The Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance ...€¦ · March 2012 Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance: Policy platform. Sustainability education today, for

The Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance

Policy PlatformMarch 2012

www.educationforsustainability.org.au

Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance: Policy platform

Sustainability education today, for a sustainable Australia tomorrow

Education for sustainability provides tools to solve environmental challenges.Australians today face unprecedented environmental challenges, including destabilisation of our climate system, water shortages and resource depletion. It has never been more important to empower Austral-ians with an understanding of the interconnected-ness of our environment, society, economic and political systems. EfS equips people with the skills and knowledge to respond to challenges, create so-lutions and build a more sustainable Australia. Education for sustainability builds a more sustainable Australia. Education for sustainability creates epicentres of sustainability knowledge and experience in educa-tional institutions. As best practice sustainability values and solutions are taken home by students and shared with the broader community, we shift Aus-tralians’ attitudes and behaviours to be more sus-tainable. Building a world-class education system can empower a country to achieve increasing levels of environmental, social and economic sustainabil-ity. Education for sustainability is globally rec-ognised as a high priority for education. We are currently in the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) – where sustainability education is widely accepted as a prerequisite for building a sustainable future. Australia currently lacks a strategy to provide high quality and integrated education for sustainability through formal education and lifelong learning.

Our vision

Our vision is to create a more sustainable society by allowing all Australians the opportunity to learn the skills, practices, and values of sustainability. We be-lieve this can be achieved by embedding education for sustainability within formal education systems, from early childhood education onwards.

Defining Education for Sustainability

A sustainable world is one in which all ecological, social and economic systems have the capacity to renew themselves indefinitely. In practice, then, sus-tainability means reducing, reusing, conserving, and recycling of society’s use of Earth’s resources, so that the ecological processes on which all life depends can be sustained, for us and for future generations.

Education for sustainability (EfS) encompasses a vision for society that is not only ecologically but also socially, economically and politically sustain-able. EfS has been adopted as a framework in many schools and tertiary institutions, as educators see the importance of giving students an understanding of the interconnectedness of the world’s systems and skills to create sustainable solutions. EfS relies on providing teachers with the experience and support to provide sustainability education.



Introduction


Australian Association of Environmental Education

Australian Campuses Towards Sustainability

Australian Conservation Foundation

Australian Education Union Independent Education Union

Environment Institute Australia and New Zealand

Australian Youth Climate Coalition

National Union of StudentsNational Tertiary Education Union

Australian Council of State School Organisations Inc.


The Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance is comprised of organisations from the education, union, youth and environment sectors that want a higher prioritisation of sustainability in the education system. We are achieving this by advocating for best practice education for sustainability policy to fulfill our vision of a sustainable Australia.

Members of the AESA

• The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative:

Needs to support all students, teachers, principals and parents to apply sustainability principles in everyday school life and improve the way the school community operates.

• Tertiary Sustainability:

Needs to catalyse tertiary education institutions to better equip students with the green skills needed to build a sustainable economy and to integrate sus-tainability principles across all disciplines and the practices of the institution.

• Professional Development for Green Skills:

Needs to coordinate systematic development and accreditation of green skills needed for industry in the growing new economy across a wide range of trades and professions.

Education for sustainability is globally recognised as a high priority for education. We are currently in the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) – where sustainability education is widely accepted as a prerequisite for building a sustainable future. In Australia there are a number of successful educa-tion for sustainability initiatives that already exist, run by various federal and state government depart-ments. These include the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) which provides hands-on sustainability learning, and embedding sustainability into areas of States’ school curricula. Australia has also successfully used education for sustainability programs to shift community attitude and behaviour to improve water conservation and waste recycling in the last two decades. The challenge is that Australia currently lacks the vision and leadership to provide high quality and in-tegrated education for sustainability through formal education and lifelong learning. Our policy recommendations outline how we be-lieve the Australian Government can better support teachers, schools and education institutions to teach for a sustainable future.

These recommendations focus on the needs of four key policy areas:

• The Australian Curriculum:

Needs to support and facilitate all teachers within schools and their communities so they can more eas-ily and effectively foster sustainability throughout all school education



Our policy

2. The Australian sustainable schools initiative

1. The Australian curriculum

2.1. Increased and more reliable federal funding to allow the expansion of AuSSI into more schools. The AESA recommends sufficient funding to engage all Australian schools in the program by 2015 and transition them to the maximum sustainability rating level by 2020.

2.2. Federal co-ordination, including a national partnership, to ensure a national vision, direction and regulative assessment process.

1.1 Ensuring content statements and their elabora-tions are clearly and explicitly linked to organising ideas and sustainability outcomes.

1.2 A more considered curriculum development process including an effort by the Australian Curricu-lum and Assessment Reporting Authority to develop further consultation and school engagement, and greater transparency.

1.3. Ensuring that where the Australian Curriculum is developed into state syllabuses, sustainability content is maintained.

1.4. Federal and state allocation of funding to cur-riculum implementation, professional development and resource development to allow teachers to effectively integrate sustainability content into their lessons.


Whole-school approaches to environmental and community outcomes

Quality sustainability curriculum content for all schools


4. Green skills professional development

3. Tertiary education

3.1. Funding for research programs focused on the creation of resources to support curriculum renewal for sustainability within universities.

3.2. Tying a percentage of existing government funding arrangements for universities and accred-iting bodies to the achievement of sustainability outcomes in both curriculum content and campus operations.

3.3. Establishing a requirement for tertiary institu-tions to report to an independent and transparent scheme rating their sustainabilityperformance.

3.4. Establishing a Centre of Excellence in Learning and Teaching, focused on researching EfS profes-sional development in the green skills sector.

4.1. The creation of a hub for sustainability prac-titioners to administer quality and accountability standards and certification.

4.2. The development of classification systems for different professions and what standards must be achieved to be considered part of the green skills sector.

4.3. A central point of contact for practitioners, fa-cilitating communication between and within indus-tries.

4.4. A gradated training program with necessary support mechanisms integrated into certification process but independent of it.


Supporting the workforce for a transition to green industry

Equipping students with skills for a sustainable economy


Documents

The Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance ...€¦ · March 2012 Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance: Policy platform. Sustainability education today, for