National Operator Interviews: Elisa Pallangyo

INTERVIEW WITH ELISA PALLANGYO

Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, Tanzania

 

• City where the organisation is based: Dar es Salaam
• Number of staff in the organisation/working with Eco-Schools: 151/3

What do you prefer?

• Dogs or cats? Dogs
• Sea or mountains? Both
• Chocolate or chips? Chips
• Film or book? Both
• City or countryside? Countryside
• Favourite word or phrase: Conservation for the future
• If you could sing one song in a music competition show on television, what would it be?

Water flows from Morogoro mountains

• What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

I was in a vehicle when I saw two people fighting for empty plastic bottles. Some years back, empty plastic bottles were a problem because there was no recycling. The guys were fighting for the bottles because nowadays you sell them and get money. It's business.

A high point of the programme, hopes and visions

The high point of the programme is that schools, communities, and the government have been inspired in implementing the Eco-Schools programme at all levels, and aim at achieving sustainable development. The dream/hopes/vision of the programme is to see school children becoming young leaders in promoting environmental awareness, becoming environment and society change agents, and the schools becoming advocates for a better world. 

Activities by the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group

Activities include:

• Teacher training: Teacher training is organised where most programme schools are represented. In total the programme is run at 20 primary schools in the Mvomero district
• Eco-Schools Committee training: The Eco-Schools programme has only just recently started in Tanzania. After establishing the Eco-Schools committee, training sessions were organised to ensure that the committees were conversant with the programme. 20 Eco-Schools Committees have been established
• Facilitating and supporting of micro-projects: About 17 schools are now running micro-projects at their schools
• Awareness raising on recycling: Due to the huge amount of waste collected, we identified a need for raising awareness pertaining to the recycling process of waste.

An inspiring story by the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group

Lusanga Primary School: Lusanga Primary School joined the Eco-Schools programme in June 2015. The school commenced the programme by establishing an Eco-Schools Committee, developing an Environmental Review, and identifying challenges including the inadequate number of teachers, soil erosion, waste management, deforestation and scarcity of water, poor sanitation, etc. The school prepared the Action Plan and started addressing the challenges; Monitoring and Evaluation was implemented, and the school slowly started alleviating these challenges. They also improved the curriculum by using a learner-centred approach. Lusanga School is now a different school compared to those that do not participate in the programme.

The neighbouring schools and communities were inspired by what was happening at Lusanga School and now go to Lusanga for study visits to try and replicate activities at their schools and communities. Within a very short time, Lusanga is now an Eco-Schools model.

Eco-Schools launching event in Ukraine

NGO Ecological Initiative in Ukraine started their preparations to launch Eco-schools as the third FEE programme in Ukraine at the end of 2013. However, due to the challenging political situation in Ukraine the implementation was postponed.

NGO Ecological initiative and FEE are now proud to announce that the first school was awarded with the Certificate of the Participation on 12 October, 2016. This is a private educational centre"Rozumka" (translated as "smart kind"), located in Kozin community close to Kiev. Teachers, students and parents have strong commitments to implement the programme and hope to receive Green flag in September next year.    

via Eco-Schools Ukraine

Eco-Schools Celebration in Jordan

Eco-Schools Green Flags were raised in 23 schools dacross Amman and Aqaba, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Ali, Chair Person for the Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan (JREDS) and in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Environment.

Plaques and certificates were distributed to the awarded schools and teachers in return to their enormous efforts applying the the methodology of the Eco-Schools programme.

These achievements were hosted by Green Key hotels represented by the Sheraton Al-Nabil Hotel in Amman and Mövenpick Resort & Residences Aqaba, as part of their responsibility efforts towards the community, and to strengthen the integration and mainstreaming between the Foundation for Environmental Education programmes.

Meeting with Princess Basma bint Ali

On the 6 October 2016 a meeting was held with the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Ali, and 60 schools from Aqaba city. The meeting was coordinated in full partnership and cooperation with the Aqaba Directorate of Education of the Ministry of Education.

