Summer 2005

Education for sustainability

Engaging young people

Young people have the right to be meaningfully involved in all levels of decision-making whether it be in a school, in a national initiative or a community group. Rachel Cain and Nicola Simpson report on the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) as one such opportunity for meaningful youth involvement.

Young people need to be engaged and switched-on to learning (this is not a new idea we know!)—so engage them beyond the classroom walls, engage them in activities which are relevant to them, and engage them in decision-making processes.

Young people should be meaningful contributors to AuSSI for three main reasons. Firstly, because being sustainable means being inclusive (not exclusive). Secondly, because young people can contribute just as meaningfully as older people. And thirdly, because the whole idea of Sustainable Schools relies on students to make it work.

Most people at schools are students. They obviously far outnumber teachers. This factor alone should ensure that the opinions of students are valued and that students are involved in the school beyond the classroom walls.

But it is especially important for a school striving for sustainability that the body of students is recognised as being a major stakeholder in the process. How can a school which does not involve students in decision-making processes, and therefore does not give them any ownership of the changes the school is trying to make, expect students to have the commitment to, or trust in the Sustainable Schools Initiative? Students need to feel a part of the process, involved at all levels of decision making (not just on SRC). With meaningful involvement comes a sense of pride, commitment, the desire to make things work because you feel you are a part of it. A school cannot expect students to have drive and enthusiasm if they are not truly involved.

And not just ‘involved’, we students must be meaningfully involved. Involvement should not be tokenistic (as a lot of SRCs tend to be) but the opinions of young people should be valued on the same level as adults. We’re talking about the type of involvement where the opinions of students are considered genuinely worthwhile and where they are listened to. This type of involvement takes us beyond just being students, to being contributors.

Some may think that young people are too inexperienced, too immature to appreciate complexities. That we wouldn’t understand. That may be the case if young people are not given the opportunities to experience these situations, to learn and to learn to contribute. This is part of real learning and just because it’s not in the classroom doesn’t mean it’s less valuable!

Young people can be meaningful contributors because they often have fresh new ideas. Young people are different. We know that! We are younger so we have a younger perspective on things. But having different perspectives is what makes groups work. Why is there a stigma about younger perspectives from young people when in fact everyone brings a different perspective to a group, a different background and different wealth of knowledge to contribute?

Young people are capable of being deep and challenging thinkers—for example, the Youth Environment Council of South Australia (aged 10–21 years) has been part of the consultation process for the South Australian Greenhouse Strategy and has been invited to participate in numerous national forums. If students are not involved in the process of creating a sustainable school it may seem like teachers are imposing their ideas on students.

Sustainability relies on each component of the process to do its bit and therefore it is completely unsustainable to have a stakeholder (such as students) feel that they are not part of the process. If students aren’t involved, they probably won’t be committed to doing their part because they probably won’t even realise they have a part at all. In fact, they might be put off the whole idea of sustainability because of the way the school has gone about trying to implement it.

If a school is trying to implement change as big as AuSSI, then it is vital for students to be meaningfully involved and feel like they own part of the process.

It is worth remembering the importance of mentoring in supporting students to become meaningfully involved. This is not a revolutionary idea! We recognise that teachers may not always be the best option—being strapped for time is the major reason! A mentor may be a parent, teacher or friend. Students cannot be meaningfully involved on their own—a mentor needs to be there to guide, to encourage and to open up opportunities for more involvement. For example, students involved in the student-run Environment Committee of one high school we know would have found it much more difficult to establish new projects if it hadn’t been for a mentor-teacher who could make avenues into the seemingly daunting and sometimes restrictive staff environment.

Young people have the potential to be effective and meaningful contributors. This benefits not only the group they are contributing to, but also the individual. It encourages personal development (such as confidence building) through developing a feeling of ownership and empowerment. Everyone knows that if you feel a part of something and you are proud of what you are doing, that with support you can achieve incredible things.

We recall a small group of students from one primary school who came to a workshop run by the Youth Environment Council of SA a few years ago. The workshop encouraged students to develop their own environmental project and this group of students wanted to build a mini-wetland in their school. Not only did they do it (with support from a mentor), but they involved the whole school from reception to year 7, built an interpretative trail, painted a mural, got media coverage on Behind the News and have now gone on to bigger and better things. Needless to say, the contribution they made to their school was amazing.

Involve young people meaningfully—whether it be on a school board or by ensuring their SRC actually has the power to make a difference in the school—recognise the contribution they make, and foster a sense that the student is just as valuable as the teacher. You will be amazed at the results.

Nicola Simpson is a law student at Flinders Uviversity of South Australia and has a mentoring role within the Youth Environment Council.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au