Abstract:

The geography formed the historical preconditions for the scientific solution of the environmental issues, while shaping the concept of the geographical environment. The role of environmental geography as a partial geographical, scientific discipline in the intersection with environmental studies is to characterize, explain and propose changes in the human-environment relationship while considering the ideas of sustainable development in the context of the time and space. Considering the background of systems theory, spatial aspects of environmental issues are the main contribution of geography to the interdisciplinary element of environmental studies.
The topic of the environment gradually appears in teaching at various levels of schools. Evidence is provided by the outputs of national conferences on environmental education in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, and at the online national conference Environmental Education in Primary Schools in 2020.
The paper aims to present environmental geography options within the system of geographical education at primary, secondary schools and university institutions in the Slovak Republic within the frame of planned changes in adapting the content and forms of education to the needs of the 21st century.
The paper was prepared based on studies of scientific and professional print and electronic information sources, especially the Innovative State Educational Program of Geography of Particular Years of Primary and Secondary Schools, its cross-sectional topics and relevant textbooks, as well as curricula for university study of academic subjects in combination with geography. Information from research in the field of environmental literacy of students was also used. The obtained information was processed and interpreted by the methods of explanatory description, comparative and system method.
The paper brings an original synthesis of knowledge about environmental geography with a link to environmental education as a cross-section topic, which is part of all state educational programs, in vertical and horizontal structure (continuity in various levels of education, or interdisciplinary relationships, teaching methods, organizational forms). It provides specific information about university subjects developing environmental geography within the training of future teachers of (not only) geography as the subject. Through environmental geography, students gain current facts and learn to analyze, explain, and search for possible solutions emerging between the potential of the landscape and human interests. At the same time, their environmental feelings, awareness, and actions are built according to the ideas of sustainable development (AGENDA 2030 [1]), which enables students to become future teachers to influence the attitudes of the next generation. Support for environmental education and training to ensure the sustainable use of resources and environmental protection is also declared in the essential documents of the development of the Slovak Republic until 2030.

Keywords:

Environmental geography, the system of geographical education, Innovative State Educational Program of Geography, cross-sectional topics, AGENDA 2030.