Creating Sustainable Environments in Our Schools

This book is a major outcome of a seven-year European Commission funded project on professional development for preservice and in-service teachers and a contribution to the UN decade of education for sustainable development. Written for practicing teachers and other professionals, it will be essential reading for trainee teachers and teachers studying courses in whole school development and education for sustainable development.
Each section of the book integrates theoretical and personal knowledge with the contextual knowledge provided by the case studies. The first section offers overviews of school development, whole school approaches, and self-evaluation, and points to the inadequacy of school effectiveness and improvement models for school development.
The second section is made up of case studies of schools in England, the Netherlands, Greece, and Malta that are developing whole school approaches. Each describes work in progress, and critical analysis reveals the processes supporting the school’s development and its holistic approaches. The final section indicates ways in which schools can promote school development through whole school approaches and suggests relevant resources.
The book shows that educating children to become active global citizens who strive for sustainable lifestyles requires transforming how schools educate. In the United Nations' agenda for its decade of education for sustainable development that began in 2005, learning through doing and action-focused education are central--and these approaches are at the heart of this book.

John Robinson is at Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K.

Paul Pace is based at the University of Malta.

Tony Shallcross teaches at Manchester Metropolitan University

Arjen Wals is at the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands.