How green is our school? Thinking through the challenge of environmental impact

What should our children be learning these days?

There’s a question out there that I keep stumbling across: Are kids learning the right ‘stuff’? There might be better ways of asking the question, but even here the modern pedagogical challenge is clear: to what extent are we truly preparing children for a world that is quite significantly different from the world in which we ourselves grew up.

Let’s start with climate change.

Ten years ago, most of us had not heard of it. Five years ago, it was a topic of conversation that only caused a few to sit up and take notice. Today ... well, it goes without saying. It is impossible to get through a day without being reminded of the detrimental effects of our actions upon the environment.

And so schools have begun to change – and there are some outstanding examples out there of what can be done to help children of all ages grow in understanding and believe that they can truly make a difference.

ISB has certainly begun to change too. We would never be so bold as to claim that we have already found the answers, but we believe that we have at least come some way in understanding the complexity of the task and mapped out a clear future direction.

The ‘greener’ side of ISB

Set in an idyllic campus, surrounded by the famous Forêt de Soignes, ISB has always been reminded of the importance of helping students understand their relationship to their environment. Children learning in the forest, initiatives by students and teachers for better recycling, working with the local Commune and Brussels Region has therefore been commonplace. ISB was even the first school in Belgium to be awarded an ‘Eco’ Star by the Brussels Institute for Management of the Environment (IBGE).

The problem was that we did not have a school-wide plan that ensured both that people (students, parents, faculty...) knew about what we were doing – and that we understand where we needed to go next.

ISB 2010 and ISBEarth

Today, ISB has a plan for the future: ISB 2010, setting out the goals and priority agendas that will drive the development of the school over the next few years. Central to the plan is an ambitious environmental agenda, commonly known as ISBEarth. Our stated aim is to be:

A school in which all individuals understand that international citizenship includes taking real responsibility for finite, shared resources.

The project itself recognises a series of interconnected questions, that bring into sharp relief the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead of us. But let’s imagine for a moment a school in which what is taught in the classroom, is modelled by the way we organise ourselves, is supported by a range of community stakeholders, is effectively communicated and even resourced by external ‘Partners’ who also share our vision. ISBEarth is all about trying to make particular dream a reality.

But how will it happen? In understanding the way ahead, we have found ourselves often turning to Michael Fullan’s recent remarks on sustainable leadership, which, he explains, absolutely requires top-down, bottom-up and ‘sideways’ support of your school’s goals and objectives.[1] In practice, this means total Board-level and leadership commitment to an ambitious environmental agenda; support from key stakeholder groups such as the school’s ‘Environmental Committee’ who have long campaigned for more environmentally-friendly practices in the classrooms and across the campus; plus the realisation that we simply will not achieve what we want to achieve without actively ‘building lateral capacity’ with other schools, organisations and networks that share our values and mission.

Vision Partners: Lateral capacity building in practice

Believe me, it’s not just about the money. What we are beginning to discover at ISB is that a school as complex and ambitious as this cannot achieve its goals without the development of partnerships that will give entry into new worlds of understanding, knowledge, insight and perspectives. A recent partnership with the Directorate General for Energy and Transport of the European Commission illustrates the point.

In 2005, the European Union launched a major campaign – Sustainable Energy Europe[2] – that was designed to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy both in terms of sustainable energy production and energy efficiency. In acknowledgement of the work that it was doing in this area, as well as its capacity to model good practice to other schools, ISB was invited by the Commission to become the first school ‘Campaign Associate’. This formal acknowledgment was, of course, welcomed by the school in that is gave increased visibility, but also had another, unexpected and immediate impact. It was as if the acknowledgement itself challenged us to go further than we had gone before... a self-fulfilling prophesy was at work!

One of the most tangible expressions of this partnership was an environmental and energy day, set in the context of the European Sustainable Energy Week 2007. Entitled Reducing our impact, the day consisted of a series of plenary sessions and hands-on activities, each designed to help students realise how they can respond to today’s global energy and environment issues and mitigate their environmental footprint.

In total, the event involved more than 400 high school students and faculty members – as well as a number of external experts on the subjects of environmental impact and sustainable development. European Commission representatives were present, as well as other key external stakeholders from Exxon Mobil, WWF, Unilever, Toyota and the Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment. “A day like this certainly makes you sit up and think!” says Rachel Chapman, a high school student at ISB. “By measuring the size of our ecological footprint we realised it was time to begin to act. What is important now is to change what we do in the future and to believe we can truly make a difference.”

The Sustainable Energy Europe campaign is proving extremely successful. Originally foreseen to last for four years (2005-2008), organisers have announced that they intend to prolong the campaign for a second four-year term until 2012. This will mean extended reach to citizens across Europe and undoubtedly a greater emphasis upon the role of schools. After all, as Kevin Bartlett, ISB Director, explains: “The Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign is about changing habits, a notoriously difficult process. By engaging schools and other organisations as partners, the European Commission multiplies its success. The real future of sustainable energy lies with forming habits, and that is the work of schools.”

Delivering on the Promise

So where are going next? Today, there are teams of teachers across the school working on a major curriculum initiative that specifically addresses the question of what kids are learning in terms of global issues and, specifically, environmental impact. This year’s Annual Giving Programme is soliciting funds for a ‘Forest School Project’, designed to ensure – via the building of outdoor wireless networks to support the school’s 1-to-1 technology project, an outdoor classroom, observation platforms, signage, etc – that the forest is preserved and yet also a place where students can gain a deep understanding and respect for the outstanding natural beauty surrounding them them. New energy smart buildings and mobility solutions are also being planned – to ensure that, at every level and in every way, we really do practice what we preach and begin to reduce a carbon footprint that for too long has remained too large.