This meeting aimed to stress on the importance of sustainable education in conserving the environment in Jordan, and the role of Eco-Schools in this regard. HRH Princess Basma congratulated all participating schools, with special attention to the awardee Green Flag schools, and encouraged other schools to increase their efforts to join the programme. HRH listened to the representatives from different schools and discussed ideas and initiatives to enrich schools with more environmental activities.  

National Operator Interviews: Daniels Truksans

Interview with Daniels Truksans

FEE Latvia, Latvia

 

• City where organisation is based: Riga
• Number of staff in the organisation / working on Eco-Schools: 6 / 2

What do you prefer?
 

• Dogs or cats? Dogs
• Sea or mountains? Both
• Chocolate or chips? Chocolate
• Film or book? Both
• City or countryside? Countryside
• Favourite word or phrase: Don't worry be happy
• If you could sing one song in a music competition show on television, what would it be?Bobby McFerrin, Don't worry be happy :)
• What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently? I organised an event for an orphanage house and we visited the Science Centre AHHAA. All day was very fun. One example of silly moments when you don't know that recording is still going: ej.uz/jump_for_fun

A high point of the programme, hopes and visions

The existing data and observed practices affirm the promising potential of Eco-Scshools as a strong support for a formal educational establishments and local development. The highest point for the programme is that every school understands and appreciates it. The vision is to engage schools in efficient environmental management through reduced impacts on the environment, encouraging environmental protection in the work of municipalities, opening communication channels between the schools, municipalities and the local community which can be used to engage all these actors in environmentally responsible behaviours.

Activities by FEE Latvia

The activities of Eco-Schools are organised at the school level, community level and even national level, while also changing the behaviours of individual participants – teachers and students -  at their household level.

An inspiring story from a school in Latvia

• Eco-Schools project “Eat responsibly” - Examples of cooperation between schools, municipalities and households

"Eat responsibly" is an international action-based project for Eco-Schools, that follows the European year of development 2015. The project informs about the global issues and the everyday decisions affecting them through the topic of food. The expected result is measurable long term changes in schools and surrounding communities.

In 2015/2016 there were 20 schools in the project in Latvia, that implemented the methodology based on the seven steps of the Eco-Schools programme – they formed an Eco-Committee consisting of students, teachers, members of the municipality and local organisations; they made an Environmental Review to assess the food consumption habits of families and other students, made an Action Plan, had the school curriculum include the related topics, created thematic events for the school and community, ensured the evaluation of the progress and created a related Eco-Code.

• Ropazi Municipality and local schools:

In Ropazi both Pre-School “Annele” and the High School are Eco-Schools and both were participants of “Eat responsibly” during the first year.

Ropazi demonstrates an exemplary cooperation between the schools and the Ropazi Municipality; there is a municipality level Eco-Committee that works as a mediator between the schools, the municipality and the local community developing and implementing environmental initiatives – such as the newly founded local farmers market. There is also a good cooperation with local businesses (such as retailers and farmers) and other organisations with the goal of ensuring increased consumption of locally sourced organic products in schools and households.

There has also been good results at the school level in environmentally responsible behaviour. Pre-School “Annele” had set a priority to reduce food waste and achieved an almost 50% reduction on the amount of food wasted. It was achieved by motivating the children, making changes in the presenting the food, and in cooperation with parents, the municipality and a catering company. Through this cooperation, there is also a direct buying club started, supporting the local organic farmers. The school has also replaced the drinking water bought from a mineral water company to tap water, saving money and the environmental impact.

The nearby Ropazi High School organised a student led research and followed by a discussion about the topic of global food supply chains. The event was open both to students and parents raising awareness on food and its impacts on health and the environment.

