Sanju Deenapanray

World Green Building Week 2014: Get Up, Green Up!

National Coalition for Green Schools

Anneloes Smitsman Director - The Education for Sustainability Programme

ELIA – Ecological Living In Action

Task force – National Coalition for Green Schools

info@ecolivinginaction.com educationforsustainability.info | gbcm.mu

What are Green Schools?

Green Building benefits for schools & example in Mauritius

Linking with sustainability education – case-studies Mauritius

Objectives of the NCGS Mauritius

Next steps

Questions & comments

Contact

Overview

What are Green Schools?

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0YZQt_LR-4

2 components:

1. Green Building technologies for improving the physical learning environment of schools and providing solutions for implementing sustainability commitments of schools.

2. Sustainability education: linking to curriculum

Mauritius two commitments come together to achieve this:

Green Building Council Mauritius (GBCM)

ELIA Education for Sustainability Programme

Task force for setting up of NCGS Mauritius

Green building benefits for schools

“Sustainable schools, also referred to as green or high performance schools,

benefit the outdoor environment, the indoor environment, and the students,

teachers, and administrators who study and work in these buildings.

These schools are energy and water efficient and make use of renewable

energy and green materials to the fullest extent possible.

These schools provide environmental benefits through reduced pollution and

reduced landfill waste.” (Leonardo Academy Inc. November 25, 2003)

Why Green buildings are important for schools

• Health: Green buildings help create healthy learning environments.

• Positive impact on Learning & Teaching Capacity: there are many statistics that provide evidence that performance of students and teachers has increased in green building schools due to better concentration and better health conditions.

• Ecological resources and financial savings: same benefits that apply to green buildings in general apply to Green Schools.

• Sustainability Integrity: Green buildings help reduce the ecological footprint of schools; provides schools the opportunity to model sustainability behavior in a real life context.

• Learning and teaching opportunities: Green buildings provide excellent learning and teaching opportunities for sustainable development applications.

(Source: Adapted from Gregory Kats, 2006)

Example of application in Mauritius Westcoast International Primary School Green School design: Henriette Valentin and Valentin Lagesse Associés (VLA): “The overriding aim was to design a comfortable work environment for the children without the need for hi-tech add-ons. Through integrated site design – a comprehensive approach to sustainable building and landscape design – the school will achieve not only decreased energy usage, but also improved water efficiency.” Features: • Insulation to reduce energy consumption of the building. • Use of natural daylight for classrooms. • Electric lights are installed on different circuits to give maximum control of

lighting and allow for reduced energy consumption. • Natural ventilation by usage of wind cooling for creating comfort and reducing

humidity: with two levels of ventilation for night and day cooling. • Louvered windows for the management of light, sound and airflow. • Two rainwater collection tanks with gauges so children learn about water

consumption patterns. Source: Westcoast, Issue 6 (Term 1), 2014.

Westcoast International Primary School - Mauritius

Linking Green Building commitments to Education

1. Commitment to sustainability education requires application in every area – Green building is a practical application of commitments to sustainable development.

2. Green Schools provide excellent opportunities for students and teachers to learn about the application of sustainability principles to green building design, ecological footprint analysis, energy efficiency, zero-waste initiatives (reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose).

3. To achieve those educational benefits it is important that education is linked with green building initiatives, e.g. to avoid that students come to a schools that only has a green building yet without any relevance to their curriculum.

4. Curriculum linking is thus essential for Schools to become ‘Green in every aspect’ and become learning communities and communities of practice for sustainability.

The Education for Sustainability programme The EFS programme has been developed by ELIA-Ecological Living In

Action (ELIA) in collaboration with the Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC), initially for the Catholic secondary schools in Mauritius: 2011-2018, funded through private sector CSR funding (Omnicane Foundation, Investec Ltd, and Terra Foundation).

Around 22,000 students reached through 18 Catholic secondary schools since 2011, with 3 pilot schools 2013-2018. New schools are joining beyond the BEC network – Westcoast International Primary School joined mid-2014.

Focus schools for whole-system approach to sustainability education: Loreto College Curepipe, St Mary’s College Rose-Hill, BPS Fatima College Goodlands and Westcoast International Primary school.

EFS Charter and pledge signed Feb 2014 by the Catholic Schools (BEC), which makes explicit the comment to a healthy and ecological learning environment through green building applications and sustainability solutions.

Green Schools & Education for Sustainability

Education for Sustainability (EFS) supports schools to become learning communities and communities of practice for sustainability.

