1. Sustainability Education – Local Communities in
Real Partnerships with Local Schools
Presented at the 6th
World Environmental Education Congress:
Explore, Experience Educate, Brisbane, Qld. July 2011
Presented by Anne Jennings, PhD Candidate, Edith Cowan University
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Issue
My research was initiated by concerned people questioning why commendablesustainability
and education programs often ‘fall in a hole’ when the enthusiastic teachers who instigated
them move on. They asked what could be done to change this. As has been noted “One
interested and enthusiastic teacher in a school cannot initiate a whole-school approach”
(Lang, 2007, p. 47) to establish and maintain education for sustainability.
When looking for direction when exploring this dilemma I looked at literature relatingto the
current United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005 –
2014. The goal of the Decade is to integrate sustainable development values into all aspects
of learning and to encourage changes in behaviours that allow for a more sustainable and
just society. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
identified two specific areas to be highlighted during the Decade, firstly the development of
sustainability resources/toolkits that assist education for sustainability, and the other area
targeting community involvement with schools to develop partnerships that work towards
creating a sustainable future.
I found while there was significant advancement in the development of sustainability
resources (with a large amount being available to download from the internet) there was
little evidence of research involving schools connecting/reconnecting with their local
communities, in partnerships aimed at supporting long-term education for sustainability.
UNESCO maintained that:
When partnerships are formed between educators, NGOs, community activists and
policy makers and as a growing body of knowledge develops to give real-world form
to the abstract notion of ESD, the greatest promise of the Decade is that a new
paradigm of education for sustainable development will take hold. (2008, p. 16)
Others (Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Senge, 2000; Lang, 2007; Black, 2008) have also
concluded the value of working collaboratively, emphasizing the need to develop productive
partnerships with local and broader communities (Lang, 2007). This is partly due to the

2. complexity of sustainability issues, where solutions often need to be innovation and involve
working across diverse sectors in the community. Overall:
Inclusivity and collaboration engender ownership by the community and are more
likely to achieve success in meeting the sustainable goals (Lang, 2007, p. 25).
Consequently my research examined the question whether the community could be
engaged as partners in projects to the point where the community identified the value
projects and provided additional support to ensure sustainability programs would not end
prematurely?
Given this direction a community development approach was adopted for an action research
project working actively with two schools as a ‘facilitator of research’ (Wadsworth 2002). Key
components of this approach include:
 The inquiry is basically the participant’s inquiry
 The stakeholders are participants and co-researchers with the facilitator
 The facilitator assists an interactive, emergent inquiry
 The facilitator enters into an engaged, inter-subjective process with participants
 Best possible results - new insights are gained by all the relevant players.
Case Studies: Riverside and Seaside Primary Schools
Both schools are located on the urban edge of a major regional city (north and south).
Riverside has been operating for over twenty five years, originally in a newly forming suburb,
whilst Seaside is relatively new in a similar growing urban area. The schools are large, state
government operated schools that had basically the same start, even though years apart.
Seaside School is part of a larger Corporate Energy Project (CEP) project (with four other
regionally based schools) that challenges each participating school to reduce its contribution
to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change by energy conservation measures and by
turning from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Seaside is cutting back on
energy use through education programs and energy conservation practices. The project,
through corporate sponsorship and human resources, also includes the installation of wind
pods and progressively adding increasing numbers of photovoltaic cells. This is part of a
whole-of-school sustainability program for K-7.
Seaside has a number of other distinctive sustainability programs, covering the pillars of
sustainability, although not all have been recognised and/or labeled this way. For example
Seaside has a notable student support and anti-bullying program that has not been
identified as fulfilling the social pillar – that is social systems that “provide ways for people to
live together peacefully, equitably and with respect for human rights and dignity” (Fien, 2004,

