Abstract The Eco-Schools programme in South Africa is the longest-running Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiative in Africa, which aims to enhance environmental literacy amongst students. This paper reports on a qualitative study involving a focus group of environmental educators working for a non-profit organisation. Through a Rapid Appraisal Method, the environmental educators identified 44 successful eco-schools along with criteria and indicators which typified their selections. A Google search for articles on eco-schools found narrative histories of environmental learning to validate the indicators with a reflective commentary. The research identified 16 indicators including the ‘award’ achieved by schools, a supportive principal, an eco-committee, sustained eco-projects and whole-school involvement. This study develops and tentatively proposes a set of indicators that could support ‘successful’ ESD practice in South African contexts. It provides a critique of these context-specific indicators and recommends that we should use them as a reflective rather than a standardisation tool.

中文翻译：

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审查南非生态学校的可持续发展实践教育

摘要 南非的生态学校计划是非洲持续时间最长的教育促进可持续发展 (ESD) 计划，旨在提高学生的环境素养。本文报告了一项定性研究，该研究涉及为非营利组织工作的环境教育工作者焦点小组。通过快速评估方法，环境教育工作者确定了 44 所成功的生态学校，并确定了他们选择的典型标准和指标。在谷歌搜索关于生态学校的文章，找到了环境学习的叙述历史，以通过反思性评论来验证指标。该研究确定了 16 项指标，包括学校获得的“奖励”、支持性校长、生态委员会、持续的生态项目和全校参与。本研究开发并初步提出了一套指标，可以支持南非背景下“成功”的可持续发展教育实践。它对这些特定于上下文的指标进行了批评，并建议我们应该将它们用作反思工具而不是标准化工具。