' Pearce et al. (1989) document over 60 and there is still no agreed definition despite recognition of its significance over a variety of scales (Pearce et al., 1989.) What can be ascertained is that the use of the term 'environmental education' began being used as early as the 1970s and for the purpose of this study has been defined as being: 'the process of recognising values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture and his biophysical surroundings. Environmental education also entails practice in decision making and self-formulation of a code of behaviour about issues concerning environmental quality.' .
World Conservation Union (IUCN 1970).
Despite evidence in academia that educators accept the importance of EE it is challenged as it struggles to create its own identity and it is thought to be treated as a marginal subject in most UK secondary schools (Gayford, 1991.) Part of this struggle comes with growing tensions over matter of definition between EE and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and some maintain the need for clarity between the two (Marcinkowski, 2010.) It is traditionally thought that EE is concerned only with human-earth relationships, whereas ESD lays emphasis on human development, however, the over lapping interests of these two concepts, shown in Table 1, make it impossible to view them as mutually exclusive (Marcinowski, 2010.) For the purpose of this study it will be assumed that ESD is an extension of EE rather than a separate entity and the interests they serve will be treated as an integrated approach to global concerns as is the case in the UK Geography National Curriculum (QCA, 2007.) .
Table 1. The overlapping and divergent interests of EE and ESD.
Column Field.
A – Primarily EE.
B- Shared.
C- Primarily ESD.
Problems of interest and goals.