Summer 2005

Education for sustainability

One pathway to sustainability

The mission of the Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative (QESSI) is to establish a network of environmentally sustainable schools that demonstrate curricular connections and environmental action based on ecological sustainable development principles. Cam Mackenzie explains QESSI’s vision for all schools in Queensland to be environmentally sustainable.

Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative (QESSI) Alliance Strategic Plan is not another program or product in a market place already saturated with resources that focus on environmental education for a sustainable future for schools. What QESSI is aiming to do is build the capacity of existing service providers to achieve their goals. QESSI is the integration of existing environmental education for sustainability programs for schools into a holistic process with measurable environmental, economic, social and educational outcomes. A QESSI Strategic Action Plan will form the direction for QESSI for 2005–07.

In Queensland over the past few years, there has been a significant reduction in programs available for schools in the area of environmental education for sustainability. In 2001, a state workshop called ‘Towards Sustainable Schools in Queensland’ was held on the same day as a national forum on exactly the same topic. Since then, there has been a steady disappearance of key stakeholders in this area of educational service for schools. Waterwise Schools, Waterwatch for Schools, Airwatch, Solar Schools and other significant programs have either diminished in support for schools or totally disappeared. The products still exist but the support services provided by the people have diminished.

At the same time, however, programs like Reef Guardian Schools, Green and Health Schools, and Travel Smart Schools have continued, along with several local council initiatives that tend to focus on waste and water. Some of the key energy providers also have energy efficiency programs for schools. Yet these programs seem to be fragmented rather than integrated in their approach to supporting schools in becoming more environmentally sustainable. The challenge I see for the sustainability of a sustainable schools initiative is to establish strong strategic alliance and partnership with key stakeholders through deep connections and conversations to establish synergies that focus on common goals. The QESSI Alliance Strategic Plan is an attempt to achieve this focus.

Recently, the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative key stakeholders held a two-day workshop to establish a national framework for this initiative. This is an excellent step towards building capacity to achieve the goals of developing a strong national network of sustainable schools. We must work on creative solutions to rebuilding the support structures needed to achieve a unified focus on this challenging task.

QESSI is a demonstration of the strategic outcomes that are outlined in the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014 Draft International Implementation Scheme through the building of alliances to achieve objectives. QESSI also supports the nationally agreed common elements for the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative: the implementation of efficiencies in a school’s management of resources such as energy, waste, water; and increases in biodiversity through school grounds improvements. It integrates this approach into the existing curriculum and daily running of the school.

The current key partners in the QESSI include Queensland Department of Education and the Arts (as the lead agency), Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage (seed funding), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Environmental Protection Agency, Keep Australia Beautiful Queensland, Envirocom (Environmental Education Company), Queensland Transport, plus other organisations and agencies. The patron for QESSI is Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation and chair of the first Australian State of the Environment Report 1996.

The guiding principles upon which the plan is based include:

• adopting the principles and processes of ecologically sustainable development
• focusing on best practice sustainability education
• encouraging a collaborative approach
• supporting schools to engage in partnerships with their community
• carrying out knowledge based planning and evaluation
• seeking to achieve measurable outcomes.

The QESSI Strategic Plan has eight goals:

1. Encouraging schools to be learning organisations for sustainability.
2. Promoting dynamic curricular process and extra-curricular activities.
3. Empowering ourselves and others to make the necessary changes.
4. Encouraging and supporting skilled, committed and aware school staff.
5. Creating school facilities that demonstrate and support sustainability.
6. Implementing sustainable management systems in schools.
7. Improving school resource management, including water, waste, energy, transport and school grounds.
8. Encouraging interlinked schools and local community partnerships.

Sustainability outcomes in the educational, social, economic and environmental areas will be collated, and will form part of a State of the Environment report of the progress of QESSI. That way, the coordinated approach to achieving environmentally sustainable schools across Queensland can be celebrated by all the partners in this process.

Thirteen regional QESSI hubs have been established across Queensland to support clusters of schools in their endeavours to become more environmentally sustainable. As we all know, the path to sustainability is more about the conversation in the journey than the destination. These hubs have been given the task of developing regional action plans and investment strategies to support a cluster of schools in their journey towards a more sustainable future.

Research shows that the most successful strategy for assisting schools in their reform agenda is for them to work around their own set of needs with trained professionals. It has also been proven that for the process to be durable and effective, a School Environmental Management Plan involving a cross section of the school’s community and owned by the whole school community must be in place.

So by 31 December 2014, at the end of the United Nations DESD, we hope that QESSI will have contributed to significant positive outcomes for a more environmentally secure future for Queensland schools.

For further information email cam.mackenzie@qed.qld.gov.au

Websites

QESSI at http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/environment/outdoor/qessi.html

ReefEd at www.reefed.edu.au

KeepAustralia Beautiful, Queensland, at www.kabq.org.au/qld/default.asp

AuSSI at www.deh.gov.au/education/sustainable-schools/index.html

UNESCO at http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27234&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Cam Mackenzie is principal (Environmental Sustainability) at the Office of Strategy and Performance, Education Queensland, Department of Education and the Arts in Brisbane.

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