Sustainability is a cross curriculum priority in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2013) highlighting its importance in the curriculum. It outlines that sustainability addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain life (ACARA, 2013). Education for sustainability (EfS) incorporates a strong human focus and recognises that fundamental human rights and social justice are just as essential to sustainable development as environmental sustainability (Reynolds, 2014). Spring (2004) describes EfS as ‘the most radical pedagogy shaping global society’ (p.100) that has a strong values component and future orientation.
Considering values it is important to consider ones own dispositions on the pedagogical approach education for sustainability, and to what extent it is a priority in the classroom. I believe that teaching students to work for the common good in sustaining and improving natural and social environments is of top priority in the classroom, as without a sustainable environment there is no future. EfS should be taken on as a whole school approach, as an alternative possibility for curriculum, pedagogy and policy (Kadji-Beltran, Zachariou and Stevenson, 2013), and a useful reflective teaching approach for the entire primary curriculum. Emphasis on a whole school approach for education for sustainability working across all curriculum areas is an approach that enables the achievement of sustainable development.
EfS allows the opportunity to empower students to work together to contribute to a better future through mindset changes, critical reflection and building new skills. EfS enables students to go beyond activities that only raise awareness, instead it works to challenge values and attitudes, problem solve or develop action skills (Tilbury and Cooke, 2005). Stevenson (2007) states that interdisciplinary and holistic approaches are seen as crucially important in this field.
This injunction may look like special projects outside the classroom, such as using the community to investigate practical and real-life situations, or participating in such programs as Landcare and Waterwatch or heritage foundations (Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005, p.5). There are a number of current environmental problems that can be incorporated into an interdisciplinary approach in the classroom, including the greenhouse effect; consumerism; social justice and equity; loss of biodiversity and habitat destruction; depletion of river systems and groundwater aquifers; high levels of land clearance and vegetation loss; poor soil quality; land degradation; loss of remnant vegetation and air pollution in cities; adverse impacts of water quality in stormwater and sewage; invasive plants and animals; rising salinity; waste management; and population explosion (Reynolds, 2014).
An example of how this may look and feel like in a year five class may be the development of knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development through students using an inquiry approach to suggest explanations for the ways in which human activities causes changes to the environment – for example through the case study of a current environmental problem such as waste management or rising salinity, or a local issue with sustainability. Students in year five may also list several ways in which people have cared for an environment or recognise the different ways that people attempt to manage environments sustainably.
References:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2013). The Australian Curriculum: Cross-Curriculum priorities. Retrieved from: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/crosscurriculumpriorities/sustainability
Department of the Environment and Heritage. (2005). Educating for a Sustainable Future. A National Environmental Education Statement for Australian schools. Carlton, Vic: Curriculum Corporation.
Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2014). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography, Economics & Citizenship (5th ed.). Southbank, VIC: Cengage Learning.
Image. (2015). Sustainability. [online] Retrieved from: http://caha.org.au/category/sustainability/ [Accessed: 9 April 2015].
Kadji-Beltran, C., Zachariou, A., & Stevenson, R. (2013) Leading sustainable schoocls: Exploring the role of primary school principals. Environmental Education Research, 19(3), 303-23
Reynolds, R. (2012). Teaching history, geography & SOSE in the primary school (2nd ed.) South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3rd ed.) South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
Spring, J. (2004). How educational ideologies are Shaping Global Society: Intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, and the decline of the nation-state. New York, NY: Routledge.
Stevenson, R.B. (2007). Schooling and environmental education: contradictions in purpose and practice. Environmental Education Research, 13(2), 139-53.
Tilbury, D., & Cooke, K. (2005). A National Review of Environmental Education and its Contribution to Sustainability in Australia: Frameworks for sustainability. Canberra: Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources and Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability.
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