Abstract:

In an ordinary day, humans produce 15 million carbon tonnes, destroying 115 square miles of rain forest, create 72 square miles of desert, eliminate between 40 and 100 species, cause erosion of 71 million tons of soil and increase the population in 263,000 people. It is easy to understand that the development of modernity, as we know, represents a serious threat to the continuity of life on earth (Orr, 1992). Several authors argue that schools play a central role in the change that is needed, and that they can not be part of the solution with the same kind of education that helped on the creation of the problem.
The UK Government ‘would like every school to be a sustainable school by 2020’. In practice this means integrating high standards of achievement and behaviour with the goals of healthy living, environmental awareness, community engagement and citizenship. In the last years we witnessed the development of new and interesting educational approaches related with the growing concern with the issue of sustainability. New buildings, new design, renewable energy, recycling, inclusion and participation are some of the key words that characterise these new pilot educational projects. But how are these ‘sustainable schools’ being developed in practice? Are they promoting more sustainable behaviours in the pupils? Can this idea be transferable for other contexts and countries?
This paper will explore the concept of ‘sustainable school’ and its relation with the controversies around the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development. It will present some case studies as pilot experiences, and the national framework that have been developed by the UK Government that comprises three interlocking parts: a commitment to care (care for oneself, for each other, for the environment); an integrated approach (curriculum, campus, community); and the eight doorways (food and drink, energy and water, travel and traffic, purchasing and waste, buildings and grounds, inclusion and participation, local well-being, global dimension).