Environmental Stewardship in Tuvalu Formal School Education – a Policy Analysis Perspective across Scales

The article adds new policy insights to the way in which formal teaching methods of environmental stewardship education areas are evaluated in Tuvalu. We aimed to answer three questions: 1. What are the formal policies shaping environmental stewardship education in Tuvalu? 2. Are national educational and environmental policies mutually consistent? and 3. Are these national policies consistent with regional and global policies? These questions were addressed using a study of Tuvaluan online-available documentary assessments of national policies, frameworks, and curricula in conjunction with those obtained from the Education Department. Our findings revealed limitations and weaknesses regarding the provisions of environmental stewardship education at the national scale, including misaligned curricula, policy documents, and formal educational provisions with Tuvalu’s national environmental policy. We also found inconsistencies with regional and global policies such as the Pacific Islands Framework for Nature Conservation, the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific, and international strategic plans for biodiversity and climate change. These cross-scalar policy weaknesses and limitations highlight the need for the Tuvaluan government to align educational and environmental policies at different scales. We recommend a multi-pronged strategy where modes of informal environmental education can support and complement formal government policymaking on education and the environment.