3. p. 185). Seaside also has a School Vegetable Garden, where parents and local community
members support teachers in this sustainability and healthy lifestyle program. Further, the
school is linked with the local urban developer and is involved in activities including
researching and counting local marsupials and birdlife.
Partnerships formed within this project include people involved with the corporate entity,
four other schools and their associated environment/ sustainability teachers and support
staff, parents and friends, the urban developer, and the local campus of an university. In
addition another city based university has been involved, as have other companies involved
in supplying equipment to the schools and other sponsors.
Of particular note in the context of my research is one enthusiastic teacher I was working
with – a person who worked over and above areas the job requirement, very often in her
own time. By the end of my involvement this teacher decided to withdraw from the CEP and
reduce her workload back to her ‘real’ job. Burn out and lack of strong support for the
concept of integrating sustainability throughout the curriculum and the burden of almost
singularly undertaking extra curricula projects may be a contributing reason.
Riverside School has similarly been actively involved in sustainability/ environment programs
and projects. These include reconciliation programs, a river restoration projects, dance and
cultural activities, forest reserve restoration, weed-a-thon, local bushland preservation,
recycling club, street clean-up and many other projects. Since this case study was completed
Riverside has also joined the Corporate Energy Project as the sixth school in the program.
The forest reserve restoration project was of interest to me. The teacher I was working with
at Riverside had recently transferred from another nearby school Townside,(another one
involved in the CEP) and was working on the forest reserve with children from that school.
Because of the fear that the project would ‘fall in a hole’ after he left the teacher transferred
the project to his new school (Riverside). Even though Townside had other noteworthy and
award winning sustainability programs it was felt the forest reserve project, which had strong
participatory parent and community support, would not continue successfully without the
leader teacher’s drive.
Partnerships formed within this project include people involved with the teachers and
support staff, parents and friends from both Riverside and Townside schools, local small
business, the Bushland Preservation Group, the Department of Water’s Ribbons of Blue
program, the Department of Conservation and Environment, and the local campus of the
university.
Discussion

4. In summary I had two schools who adopted sustainability education as an important part of
their provision of a creative learning environment for their students. These schools have
great resources and access good information and toolkits, both locally and via international
resources on the internet. Both schools have instigated locally relevant sustainability projects
involving strong partnerships, and both have won awards for them in the past. However
some of the award programs have, over the years, folded after the leading teacher left their
respective school.
Both are state government schools who are trying to maintain environment and
sustainability programs which were promoted and politically acceptablewhen the UN
Decade commenced, but this motivation has diminished. The political impetus has shifted
since that time to basic reading, writing and arithmetic, without including what I believe is an
obvious opportunity to embrace cross-subject linkages with sustainability theory and
practice. An opportunity lost.
On the other hand there appears to be political and social determination to have schools
and community working in partnership to undertake activities, including sustainability
projects. Contradictory, yes, but this should be embraced to ensure its not another
opportunity lost.
Partnerships
Observation of participants in the school case studies, particularly around the ‘boom and
bust’ cycle common in many projects, shows a similar base. Some partnerships evolved
almost accidentally, certainly without any strategic approach to setting up ways to establish
and support processes throughout the project. Except for the major Corporate Energy
Project I found little planned approaches incorporated into partnerships that took into
account areas including:
 Understanding the motivation behind individuals, community groups and businesses
engaging with schools in partnerships
 Project design that included measurable outcomes over the planned life of the
project
 Training and support for professional staff (teachers) in working with
partners/volunteers
 Training and support for partners/volunteers
 Resources to allow staff professional time for involvement with partners
 Specific skill development in working with external groups for staff and partners
 Succession planning for staff and partners

5. This is supported by a report released this year by the Australian Council for Educational
Research (ACER), called School-Community Partnerships in Australian Schools, which
identified the need for
More support forschools in the form of professional learningopportunitiesaroundthe
identification, collection, analysis and use of evidence to identify need, monitor
progress and evaluate outcomes. (Lonsdale, 2011, p. 23)
It has been noted that one of the greatest weaknesses in most school-community
partnerships is their lack of longevity. Black’s (2008) research noted too many schools being
able to build short-term relationships for a specific purpose but pointed out many lack the
capacity to remain for the long term. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons including
schools naturally working within short timeframes (semester or year), lack of effective
leaderships to support partnerships and the school’s internal operational actions and
external policy. Whilst “partnerships can be powerful tools” (Black, 2008, p. 21) most have
limited impact as they do not alter the school’s intrinsic operations, structures or culture. In
addition they do not (and cannot) tackle bigger external process that shape educational
outcomes.
Are we asking too much of teachers expecting them to undertake specialist activities that
enable them to establish effective partnership mechanisms? Taking community consultation
as an example, it has been recognised that, for some teachers, this process can be quite
intimidating (Gilbert & Hoepper, 2011) and often requires skills and knowledge not normally
expected of teachers. It is certainly not included in their training nor are they resourced to
do so (Gilbert & Hoepper, 2011).
A review of reports of many school sustainability projects shows the majority concentrate on
the actual project (ie number of trees planted; number of children involved; learning
outcomes etc.) but very little address setting up partnership processes so they are
sustainable, including doing the work involved such as identifying key people/organisations
as potential partners, networking, seeking funding sources and writing grant applications,
community education and engaging community and businesses into proposed activities, as
well as often door knocking locally for donations of goods and services.
The big question often is ‘who will do it and how will they do it?’ It certainly is not included
in teachers or administration staff’s job descriptions, or their work time allowance. This can
lead to burn out of those who take on the extra work and responsibility or resulting in
teachers moving to other workplaces and (back to where we started) projects ‘falling in a
hole’.
So why do it? Josephine Lang, in a publication called Little books of big ideas: How it succeed
in education for sustainability, noted that:

