Energy efficiency and
environmental issues...

Pupil Activities Overview

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is an approach to the whole curriculum and management of a school, not a new subject. It has its roots in environmental education and development education. As a result, many of the building blocks of education for sustainable development are already present in every school.

(National Curriculum online www.nc.uk.net/esd/).

What is sustainable development?

"Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world's people." Kofi Annan Secretary General of the United Nations March 2001

Sustainable means that something is viable and can be continued in the long term in ways that do not harm people but benefit them equally. This can apply to anything from decisions about the school playground to issues relating to the national economy and global environment.

Development refers to the way in which the interaction between the environment, the economy and society progresses and changes. Development happens everywhere and involves everyone. Sustainable development is about ensuring a better quality of life for everyone now and for generations to come. This means meeting four objectives at the same time, in the UK and the world as a whole:

• social progress that recognises the needs of everyone
• effective protection of the environment
• prudent use of natural resources
• maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

Sustainable Development means finding solutions that improve people’s quality of life without damaging the environment, creating problems for future generations or transferring them to other countries or sections of our society. It is an agenda for innovative and radical thinking so that we can live within environmental limits set by the planet’s ability to regenerate itself, providing for the personal well being, and providing opportunities for all of our society, within a sustainably managed economy. Education is a key aspect of the solution development process that must take place if we are to live sustainably.

Further information about education for sustainable development can be found on the National Curriculum Online Website: http://www.nc.uk.net/esd/gq4.htm, including teaching materials and lesson plans, school management practice in incorporating ESD principles into school policies and practice and opportunities for the planning of CPD programmes for staff in schools.

On the Governments web portal: www.sustainable-development.gov.uk which is the governments approach to delivering UK sustainable development

The Sustainable Development Commission Web site at www.sd-commission.org.uk.

Sustainable Development Education Panel 1998-2003 at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/sustainable/index.htm.

How can I build on what I'm already doing?

Because it has grown out of environmental education and development education, education for sustainable development is almost certainly taking place in your school somewhere already. It may be part of a project on food or transport in primary schools, or part of schemes of work in geography or science in secondary schools.

How education for sustainable development is undertaken is as important as what is taught. If we are helping young people to develop the knowledge, skills and values they need to be active and informed citizens, contributing towards a better world, they need opportunities to put these qualities into practice. This means creating a learning environment where there are frequent opportunities to, for example:

• listen to others;
• express and justify points of view;
• make informed choices between alternatives;
• work collaboratively, learning to communicate, negotiate and respect democratic decisions;
• think critically;
• take part responsibly in school and community based activity.

Questions about what kind of a future we want for our planet and what we need to do to bring it about provide a context for learning. Young people are helped to think critically and understand the connections between:

• what they learn in different subjects;
• school learning and the real world;
• environmental, social and economic issues;
• the past, the present and the future;
• the choices they make and the consequences of those choices for the environment and for other people.

Source: Teachers in Development Education, DEC (Birmingham)(from Learning today with tomorrow in mind)

In a sustainably led school pupils are the centre of its focus. The school presents students with the opportunity, through the curriculum and its approach to teaching, to realise their full academic potential through a supportive culture that addresses the social, cultural, emotional and academic needs of individuals. The sustainable school places itself within a framework of local and global perspectives that engenders in its pupils an understanding that they have an ability to effect sustainable change on the world in which they live.

Learning experiences for students in sustainable schools must include opportunities for learning outside the classroom which is important to develop student understanding of the sustainable development agenda.

Schools also have a responsibility to address citizenship including global citizenship within the statutory curricula to ensure that students gain understanding about their world and their capacity to influence, as individuals and as members of the global community the issues which will shape their futures.