Why we need to meaningfully teach about sustainability

Learn how to empower young people by teaching about sustainability as a life skill, with Andrew Cowley.

What happens in your school to address sustainability? Is it the annual ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ assembly and the appointment of Eco Monitors? While both are valuable in terms of citizenship, sustainability actually runs deeper than this.

Sustainability concerns our capacity to meet our present needs without compromising that of our future generations. As teachers and as responsible citizens, we need to be promoting discussion around sustainability in our schools. We need to provide our young people with the vocabulary to promote sustainability and the skills to challenge practices that impact their futures. Teaching and modelling sustainability is much more than a theme of care for the environment; alongside the pillar of environmental sustainability stands those of social and economic sustainability.

In short, we should be teaching sustainability as a life skill. Sustainability is part of a holistic approach to learning and child development.

Putting a programme of sustainability in place may need a shift in mindset and approach, and perhaps too in practice. In your school, many features of the broader definition of sustainability are either in place or could be introduced with enthusiasm and commitment. Below, we will discuss what you can put in place to help young people lead sustainable futures.

Pillar 1: environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability concerns the protection of natural resources, biodiversity and of the stability of the ecosystem. This can be covered in part through the curriculum (especially as content in this area should be more prevalent in the new National Curriculum). Environmental awareness can also be covered through enrichment, leadership opportunities and assemblies.

• Set up an Eco Council. Alongside the typical tasks you might expect of this group, such as litter picking, collecting recycling and switching off lights and computers at the end of the day, you have the opportunity to give them a real voice by enabling them to have impact in their local community. Look into local concerns such as fly tipping, the impact of traffic pollution or, for example, proposals that could threaten trees or green space. Help them consider ways they can raise their concerns with the relevant authority and to develop their persuasive language.
• Set up a school garden. Flowers encourage pollinators and promote biodiversity. Growing vegetables teaches children about seasonality, soil health and water conservation. By being organic, you can encourage the use of natural feeds, such as comfrey, nettle or even banana skins (all of which are smelly but effective!). An organic approach can also address the issue of toxins, such as some slug and snail treatments and the use of glyphosates as weedkillers. Whether you have access to an allotment, a raised bed or even just a pot or a hanging basket, creative use of space teaches children that anyone can garden, anywhere.
• Manage on-site trees. Mature trees set carbon into the soil through their root systems and removing them negatively impacts carbon levels in the atmosphere. Managing trees, through pruning or pollarding, looks drastic but protects the roots. Tree management addresses branches overhanging neighbouring properties or interfering with overhead cables. Even if a tree has to be felled, could you have the trunk sliced for a stepping stone path, turned into rustic stools or chipped and reused as organic mulch? Collecting and storing leaves, in old compost sacks or a bay created from old palettes, allows them to be turned by nature and time into crumbly leaf mould.
• Engage the children in resource management. This can be as simple as looking after their pencils and not wasting paper. By encouraging them to turn off lights and taps, we are not only developing a sense of responsibility but also thinking about the impact of energy costs on the school budget.

You can also refer to my accompanying article on climate change for whole-school strategies.

Pillar 2: social sustainability

Social sustainability addresses equity, human health and wellbeing in our communities. This is where the school’s programme of PSHE and citizenship and the culture around behaviour, can have lifelong impact. By embedding a notion that taking responsibility for ourselves doesn’t mean putting ourselves first, we can model with the children that working together benefits the whole community.

• As part of your wellbeing programme, think about how kindness is taught. It is not about ‘just being nice’ nor is kindness about being rewarded. Kindness concerns recognising how, if someone is in a situation where they need assistance, a deliberate decision is made to help. From opening the door for an adult or child with their hands full, to sitting with a child who is upset, each act of kindness makes a small but significant difference. Teach the difference between performative kindness and authentic kindness. The first is about attention and reward, and best taught through stories and drama; the second isn’t done for recognition but is an altruistic act.
• Model and teach equity, especially when challenged about fairness. The illustration below (of which there are many variations online) demonstrates that some people may require more or different assistance than others to meet their needs. Equality, in part, means giving everyone the same thing; equity means enabling everyone to reach the same goal.
• Use as many opportunities as possible to encourage teamwork that show how each individual contributes to the work of the whole. Practices such as the Mantle of the Expert demonstrate this by giving each role in an activity a level of expertise, showing that each person brings value to the final outcome.

Pillar 3: economic sustainability

Economic sustainability encourages responsible growth and the development of an economic system that is sustainable over time. Giving the children responsibility for resource and waste management at a school or classroom level can teach valuable lessons they can use at home and in their future lives. Addressing economic sustainability allows for future financial and economic wellbeing to be discussed and modelled.

• In one of my classes we ran a bread making business over a half term, each child brought in 50p as their initial investment. Whilst I bought the initial ingredients, the children took on all other responsibilities, from the size of the batches made each day, to pricing, to negotiating a charge for electricity use with the headteacher, to advertising. They learned from failure with a batch that didn’t rise, and from success when an excess of stock was sold to parents at the end of a day. Each child received a dividend some fifteen times their original investment.
• If you are running a school garden, consider selling additional harvest to parents – either fresh or turned into salads, soups and vegetable sauces. Similarly, if growing flowers, consider a business opportunity selling cut flowers to parents.
• Seeds demonstrate sustainable economic growth. I will share this example, when my class which I taught over a couple of years grew sunflowers. One had an impressive seedhead which we saved and dried. Next spring, each child in school grew a sunflower, planting them around the school site. By the end of summer, our corner of South London looked more like the South of France, and the dried seeds from this crop kept the Nature Club’s birdfeeders stocked through the next winter. This was a practical and enjoyable demonstration of real sustainability in action.

In our sustainable future, we should look to be moving from a model of ‘take, make, waste’ to ‘reuse, repair, recycle’. When our young people set out into the world beyond school and college, if they take these sustainable habits with them, they can continue to seed and grow a responsible future.