Schools
Schools can play a major role in tackling climate change. They can help their pupils and communities learn about carbon emissions - where they arise and how to reduce them - and, of course, what might happen if we don't take action. One of the best places to start thinking about the issues is the school itself and its own carbon emissions, especially when energy and fuel bills are rising.
Carbon Emissions from Schools: Where they arise and how to reduce them quantifies for the first time the contribution of English schools to greenhouse gas emissions, and also offers scenarios for how these may change on the way to 2050. The report looks at four main sources of emissions (buildings, transport, waste and procurement), each of which provides scope for schools to lead by example within their communities. Our chief recommendation is that government works with schools to halve their carbon emissions by 2020, leading to an 80% reduction by 2050.
We are grateful to the Department for Children, Schools and Families for supporting this work.
» Carbon Emissions from Schools: Where they arise and how to reduce them
There are approximately 3500 secondary schools in England through which the country's entire young population travels. There is no other equivalent common experience for all people in the UK than school. Schools have an essential role to play in helping pupils understand sustainable development and practice sustainable behaviours for their own benefit of their lives ahead.
We would like to see...
... the formal education system - from early years to university - provides a continuous opportunity to experience, practise and evaluate sustainable behaviours in recognition that empowering people to find solutions to sustainability problems is one of its core purposes. Many schools already show the way and have the potential to spark interest, learning and change in other schools, colleges and universities.
Sustainable schools
Exciting changes are beginning to take place in schools policy and school-building projects, building on the enthusiasm that is so evident in schools themselves:
- With our help, in 2006, the Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Children, Schools and Families) published Sustainable Schools for pupils, communities and the environment Sustainable Schools for pupils, communities and the environment
- We also helped the DCSF to prepare the s3 (sustainable school self-evaluation) tool for primary, middle and secondary schools to document their progress in sustainability under Ofsted performance headings.
Other resources, activities, competitions and awards for schools are under development as part of the Year of Action on sustainable schools called for by DCSF, including a new award from the Teaching Awards Trust.
To see the full list visit: Teachernet: Year of action
School food
School food has hit the headlines! See what the SDC recommends in:
» Double Dividend: Promoting good nutrition and sustainable consumption through healthy school meals.
School buildings
We believe that new school buildings should be designed to be zero carbon, zero waste and zero congestion; that they should minimise water use, grow food and manage their buildings and grounds to enhance learning, play and biodiversity conservation; and that they should serve as demonstration centres for sustainable living in their communities.
» Our submission to the Education and Skills Committee Inquiry into Sustainable Schools: How can school buildings support sustainable schools?
More information on the school built environment
Elsewhere in the UK:
» Scotland’s first action plan for the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development
» Welsh Strategy for Action on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
| Real activites | |
 | Children from Turners Hill Primary School in West Sussex grow, cook and eat vegetables and keep chickens in their Outside Classroom as an integral part of the whole school curriculum. Picture by kind permission of Turners Hill Primary School and photographer Alys Tomlinson. |
Learning outside the classroom
It's not just what schools do, but how they do it. We therefore welcome the DCSF's support for a Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, prepared in cooperation with an extensive network of partner organisations. The Manifesto highlights the range of opportunities for children and young people to enrich their learning in the world beyond the classroom.
» Teachernet: Learning Outside the Classroom