6. Just as sustainability is about working together, education for sustainability is also
about the school community collaboratively working together, both within its own
community and beyond. Sustainability is about connectivity, which is why working
collaboratively is a key theme of education for sustainability.
(Lang, 2007, P. 24)
This work identified the following strategic approaches required to develop worthwhileand
long-term partnerships:
Strategies for developing education for sustainability
Collaboration and partnerships
From: Lang, J., 2007, Little books of big ideas: How to succeed with education
for sustainability. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corporation p. 24.
Curriculum
and
pedagogy
Leadership and
school
Management
Collaboration and
partnerships
Shared
benefits,
meeting the
challenges of
sustainability

7. To assist examining this process Lang’s work also provided a table showing steps to take in
planning for productive partnerships for sustainability:
Will this be a
productive partnership?
Some questions to consider
Research your potential
partner
 Are there any shared sustainability values/principles
between you and the partner organisation?
 Is there a potential for the school community to be
exploited? If so, how can this be overcome?
Links to school curriculum or
education for sustainability
initiatives
 How does this partnership reflect in your school
community’s goals or action plans?
 Is the synergy forced or natural?
 How strong is the connection to curriculum and
learning?
Potential collaboration  Is there potential for learning, sharing and working
together?
 Does the partner bring expertise or a new
perspective?
 Is there potential for generating new knowledge
together because of this partnership? How will this be
shared? Ownership of intellectual property?
Expectations and
responsibilities
 Are both parties clear on what is expected in
establishing this partnership?
 Is there a need to draw up a Memorandum of
Understanding or a Code of Practice to outline
expectations and responsibilities of both parties?
Links to sustainability  What aspect/s of sustainability does this partnership
work towards/
 Does this partnership create issues that don’t support
aspects of sustainability? Can these be overcome?
How? If not, review partnership?
Outcomes of partnership  Do the outcomes of the partnership relate to aspects
of sustainability?
 Will the partnership grow and develop beyond the
project?
From:
Lang, J., 2007, Little books of big ideas: How to succeed with education
for sustainability. Carlton South, Vic: Curriculum Corporation p. 26.

8. Policy and Curriculum
It appears opportunities for partnership development work becoming core business within
the education system have diminished even further with the new, tight orientation towards
the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy(NAPLAN) through the “My
Schools” website, which appears to channel most of the school’s energy towards it
(Wooltorton, pending).
Prior to its introduction the curriculum framework in Western Australia called for
collaborative and partnership approaches to education that involved teachers, parents,
tertiary educators and the community (WA Curriculum Council, 1998). It called for actions
under five objectives, including coordination and integration; developing community
commitment to sustainability and environmental protection, and building partnerships with
industry and business.
Consequently the curriculum framework promoted cooperation and social responsibility
within community as being fundamentally important. So, at the policy level at least, the
framework provided direction to move education on from a ‘silo’ (Suda, quoted in Black,
2008, p. 32) to a collaborative approach. In reality it was up to individual teacher’s initiative
to establish this on a practical level. If not supported by the school’s hierarchy it was often
more difficult to enact, even though the WA Schools Education Act still requires this.
Schools, however, are under considerable pressure due to policies of intervention by
governments. The previous conservative government called for a compulsory national
curriculum that moved away from critical, value-based inquiry into contemporary issues
(Gilbert & Hoepper, 2011). The change of government did not hail many differences in the
proposal, only the added introduction of geography. Society and environment, under which
education for sustainability sits, was the big loser. This field of study now faces a completely
revised curriculum that has changed “without systematic consideration of the overall learning
needs of students and what kind of curriculum would most benefit them” (Gilbert &
Hoepper, 2011, p. 5) or, for that matter, the world they live in.
This, then, is the situation schools find themselves in. How can education for sustainability
be sustainable? I believe all is not lost; there are examples where high quality activities and
projects happen between schools and their communities. My two case studies are a shining
example of this. So are the case studies being presented at this World Environmental
Education Congress this week. Add to the list the skills, enthusiasm and practical experience
of members of the Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE), who
individually and collectively strive for a more sustainable world for this and future
generations. AAEE in itself is an excellent example of partnerships involving a broad cross-
section of environmental educators from diverse areas such as schools, government

