Other pages on this site:--Influencing Brighton and Hove Council's policies & decisions--------Index of Green Traders & Campaigns
Chair Cathy Moore of St Andrew's CE Primary School Hove, one of the four eco-schools with a green flag for environmental performance.
What are Eco Schools?
The Eco-Schools programme provides a simple framework to enable your school to analyse its operations and become more sustainable.
The scheme is rooted in a genuine desire to help children become more effective citizens by encouraging them to take responsibility for the future of their own environment. It is not about environmental excellence, it is about your school starting to look at how it impacts upon the environment and how this is decided upon and can be managed.
It is also an award scheme that will raise the profile of your school in the wider community. There are three award levels:
Steve Harmer-Strange outlined the educational initiatives supported by Brighton and Hove City Council's Sustainability Commission and the 2020 Community Partnership. For example, organisations such as Spectral Arts (involved in structure building, creative commissions and arts/craft workshops in schools, youth groups and community centres) and and Circus Take-Away (an educational entertainment which promotes healthy eating) as well as events such as Brighton and Hove's Fourth Eco Festival.
Dr Jake Reynolds has taken a leading role in the DfES Framework for Sustainable Schools, which invites schools to consider the implications of sustainable development for three interlinked dimensions: curriculum, campus and community. It proposes eight 'doorways' as ways in to sustainable development, and is supported by S3, a self-evaluation tool which is linked to Ofsted's SEF criteria.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, formerly the Department for Education and Skills), has taken soundings on how Primary children in the UK feel and think. Common concerns focus on difficulty in crossing roads, people's lack of respect for the world, and the expectation that tomorrow's world may not be worth living in. To counter these notions of worthlessness & despair, and to attempt to establish a more upbeat and positive mood, the language of the Sustainable Schools Strategy focuses on care:
The Sustainable Schools area of Teachernet is designed to support schools on their journey to sustainability, introducing the principles of sustainable development and offering guidance on how to embed these principles into the heart of school life. The DCSF has been working with partners to provide core materials to help embed sustainable development into all areas of school life. Click here for Case studies on how sustainable development can be embedded in different subjects within the school curriculum. Alternatively, explore the following downloads:
Dr Reynolds also mentioned:
Professor Scott has written a paper on the DfES Sustainable Schools strategy: Sustainable Schools: an initial appreciation and critique.
In his critique, Professor Scott empahsizes the difference between, on the one hand, addressing each of the eight doorways to sustainability through the curriculum (the easy bit), linking this with purposeful activities in the school and community with tangible pay-back through, for example, lower water bills (more difficult to do), and on the other to have all this lead to student capability to respond to the challenges everyone will face in sustainable development (the really hard part).
In its consultation response, the DfES attempts to clarify the policy idea of sustainable development, which in the opinion of Professor Scott contains many issues which are sometimes hard to express succinctly:
"Sustainable development means inspiring people in all parts of the world to find solutions that improve their quality of life without storing up problems for the future, or impacting unfairly on other people’s lives. It must be much more than recycling bottles or giving money to charity. It is about thinking and working in a profoundly different way."
For Professor Scott, the idea of 'thinking and working in a profoundly different way' is crucial and raises questions about what schools should do, if they are to take it seriously. For example, should schools focus on:
He concludes that focus 2 is needed as well as focus 1:
Examples of practical issues that might be raised with pupils include:
So, it's not just the eight doorways that matter but the tensions you face up to when you go through them, and a school that doesn't raise these in what it does with its pupils, is missing much of the point about sustainable development, and losing valuable opportunities for learning.
Other caveats, which Professor Scott mentioned in his presentation which (if unheeded) might limit the success of the DfES Sustainable Schools strategy, are:
Delegates could read Professor Scott as saying: "a few good intentions, but could do a lot better".
One of the highlights of the 2007 conference was this presentation by Jordan Stephens, a fourteen year old who did not think twice about standing up and addressing a hall full of adult delegates. I heard one delegate remark that: "that young man should go into politics".
The Climate Change Champions is an annual competition to find nine outstanding young people aged 11-18 who can represent England on climate change. The first nine Champions were announced in May 2006, at 10 Downing Street, and met the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, before undertaking a European climate change expedition to the Chelenalp glacier in Switzerland.
