Following Independence in 1991 Namibia embarked on a major reform of the entire education system. The reform was perceived as a way of redressing the apartheid legacy and bringing about a democratic learner centred education for all. At the same time the reform was also seen as a prime vehicle to bring about sustainable development through incorporating relevant environmental education into various carrier subjects. One such carrier has been the subject Life Science, which is compulsory from Grade 8 to Grade 10. The Life Science Project was a joint venture between the Ministry of Education and Ibis, a Danish Development NGO, established to develop and support the implementation of Life Science in junior secondary schools. This half-thesis is an evaluation of the Life Science Project through an analysis of the central assumptions on which the Life Science curriculum is based and by investigating different stakeholders’ perceptions and understanding of the learner centred approach adopted by the curriculum. Three questions have guided this research: 1. Are there curriculum models that are more conducive for reform and change than others? 2. Do stakeholders and curriculum developers in Namibia understand the theory of social constructivism, and the systemic implications such an approach has for the education system? 3. Which approach to environmental education complements a transformative curriculum and the changes outlined in policy? From the research carried out in this half-thesis, it would appear that the Namibian education system and the Life Science curriculum suffers from what could be termed “ideological confusion”. Confusion in the sense that there are marked inconsistencies between policy and praxis, between the stated goals and aims of the reform and the curriculum designed to achieve these. This confusion is further exacerbated by various stakeholders’ different interpretations of both policy and the systemic implications the reform policy has on education. In this half-thesis I argue that embarking on an objectives driven model of curriculum cannot bring about change and transformation of the Namibian education system. I further argue that, by not having considered and implemented the necessary systemic changes to the education system, Namibia has, in fact, developed a child centred education system which is fundamentally different from a learner centred education system. Finally, I argue that environmental education, through the subject Life Science, set within an objectives driven, Child Centred Education system is inappropriate for and unable to address the need for developing an environmentally literate citizenry who are able to take informed decisions in order to address the environmental crisis and bring forth a more sustainable future.

After Independence in 1991, Namibia embarked on implementing a new and different educational system. This system was seen as a radical departure from the old apartheid system. The Namibian government approached Ibis, a Danish NGO, to support the change process by establishing and developing a new subject, life science, in Junior Secondary schools in Namibia through the Life Science Project (LSP). In a project of this nature, where a foreign (Danish) educational intervention in a relatively young and new democracy is the issue, cross-cultural aspects are likely to emerge, and these are the focus of this study. This half-thesis is an attempt to illuminate, not to evaluate, managerial as well as cross-cultural features of the project based on perceptions of selected Danish managers and Namibian advisory teachers from the former LSP expressed in the goal of the research: - To explore selected leaders’ and participants’ perception of the management of the Life Science Project. In line with this goal, I elected to conduct the research in the interpretive paradigm, using unstructured interviews as my chief source of data. The findings illuminate what would appear to be an inconsistency in the management of the project. The project seemed to be able to accommodate regional and even personal differences and to be flexible to internal changes. At the same time it appears that in its relationship to the external or task environment it did not show the same openness and flexibility to accommodate diversity. It is suggested that this could be a result of the apparent failure on the part of the project to clarify its own underlying values. The study also reveals interesting and unexpected perceptions of leadership, which may also be interpreted in terms of cultural values and beliefs. These two features of managerial issues could lead one to reflect upon the importance of recognising values in organisations which work across cultures.