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In this article I focus on an initiative to determine how a group of 7 purposefully recruited Grade 10 in-service life orientation teachers in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district of the North West province conceptualise socio-environmental issues and aim to determine whether their teaching-learning practices are aligned with the expectations of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. A qualitative research design was used to generate data through semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed thematically. A critical finding was that a need exists to include a situated knowledge approach to real-life socio-environmental issues for the purpose of humanising life orientation for learners. With this article, I wish to contribute to a particular discourse with regard to real-life socio-environmental issues through humanising life orientation pedagogies through environmental education. The potential merits of such a transformative approach, which is grounded in a critical pedagogical paradigm, are discussed as well.

There is a lack of knowledge about how embodied educational practices can be used to challenge and problematise traditional Life Orientation teaching approaches that normally result in a lack of learner engagement on socio- environmental challenges. The objective of this small-scale exploratory qualitative study was therefore to establish whether Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers encouraged embodied learning experiences that are grounded in learners' lived experiences, creativity, expressive potential and perspectives. Data were generated from lesson observations combined with semi-structured individual interviews that were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that the participating teachers struggled to transform complex social and environmental matters into concrete embodied educational experiences for their learners. An additional finding highlighted the importance of how the Life Orientation curricula can serve as a stimulus to aid an embodied teaching-learning approach towards social and environmental responsibility. These findings provide a starting point for the development of a framework to guide Life Orientation teachers to employ embodied learning practices and, thus, meet the outcomes of the subject as envisaged in policy statements.

The primary aim of this qualitative case study was to explore the relevance of seven in-service Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers' teaching-learning operations in two different quintile schools regarding the curriculum topic social and environmental responsibility. Accounts of teaching-learning strategies were used to define the orientation of these seven participants towards the topic social and environmental responsibility, which primarily focuses on content relevant to the adolescent learner. The qualitative findings are discussed thematically and their implications for an adolescent-orientated Life Orientation curriculum are highlighted. Focusing on the teaching-learning strategies of a selected sample of Life Orientation teachers strengthen the merit for suggesting a multi-faceted framework to enhance curriculum outcomes and teaching quality regarding life skills education.

Life Orientation (LO) is judged by the Department of Basic Education to be critical for the development of social and environmental responsible behaviour among South African schoolchildren. Despite this crucial role, the research revealed that the participants in the study reported on do not succeed as expected with the fostering of competencies regarding social and environmental responsible knowledge, values and skills, as required by the South African Curriculum and Policy Assessment Statement. The research findings as obtained through structured classroom observations and semi-structured interviews and reported here, inspired the researchers to develop a generic and holistic framework which can assist LO teachers with the facilitation of social and environmental responsible knowledge, values and skills in a more positive and learner-centred way through environmental education.