About Eco-Schools

Eco-Schools is one of the largest global sustainable schools programme.

Eco-Schools is a growing phenomenon which encourages young people to engage in their environment by allowing them the opportunity to actively protect it.

It starts in the classroom, it expands to the school and eventually fosters change in the community at large. Through this programme, young people experience a sense of achievement at being able to have a say in the environmental management policies of their schools, ultimately steering them towards certification and the prestige which comes with being awarded a Green Flag. The Eco-Schools programme is an ideal way for schools to embark on a meaningful path towards improving the environment in both the school and the local community while at the same time having a life-long positive impact on the lives of young people, their families, school staff and local authorities.

The focus throughout is on the process and on education, however, many countries also combine it with other programmes, as it provides an integrated system for environmental management of schools based on an ISO 14001/EMAS approach. Hence the programme’s great advantage is its flexibility.

A programme that...

Engages students about the environment
Develops responsibility and care in staff and students
Invigorates teachers in the teaching of environmental topics and methodologies
Transforms the school to be a sustainable school
Lowers cost and saves resources
Affects communities around your school
Combines learning with hands-on experiences

Characteristics

Includes Everyone

The Programme is run according to a whole school approach, involving students, teachers, parents, school management and the local community at large.

Improves School environment

The Programme helps reduce the environmental footprint of a achool and improve its social environment, through the Eco-Schools values and ethos. This inevitably leads to a more green, less costly, and more responsible school environment.

Motivates

Eco-Schools challenges students to engage in tackling environmental problems at a level where they can see tangible results, spurring them on to realise that they really can make a difference.

Improves Learning, Skills & Attitudes

Eco-Schools helps improve learning through curriculum integration, looking at the Eco-Schools themes through different subject lenses. It helps develop problem solving, leadership, communication and team-building skills. Eco-Schools instills in Students a sense of responsibility and equips those involved with the drive to really make a difference, and to spread such proactive behaviour amongst family and friends, ultimately passing it on to future generations.

Involves Communities

Eco-Schools involves the local community from the very beginning. It is an intentional goal that lessons the students pick up are transferred back into the community to develop sustainable, environmentally responsible behaviour patterns.

Connects Globally

Eco-Schools facilitates contact between participating institutions nationally and globally through Eco-schools twinning! Not only do these links provide an opportunity for schools to share environmental information, they can also be used to improve understanding of global issues, be the means for cultural exchanges and build one’s sense of global citizenship.

Benefits

Students

It inspires and empowers young people to take action towards an economically, socially, and environemntally just world by:

Creating leaders of changes in their communities
Empowering future decisionmakers
widening their learning beyond the classroom
Helping them develop responsible attitudes and commitment
Increasing their levels of confidence and motivation
Increasing their participation in environmental actions
Improving their skills and knowledge in all subject areas, including teamwork
Improving their mental and physical wellbeing
Developing life skills through Education for Sustainable Development

The School, its staff and families

Eco-Schools is an international initiative designed to encourage wholeschool action on sustainable development issues. The programme is designed to help make every school sustainable and to bring about behaviour change in students, staff and their families. The Eco-Schools programme delivers:

An improved school environmental impact
Professional development and training opportunities for teachers
Financial savings
The embedding of sustainable development principles into the curriculum
The capacity to nurture and support intrinsic values (care, empathy, creativity, compassion)
Improved wellbeing of children and staff
A sense of pride in the school among staff and students.
A positive model for the neighbourhood and town/ city. Community

Communities

Eco-Schools is an inclusive programme, involving the local community right from the beginning. In time, the environment in the neighbourhood, town or city will be improved and the community will show more sustainable, environmentally responsible behaviour patterns. The programme ensures the involvement with the local community, other schools and organisations.

Global Influence

There is a strong international network of institutions involved with the Eco-Schools programme within the country and around the world. We share ESD information and this can be a means for cultural exchanges and improving language skills and together shaping environmental stewardship globally.

Aim

Ensure young people have power to be the change for sustainability that our world needs by engaging them in fun, action-orientated and socially responsible learning.

Foster student participation – students lead the committee based on democratic principles.

Encourage situational, real life, and outdoor learning – make connections and help reflection.

Enhance STEM skills through engaging and challenging content/ actions.

Motivate students to help take responsibility for their future – realise they can make a difference.

Align the Themes and activities of the programme to the SDGs and to the GAP with which FEE is a leading partner.

Encourage and develop critical thinking in students – a better way of doing things.

Support students to take
Action – when they see the tangible results of their actions, it empowers.

Include everybody – inclusive schools, families, community, local authorities.

Develop the young leaders of the future generations! Instill sense of responsibility so they can help others.