In this article, I draw on interviews with graduates from an Outdoor and Environmental Education course to explore the ways in which their environmental ethics changed since leaving university. I do this in relation to the graduates' personal and professional experiences, particularly in the context of teaching Outdoor Education and Physical Education in secondary schools. By offering two alternative readings of graduates' experiences, this research contributes to existing education literature about the ‘wash-out effect’ of teacher education courses once beginning teachers become immersed in schools. In the first reading I find evidence of regulatory and normalising strategies of society and school communities and a ‘plateauing’ of graduates' engagement with environmental practices. In a second reading, framed by Foucault's theory of power and ethics, I discern acts of ‘tactical’ resistance. This reading foregrounds strategies graduates use to negotiate the constraining spaces of schools.

A national curriculum is presently being developed in Australia with implementation due during 2014. Associated standards for the accreditation of teachers and for teacher education providers have been prepared with the standards describing skills and attributes that teachers are expected to attain. The developing Australian Curriculum, along with the teacher accreditation and initial teacher education program standards, claim to support guiding statements that describe aspirations for all young Australians. Those guiding statements acknowledge that ‘sustainability’ is an essential element of education for young people in Australia. However ‘sustainability’ is unconvincingly represented in the curriculum and is not visible in the standards. This could potentially result in its omission from teacher education and qualification at all levels. A similar situation already exists in New South Wales (NSW). This article illustrates the positioning of five freshly graduated primary teachers within the context of their five NSW schools and from this distils implications for teaching ‘sustainability’ within the developing national proposals.

This study investigated student views on the relationship between their environmental attitudes and behaviours and their thoughts about barriers and motivators to environmentally responsible behaviours. The environmental attitudes and behaviours of students participating in a classroom-based environmental education program were measured using two Likert scales that had been tested for internal consistency and validity using the Rasch polytomous measurement model. Focus groups were held for students to comment on the results from the two questionnaires and provide suggestions with regards to the barriers and motivators influencing their behaviour. The findings of the study support previous research about the relationship between attitude and behaviour and the students' comments on the results provided insight that has not been widely reported elsewhere. Conclusions were drawn regarding the most significant barriers to specific environmental behaviours for high school students and how environmental education programs could be designed and delivered more effectively in secondary schools with the aim of engendering environmentally responsible behaviours in students.

Domestic and international tourists have major impacts on Aotearoa/New Zealand, both positive and negative. In 2010, tourism was the biggest export earner and continues to grow. Environmental consequences of tourism are also growing. Ways of addressing the environmental impacts caused by a mobile society continue to be debated from a variety of practical and theoretical positions. Place-based approaches are a logical discussion focus in addressing these types of social and environmental problems but may be associated with environmental myopia. Tourism, mobility and the principles of environmental education programs such as Leave No Trace are all contested topics within the place-based discourse. This article discusses these tensions and proposes an expansion of place-based and cosmopolitan approaches, with the Leave No Trace Aotearoa/New Zealand campaign presented as an example. The article concludes with possible implications of a more bifocal approach for environmental educators.

Environmental education is seen as a key driver of small business environmental management, yet little is known about the activities small business owner-managers are undertaking to reduce their environmental impact or in what areas they may need education. Therefore, research that can identify environmental management activities being undertaken in small businesses may provide potential targets for education. As intention to behave in a particular way is often predicated on some sort of planning, extending the research questions to ascertain if planning is occurring and its impact on environmental behaviour in small businesses is also seen as critical. The results revealed that, overall, the level of environmental activity in small business was low and that less than a quarter had an environmental plan. In addition, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and purchasing green energy are not areas of engagement for most small businesses and are recommended as potential targets for education.