Understanding Education for Sustainability Standards for NCEA Levels 2 and 3
This webinar was hosted by Enviroschools and NZAEE in November 2021, as part of a series of webinars to support secondary teachers in Aotearoa. The speakers introduce the Education for Sustainability (EfS) achievement standards and discuss examples and case studies from schools.
Andrea Soanes and Lynnette Rogers are experienced educators, who have written the current student exemplar material for the EfS standards and Andrea is on the EfS assessment moderation team.
Kate Rivers is head of Sustainability and Visual Arts at Rangi Ruru Girls' School, and she is joined by Year 12 students Daisy and Alicia, direct from their school nursery.
Andrea and Lyn discuss how teachers can build on sustainability learning from the junior school, so that these courses and assessments in Years 12 and 13 are part of a natural progression. Students don't always have to start new projects and the actions can span multiple years, such as restoration planting.
"...these standards are able to be adapted and utilised in a variety of ways, but students will have more success if it's linked to things that are meaningful and relevant to them. So if they've been involved with changing the waste systems in their school, through the enviro-group or the Year 9 and 10 programme, and they're still interested (which is another key aspect), they could pick that up again and then progress that action. " Lyn Rogers
At Rangi Ruru Girls' School sustainability education is integrated throughout the junior curriculum and internal EfS standards have been offered through senior Science, Media Studies, Geography and 'Global Living' courses. From 2022, all students in Years 7 - 13 will take part in a weekly 2-hour session based on sustainability education and taking action.
Students Daisy and Alicia speak about their leadership and involvement with projects within the school and across the wider community.
"Doing it (sustainability) in school time here has helped me understand that it slots into a lot of subjects very easily - it can be applicable to such a wide range of situations. It's been inspiring for me to see that I can make sustainability fit into my areas of passion academically". Alicia
Click on this link to watch the full webinar (58 minutes).
Link to Webinar Slides with key information and links to related documents and websites.
Link to Kate's Slides about Rangi Ruru projects.