Trash Fashion Show Macedonia 2016

On June 2, 2016 at the Youth Cultural Center in Skopje, OXO held  the sixth Trash Fashion Show contest, Macedonia 2016,  where  fashion creations made with redesigned materials from waste were created by the teams from 38 secondary schools in Macedonia.

The schools represented themselves with on-stage performances lasting 60 seconds and presented their fashion creations which were made based on this year’s topic:  "Film and cartoon characters" including Tinker Bell, Cinderella, Spiderman, The Devil Wears Prada, Maleficent  and many others made from different types of waste: plastic bags, paper, wires and even old computer chair.

This year, the three-member jury including Branislava Jankovska - Fashion Lover, famous model Katarina Ivanovska and Bojan Trajkovski - frontman of the band "Eye Cue" selected the top three places.

First place was awarded to the team from high school "Josip Broz Tito" for a creation called "She-Edward" made of buttons on keyboards, nylon ropesand cables. In second place was the school DUCOR "Partenija Zografski" from Skopje with a creation called "Michael Jackson" made of plastic, cardboard, tape, insulation tapes and paper. Third place went to school "Naum Naumovski - Borce" from Krusevo who presented their creation "Queen Elizabeth" constructed from openers for cans, plastic bags, paper and wire. The prize fund was provided by Bozinovski and Euro-Ekopak Ltd who gave vouchers to the winning teams.

Trash Fashion Macedonia 2016 was organized by Civic Association OXO and is part of the program Integration of environmental education in the Macedonian educational system.

Each year the Show is organized on the 5th of June which is also World Environment Day and represents an event which is unique  in the region in that it has been organized six years in a row, causing enormous attention in both domestic and foreign media.

Event - Eco Pack Macedonia 2016

On May 31, 2016 (Tuesday) at 18.00 an exhibition of works of art made from used Tetra Pak packaging was held as part of the prize for the competition "Eco Pack Macedonia" in the hall of the Youth Cultural Center in Skopje. This year's competition "Eco Pack Macedonia" was attended by 31 Eco-Schools with over 90 works of art made of selected Tetra Pak packaging based on the theme "Eco City".

Project Eco Pack is being implemented over nine years amongst the network of eco schools in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, and from the academic year 2014/2015 was implemented in Macedonia for the first time. The project is intended to develop awareness of the importance of responsible behavior in children, students, teachers and parents by collecting, sorting, separating and removing the cardboard from used Tetra Pak packaging of milk, yogurt and juice products.

At the competition "Eco Package Macedonia 2016” the following prizes were awarded:

First place: artwork "Green City" from elementary school "Sv. Cyril and Methodius ", Bitola

Second place: artwork "Macedonia Eco City" from elementary school "Sv. Kliment Ohridski", Macedonian

Third place: artwork "Eco City" elementary school "Nikola Karev" Radovitsh

Special prize from the Swedish Embassy in the category "most creative solutions in conveying the theme" has been granted for works of art "Eco Windmill -Eco Energy", "Eco urban-Greenfield" and "Green village" all from the elementary school "Kliment Ohridski" in Dracevo, Kisela Voda.

For special efforts in the project, students with special educational needs from elementary school "Malina Pop Ivanova" from Kocani were rewarded with the artwork "Eco Park".The artwork "Eco building" from the elementary school "Jan Amos Comenius" Karposh and "Modern Eco House" from elementary school "Stiv Naumov" Bitola were rewarded for their most visionary solutions. Special awards for environmental messages were received by students from elementary school "Pere Toshev" Rosoman, elementary school "Nikola Karev" Radovis, elementary school "Nikola Karev", Krusevo and elementary school "Vasil Glavinov" Veles.

Prizes provided by Tetra Pak, OXO, the Swedish Embassy in Macedonia, Bozinovski watches and jewelry and Euro Eco Pack.

Global Teacher Prize – Winner and Top Ten Finalists

Hanan Al Hroub is the winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2016. She teaches at Samiha Khalil Secondary School in Palestine, where she focuses on providing a safe space in the classroom for her pupils, paying particular attention to their individual needs.