At the time of the conference, Jordan was nearing the end of his year as champion for the South East, and the competition is again open to 11-18 year olds who would like to make the title their own. The prize for Jordan included a meeting with Professor Haeberli (a renowned scientist) in Switzerland, followed by a trip to a glacier - an opportunity to appreciate just how rapidly climate change is accelerating. Jordan valued these experiences. The professor's contribution was the clearest and most informative presentation he had ever experienced.
Jordan jokingly complained that the next champion would also be given a digital camera, whereas he had only got a pen. However, another part of his prize was media training, and every delegate in the hall appreciated that Jordan's real interest was "HOW TO PUT THE MESSAGE ACROSS". Indeed, he showed particular confidence and skill in doing so on this occasion, making COMMUNICATION WITH ALL AGE GROUPS (especially his own) the main theme of his talk.
Projecting the message of Climate Change to the youth population
Jordan first asked us to consider the position of the youth population. Adults could be rightly held to be unrealistic if they expected school pupils to make and enthusiastic study of DEFRA's bulletins, which are available on numerous web pages. It was therefore important to make information available in the right form.
Jordan reminded his audience of the power of both role models and of celebrity. He appeared to like the idea of creating Climate Change Ambassadors of his own age through the competition, because peer-to-peer communication can be very effective. Regardless of what the doubts which many teachers present in the hall probably felt of the degree of attention paid by the young to celebrity, Jordan emphasized that: USING THE RIGHT CELEBRITY WORKS!
If Wayne Rooney were suddenly to come out and endorse low energy light-bulbs and the virtue of "switching things off in the home", you'd have most of youth culture wandering around inside their homes in the dark!
Commenting on the attention paid to sustainability in the Secondary School curriculum, Jordan considered the content of his own lessons. He thought that Geography was the most likely subject area: i.e. where a school pupil would expect to be given information on climate change. However, Jordan could only recall two geography lessons, out of all the lessons in that subject he had been taught over a period of 2 years, where climate change was the main focus.
Through a more imaginative approach to curriculum development e.g. including Cycling Proficiency Tests within lessons in Physical Education: i.e. encouraging more pupils to cycle to school, Jordan felt that his peers could be given attractive options and practical things they could do, so that awareness of the important challenges of the future would be raised and teaching on climate change would be reinforced.
In the question and answer session which followed, the first point raised also focused on the school curriculum: specifically the inadequacy of Stages 3 and 4 of the School Science Curriculum. Concern was raised about the inadequacy of teaching and learning in relation to the scientific process. The latter is important to describing Climate Change, its causes and its effects. A further understanding of how scientific data are interpreted is needed to evaluate the scale of the problem and its effects. Professor Bill Scott the National Curriculum responsible for scuppering attempts to explain the scientific process at both primary and secondary level. Revisions to the School Curriculum were needed.
A delegate, also with the name Scott (Richard Scott) raised the issue of the High Court Judgement on Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth". However, the main thrust of his question centred on another inconvenient truth: while one Brighton and Hove City Council department makes every effort to promote sustainable education, the Environment Committee of the Council gave their blessing to what is effectively a 30-year contract allowing Veolia to dispose of the city's black bag domestic waste through incineration at Newhaven.
Dr Jake Reynolds felt that the High Court Judgement had considerable implications, especially at Primary School level, for anyone choosing to use a particular resource and anybody going into a school. He urged delegates to review the implications of the judgement using resources such as Times Online and the Teachernet website. As for the Hollingdean Waste Transfer Station and the Newhaven Incinerator, these were a local difficulties which would make fantastic case studies or reference points for climate change champions. Controversy should be "meat and drink" to people in schools.
Another delegate (Angela) drew attention to the problem of bi-polar government i.e. "talking the talk" on sustainability while planning to build more roads, encouraging more consumerism and making way for the proposed new terminal at Heathrow Airport.
Both the young climate change champion and the senior speakers shared the view that you cannot sit around waiting and hoping that politicians would do the right thing. Through action and campaigning, you create space for political parties to adopt more sustainable policies.
Graham Ennis of the Omega Institute questioned whether Dorothy Stringer High School had really achieved enough in terms of sustainability to merit its green flag award. Where was the triple glazing? How many wind turbines could he see? He compared the very small steps taken in the UK to larger oned he had seen in Germany. Electric utilities there were obliged by law to accept electricity produced by ordinary residents in their homes. They sell this on at five times the price that you sell it to them - a cost met by residents who buy electricity from electric utilities instead of producing their own, or indeed a surplus allowing them to earn money from their solar or wind-generated electricity. School sites are a lot bigger than home-owners' properties. Siting wind turbines and solar panels offers German schools the potential to make money out of home-produced electricity, especially during the school holidays when they are consuming far less of what they are generating. Schools should be able to keep any profit they make for use in other areas of the school budget.
