Schools
Schools can play a major role in preparing young people to live sustainable lives. For example, they can help their pupils learn about carbon emissions - where they arise and how to reduce them - and what could happen if we don't take action. One of the best places to start thinking about sustainability is the school itself and its own practices.
What we would like to see...
School is one of the few experiences shared by everyone growing up in this country. For example, England’s entire population of young people flows through less than 3,500 secondary schools, providing a uniquely important setting in which to develop children’s thinking and practices around sustainable development. We would like to see schools grasp this opportunity across the UK, building on the work of the many schools already headed in this direction. We are especially interested in continuity from early years to primary, from secondary level to colleges and universities. We are grateful to the Department for Education for supporting this work.
We’re not talking about a lesson on sustainability every term or the occasional assembly. We’re talking about it becoming the guiding ethos of the education system so that the well-being of children – now and in the future – is front of mind in everything schools do. What better purpose for education is there?
We believe the Government should build a narrative for schools that recognises the power of sustainable development to support agendas like standards raising and pupil well-being - not as an add-on, but as a core feature of delivery. We like many aspects of the Government’s concept of a "21st Century School", but believe this should be anchored in sustainable development principles in order to truly prepare children for 21st Century challenges.
Our future economic prosperity, let alone our prospects for a healthy environment and social justice, depends on young people tuning into sustainable development at school, and acquiring skills such as the ability to think critically about situations, think longer-term, understand the importance of precaution, and envision a brighter, more sustainable future.
Sustainable schools
Exciting changes are beginning to take place in schools policy across the UK, building on the enthusiasm that is so evident in schools themselves.
With our help, in 2006, the Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Education) released its Sustainable Schools strategy setting out challenging recommendations for schools to 2020. This strategy remains one of the most ambitious programmes of change for schools anywhere in the world. Many resources and tools have been published to help schools and local authorities make progress towards the aims of the strategy, including a self-evaluation tool (s3), a planning tool, and other guidance.
DfE's TeacherNet site on sustainable schools: » TeacherNet: Sustainable Schools
Whilst we welcome the Sustainable Schools strategy wholeheartedly, it sits within an education system that currently does not give schools a clear message about the importance of sustainable development. As a consequence, progress is piecemeal and patchy in the majority of schools, as identified by Ofsted in a recent report.
Carbon emissions
While education is our primary interest in schools, our research also shows that schools have a surprisingly large environmental impact. Carbon Emissions from Schools: Where they arise and how to reduce them quantifies for the first time the contribution of English schools to greenhouse gas emissions, and also offers scenarios for how these may change on the way to 2050. The report looks at four main sources of emissions (buildings, transport, waste and procurement), each of which provides scope for schools to lead by example within their communities.
Greenhouse gas footprint of schools estate in England
The report recommends that government works with schools to halve their carbon emissions by 2020, leading to an 80% reduction by 2050 in line with national targets. We are grateful to the Department for Education for supporting this work.
» Carbon Emissions from Schools: Where they arise and how to reduce them
» DfE Schools Carbon Management Strategy - The Government’s long-range strategy for reducting the carbon footprint of schools in England.
School food
School food has hit the headlines! See what the SDC recommends in:
» Double Dividend: Promoting good nutrition and sustainable consumption through healthy school meals.
Visit the Food for Life Partnerships’s web site here: » Food for Life Partnership
School buildings
We welcome the DfE’s decision to set up a Task Force on Zero Carbon School Buildings, and believe that all new and significantly refurbished school buildings should set out to become models of sustainable design. Outcomes such as zero carbon, zero waste and zero congestion should become the norm for schools so that they can serve as beacons of good practice for their communities.
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Children from Turners Hill Primary School in West Sussex grow, cook and eat vegetables and keep chickens in their Outside Classroom as an integral part of the whole school curriculum. Picture by kind permission of Turners Hill Primary School and photographer Alys Tomlinson. |
Learning outside the classroom
It's not just what schools do, but how they do it. We therefore welcome the DfE's support for a Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, prepared in cooperation with a wide range of partners. The Manifesto highlights how children and young people can benefit from enriching their learning in the world beyond the classroom. Sustainability requires taking action and it is important that students develop this competency early on in life.
» Teachernet: Learning Outside the Classroom
Elsewhere in the UK
» Scotland’s first action plan for the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development
» Welsh Strategy for Action on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
Links
» TeacherNet: Sustainable Schools
» SEEd – supporting education for a more sustainable world
» DEA – promoting education for a just and sustainable world