Her approach has led to a decrease of violent behaviour in schools, often influenced by the Palestinian tense environment.

Here are the 10 Finalists who competed for the prize:

• Hanan Al Hroub, Palestine

• Aqeela Asifi, Pakistan

• Robin Chaurasiya, India

• Joe Fatheree, USA

• Colin Hegarty, United Kingdom

• Richard Johnson, Australia

• Ayub Mohamud, Kenya

• Maarit Rossi, Finland

• Michael Soskil, USA

• Kazuya Takahashi, Japan

It is amazing to see that, out of the nine countries listed above, seven are countries where the Eco-Schools programme is implemented and led by committed teachers and National Operators.

Janet Hayward, a headteacher from Wales, was one of the top 50 finalists which we wrote about in our News section on the website.

Principal of Eco-Schools in Wales nominated for the Global Teacher Prize

We hope that in the future we will even see teachers from Eco-Schools all around the world being nominated for this prize.

The Climate Education Week

A message from Karena Mary Ruggiero, new Director of Education at Earth Day Network:

Dear all,

I am excited to introduce myself. My name is Karena and I am the new Director of Education at Earth Day Network! With monumental changes in education policy and global climate change legislation on the horizon, this is an incredible time to be working towards our common goal of environmental and climate literacy for all.

Earth Day Network’s 2nd Annual Climate Education Week starts on April 18th! Leading up to Earth Day, April 22nd, educators across the country will take the time to focus their classrooms and programmes on teaching students about the growing environmental concerns facing our world. The Climate Education Week Toolkit offers great classroom-ready, free lesson plans for grades K-4, 6-8, and 9-12. They focus on water issues, climate change, and this year’s Earth Day theme - trees! Please take a look at some of the great resources on the website.

In the following weeks, we will continue to add new resources including short videos and service learning projects, as well as more lesson plans.

Check back frequently, but start planning your Climate Education Week now!

I’d love to hear what you and your school or district are planning for Climate Education Week! Please email me about your plans at ruggiero@earthday.org. If you or your school are planning a tree planting, cleanup, festival, or a different Earth Day Event, be sure to register it online to get the word out to your community!

Sincerely,
Karena Mary Ruggiero
Director of Education
Earth Day Network
ruggiero@earthday.org

'Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals' Conference in India

January 11-13 2016 saw FEE member, the Centre for Environment Education, organise an international conference on Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals in partnership with UNESCO, UNEP and the Government of India. Ian Humphreys, CEO of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful represented FEE at the conference, which took place in Ahmedabad, India. 

The conference follows the launch in September 2015 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals following a global consultation.  One of the goals is Quality Education.  However, this conference focused on developing education in its broadest sense (including training and capacity building, communication, raising public awareness and formal education at all levels) as a cross-cutting theme relevant to all the goals.  It is now accepted that policy instruments and technological solutions are insufficient to alone achieve sustainable development. 

Strong emphasis was placed on giving the world’s 1.8bn young people, who will have to deal with the impacts of an older generation’s decisions, a louder voice and more of a say.  The pupil led Eco-Schools programme was recognised as already supporting this approach globally.  Presentations were delivered on Eco-Schools and EcoCampus at four workshops during the conference and demonstrated a clear route through the formal education system for supporting young people in bringing about lasting change not just to the physical environment but also in terms of behaviour change. 

“It was horizon expanding” said Ian Humphreys. “Very productive and positive, despite the colossal issues we face.” 

Eco-Schools gave a very positive sense of hope in this conference.  Pupil led, hands-on and practical in nature, global and growing in scale, it supports young people in posing questions and challenging the status quo, seeking answers from multiple dimensions.  It also supports critical reflection in our young people and develops an ethos of wanting to learn, to make change happen and to be part of that change.