The main speakers were more encouraging than Graham towards Dorothy Stringer High School's efforts. The £50 million budget available for new school buildings was felt to be quite generous and reference was also made to the grants available for incorporating sustainability into building design.
The studies showcasing local school and community projects, included
Representatives from Green Flag Eco-School Ringmer Community College speaking about their achievements.
Click here for the College's Eco Website .
Firstly, the College has taken advantage of grants to fund energy efficient buildings. There are also PV solar panels (8 KW) which contribute towards our own electricity usage, and which is also sold during holidays to the National Grid. As well as the solar panels, there is a wind turbine ( 2.5 KW) on the college site, 100% grant funded, supplying 15% of total electricity consumption.
Secondly, the College has more than 70 Eco Reps (Eco Warriors!) who work together to ensure the environment remains to the highest standard. Their basic responsibilities include:
Other Eco Reps also have responsibilities such as giving talks to the local community, setting up stands at fayres, attending weekly eco meetings and co-ordinating still more Eco Reps. It is the task of senior Eco Reps to take charge of the college's responsibilities towards the environment.
Members of the community, staff and students all contribute to the recycling of paper, card, empty toner and ink cartridges, mobile phones, bottles and cans, and even unclaimed lost property goes to the clothing bank. There are green recycling trays for paper which has been used only on one side. This paper is made into notepads which are used around the school and sold in local shops. There is a "Teach The Teachers" Day and different departments are monitored to see which is doing the most photocopying. If computers are carelessly left on standby during the night, those responsible will receive email reminders the next morning.
The recent construction of the College's new Modern Foreign Languages teaching block, provided the opportunity for further energy efficiency. Indeed the College's Eco Reps contributed to the design. They suggested the following energy-saving ideas, which are in place:
Uckfield Community Technology College: Geography Department - Anna Frendo.
Anna Frendo provided details of a project she had done on sustainable homes. Educational input included a visit to the Beddington Zero Energy Development, known as BedZED: the UK’s largest eco-village, situated in South London.
The extended homework for this project involved the design of a model of a sustainable home, though Anna ended up with rather a large quantity of models in her classroom, all requiring space as well as appraisal at the same time.
Anna had also involved learners in a second project of direct relevance to sustainable living: East Sussex County Council "Rethink Rubbish" workshops (PDF: scroll down to page 7 for details).
In evaluating these schemes of work, Anna observed that different students excelled in different tasks, the work was of high quality and fed new areas of interest. Student reaction to the work set was also positive.
Brighton Peace and Environment Centre - Mareike Engels.
Mareike and some of her colleagues at the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre have organised Story Telling Sessions in several Brighton and Hove Primary schools to raise awareness and understanding of sustainable development and environmental protection.
BPEC volunteers spent 6 weeks in each school and were able to focus on the relevance to climate change of waste, water, energy and food. The concept of "Green Detectives" was used to make children aware of every day actions and their consequences. The children were set different tasks every week. Another helpful concept was that of "the climate tree", where the roots are CAUSES, the trunk and branches are EFFECTS, and the leaves are SOLUTIONS.
Among the materials used with the children was the thought-provoking story The World Came To My Place Today, which explains how plants from all over the world affect children's lives. This and other resources like it are part of the Eden Project for children.
The Eden Project educates about man's relationship with and dependence upon plants. Children are taught to understand that much of our food, clothes, shelter and medicines come from the plant world. Without plants there would be no oxygen for us to breathe, no life on earth. Using the story as a springboard, children could be introduced to the World Map.
Another theme presented to the children was bad gases. The web-based activity Toxic Town, provided by the Environment Agency, captured the children's imagination, and they were amused by the farting cow. "Bad gases" led on to a Carbon Trail, linked with homework assignments based on finding things.
School Assemblies permitted children to present what they had learnt. Learning (i.e. uptake of information) was further monitored through a Quiz based on the Multiple Choice format and other HELP routines featured in the TV Programme: "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
Pestalozzi International Village Trust - Thea Platt.
