The Environmentalist, 21, 287–296, 2001 ©2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands. Organization of school centres and environmental education: In search of action models for the greening of school organization JAUME SUREDA ∗ and ANA M. CALVO Department of Education, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Cra. de Valldemossa, Km 7.5, 07071 Palma, Spain Summary. The introduction of environmental education (EE) in school centres is a process which has mainly followed two paths. One centred on teaching actions, on the curriculum organization and admin- istration in order to enable educational practice orientated towards attaining the aims of EE. The other, which is here denominated ‘organizational strategy’ focuses, basically, on the organization and adminis- tration of the centre from an environmental perspective. The characteristics and main results of this ‘envi- ronmental education and school organization’ research project are described, dedicating special attention to the assessments of some of the participants. A series of elements for discussion and debate which could be useful in the development of future projects and actions within the framework of school organization greening is presented. Keywords: environmental greening, environmental education, schools, curriculum greening, eco-audit Introduction The introduction of environmental education (EE) in school centres is a process which has mainly followed two paths which have not always run parallel. In the first, EE practice focuses on teaching activities, on organization and curricu- lar management in order to make educational practices orientated towards obtaining the aims of EE feasible. This curricular strategy, as is well known, is based on two models (Hunger- ford and Peyton, 1986): one—the so-called pluri- disciplinary one—requires the creation of teaching units, courses, sets of courses, etc. The other— the so-called multi-disciplinary one—requires the incorporation of EE components in the already established school disciplines. Some educators have opted for another way of introducing EE into their centres. This second ∗ Dr Jaume Sureda is Professor of Education (e-mail: jaume.sureda@uib.es) and Dr. Ana M. Calvo is Senior Lec- turer (e-mail: a.calvo@uib.es) at the Department of Education of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain). path, which is here denominated ‘organizational strategy’ is focused, fundamentally, on the orga- nization and management of the centre from an environmental perspective. In general terms, it is a question of making the institutional set-up of the centre, as well as the structuring of the mate- rial and functional resources, coherent with the principles of environmental protection. Common sense and, together with it, some good pedagogical approaches, point towards the fact that the curricular context and the organiza- tional context must bear a close interdependence (Baczala, 1992). They are not different realities, one a receptacle and the other the content. They are not contexts that can be considered and dealt with in a separate way (Sureda and Calvo, 1996). However, the introduction of EE practices in schools is not always accompanied by organiza- tional changes in the centres, hence contradictions often arise between the ‘hidden curriculum’ and the teaching discourse. The practice of environ- mental education in school centres implies taking