Beyond COP21 Symposium launched in Dubai

The first of a global series of Symposia was organised and facilitated by Target4Green in Dubai on 16th January 2016 at GEMS Kindergarten Starters, to learn about taking a more sustainable path and understand more deeply the implications of COP21 and the SDGs.

Over 200 students from 7 schools attended the full day of presentations, team-building and performances. Experts on sustainability took part in speeches and practical activities.

Here some of the students talk about their experience.

Maryam Yaseen Khan: GEMS Winchester School Dubai

This day had really increased my level of curiosity, responsibility and teamwork. We met companies with genius ideas contributing to solutions of global issues.

Sara Wael:  The Westminster School, Dubai

The first and the main thing I have learned is that respecting others is very important. The second is that, in order to reach our goal or aim in life, we should not only be good at academics, but also should have good behaviour. Being ignorant of the behaviour will definitely have negative impacts on our world.

Ashitha Manoj: Delhi Private School, Sharjah

Being in the workshop was a lot of fun and we learnt about 17 different sustainable development goals (SDGs). We had activities like building a tower from newspaper and bottles, mind mapping on these SDGs, charades and listening to eco-friendly companies.

The event was covered in the national media through Khaleej Times, 7 DAYS and Gulf Today. See link: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/539f8faf-cc69-47f3-b091-af7876689085.aspx

The Beyond COP 21 initiatives, including the Symposium, have attracted interest from schools globally.

A Conference Organised & Run by Students! The 2016 Student Technology Conference

The second annual Student Technology Conference, a free one-day online event bringing together students, educators and innovators from around the world, will be held Saturday, January 30, 2016 from 9 Am to 9 Pm EST. We invite all to attend!

The Student Technology Conference provides an international forum for the presentation, discussion and sharing of educational technology in schools and other academic settings. This conference, by students in grades 6-12 as well as colleges and universities and for all, is committed to:

• Fostering a better understanding of how students use technology in education and to engage students, teachers and administrators in a conversation about technology.
• Assisting teachers and administrators in understanding how students use technology both in and out of the classroom.
• Strengthening the relationship between students, teachers and administrators about technology in the curriculum.

Last year’s conference featured more than twenty general sessions and four keynote addresses from all over the world with over 500 participants!

If you haven't joined us before, this is an amazing, engaging, collaborative, worldwide event that you will want to be a part of. You can join us for just for one session, or for every session! Even if you miss a session, they are all recorded so you can watch them later!

Attending: You can join us anywhere you have an Internet connection, and the schedule of sessions is published in each of the time zones in the world. Just find your time zone, find the sessions taking place, and click right into the ones you want to join. You can also import the entire calendar (Google) into your own calendar, or add selected sessions to your personal calendar to be sure that you don't miss them.

Presenting: For those interested in presenting (and we encourage teachers and students around the world to do so, even if for the first time), the call for proposals is now open! The final date to submit a proposal is Saturday, January 23, 2016. Click HERE for more information and to submit your proposal.

Volunteering: One of the best parts of this conference is the incredible volunteer effort to help new (and sometimes seasoned!) presenters. Volunteers gather throughout the whole conference in a special virtual lounge and work to make sure that presenters and attendees are given help whenever they need it. Our volunteers are an elite group of global helpers--come find out why they say being a volunteer moderator is the most fun you can have at the conference. More HERE.

The Community: A significant bonus to attending the Student Technology Conference is joining the conference community of students and educators from around the world.

Great Keynotes: Who better to keynote the Student Technology Conference than students. We have a great set of keynote speakers this year, including the Young Hackers of New York City and Coco Kaleel from veryhappyrobot.com. More keynotes will be announced after the holidays!

Sponsors: We've got a devoted and most-appreciated set of sponsors who make this conference possible (and keep it free!). Our special thanks to Marymounyt School of New York, University School of Milwaukee, Westhampton Middle School, Lauriston Girls’ School and others who support our conference. And there's still time to join this illustrious group and help support our event! Email steve@hargadon.com.

