Planning for Sustainability
Big ideas about sustainability
Caring for our world is a key idea in approaching sustainability and the notion of care is central to the Sustainable Schools agenda. Have a look at the presentation below which expands the idea of sustainability using some of the big underpinning ideas or concepts. It uses examples from schools across the country to give a flavour of what this might look like in practice.
Download: Caring for our World (PPT, 1.9M)
Activity
After viewing the PowerPoint, consider the 'big ideas' or concepts of sustainability and geography.
If you were planning / updating a unit on sustainable energy – what big ideas might you focus on? Choose two or three. How might this help you plan?
Award winning school
Seaton Primary School in Devon won an Ashden Award for their approach to sustainable energy solutions and their whole school sustainable ethos. How might some of their ideas translate into your own school?
Further information about Seaton Primary School, plus a downloadable video, is available on the Ashden Awards website.
Activity
View the film about Seaton Primary and note down some of their sustainable energy initiatives. Rank them in order of achievability in your own school.
How might you use this film with your pupils? How could you do a similar ranking activity and involve pupils in deciding what your school might do?
What are we already doing?
Many schools and teachers are surprised to realise that they are already doing many sustainable activities within their school though perhaps not in a co-ordinated way.
Ofsted recommends that all schools should have a co-ordinator to ensure that sustainability is addressed through a coherent, whole school approach.
'Most of the schools visited had limited knowledge of sustainability or of related initiatives. Work on sustainability tended to be piecemeal and unco-ordinated, often confined to extra-curricular activities and special events rather than being an integral part of the curriculum. Therefore, its impact tended to be short-lived and limited to small groups of pupils.'
- Ofsted 2008
Read the full report, Schools and sustainability, on the Ofsted website.
Energy Monitoring
Planning sustainability across campus, community and curriculum requires careful thinking and a whole school approach. For example, energy is one of the eight 'doorways' of Sustainable Schools and many schools now have energy monitors who patrol classrooms checking that lights and appliances have been switched off. However, not many make this work part of their valid curriculum or involve the wider community.
Making energy monitoring part of the valid curriculum through enquiry and practice
- What makes a good energy monitor? Pupils identify what is needed and why it is important to save energy. Pupils vote after listening to short presentations (links to speaking and listening, citizenship).
- What do we know and do at home? Pupils keep an energy diary at home over the weekend and canvass parents' opinions. This data is used back in class to write persuasive energy tips for local households (links to literacy, science and citizenship).
- Why reduce energy use? Pupils investigate how and why energy use is linked to global warming (links to science)
How might you start to put together ideas for a new unit on energy and sustainability? How can you provide real outcomes that will impact on the school campus and involve the community? Here is one example of initial brainstorming to provide you with some inspiration.
Download: Planning outline ideas for a unit: using energy wisely (PDF, 41k)
Activity
How could you build choosing energy monitors into curriculum work? What ideas does the sample planning starter framework give you? Jot down some of your thoughts.
How does geography contribute to thinking about energy use? What would the learning lose if it didn't have a geographical lens? Identify three ideas that help you answer these questions.
What shall we teach?
It's useful - and potentially very liberating - to recognise that the very fabric of everyday school life is legitimate and valid curriculum material. For example:
- How you travel to school
- What you eat while you're there
- How resources are sourced and managed
- How outdoor and indoor areas are designed and managed
- How you communicate and connect with others within school and in the wider community
- What's changing in the locality / wider community and how they link
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is about developing in pupils the knowledge, values and skills to think carefully about sustainability, understanding that there are often difficult and contested choices to be made.
It is a process of participation and is not about telling pupils what to do or believe, it is about developing pupils' capacity to make responsible decisions about what to do and believe.
ESD should not be thought of as yet another 'add on' - in fact it develops deep thinking and enriches the entire school ethos, such as through Every Child Matters (ECM).
The table below shows exactly how ESD can contribute to Every Child Matters outcomes:
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Be Healthy ESD teaches pupils to recognise the distinction between needs and wants as part of their understanding of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. Understanding physical, mental and emotional health is an integral part of understanding the key concept of quality of life. |
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Enjoy and Achieve Pupils gain a great sense of achievement when they are involved in decision-making processes which relate to their real-world experiences and concerns. When these are used as curriculum examples, pupils' levels of motivation and therefore achievement are potentially much greater. |
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Achieve Economic Well-being ESD encourages pupils to consider the distribution of resources locally and globally. Through topics such as energy, travel and food they develop understanding of how to use resources wisely. The skills, knowledge and understanding developed through ESD are those required to be active and responsible global citizens. |
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Make a Positive Contribution to Society ESD is action orientated. Action in school can have a positive impact on the local community, while the local community can make a positive contribution through active involvement in school projects. |
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Stay Safe Through ESD pupils can learn about health and safety issues, risk assessments and the use of common sense when working in outdoor environments. Pupils can debate what counts as an anti-social behaviour in the context of their interactions with the environment. |
More on sustainability in school
In Caring for our World, Martin and Owens adapt the key concepts of sustainability as identified by Holland (1998) and their implications for learning. Further information on 'The Holland Report 10 Years On...' is available from Tide~.
To demonstrate how these ideas work in practice we are going to look at bringing sustainable energy into the school ethos through an integrated campus, community and curriculum context in the next two sections of this course, Everyday Sustainability and Sustainable Energy and the Local Community.
Following this, Learning to Take Risks and Where I Live look at developing a participatory approach to sustainability using the outdoor classroom.
Acting out Global Warming
This fun drama activity helps children understand global warming by asking them to 'be' different elements such as the earth, coal and heat.
Download: Acting out Global Warming (PDF, 508k)
References
Holland, G. (1998) A Report to DfEE/QCA on Education for Sustainable Development in the Schools Sector from the Panel for Education for Sustainable Development.
Martin, F. & Owens, P. (2008) Caring for Our World: a practical guide to ESD for ages 4 - 8, Sheffield: Geographical Association. Buy the book online from the GA shop.
Ofsted (2008) A Climate for Change. London: HMI
Weblinks
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