The journal article “Current State of Environmental Education in Mexico: A Study on Practices, Audiences, Settings, and Topics” by Jose Marcos-Igaa & William Shaw was featured in the Journal of Applied Environmental Education & Communication in 2011. The article focuses on studies done in Mexico regarding environmental education.

To my surprise, environmental education is not a new topic in Mexico. Although it has been widely suggested, environmental education is not implemented in school curriculum, due to teachers feeling spread thin by the current teaching load, thus being reluctant to add new curriculum. The question stands then: Who is teaching environmental education in Mexico?

An internet survey called “The Conservation Educators’ and Practitioners’ Perceptions of Conservation Education” survey was constructed by the Environmental Education Council of the Californias and sent to various environmental education organizations and conservation practitioners. Questions asked on the survey centered on how organizations were involved with environmental education, the specific focuses of the organization and the amount of resources dedicated to such programming.

There was a 22% response to this survey, meaning that only 118 out of the 538 surveys sent were returned. 58% (68 total) of the surveys returned were from NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), 31% (37 total) were from higher education centers or universities, and 17% (20 total) were in conjunction with the local, state, or federal Mexican government. The last 2% were from recreational centers, museums, aquariums, or zoos.

When asked about the direct aim of their organization, 25% selected conservation of nature, 23% selected research and 22% selected education. Although these numbers are close in comparison, nature conservation came out on top as the main focus.

Surprisingly, 38% of respondents reported that they dedicate one tenth or less of their funding to environmental education.

Due to low survey response, this sample size is arguably not large enough to represent a random response. Despite these unfortunate circumstances, a wobbly conclusion may be made that most of the environmental education taught in Mexico is done by NGOs, is centered on conservation and is lacking funding. Further research is definitely warranted for this topic.

This article can be found at (http://0-www.tandfonline.com.books.redlands.edu/doi/full/10.1080/1533015X.2011.669687#.Uvf9lWI7uM4)