Help Promote the Conference: We can really use your help to share the conference with your colleagues, associates, friends, family, and the world. Show your pride with a presenter, volunteer, sponsor, partner, or advisory board member badge.

Send a Tweet: “#stutechconf2016 is coming! Submit to present or register to attend, all free, all online, 6th year of this great event http://www.studenttechnologyconference.com/”

We sure hope you will join us! See you online,

Ana Sophia, Gaby, Eunice, Anne, and Sydney
Conference Co-Coordinators (we're all students)
2016 Student Technology Conference

Visit The Global Education Conference Network at: http://www.globaleducationconference.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Target4Green Educational Consultancy and Training

Target4Green Educational Consultancy and Training is a specialized, hands-on, community centered company dedicated to supporting schools across the world in their Education for Sustainable Development as well as working with companies in the creation and initiation of effective educational and CSR Programmes.

Target4Green brings all elements of sustainability together in thought-provoking and dynamic ways through practical workshops, seminars, team building, presentations and experiential learning opportunities.

Target4Green was founded by Peter Milne, a former teacher with over 20 years’ experience and in-depth knowledge of British and IB Curricula. Throughout his career in the UK, Malaysia and Dubai, Peter took on dedicated roles that developed and enhanced Environmental Education and Outdoor Learning opportunities.

In 2012, as Environment/Eco-Schools Coordinator at Raffles World Academy, Dubai, the school achieved Green Flag.

From September 2012, Peter has worked as an Environmental Education Consultant/Trainer and, through the success achieved in the UAE, formed Target4Green Educational Consultancy and Training Ltd upon his return to the UK.

More information and contact details at: http://www.target4green.com/

Erasmus+ 2016 - Grants to courses and conferences

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide and Call for Proposals for 2016 is out with more than €1.85 billion in funding available. Find more information on the call, the guide, and what has changed since 2015 in the Guide.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2016 (pdf) and the 2016 Erasmus+ Call for Proposals were published by the European Commission on 22 October 2015. The Programme guide provides information on:

• the priorities of the programme
• the actions supported
• the funding available for different actions
• detailed information on participation

The Programme Guide is currently only available in English, although other language versions will be published soon. Organisations are invited to submit applications online to the National Agency in the relevant country or to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The 2016 online application forms and related documents are currently being prepared by the Commission and will be available on websites of either the National Agencies or the EACEA, depending on the actions concerned.

For mobility (Erasmus+ KA1) - in other words participation in courses and conferences in the academic year 2016/2017 or later - the deadline for application for grants is at noon on 2 February 2016.

Erasmus+ Programme Guide

School education gateway: Erasmus+ A practical guide for school leaders

How can Erasmus+ funding be used to improve teaching and learning in my school? What professional development opportunities can we offer our teachers through Erasmus+? The answers can be found in the new Erasmus+ guide for school leaders.

The guide is designed for school leaders (head teachers, school principals, team leader, coordinators, etc) who want to know what the Erasmus+ programme has to offer in the fields of pre-primary, primary and secondary education.

The first section of the guide outlines the benefits schools can derive from applying for Erasmus+ and reviews the opportunities available within the programme, namely staff mobility and strategic partnerships. This section also explores the advantages of linking up with other schools online through eTwinning.

The second sections provides step-by-step advice on developing a successful Erasmus+ application, finding the right European partners and building upon the experience of different schools. This section also offers real project examples to inspire school leaders, help generate ideas and showcase what can be accomplished through Erasmus+.

The guide is available online in English (coming soon: French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish).

Source: School Education Gateway

Go to the website for the Guide

Articles taken from The Learning Teacher Newsletter

International Conference 'Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals'

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) has demonstrated that education can play a vital role leading to sustainable development. The UN DESD closed with an International Conference in Nagoya, Japan in November 2014 with the declaration of the Global Action Programme (GAP). The GAP has identified five priority areas to advance the Education for Sustainable Development agenda and enable strategic focus and foster stakeholder commitment. CEE is a key GAP partner to the priority area ‘Advancing Policy’. Every country and region would need to develop their own GAP agenda bringing in local perspectives and initiative.  

