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Sustainability in Primary Education


As our current relationship with mother nature deteriorates, it is important now more than ever to ensure children are aware globally, not just locally aware of what is happening in the world and the impact the have on it. Schooling is one of the best ways to ensure children are engaging with environmental issues and learning about sustainability. ‘Issues such as economic migration, climate change and usage of digital technology have meant that what happens elsewhere in the world can have a direct impact on children’s lives in the UK and vice versa.’ (Bourn. Et al, 2016)

Firstly, what is sustainability?

Sustainability can be defined in two ways, ‘the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld or confirmed’ or the ‘the quality of not being harmful to the environment or not depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.’ (Dictionary.com, 2019) To answer the stated question I will be focusing on the later of the definitions as this one is geared more towards the environment.

In 2015 the United Nations Development Goals stated that to achieve ‘inclusive and equitable quality education for all’ (Bourn. Et al, 2016) there is still a lot that needs to be done. One goal was to ‘ensure that all learner acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development’ (UNDES, 2015), by 2030.

Here in the United Kingdom, Wales has been developing their own policies and even introduced a cross curricular theme, Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC). This was designed to ‘give learners, at all stages of education, an understanding of the impact of their choices on other people, the economy and the environment.’ (Welsh Government, 2014) Estyn’s 2014 report stated that although the policy had been successfully in place for over a decade there were concerns of it leaning more towards the environmental impacts rather than the global themes. (Estyn, 2014) Another critique of the policy is that there is a lack of knowledge and expertise within schools in order to be able to teach to ESDGC to a high standard. It was suggested that schools set out a clear leader for this area so that it is a maintained priority throughout the school.

Simply promoting the learning of sustainability isn’t enough to get children actively thinking about it. There are many ways to reach out to children and get them to want to learn about sustainability both inside and outside of the classroom.  

A fun way to get children thinking about sustainability is school trips. Throughout my time in education both my primary and secondary school made conscious efforts to get us recycling in school and at home. They took us on several trips and had spokes people come in to talk to us about recycling and its advantages. Recycling companies such as Veolia have ‘Recycling Discovery Centres’. These centres are designed to inform children on how to recycle, what can be recycled, how recycling can be contaminated and the journey of your waste. (Veolia, 2019) These fun sessions can then be turned into class projects back at school.

Whilst on placement I got to partake in an ongoing project the school had called ‘Love where you live’. The project was STEM based and aimed to show children their local community, how great it can be and how they can be involved within the community. As part of this project they went to the installation of the Royal Mints ‘daffodil’ wind turbine in 2018. The daffodil helps to power the Royal Mint, generating 690 volts whci is stepped up to 11,000 volts and powered directly into the Royal Mint. This project was ‘carried out in conjunction with wind and solar energy project developer Infinite Renewables, during what has been a 4-year project’. (Royal Mint, 2018)

It can be questioned as to whether we should worry young minds with such big problems. Yet, if we don’t put them in charge of their own future, who will be the ones to care for it? Children are constantly made aware of the world around through the means of social media, the internet and the news. Without educating them correctly on their part in it all, we fail them and consequently the earth. Sustainable effort needs to be a whole school approach. Teachers need to invest their time into ways they can deliver sustainable learning to everyone and students need to act upon what is being taught. When looking at a holistic approach, research suggest that children should be taught by more embedded approaches to have a better impact. ‘In the most successful schools, sustainability was an integral element of a well-planned curriculum and all staff, not just a dedicated few, saw it as their responsibility to develop it. As a result, it imbued the culture of the school.’ (OFSTED, 2009)


When looking for ways to improve your schools’ sustainability ask yourself the following questions
·         How is sustainability understood in your school?
·         What are some of the key sustainability initiatives in your school?
·         How is sustainability implemented in the curriculum?
·         Where does sustainability learning occur?
·         What are some of the challenges in teaching sustainability at your school?
(Green and Somerville, 2014)





References
Bourn. D Et al. (2016) ‘Primary education for global learning and sustainability’ (online) Available at: https://cprtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Bourn-report-160217-final.pdf Accessed on: 18/03/2019
Dictionary.com (2019) ‘sustainability definition’ (online) available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sustainability Accessed on: 18/03/2019
ESTYN (2014) ESDGC - Progress in education for sustainable education and global citizenship. Cardiff: Estyn.
Figure 1 https://www.activesustainability.com/sustainable-development/what-is-sustainability/

Figure 2 https://blog.royalmint.com/powered-daffodil-royal-mints-new-wind-turbine/

Green, M. and Somerville, M. (2014). Sustainability education: researching practice in primary schools. Environmental Education Research, 21(6), pp.832-845.
OFSTED (2009) Education for Sustainable Development: improving schools improving lives. London: OFSTED.
Royal Mint (2018) ‘Powered by a daffodil – the Royal Mints new wind turbine’ (online) Available at: https://blog.royalmint.com/powered-daffodil-royal-mints-new-wind-turbine/ Accessed on: 18/03/2019
UNDES (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, New York: United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs
Veolia (2019) ‘Educational group visits’ (online) Available at: https://www.veolia.co.uk/merseyside-and-halton/educational-group-visits Accessed on: 18/03/2019
Welsh Government (2014) Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. Available from: https://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/education-for-sustainable-development-and-global-citizenship/?lang=en Accessed on: 18/03/2019


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