Summer 2005

Education for sustainability

Meeting the needs

Recent evaluations of the pilot sustainable schools programs in NSW and Victoria have highlighted its success and given educators options for future directions. Syd Smith and Phil Smith summarise recent developments in Education for Sustainability in Australian schools.

In Australia there is now clearly a shift taking place between conservative ways of informing people and students about the environment to educating them to think more critically and reflectively about change and how to engage in change for sustainability. This is the main factor that underpins the approaches to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and in the next ten years it will have a profound effect on how schools are to be managed, how students will learn and the innovative ways teachers choose to teach.

Where does Education for Sustainable Development come from?

ESD is a dynamic undertaking which might be seen as a natural continuation and expansion of Environmental Education. Like Environmental Education it envisions a world where every person has the chance to benefit from learning the lifestyles, behaviours and values necessary to create a sustainable future. In fact that is what sustainability relates to—making sure that there is a future for all of us on the planet. So ESD is for everyone, at all stages of life and in all possible learning contexts. It employs a partnership approach that engages multiple sectors and stakeholders (including the media and private enterprise) and utilises all forms and methods of public awareness raising and of education and training to promote a broad understanding of sustainable development. This requires schools to establish meaningful and cooperative partnerships with their communities. It is not enough simply to integrate ESD principles into state developed curriculums but where teaching and learning and the administration of schools may need to make adjustments to ESD itself. Of course many schools participating in the Sustainable Schools Program have already begun to do this.

Addressing environmental concerns has always been the focus of many sustainable development initiatives in schools. ESD reflects an evolution of this emphasis and is a natural progression of what is happening in the education scene already. ESD equally addresses all three pillars of sustainable development—society, environment and economy, with culture as an essential and underlying dimension. Communities and schools are now dealing with a variety of interrelated perspectives including human rights, gender equity, peace and human security, natural resources, sustainable urbanisation, poverty reduction and the market economy.

A National Environmental Education Statement

The Australian Department of Environment and Heritage, in cooperation with Curriculum Corporation and the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, training and Youth Affairs (MCYEETA) is distributing its National Environmental Education Statement (NEES) to all states and territories. The statement developed in consultation with the Australian Association for Environmental Education and all state and territory governments was written for all teachers, schools and communities. Its purpose is to present a vision and framework for the implementation of a national environmental education for sustainability program which each state and territory education system can adapt to its own priorities. One of its clear messages is that ESD is more than a curriculum issue and requires a whole-school approach. There is now the additional imperative of ensuring appropriate action both at the school and community levels. This entails students and communities showing a willingness to examine and change their personal lifestyles, to identify, evaluate and undertake action to maintain, protect and enhance their local environments and, above all, to challenge preconceived ideas, to accept change and acknowledge uncertainty as they work cooperatively with others. The National Environmental Education Statement also supports the current UNESCO model of ESD which schools can use as a framework for planning. In time, no doubt, this model will evolve further.

The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative

The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) supports the Decade by integrating existing environmental education initiatives into a holistic school program with measurable environmental, economic, social and curriculum outcomes. The initiative encourages efficiencies in the management of the school’s resources (e.g. energy, waste, water, products and materials) and the management of school grounds (e.g. biodiversity, landscape design, soil, noise, human and vehicular traffic). It then integrates this approach with the existing school curriculum and the daily running of the school.

The pilot of the AuSSI took place over a two year period in both NSW and Victoria beginning in 2002. Formative and summative evaluations took place in order to provide feedback for all the other states and territories that are now adopting similar models.

There are countless examples of how schools have embraced sustainable practices and linked them to their curriculum and administration. NSW school assistants and support staff are undergoing training in the ordering of sustainable materials. Mogo Public School has convinced its community to abandon plastic bags. A number of schools have influenced their canteen committee to avoid products that are packaged in non-recyclable materials. Narrabeen North Public School formed a partnership with its local council to rehabilitate some bushland on its periphery. Mt St Thomas Public School not only established a worm farm but built a chicken run to recycle its surplus food scraps, Burrumbuttock Public School developed some common land in the village to ultimately receive a Commonwealth Grant for a community environmental education centre, whilst the executive of the Student Representatives Council in NSW schools has made water conservation a priority issue in all schools.

Those attending a workshop involving all states and territories in Canberra in late August 2005, agreed unanimously on two things: first, the critical importance of ensuring quality teacher training, both pre and post, for sustainability education; and second, that youth be involved in the planning, not just the action.

Amy Ralphs from the Youth Environment Council of South Australia lends hope for all of us that a sustainable future can be truly achieved:

It is essential that we remember a sustainable future cannot be created without considering and involving young people. We all need to use our hearts, head and hands to work in partnership with one another, to make sure that the systems we live by are owned by young and old alike and that they are feasible, not only for this generation, but all generations that follow. It is imperative that in creating a sustainable future we are working with our youth and not just for them.

Reference

Ralphs, A (2002). Keynote presentation at the Australian Association for Environmental Education Bi-annual Conference, Brisbane, July 2002.

Websites

Australian Association for Environmental Education, at www.aaee.org.au/about.htm

Australian Department of Environment and Heritage Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative at www.deh.gov.au/education/sustainable-schools/index.html

UNESCO at www.unesco.org/education/tlsf

National Environmental Education Network at www.deh.gov.au/education/neen/

Phil Smith is a private education consultant who has worked in community education and with the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation.

Syd Smith is a private consultant in Environmental Education and Education for Sustainability.

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