The research findings, which coincide with the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, identify seven characteristics of sustainable schools, many of which bring key benefits to pupils, and the leadership qualities required by school leaders to develop and embed sustainability within their school.
In their paper - Every Child’s Future: Leading the Way - Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future, and Hopkins argue that the prospects for children and young people entering education today - against a backdrop of population growth, an increase in consumption of natural resources, climate change and water shortages - is going to be very challenging with huge implications.
To address this challenge they call for a new style of leadership in education - one grounded in moral purpose, working with the school and its community to make a reality of sustainability so that children actively learn about what needs to be different if we are to survive. This means making sustainability integral to all aspects of education, including the curriculum and organisational design – changes which only school leaders can achieve. “Education is uniquely placed to make a significant contribution to a sustainable future for every child, and it has the responsibility to make the difference,” the paper says.
Toby Salt, Deputy Chief Executive of the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services, said: “Taken together these publications make a powerful case for school leaders to put sustainability at the heart of everything they do. They address a real priority for leadership, as the future generation that can make a difference is in our hands right now. If we are not leading for a sustainable future, what are we leading for?
“This approach offers something that is bigger than just another initiative or agenda to follow. It calls on leaders of schools and children’s centres to take responsibility for moving this agenda forward in their own areas and to work with their peers to change the system from within - we call this system leadership and we know there’s an appetite for change.”
The research found that when school leaders embrace sustainability it delivers real benefits. In the research schools sustainability underpins the vision, permeates every aspect of the school, and helps raise achievement and attainment.
The 56 schools involved with this research – selected because they are currently leading the way in terms of sustainability - were found to have gone beyond typical energy saving measures. They had embedded sustainability into the curriculum and ethos of the school and integrated sustainability with other educational priorities such as Every Child Matters and healthy schools. Many schools have also found that pupils themselves are passionate and active in driving sustainability agendas.
www.nationalcollege.org.uk/npqh