Pestalozzi International Village Trust (Sedlescombe East Sussex TN33 0UF), established in 1957, is an educational charity which aims to break cycles and change conditions and attitudes that lead to conflict.
The work of the Trust, which includes both education for sustainable development and courses in global citizenship and responsibility, is based on the principles of Swiss philosopher, Johann Pestalozzi. The philosophy of the Trust emphasizes experiential and outdoor education. The Trust believes that young people will fulfil their potential if they have a balanced education: training the intellect, moral values and practical skills - the 'head, heart and hands'.
Pestalozzi International Development Education Centre (PIDEC) runs several projects, including after-school clubs for local schools, training in composting, organic horticulture, and environmental projects such as ‘Sustainable Living Locally’ and ‘Growing Together’. 'Sustainable Living Locally' was partly funded under the SEED Programme (Lottery funding) and ‘Growing Together’ was part-financed by the European Community WARR Partnership Leader+ 2000 – 2006 Programme, supported by: The European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund of the EU (EAGGF), The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).
Among the Development Educational Services offered by The Pestalozzi Village Trust, are In Service Teacher Training (INSET) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Days. PIDEC offers a number of environmental workshops to pupils, either at their schools or within the Pestalozzi Estate with its varied natural habitats, including the Victorian Walled Garden and the Energy Lab. Our aim is to enhance the teaching of those areas of the National Curriculum that teachers may have found difficult or controversial to deliver through lack of the appropriate resources and/or knowledge. The workshops we offer include themes such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, water recycling, waste management and biodiversity. Contributers to educational services have included Ben Law (designer, builder & author) and The Brighton Permaculture Trust.
During their time at the Village, all Pestalozzi full-time students study for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. This is a University entrance qualification, roughly equivalent to A-level, but was chosen by Pestalozzi as the ideal academic component of the Head, Heart and Hands philosophy. Pestalozzi has persuaded the examination board to allow a new module to be offered towards the the International Baccalaureate Diploma focusing on sustainability.
New partnerships have been forged with The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) and WWF International, so students will be able to learn about Eco architecture/build/refurbishment and intermediate technology; some could also become World Wildlife Fund ambassadors. Another new partner is One Planet Living.
The UK branch of One Planet Living is delivering communities in England through BioRegional Quintain whose first project is a development of flats close to the railway station in Brighton. The development will meet the EcoHomes Excellent standard and a Sustainability Action Plan has been drawn up to demonstrate the project's response to each of the One Planet Living Principles: Zero Carbon, Zero Waste, Sustainable Transport, Local and Sustainable Materials, Local and Sustainable Food, Sustainable Water, Natural Habitats and Wildlife, Culture and Heritage, Equity and Fair Trade and, Health and Happiness.
Workshop 7: Using educational tools (i.e. a new game called Climatetalk) to engage in Climate Change.
Presented by Thalia Carr of Reading Borough Council
In this workshop you will get the chance to play a shortened version of 'ClimateTalk' - a climate change discussion game developed by New Economics Foundation, which introduces people to facts and scenarios about climate change and normally produces everything from good discussion to heated debate. Climatetalk is a conversation game that enables people in small groups over an hour and a half or so to find out about climate change and work out what they think or want to do about it. You will hear how Reading Borough Council has used this in a number of different ways and with a number of different groups of adults and children and you will consider ways in which you might be able to use it in your own contexts.
The inventor of "Democs", the generic game on which Climatetalk is based, is Perry Walker from The New Economics Foundation. The full game will shortly be available as a download, though current downloads only appear to include supplementary components:
Available downloads from the www.climatespace.org website.
What is Climatetalk? - more about the game
Getting hold of Climatetalk Kits
Getting feedback from participants is an essential part of the process for us, both so that we can continuously improve what we offer and so that we can monitor how the kit is being used. The kit comes with a certain number of feedback forms. When these run out you will either need to photocopy or download extra copies. To download copies, click on the link below:
Participant feedback forms
You will need about three to five blank cards per game. The kit comes with eight as standard so, if you want to play more than twice, you’ll need to photocopy or download extra copies. To download, click on the link below:
Extra Blank Cards
You will need about four cluster cards in each game. Your kit comes with eight as standard so, if you play more than twice, you’ll need to photocopy or download the cluster cards. To download, click on the link below:
Extra Cluster Cards