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Formal education has a crucial role to play in raising awareness of sustainable
development among young people. It gives them the skills they need to
put sustainable development into practice in later life and form good
habits at an early age. The following information and links aim to provide
help and advice on integrating sustainable development into education.
What is the Government doing?
On behalf of the Government, the Department for Education and Skills
(DfES) aims to ensure that sustainable development is embedded in the
core education agenda across all education and skills sectors. In 2003
they launched the Sustainable
Development Action Plan for Education and Skills. The action plan
is organised around four objectives :
- Education for sustainable development
- The environmental impact of the Department and its partner bodies
- The environmental impact of the education estate
- Local and global partnership activities
Sustainable Schools website
DfES is developing a web-based service, Sustainable Schools ,
which will bring together sources of advice and practical support for
teachers and school heads and governors. Sustainable Schools
is designed to provide an on-line community, disseminate good practice
and offer a shop window for the many schemes to promote their service
to schools. Until then, take a look at the sustainable
development pages on Teacher Net.
Links to information general to schools, teachers,
parents and pupils
- Eco Schools - an award
winning scheme that gets schools and communities involved in making
the school environment better.
- GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations
to Benefit the Environment) - an international programme for schools,
encouraging pupils to measure aspects of their local environment and
report their results over the Internet.
- Countryside
Agency - education pages from the public body charged with enhancing
the English Countryside.
- Development Education Association
- Development education aims to raise awareness and understanding
of how global issues affect the everyday lives of individuals, communities
and societies and how all of us can and do influence the global.
- Groundwork - works with
schools and local companies to raise environmental awareness.
- World Wildlife
Fund learning - supporting learning for sustainability.
- Learning
through landscapes - Get Moving is a practical and fun programme,
sponsored which aims to encourage greater physical activity and
healthier lifestyles among primary school children.
- Safe routes to school
- initiative from sustrans the sustainable transport charity, works
on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public
transport for health, safety and environmental reasons. Their aim is
to create a Safe Route to School for every child in the UK.
- Recycling
consortium - Waste education in action pages.
Links to information specific to teachers
- Teachernet
- sustainable development pages
- Arkive - offers help with lesson
plans, support materials and an archive of endangered species.
- Growing schools
- designed to support teachers in using the outdoor classroom as
a resource across the curriculum.
- Sustainable School
Travel - Department for transport database of classroom materials
relating to sustainable travel.
- Friends of the
Earth - Learning for educators pages.
Links to information specific to children
and young people
- Oneworld.net
- Tiki the penguin's homepage focussed on making a kinder world
for everyone.
- Think energy - a new schools
energy programme from British Gas for 7-14 year olds. It runs schemes,
offers grants and educational resources.
- Friends of the Earth -
Learning for pupils pages.
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