9. agencies, industry, universities, technical and further education centres, zoos, museums,
parks and reserves, environmental education centres and community and conservation
groups (WA Branch of the AAEE).
There is also further momentum in this direction from other non-government and
government agencies. For example Western Australia has The School Volunteer Program
(SVP), a not-for –profit community organisation. It was formed to:
 Utilise the abilities of community and corporatevolunteers to encourage and guide
students who may benefit from a mentoring relationship;
 Support students to strive to achieve their full potential, by encouraging positive
attitudes to learning and improving their life skills;
 Promote positive interaction between generations;
 Collaborate with schools to build positive mentoring environments; and
 Promote the value of volunteers and encourage community involvement in our
schools. (School Volunteer Program)
Through accessing a broad range of funding, including corporate, SVP has liaison officers in
some regional areas of the state. The officers provide practical support to schools and their
partners, including undertaking Working with Children checks and providing on-going
training to volunteers. The beauty of this approach is workers are specifically employed to
do the extra-curricular planning and ongoing support teachers are unable to undertake.
However the program is limited due to scarce resources and short-term funding.
Another example is the School Business Community Partnership Brokers program. This
national program, funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations (DEEWR), is based on the principle that education is a collective
responsibility. The Government has funded 113 School Community Business Partnership
Broker programs across Australia.
Partnership Brokers assist key stakeholders enter into partnership arrangements that enrich
the learning experience for young people leading to improved levels of participation,
engagement and attainment. These partnerships harness resources and build local
infrastructure to support whole-of-community approaches aimed at sharing responsibility
for young people’s learning and development. Partnership Brokers work with key
stakeholders to identify the needs of their region, help partners to agree on how they can
work together towards a common purpose, and support partnerships to achieve their goals
(Department of Education, Employment and WorkplaceRelations).
Whilst this program targets generic educational engagement, retention and transition into
employment and training it could also (and often does) cover areas of sustainability. I
strongly recommend that schools/teachers involved in education for sustainability link with
their local Partnership Brokers and access support, both internally and externally, assisting
their projects to become sustainable through ongoing support and development.

10. Conclusion
Research undertaken by the Education Foundation supports collaborative partnerships and
networks and argues “that tinkering around the edges of schooling will not provide solutions
to the widening gaps in education” (Black 2008, p. 2) and students life outcomes. The report
clearly states:
School-community partnership can deliver many benefits: better engagement and
learning outcomes for students, greater dynamism and capacity for the school and
new solutions and resources for the community (2008, p. 19).
Black, in summarising the research, argues:
… for new ties among schools and school systems and between schools, their local
communities and the business, philanthropic and community sectors that go beyond
the classroom to create greater opportunities for children and young people (2008, p.
2).
Unfortunately, as the report pointed out, “public and policy dialogue about collective
outcomes, pubic benefits, public good and common responsibility remains weak” (2008, p,
13). So, going back to the Pillars of Sustainability, the political pillar must be pursued so all
the solid work being undertaken is encompassed within the political agenda (government
and the education industry) and becomes embeddedinto school curriculum and school
culture.
Change is required. Bill Mulford has noted:
Schools and their leaders need to move from the bureaucratic and mechanistic to
organic living systems, from thin to deep democracy, from mass education to
personalization through participation, and from hierarchies to networks (2008, p. 18).
Transformative learning for social change like this appears to be progressing slowly.
However, given supportive policy and programs, education for sustainability, and the people
involved in this field, may very well lead the challenge.

11. REFERENCES
Black, R., 2008. Beyond the classroom: Building new school networks. Camberwell: ACER Press.
Department for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. www.deewr.wa.gov.au
Accessed 2/7/2011.
Fien, J. (2004). Education for sustainability. In R. Gilbert (Ed.), Studying society and
environment: A guide for teachers (3rd
ed., pp. 184-200). South Melbourne: Thomson Social
Science Press.
Kretzmann, J.P., & McKnight, J.L. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A path
toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets. Skokie, IL: ACTA Publications
Lang, J., 2007. Little books of big ideas: How to succeed with education for sustainability.
Carlton South: Curriculum Corporation.
Lonsdale, M., 2011, “School-Community Partnerships in Australian Schools”.
Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation. http://research.acer.edu.au/policy_analysis_misc/7
Accessed 17/6/2011.
Mulford, B., 2008, ‘The Leadership Challenge: Improving learning in schools’, Australian
Education Review, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne.
School Volunteer Program www.svp.org.au Accessed 20/12/2010
Senge, P. (Ed.) (2000). Schools that learn: A fifth discipline fieldbook for educators, parents, and
everyone who cares about education. London: Nichlas Brealey Publishing.
UNESCO. (2008) Annual Events. Retrieved 6.3.07, www.unesco.org/education