Rationale for Educational Policies in Environmental Stewardship for Public Schools Leadership Roles

Abstract

The education sector is tasked with ensuring that all sustainable development goals are met. Practicing environmental stewardship in schools will ensure that schools produce environmentally conscious individuals for a sustainable future. This study, therefore, sought to establish the rationale of educational policies in enhancing environmental stewardship in the education sector. The study adopted a correlational research design. Primary data weas collected from a sample of 260 teachers using a structured questionnaire and fifteen school principals using interview schedules. Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The study established that there was no significant difference in understanding of environmental laws between male and female teachers. However, understanding such laws was found to be positively influenced by both levels of education and length of stay in the teaching career. Further, the study found that only 29.42% of the sampled teachers understood the provisions of the law on leadership roles for environmental stewardship. Lastly,  a positive linear association was established between knowledge of laws and leadership roles, knowledge of the laws and environmental stewardship respectively. The study concluded that educational laws remained inexplicit on the issue of environmental stewardship while teachers remained unknowledgeable of existing laws and their provisions. Implementation of laws was also greatly wanting. This study will therefore inspire educational policy review to address leadership roles for environmental stewardship in public schools in Kenya and beyond.