It embeds key sustainability issues and future relevant themes within the curriculum system, whiles actively promoting and supporting the development of sustainability competencies across disciplines for teachers, students and staff.

The EFS focus schools

St Mary’s College Rose-Hill

Loreto College Curepipe

BPS Fatima Goodlands

The EFS focus schools

Westcoast International Primary school

VISION Our vision is for our School to facilitate value-based education where relationships between people, and between people and the natural world, are central to preparing students to participate in and contribute to a flourishing, equitable and sustainable society in meaningful and empowering ways. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY (EFS) PRINCIPLES 1. All education is education for sustainability. 2. Systems thinking & holistic approach to education. 3. Experiential learning in and from nature. 4. Education in dialogue with place. 5. Schools as Learning Communities. MISSION To apply and implement the Education for Sustainability (EFS) Vision and Principles by: • Providing values-based quality education that is transformative and future-oriented. • Adopting a systems thinking and holistic approach to education.

• Providing a healthy and engaging learning environment, indoors and outdoors, for ecological literacy.

• Measuring and where necessary reducing the ecological footprint of our School. • Supporting our School to become a Learning Community through partnership and

collaboration for EFS.

EFS Charter- Vision, Principles & Mission

1. THE SCHOOL CULTURE We pledge to create a school culture that facilitates, empowers, and inspires EFS based on the following key values - mutual respect, care, dialogue, openness, integrity, appreciation, and gratitude – by learning together. 2. THE SCHOOL ACTIVITIES We pledge to implement the EFS Vision and Mission through the following proposed activities: • School Clubs – with linkages, interconnections and synergies between the various club

activities. • Educational outings and eco-activities for awareness raising and practical application of

ecological literacy. • Yearly eco-retreats – such as camping, and hiking in nature, among others. • School garden for growing and cooking vegetables, medicinal herbs / plants and for use

of school compost. 3. THE PHYSICAL SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT We pledge to create a school environment that is conducive for EFS by: • Providing green spaces inside and outside the school building for learning about and

from our nature. • Creating / sustaining a healthy school environment. • Provision of space(s) within the school premises for the Eco-Club.

EFS Charter- Actions 1,2 & 3

4. TO MEASURE AND REDUCE THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT (EF) OF THE SCHOOL We pledge to measure and reduce (where applicable) the EF of our School as an ongoing activity: • Apply the 4Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose - to reduce waste and enhance

resource productivity. • Sorting of waste, reduction of electricity and water consumption, rainwater harvesting,

and adaptation of eco-friendly transport initiatives. 5. THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY – ENGAGE, COMMUNICATE, EMPOWER We pledge to empower and support the students to become Eco-Agents and co-drivers of EFS through the following actions and initiatives: • EFS awareness campaigns using drama, arts, music, games, and eco-challenges. • School newsletters and social-media for sharing news about EFS initiatives in a way that

is student-driven. • Partnership and collaboration for EFS with those who can support the school in its EFS

commitment.

EFS Charter- Actions 4 & 5

National Coalition for Green Schools – task force

The task force has formulated the following objectives for the NCGS Mauritius, which is to be validated and evolved further by the coalition once established:

1. Advocacy – raising awareness and mobilizing support for Green Schools in Mauritius.

2. Support - improvement of the physical learning environment of schools in Mauritius by use of green building design principles, technologies, practices and frameworks in collaboration with the GBCM.

3. Sustainability education - through the ELIA EFS programme and other EFS / ESD programmes.

4. Research – collaborate and contribute in research around ESD and Green Schools through the RCE Mauritius (Regional Centre of Expertise for Education for Sustainable Development).

5. Collaboration & partnership – linking of resources and expertise through the Global Coalition for Green Schools network.

What is expected of the NCGS around the world

Next steps

• Stakeholder meeting for the setting up of the National Coalition for Green Schools (NCGS) Mauritius – October 2014.

• Forum discussions as part of the stakeholder meeting for the NCGS on three topics:

1. Finance mechanisms for Green Schools in Mauritius

2. Understanding the school system in Mauritius, case-study from different types of schools (e.g. government schools, private schools, semi-private schools).

3. Linking to curriculum: how to ensure that the physical green building actions are linked to curriculum and are student focused.

• Green Apple Day of Service 27 September 2014: open to all schools in Mauritius. Current schools participating: Loreto College Curepipe and Westcoast International Primary schools via the Education for Sustainability programme.

• National Competitions for Green Schools in Mauritius

Questions & comments

CONTACT

anneloes@ecolivinginaction.com

educationforsustainability.info | gbcm.mu

THANK YOU!!