Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:44:26.741Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Local Communities and Schools Tackling Sustainability and Climate Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Rick Flowers  and
Andrew Chodkiewicz
Rick Flowers*
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney
Andrew Chodkiewicz
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney
*
†, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UTS, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Local communities and their schools remain key sites for actions tackling issues of sustainability and climate change. A government-funded environmental education initiative, the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI), working together with state based Sustainable Schools Programs (SSP), has the ability to support the development of more effective community and school relationships. We are interested in the possibilities of enabling more authentic and transformative learning experiences in community and school relationships, by developing a more analytical approach to communities and schools working together. Drawing on Uzzell's (1999) framework and a number of recent empirical studies we describe how communities and schools in one Australian State, New South Wales, have been working together for environmental sustainability. We point to how the links between local communities and schools continue to be under-utilised, and suggest ways that these important relationships can be strengthened and extended.

Keywords

Sustainabilitylearningcommunitiesschoolslocal government
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 25 , 2009 , pp. 71 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chodkiewicz, A., & Flowers, R. (2005). The NSW sustainable schools program: Communities and schools. Report to the NSW Department of Education and Training, Centre for Popular Education, University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Chodkiewicz, A., Smith, P., Smith, S., & Flowers, R. (2007, 11). Local councils and schools working together for climate change, sustainability and active citizenship. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Environmental Education, Bangalore, India.Google Scholar
DEH (2005). Educating for a sustainable future: A national environmental education statement for Australian schools. Canberra: Department of Environment and Heritage.Google Scholar
DEH (2005a). History of the Australian sustainable schools initiative. Canberra: Department of Environment and Heritage.Google Scholar
DEWHA (2008). Sustainability education: Australian sustainable schools initiative. Canberra: Department of Environment, Water, Heritage, and the Arts.Google Scholar
FEE (2008). Eco-schools: About us. Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.eco-schools.org.uk/ Google Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., & Tilbury, D. (2006). Whole-school approaches to sustainability: A review of models for professional development in pre-service teacher education. Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Sydney: ARIES.Google Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., & Tilbury, D. (2007). Planning for success: Factors influencing change in teacher education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 23, 45–57.Google Scholar
Fisman, L. (2005). The effects of local learning on environmental awareness in children. Journal of Environmental Education, 36(3), 39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flowers, R. (2002, 03 3). Building school communities. Address to Fort St School. Sydney: Centre for Popular Education, University of Technology, Sydney.Google Scholar
Flowers, R., Guevara, R., & Whelan, J. (2009). Popular and informal environmental education – The need for more research in an “emerging” field of practice. Report, Zeitschrift fur Weiterbildungsforschung, 32(2), 36–50.Google Scholar
Hayes, D., & Chodkiewicz, A. (2006). School community links: Supporting learning in the middle years. Research Papers in Education, 21(1), 3–18.Google Scholar
Henderson, K., & Tilbury, D. (2004). Whole-School Approaches to Sustainability: An international review of whole-school sustainability programs. Report by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2008). New learning: Elements of a science of education. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kennelly, J., & Taylor, N. (2007). Education for sustainability for the K-6 curriculum: A unit of work for pre-service primary teachers in NSW. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 23, 3–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kola-Olusanya, A. (2005). Free-choice environmental education: Understanding where children learn outside of school. Environmental Education Research, 11(3), 297–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malone, K. (2007). The bubble-wrap generation: Children growing up in walled gardens. Environmental Education Research, 13(4), 513–527.Google Scholar
Martin, S. (2006). Local government working with schools: Guidelines for linking learning and sharing with our schools. Sydney: Local Government and Shires Association.Google Scholar
Martin, S. (2008). [Local government sustainability education survey 2008]. Unpublished raw data.Google Scholar
NSW DET (2008). What is Sustainable Schools NSW? Sydney: NSW Department of Education & Training.Google Scholar
Palmer, J. A. Suggate, J., Robottom, I., & Hart, P. (1999). Significant life experiences and formative influences on the development of adult's environmental awareness in the UK, Australia, Canada. Environmental Education Research, 5(2), 181–200.Google Scholar
Poster, C. (1971). The school and the community. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
SEEDS (2009). About SEEDS: Environment & energy education. Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.seedsfoundation.ca/ Google Scholar
Schutz, A. (2006). Home is a prison in the global city: the tragic failure of school-based community engagement strategies. Review of Educational Research, 76(4), 691–743.Google Scholar
Shallcross, T., & Robinson, J. (2008). Sustainability education, whole school approaches, and communities of action. In Reid, A., Jensen, B. Bruun, Nikel, J., & Simovska, V. (Eds.), Participation and learning perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability (pp. 299–320). Springer Netherlands.Google Scholar
Smith, G.A. (2007). Place-based education: breaking through the constraining regularities of public school. Environmental Education Research, 13(2), 189–207.Google Scholar
Smith, S. (2006). Sustainable Schools. In Tilbury, D., & Ross, K. (Eds.), Living change: Documenting good practice in education for sustainability in NSW. NSW: Macquarie University and Nature Conservation Council of NSW.Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2003). Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm Change in Education: Explorations in the Context of Sustainability. Unpublished Phd thesis, University of Bath, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Tilbury, D., Coleman, V., & Garlick, D. (2005). A national review of environmental education and its contribution to sustainability in Australia: School education. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage and ARIES.Google Scholar
Uzzell, D. (1999). Education for environmental action in the community: New roles and relationships, Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(3), 397–413.Google Scholar
Westcott, W. (2007, 05 6). Global warming, local solutions. The National Interest, ABC Radio National.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A. (2004). Working together for a change. Unpublished manuscript, University of Western Sydney at Penrith, Australia.Google Scholar
Whelan, J. (2005). Popular education for the environment: Building interest in the educational dimension of social action. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 21(1), 117–128.Google Scholar