In September 2015, the UN also launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an outcome of global consultative processes. It is important for ESD communities to look specifically at each goal and determine how education can play an effective role in helping achieve this.  

An international conference entitled 'Education as a Driver for Sustainable Development Goals' is being organised by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), in partnership with UNESCO, UNEP and the Government of India. 
The Conference will be organised from January 11-13, 2016. It aims at bringing together global experience and expertise to highlight and strengthen the role of education in realising the SDGs. It will be an opportunity to build upon the learning from the UN DESD and recognise Education as a key enabler.

The SDGs are applicable to the world as a whole. Increasingly, the emphasis has moved away from a solely economic view of development to a larger view that includes the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social and economic. With this new emphasis comes also the recognition that policy instruments or technological solutions are not going to be enough and that behavioural change is crucial in achieving Sustainable Development. Thus the role of education in its broadest sense including training and capacity building, communication and creating public awareness, scientific research, sharing and access to information and networking; and partnerships become a key strategy for achieving the SDGs.

The objective of the Conference is to bring together the global experience and expertise of using Education as a way of achieving SDGs and showcasing the India experience in doing so.

Expected Outcomes

• To apply the learning of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development to develop programmes to achieve the SDGs

• To look at how the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD can play a major role in the SDG strategy

• To develop synergies and partnerships

For more details, contact Conference Secretariat at
Email: esdgconference@ceeindia.org
Website: www.ceeindia.org/esdg

450 Participants at the National Eco-Schools Conference in Slovenia

Attending the Eco-Schools national conference in Slovenia were 450 coordinators, mentors and principals plus international guests. The focus was on presenting the work and the programme for this school year, on sharing best practices and experiences of stakeholders’ involvement in Eco-Schools activities, and also on giving practical examples about how to include activities in the school curriculum.

International cooperation and projects

The opening speech at the conference was given by Dejan Židan, the Slovenian Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry. After that, international guests welcomed the participants: the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Slovenia, Bart Twaalfhoven, welcomed the participants and announced collaboration between the Dutch and Slovenian Eco-Schools programmes. The first Theme they will focus on will be water. Also, Rachel Boyle, International Director of the LEAF programme (Learning About Forests), officially launched the programme in Slovenia.  It is expected that kindergartens and schools will participate in the programme and systematically approach the Theme of Forests.

Slovenian Eco-Schools’ coordinators, mentors, principals and supporters of the programme met at the beginning of the school year at the annual conference. The focus was primarily on the presentation of the work plan in which some new national and international projects are going to be launched. Particular attention was given to the exchange of knowledge, experiences and information between mentors. This was an important input for coordinators, as this school year all will particularly focus on the information, promotion and stakeholder involvement within the seven-step methodology approach.

The Round Table - “Experiences and lessons learnt from cooperation with the programme Eco-Schools and different stakeholders”

 Market of best-practices and round table

Therefore, the programme for this year’s conference brought some interesting novelties: the so-called ‘market of best-practices’ was organised with the purpose of sharing good projects and ideas in order to adjust and implement them in different institutions. 25 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools presented projects, activities, results and products on several themes: food, water, energy, waste etc. Additionally, participants of the conference welcomed the organisation of a round table in which different stakeholders took part, namely: the mayor, the company’s marketing representative, the principal and the waste company expert. They explained their reasons for cooperating with the Eco-Schools programme and presented their best practices. The main conclusion and the message to the coordinators was that they should believe in their ideas and present them to different stakeholders in order to achieve the support for project implementation.

