Progress in environmental education in Chile has been slow and uncoordinated. The three main actors involved are the State, the universities and non-governmental organisations. The lack of interest in promoting it appears to be due to the post-modernist paradigm which permeates a part of Chilean society, and the dominant development model which relegates environmental matters to a secondary status. The present is a time of changes in social practices, and therefore an opportunity for these three actors to come together to promote professional education which matches this paradigm shift towards citizens who assume a more protagonic role and channel post-modern criticism without abandoning modern values.