ABSTRACT
The study informing this chapter was carried out in the context of post-colonial southern Africa, where curriculum and course development were established through colonial education histories, processes and practices. The chapter draws on critical realism to critically consider the development and institutionalization of new environmental education courses in eight Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states. Relational philosophy informed the research process and methodology. Critical realism provided underlabouring ontological perspective for the study, while aspects of Actor Network Theory and community of practice theory were used to describe epistemological perspectives in the study. The chapter reveals that there were a number of necessary (internal) and contingent (external) factors that enabled or constrained networking, professional development and institutionalization of environmental education courses in the context of the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme – Course Development Network (CDN). The key factors included recognition and ownership of courses, course approval systems, nature of the curriculum structure, accreditation and certification, and institutional support.
