and develop skills and understanding about how to address global challenges.

When asked how often they take students outside, 10% of educators responded that they do this daily, and 40% do this once or twice a month to a few times a year. It is rarely done on a regular basis for any educator and is not a norm at most schools. That is a trend we would like to see change in the future.

When asked how likely teachers are to integrate outdoor learning into their instruction:

• 32% already incorporate outdoor learning into instruction 

• 61% indicated interest, but need support

• Only 6% they are not likely to incorporate outdoor learning

The top barriers to incorporating outdoor learning in schools are:

• Logistics (scheduling, time, distance, staging and clean up)  - 48.3%

• Lack of outdoor learning spaces, amenities or improvements - 18.8%

• Lack of outdoor learning supplies - 7.1%

• Student behavior - 4.8%

• Spaces are not accessible to all students - 4%

• Knowing what to teach outdoors - 1.4%

When asked which features or resources would help to incorporate or increase outdoor learning, the following features ranked highest:

• Available work surfaces or tables - 66%

• Available shade - 60%

• Available seating - 59%

• Lesson Supplies - 52%

• Teaching materials - 50%

• Best practices for teaching 

• Professional Development - 40%

• Raised beds or gardens - 40%

• Available green space - 38%

• Maintenance support - 37%

• Partnerships - 35%

• Examples and success stories - 31%

• Staffing or volunteer support - 29%

We also looked at which features and amenities were most often available and used for outdoor learning, This was work surfaces by far, followed by school gardens and outdoor classrooms.

Field Trips

This section is designed to share the needs and challenges schools face when taking EE-related field trips so that EE providers can better address these.  Of our survey respondents, 38% indicated that they have taken students on environmental education related field trips.  The ideal length of time for a field trip was a full day.  

What would be the ideal length of time for the student’s experience?

When taking your students on field trips, what is your priority?

• Providing students with hands-on experience related to the subject matter - 94%

• Doing something fun and enjoyable - 91%

• Hearing from experts - 86%

• Visiting natural resources/spaces not available on campus - 86%

• Learning something not taught in class - 82%

• Exposure to career opportunities - 78%

• Opportunity to plan and carry out project-based learning - 77%

• Getting students out of the classroom - 76%

• Experiencing standards-based programming led by another educator - 70%

The primary limiting factors for schools' ability to participate in field trips were: 

• Transportation costs - 70%

• Time - 48%

• Availability of transportation - 45%

• Site fees - 43%

• Capacities of students (e.g., age, behavior, accessibility) - 27%

• Relevance to academic standards - 24%

• Availability of chaperones - 22%

Professional Development

This section focused on better understanding the professional learning interests, past experiences,

and needs of educators.

When asked what type of professional development educators have participated in, 44% mentioned they received their PD from professional organization conference workshops.  Research about outdoor ed and EE came in at 34% and undergraduate courses came in at 28%.  It is also worth noting that 21% of educators indicated they have had no professional development about outdoor education or environmental education.

The most common responses received to the open-ended question of what environmental education or outdoor education professional development opportunity was most effective are highlighted in this chart. The most common response was field-based, in-person and hands-on workshops.  

The following chart highlights the top 15 most common responses we received to the open-ended question of what environmental education professional development topics were of interest. The most common response was outdoor learning professional development on best practices, benefits, and pedagogy.

Climate Literacy

According to our survey, 66% of educators are teaching about climate science and of those, 50% are spending less than 10 hours per year on this topic.

What are the barriers to teaching about climate science in the classroom?

Integration of Environmental Education

This section focuses on how environmental education is incorporated (or not) across disciplines and across the curriculum.  We found that only 32% of schools have a school-wide environmental theme or focus and only 31% of schools have requirements for incorporating out and environmental learning.  Only 6.4% of schools offer EE in a language other than english.

This graphic highlights the terms most often used by schools and EE providers.  This might help to determine the best way to communicate with your audiences when referring to environmental education.

Overall, the most popular course to teach environmental education was in science. The other popular options included teaching environmental education during special events (e.g., field trips, Earth Day celebrations) and integrating environmental education interdisciplinary.  There is a significant opportunity to demonstrate how environmental education is interdisciplinary and can be used as a context for teaching any subject area. 

This graphic highlights the environmental education resources, curricula, and or programming each respondent's school or institute has used or had available in the past two years.  Overall, the most popular responses included taking part in short-term programs offsite, environmental education curricula, hosting environmental-themed school clubs, and short-term programming on campus.

The following are the most prevalent barriers educators experience when integrating environmental education into their curriculum.  Overall, the most common barriers included scheduling/ time and the availability of environmental education equipment or materials.  By identifying the barriers experienced by educators, we can consider how best to remove those barriers.

• Scheduling/Time (38%)

• Availability of EE equipment or materials (33%)

• Teacher buy-in (21%)

• Administrator or District buy-in (17%)

• Availability of curricula (17%)

• Alignment to curriculum or standards (15%)

• Connecting to community partners (15%)

What methods do you use to assess the impact of outdoor and environmental education?

Do you include any of the following specific instructional strategies to make environmental education more inclusive for diverse audiences?

What tools would be most valuable for increasing environmental education opportunities in the classroom?