The Market of Best Practices

International cooperation and projects

The opening speech at the conference was given by Dejan Židan, the Slovenian Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry. Afterwards, international guests welcomed the participants: the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Slovenia, Bart Twaalfhoven, welcomed the participants and announced the cooperation of the Dutch and Slovenian Eco-Schools programmes. The first topic of this cooperation will be water. Also, Rachel Boyle, International Director of the LEAF programme (Learning About Forests), officially launched the programme in Slovenia.  It is expected that kindergartens and schools will participate in the programme and make the topic of forest systematically approached.

Awards

Green Flags were awarded to new member institutions of the Eco-Schools programme and new national projects were presented. At the very end of the conference, practical lectures on the inclusion of the activities into school curriculum were given with the purpose of supporting coordinators to plan and successfully implement their ideas and projects as much as possible.

Lucija Marovt

Guidelines for working with children and youth to support participation in the Eco-Schools programme and other ESD programmes

We are pleased to provide valuable experiences and suggestions for the educational work with children and young people with the guidelines "Sustainable development - understanding - implementing – creating" which brings together the main results of the project "Take Part in Sustainable Development".

The guidelines offer stimulation to understand and implement the principles of sustainable development in environmental and nature conservation area together with children and young people, thereby making society a little more sustainable. It contains theoretical and practical knowledge related to simple participatory learning methods as well as more complex learning arrangements like Service-Learning and sustainable student companies, showing the implementation by means of practical examples from Croatia and Germany and offering a collection of worksheets.

The project "Take Part in Sustainable Development" was carried out in the years 2013 to 2015, in cooperation with the Croatian Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development (Sunce) and the German Society for Environmental Education (DGU) and significantly funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).

The guidelines have been developed in the German, Croatian and English language and can be downloaded under the following link:

http://www.umwelterziehung.de/download/index.html#Kroatien

We would be pleased if the guidelines provide suggestions and support for your educational work and hope you enjoy it and wish you good luck!

Best wishes,

Stephanie Pröpsting (DGU Germany)

Top Ten Eco-Schools in the USA

Dear colleagues,

On September 29th we released our report on the Top Ten Eco-Schools in the USA. NWF’s Eco-Schools, USA program has recruited thousands of U.S. schools to participate in a comprehensive effort to green their buildings, grounds and instructional experience. The thousands of U.S. schools enrolled in the program are part of an international network of 50,000 schools in 59 nations. NWF was selected in 2009 to be the U.S. host and program operator.  

The NWF Eco-Schools USA Top Ten List includes:

1. Academy for Global Citizenship (Chicago, IL)
2. Alder Ave Middle School (Egg Harbor Township, NJ)
3. Brooklyn New School (PS 146 New York, NY)
4. Centreville Elementary School, VA)
5. Earth’s Magnet School (Newbury Park, CA)
6. Eisenhower High School (Goddard, KS)
7. Green Tech Academy at Clint Small Middle School (Austin, TX)
8. Heritage Elementary School (Highland Ranch, CO)
9. J.C. Parks Elementary School (Indian Head, MD)
10. Jitta Bug Learning Center (North Miami, FL)

In addition to our press statement, you might enjoy seeing the profiles of these schools which have been successful in implementing sustainable practices and in weaving nature and outdoor learning time into their instructional programming.

Each of these schools has earned the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag award – a global recognition. NWF Eco-Schools USA also has had the great honor of being able to co-certify and develop partnerships with green school programs in Kansas, Maryland, Oregon and other locations. In Kansas, we also coordinate with the Project Learning Tree Green Schools program. Some 90% of the participants are public schools and 50% of the particpating students are from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds.

Here is our nationwide map to identify Eco-Schools near you.

I hope you will join us in congratulating these amazing schools.

Best,

Kevin J. Coyle, JD:

Vice President, Education and Training

National Wildlife Federation

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NWF Eco-Schools USA (@EcoSchoolsUSA)

29/09/2015 20.25
So excited to honor America's Top 10 Eco-Schools!   pic.twitter.com/7NPpOBbEV7