SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS WHOLE-SCHOOL PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT By 2014 many schools had more than four years successfully working with ESDA, and we saw that the ESDA principles were taking root and spreading in some of them: a wholeschool approach was emerging spontaneously. To further encourage this development we introduced the national Sustainable School Award. Awards have now been made twice, in 2014 and 2015. They were announced nation-wide and endorsed by the Ministry of Education. Over 150 secondary schools entered, some of which were part of the ESDA project and some not. And 50 awards have been made. The award process met multiple needs: monitoring and evaluating the ESD achievements of schools, assessing and encouraging the active involvement of all teachers, taking into account schools’ outreach to the community, and expanding the national network of sustainable schools.
To receive an award, a school must be able to document that it meets certain criteria: • Several years’ experience of education for sustainable development • Interdisciplinary connections between subjects relevant for sustainable development • Focus of educational activities on the formation of a sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle in the household, school and local community. • Active monitoring and reduction of the school’s own ecological footprint e.g. in energy and water use, other resources, and garbage. Such monitoring is the starting point for actions to lower the school’s pressure on the environment. The award process revealed a strong impact on the work of individual schools – the use of education for sustainable development as whole-school approach, much discussed as the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development drew to a close in 2014.