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SUSTAINABILITY
Get a foot in the door
Ray Barker
efficient, and produce lower emissions, such as
laptops and portable devices, which consume less
looks at
power than conventional PCs. Many manufacturers
are developing products with reduced electrical
consumption, longer battery life, and lower thermal
sustainable
loads.
The use of UK-produced components in the
schools through
manufacturing of their products to lessen the amount of
transport required is another way suppliers are reducing
the ‘eight doorways’
carbon emissions.
The WeeeD was introduced by the government
to reduce the impact of electrical and electronic
he MeT Office has just released some waste on the environment. It requires all producers of
T
alarming research which analyses the electrical and electronic equipment to be responsible
likelihood of the world combating for the recycling, treatment or disposal of old
climate change through current efforts equipment.
to overcome global warming. Producers are now responsible for the financial
It has found that at best, we cost in the collection and treatment of waste
have only a 50 per cent chance of equipment, and must also provide consumers with
keeping temperature rises below two degrees, which is a means to return their electronic equipment free of
considered the threshold to avoid disaster. charge.
It is now commonly accepted that climate change Schools have the power to suggest to their suppliers
is a real threat, and as such the UK government has that they would prefer to use environmentally friendly
become more proactive in implementing systems to products. At the end of the day, schools will vote with
reduce climate change. their pockets, and can try to select products that are
As such, schools are also being called upon to “greener”.
become proactive about reducing their carbon • energy and water – introduce energy efficient and • Inclusion and participation – increase participation Taking a whole-school approach to sustainability
footprints, and the government aims to make every renewable energy sources, particularly for ICT, by all students in school activities, and create a issues, including new ICT solutions, will
school sustainable by 2020. along with water conservation. greater awareness of respects for human rights, facilitate teachers and leaders achieving the 2020
The newly released National Framework for • Travel and traffic – reduce vehicles to improve cultures and freedom. recommendations.
Sustainable Schools puts in place eight guidelines, also congestion, pollution, carbon emissions and road • Local wellbeing – develop local relationships to As pointed out in the government’s Planning a
known as “the eight doorways”, which are key areas accidents, and increase walking and cycling to improve the quality of live and environment Sustainable School document, sustainability is surely
that can be incorporated into any school environment. increase fitness. within the community, while providing students seen by many as another to-do activity for busy
These aim to not only improve school efficiencies, • Purchasing and waste – create sustainable with citizenship skills. teacher.
but also create sustainable communities and give procurement practices of resources and goods • Global dimension – improve students understanding however, if you are concerned that young people
children and young people new skills and attitudes to that have high environmental and ethical standards, of the lives of people from around the world and will face unprecedented challenges in the next period
the environment for the future. Sustainability measures coinciding with reusing, recycling and repairing their impact on other cultures of history, then it is really something we all need to
for the use and implementation of ICT also plays a vital as much as possible. The WeeeD (Waste electrical One important factor in all this is the role of ICT. commit to – industry, government, schools and young
role in creating green schools. and electronic equipment Directive) for electronics As ICT becomes a more integral part of the learning people together. SecEd
The eight doorways, your gateway to achieving also falls into this category. environment, schools need to consider increased strain
sustainable development at school, are: • Buildings and grounds – select green building on resources including waste – due to short life • Ray Barker is director of the British Educational
• Food and drink – source healthy, local and technologies, furnishings and equipment, and on cycles and a greater consumption of electricity by Suppliers Association.
sustainable food and drink which can provide greater school grounds, educate students about sustainable technology.
nutritional benefits while protecting the living and the natural world through gardens and Several large school suppliers have begun to
Further information
environment. conservation. develop computers and software that are more energy www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools
Notes and jottings Psycho babble
Learning lessons from abroad What is there to fear?
I’M AT Port elizabeth airport in South Africa well as having put music and performance centre WheN I was a little girl, my mother had only to where he plays American football – which they all
grabbing a quick salad in a burger bar before my stage. rattle the drawer containing the wooden spoon for me take very seriously. he is expected to hit the gym
flight back to Cape Town on the last leg of a rather Secondary schools would do well do explore the to stop whatever naughty or inappropriate behaviour for training sessions at 5.30am every morning of the
special holiday. Yes, I know – and in term time too. joys of G&S too. Tremendously tuneful and very I was undertaking. I can’t actually remember that week, and at 18-years-old, that’s quite a commitment.
Part of me still feels like a year 8 truant. funny, it has a lot to offer teenagers – I got really wooden spoon being used as a weapon, but the If he is late, his team mates have to run sprints for 20
Suddenly 20 or so – a mixed bunch – of 13-year- hooked from about age 12. And help is available. prospect of it being one was enough to fill me with minutes, while he watches. It’s social exclusion and
old boys arrive, neat in promotional tee-shirts, scarlet The Gilbert and Sullivan Association has fear, however irrational. And, as a result, I most peer pressure rolled into one, and for a young adult,
baseball hats, and uniform rucksacks. produced teaching packs on The Pirates of Penzance definitely behaved as expected. I was guided to do the most perfect penalty.
I’m impressed by their good manners and quiet, and HMS Pinafore. Iolanthe, The Mikado and Trial “right” by my fear of the consequences. For a penalty to be effective in discouraging
orderly behaviour as they spend their allocated 60 by Jury are next (contact neil@aimuk.org). Now, I am not suggesting that the threat of behaviour, it has to be relevant and something that
Rand on a snack lunch, and it doesn’t take corporal punishment is the ideal way to guide will deter us from committing a “crime”.
me long to discover (journalists are never So how do you know whether a school youngsters. What I am saying is that fear can be I suggest that the best solution to the behavioural
really on holiday) from their assertive, trip venue is any good (apart from used as a tool to ensure that expectations problems associated with many of today’s youth is
urbane teacher that they are the “grade reading the School Trips column in are met, and in doing so, the expected to ensure that there is a penalty to fit the crime.
7 cricket boys” from Parkview Senior SecEd)? Not always easy. enter the behaviour becomes learned. The penalty must be something that students
Primary School in Johannesburg. Council for Learning Outside the As parents and teachers, many fear, and it must be relevant to them. As
They have played three matches in Classroom’s new quality badge of us are aware that kids tow the educators we are obviously not in the
the Port elizabeth area and are now created in partnership with the line because they are afraid of business of creating frightening scenarios
on their way home. government. The idea is to make consequences. Children are not or finding methods of scaring kids,
“The cricket was good, but the teachers’ lives easier because a born with a moral code, or an and human rights legislation abounds
training in punctuality, teamwork co- “badged” venue is guaranteed to be understanding of appropriate to prevent anything that could
operation and so on has been just as safe and you need not carry out your behaviour. They are taught these perceived to be cruel. however,
valuable,” their teacher told me. own risk assessment. The badge also things, and they are reinforced “hitting ‘em where it hurts” is a
It was a good example of the relaxed, indicates that the organisation meets through experience, learning sound philosophy when we want
but very disciplined, behaviour I also saw criteria as a provider of learning. opportunities, and, of course, the to create deterrents, encourage
in several younger school groups out Among the first organisations to win threat of what happens when you the behaviour we want to see, and
and about in South Africa: no pushing, the right to the Quality Badge are don’t live up to expectations. ensure that this behaviour becomes
shoving or shouting, but lots of smiles, elan Valley estate in Powys, Field So a young child who learned.
courtesy and doing what teachers told Studies Centre at Blairgowrie in is repeatedly sent to his room So, I’d now like to hear from
them to. Perthshire, and Baylham Rare Breeds because he has bitten an innocent you. What have you found are the
“If only we could bottle it and take Farm in Suffolk. For the complete list, playmate eventually learns that his very best methods of keeping kids on the
it back to the UK,” one retired British see www.lotcqualitybadge.org.uk actions have consequences; he fears straight and narrow? What works for you?
teacher remarked to me as we watched the repercussions more than he enjoys We’ll compile your experiences and pass them
a large nursery-age group being expertly So 10.6 per cent of secondary pupils do biting his mate. on. This may sound like a bit of a controversial
marshalled on the Waterfront in Cape Town. not have english as their first language My own children most definitely act approach to dealing with students, but I can assure
– two in a hundred more than in 2004. Cue within the parameters of expected behaviour you that it has a sound and substantial history of
Like Marmite, Gilbert and Sullivan is something for the Daily Mail’s usual xenophobic banner because they fear their mother’s wrath. It simply success. Did you know, for example, that some 1,500
you love or loathe and I’m firmly in the former headlines about the evils of immigration. Am isn’t worth turning up an hour past their curfew, or years ago, Thucydides claimed that fear was one of
camp. I have long argued that it should be re- I the only person in Britain who can’t see why earning a detention at school, because they know the three strongest motives for human action – the
introduced in schools instead of continual reliance it matters that so many of our children are bi- or the consequences can and will be dire. Perhaps not other two being honour and interest? And, according
on Oliver!, Grease, Annie and Bugsy Malone. So I multi-lingual? They learn english at school, after life-threatening, but definitely social-life threatening. to Aristotle, how a person responds to fear is a telling
was excited to see that Lepton Ce Junior School in all. Fluency in more than one language is a very And they fear that most of all. While it is arguable indicator of his capacity for ethical conduct. We
huddersfield has produced The Pirates of Penzance good thing, not a cause for handwringing, and only that my children will, when they flee the nest, revert don’t need to scare students to get results, but we
and is doing The Mikado next. the linguistically challenged, arrogant British would to the behaviour and moral codes that suit them, can find their Achilles’ heel and use this as a tool for
Under the guidance of G&S enthusiast, deputy pretend otherwise. without the threat of mum, I believe that the constant promoting goodness.
head helen Lever, the school has also found lots reinforcement with which they’ve grown up has
of cross-curricular potential in G&S which often • Susan Elkin is a freelance education journalist and caused them to behave by rote, if you like. • Karen Sullivan is a bestselling author, psychologist
informs art, history, english, and PShe lessons, as former teacher. A friend of mine’s son is at an American university, and childcare expert. Email kesullivan@aol.com
SecEd • April 2 2009 
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