SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS
Sustainability
The notion of 'sustainability' emerged in the 1980s and has now become one of the key concepts for exploring the impact of human activity on the planet. Put at its most simple any human activity is sustainable if it can continue fairly indefinitely without causing harm to either people or planet. Alternatively, any human activity that results in on-going harm to either people or planet is the opposite – unsustainable. It has now become clear that many of our practices today come in the latter category.
It was at the Earth Summit in 1992 that this vital (and contested) concept became enshrined in national and international policy and debate. This occurred because it was then recognised that human activity was increasingly threatening the biosphere – that narrow zone of earth, air, water – on which all life (plants, creatures, humans) depends. It also occurred because it was recognised that issues of development, i.e. global wealth and poverty, were increasingly threatening people's life chances in both poor and rich countries.
Education for sustainability
At the Earth Summit it was also recognised that education, at all levels, had a crucial role to play in helping citizens understand and act on issues relating to the welfare of people and planet. The term 'education for sustainable development' (ESD) and 'education for sustainability' (EFS) then began to become part of educational vocabulary. There were, of course, a good number of educators who were already showing an interest in issues of sustainability/unsustainability, particularly amongst those working in environmental education (Orr, 2004), global education and futures education.
Ideological differences
In its daily practice education for sustainability needs to show awareness of the contested nature of sustainability/unsustainability, i.e. that fact that different political ideologies and worldviews analyse both the perceived problems and possible solutions to them in varying ways (Hicks, 2007). Take, as one example, the difference between technocentric and ecocentric views of sustainability.
A technocentric worldview may deny that there is a crisis of environment/development or, alternatively, sees the route towards a more sustainable future as based on technical solutions and government regulation. This worldview is reformist in that it believes economic growth should continue as before. It does not involve any radical rethinking of western consumerism and lifestyles which many see as the main cause of our current global predicament (Worldwatch Institute, 2010).
An ecocentric worldview sees the world economic system itself as in need of radical change with social, economic and environmental goals as being of equal importance. Only this, radicals argue, will lead to a more sustainable world. The need for human well-being must not damage the environment, economic growth must promote equity and conservation must not diminish human well-being. This would require a major democratisation of prevailing patterns of hierarchy and power (Harvey, 2005).
Sustainable schools
Whilst initially in the UK education for sustainability was seen as a cross-curricular theme to which all subjects could contribute it received a significant boost when the focus was widened to the notion of 'sustainable schools'. At one step this moved issues of sustainability from an optional element in the curriculum to a matter of whole-school policy affecting every aspect of school life.
The DCSF (2010) strategy on Sustainable Schools identifies eight 'doorways' into education for sustainability. These are: i) food and drink; ii) energy and water; iii) travel and traffic; iv) purchasing and waste; v) buildings and grounds; vi) inclusion and participation; vii) local well being; viii) global citizenship. Detailed ways in which such themes can be creatively explored in the classroom can be found in Sustainable Schools, Sustainable Futures (Hicks, 2012), Planning a Sustainable School (DCSF, 2008) and Towards Whole School Sustainability (Government Office for London, 2008).
Education for sustainability is now subject to Ofsted inspections and a recent survey (Ofsted, 2009) encouragingly reports that:
- In the most successful schools, education for sustainability was an integral element of the curriculum and all pupils and staff contributed to improving the sustainability of their institution.
- Most of the headteachers found that …education for sustainability had been an important factor in improving teaching and learning more generally. This was confirmed through lesson observation …across the sample of schools visited.
- A common characteristic of the lessons observed, across the full range of National Curriculum subjects seen …was the high level of engagement of the pupils in the work they perceived as relevant to their own lives and future well-being.
It should, of course, be noted that when a change of government occurs priorities in education always change. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has thus downplayed many of the educational initiatives of the previous government, including the invaluable National Framework for Sustainable Schools. However, I believe this initiative offers a valuable model of good practice in education for sustainability which should transcend party differences.
In 2012, at the UN’s Rio+20 Earth Summit, governments around the world will be asked to sign up to ten new sustainable development goals, agree to protect oceans, set up a world agency for the environment and appoint a high commissioner for future generations. This highlighting of key issues relating to local/global sustainability should provide a major impetus for new initiatives in education for sustainability at both school and national levels (www.earthsummit2012.org). All schools now need to be exploring i) the nature of human well-being; ii) the impact of climate change; iii) the dilemma of peak oil; and iv) the cultural transition that will occur as a result of these (Hicks, 2011). Such matters require a whole-school approach as exemplified by UNESCO’s (2010) programme Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future.
Sustainable schools have a major part to play in the face of global issues such as climate change, ethical consumerism, energy use and peak oil. All such issues have an impact on the school and local community. Helping pupils and students engage with them critically and creatively results in greater 'ownership' of the issues and a willingness to engage in active citizenship now and for the future (Birney and Reed, 2009).
References
Birney, A. and Reed, J. (2009) Sustainability and Renewal: Findings from the Leading Sustainable Schools research project, Nottingham: National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services. Available at: www.nationalcollege.org.uk/docinfo?id=33296&filename=sustainability-and-renewal-full-report.pdf.
Department for Children, Schools and Families (2010) National Framework for Sustainable Schools. Available at: www.rm.com/_RMVirtual/Media/Downloads/National_Framework_Sustainable_Schools_poster.pdf.
Department for Children, Schools and Families (2010) Planning a Sustainable School. Available at: www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/planning_a_sustainable_school.pdf.
Government Office for London (2008) Towards Whole School Sustainability: A view from London schools. London: GOL. Available at: http://lssf.co.uk/Documents/Towards_Whole_School_Sustai1.pdf .
Hicks, D. (2012) A sustainable future: four challenges for geographers, Teaching Geography, 36 (1): 9-11
Ofsted (2009) Education for sustainable development: Improving schools, improving lives. Available at: www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/education-for-sustainable-development-improving-schools-improving-lives .
UNESCO (2010) Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future. Available at: www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_gs.html.
Worldwatch Institute (2008) State of the World 2008, London: Earthscan Publications
For further information see: 'Naturally resourceful: could your school be a Transition School?' (available in Downloads) ) and Hicks, D. (2012) Sustainable Schools, Sustainable Futures: A resource for teachers (available in Publications) .