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[1] M. Fullan, Leadership and Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action (Corwin Press, 2005).

[2] For more details on the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign, as well as how schools can get involved, visit: www.sustenergy.org.

This article was first published in IS Magazine (ECIS) in January 2008.

It was republished in the Annual Journal of the National Association of Field Study Officers in 2009.

Click here to view in PDF format.

Postcard from Brussels: Imagining a partnership full of promise

Our story begins with imagination.

Imagination is not, as some might suppose, a suspension of what is real in order to escape into fanciful, unrealistic thinking. Imagination, I would suggest, involves taking all the messiness of ordinary life and making an effort to pull it together into a bigger picture, where things seem to make more sense and where good things happen to a plan. The official name of our plan at the International School of Brussels is ISB2010. It lays out an ambitious agenda around five priorities: student learning, professional learning, the campus, the environment, and technology. Central to every part of the plan is the concept of sustainability. In other words, ISB2010 is all about building a school that can sustain a truly innovative learning environment for today’s and tomorrow’s students.

So how can sustainability be achieved? One part of the answer, we are beginning to discover, is through the building of effective networks and partnerships. Partnerships not only help us achieve our goals but also enable the school to go further than even we had imagined.

Established in 1951, the International School of Brussels is a nonprofit, coeducational day school in the capital of Europe. Today, with 1,450 students aged 30 months to 19 years who represent 70 nationalities, it remains the oldest and largest English-language international school in Belgium. Driven by the core values of inclusion, challenge, and success for all, the mission of the school is to develop independent learners and international citizens who are equipped to be happy, successful, ethical contributors to the local and global community.

ISB2010 imagines a future for our school that is a significant stretch to attain. In short, we knew where we wanted to go, even if we didn’t know how we are going to get there. However, as we began to engage in a new partnership with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Transport and Energy, some of the pieces of understanding began to fall into place. It was this partnership that allowed us to enter into new worlds of understanding, knowledge, insight, and perspective.

In 2005, the European Union launched a major campaign—“Sustainable Energy Europe”—that was designed to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy both in terms of sustainable energy production and energy efficiency (see www.sustenergy.org). Because ISB had the reputation of being able to model good practice for other schools, we were invited by the commission for become the first school “Campaign Associate.” The school welcomed this formal acknowledgment, since it gave the institution increased visibility. But it also had another, unexpected, and immediate impact: It challenged us to go further than we had gone before.

One of the most tangible expressions of this partnership was an environmental and energy day, set in the context of the European Sustainable Energy Week 2007. The day, called Reducing Our Impact, consisted of a series of plenary sessions and hands-on learning activities designed to help students realize how they can respond to today’s global energy and environment issues while mitigating their own environmental footprint.

In total, the event involved more than 400 high school students and faculty members, as well as a number of external experts on the subjects of environmental impact and sustainable development. European Commission representatives were present, as well as other key external stakeholders from ExxonMobil,World Wildlife Fund, Unilever, Toyota, and the Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment.

Reflecting on the impact of this day, high school student Rachel Chapman writes: “A day like this certainly makes you sit up and think! By measuring the size of our ecological footprint we realized it was time to begin to act.What is important now is to change what we do in the future and to believe we can truly make a difference.”

This collaborative venture among students, faculty, and external partners is now an annual event at the school. Other schools in the area are keen to participate, and students are involved in the planning. This year we look forward to welcoming a number of UN agencies as well as representatives from Brussels-based NGOs, local environmental agencies, and multinational companies. Beyond ISB, the “Sustainable Energy Europe” campaign is proving extremely successful. Originally foreseen to last four years (2005-2008), organizers have announced that they intend to prolong the campaign for a second four-year term, extending it until 2012. This will mean greater reach to citizens across Europe and undoubtedly an emphasis on the role of schools.

As the first school Campaign Associate in this initiative, much of our focus with the European Commission has been to think through how to involve other schools. We have also pushed the message of the campaign out to new audiences via a number of joint communication initiatives, including joint advertising, publications, and conference presentations.

From our perspective, however, the most important impact of this partnership is absolutely clear: by building a bridge to the European Commission, we discovered an opportunity for recognition and a powerful catalyst for change that is now affecting all aspects of the school and its development. At ISB, we are no longer content to engage in token environmental initiatives that are here today and gone tomorrow. Rather, we are committed to establishing coherence across all aspects of the school, connecting what the students are learning in the classroom with the way we manage the campus—in the buildings we build, the partnerships we establish, and the many student and parent initiatives around the school.

So where are we going next? Today, teams of teachers across the school are working on a major curriculum initiative on global issues. This year’s annual giving program is soliciting funds for a “Forest School Project” designed to ensure—via the building of outdoor wireless networks, an outdoor classroom, observation platforms, and signage—that the forest is preserved and yet is also a place where students can gain a deep understanding and respect for the outstanding natural beauty surrounding them. New energy-smart buildings and mobility solutions are also being planned to promote and ensure that at every level and in every way we really do practice what we preach and begin to reduce a carbon footprint that for too long has remained too large.

And this really is just the beginning. As we move forward with ISB2010 we remain deeply committed to becoming a school in which lasting, creative partnerships between students, parents, our local community, and “vision partners,” who share our core values, take us further than we can go alone.

Imagining the future of international education is certainly not an easy task. It requires courage and a constant willingness to dig deep into the complexity of the educational task and discover new patterns, configurations, and opportunities. Looking back, much of what we have discovered now seems so obvious. But maybe that’s the point: Only in retrospect is it possible to judge the imaginings that began in our mind’s eye. For ISB, we’ve seen what is possible.

This article was first published in CASE CURRENTS magazine, March 2008.

Click here to view in PDF format.