Abstract:

Aims & Scope:
The global sustainability imperative requires building more sustainable institutions. Schools in particular have a relevant role in educating future consumers and can strongly influence present and future consumption patterns [1]. With this in mind, we designed a research project aiming at identifying geographical patterns of social and environmental sustainability profiles for schools, as well as sustainability certifications. The final goal of this research is to shed light on how a certification programme can improve the sustainability performance of schools.

Method:
Data was collected from a survey answered by 548 school headteachers in Spain, covering the whole school universe of both private and public, primary and secondary schools. A statistical Bayesian analysis was performed to identify possible correlations between variables and the data was loaded in a geographic information system (GIS) software. QGIS is a free-license software developed in Python which allows mapping, analysing spatial information, in addition to editing, manipulating and exploring visually possible correlations amongst the inputs received.

Results and Discussion:
Our study follows the recent results in our paper [2], but with the additional objective of geolocalising the 4 resulting clusters. In an aim to proceed the analysis further, we observe that Laggard and Leader clusters are clearly separated in the Catalan territory while Social and Environmental clusters are overlapping. Using a correlation matrix we observe that the variable measuring whether a school holds a Sustainability Certificate is independent from those variables related to sustainability initiatives in place. Furthermore, we mapped the four clusters with Sustainability Certification and we could not find any clear correlation. Therefore, we can conclude that the sustainability profile of schools is not affected by the fact of holding a certificate.

Local governments push schools (‘Escola Verde’ Programme) to go through a certification process, providing grants or funding campaigns. This is probably why we notice that schools in medium and large cities hold the most certificates. Nonetheless, our study shows this certificate is not properly designed to push schools towards sustainability, thus implying a gap has to be filled to improve the process of certification.

References:
[1] D. O. Kronlid, H. Lotz-Sisitka, Transformative Learning and Individual Adaptation, in: Climate Change Adaptation & Human Capabilities, Palgrave Macmillan US, New York, 2014: pp. 75–105. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428042_4.
[2] B. Derqui, D. Grimaldi, Data on the sustainability profile and food waste management in primary and secondary schools: The case of the Catalonia region in Spain, Data in Brief. 28 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2019.104825.

Keywords:

Sustainability, Certifications, School Clusters, Green Schools.