I have, at last, run out of excuses for not looking at the phenomenon that is Blue Marble. I note that the Untidy Britain Group is now part of this, as the latest BM Mag notes ...
The need for everyone to get behind the issues affecting our environment – locally, nationally and globally – have never been more urgent, and The Blue Marble is a fantastic vehicle for bringing the wide-ranging issues that we are so passionate about together in one place. ... we recognise the critical relationship between the quality of our environment and the health and wellbeing of families and communities. So our programmes and campaigns set out to engage everyone in improving the quality of the environment, whether that be our international Blue Flag Awards for excellent beaches, our work to reduce waste with Waste Watch, or our Eco-Schools programme, which now reaches 17,000 schools in England.
Heady stuff.
Included in a section on "Teaching Sustainability", were the outcomes of a 2011 Eco-Schools survey, which says this ...
- 15% of teachers think their students understand the big picture of sustainability and take their learning home to affect the behaviour of their friends and family
- 58% of primary schools engage over three quarters or more of the school, but in secondary schools this figure falls to 17%
- 95% of teachers surveyed would like to be provided with lesson ideas and cross curricula guides
- 94% of teachers surveyed would like clearer steps on how to progress in the Eco-Schools programme
- 94% of teachers surveyed would like more guidance on the meaning of sustainability
- 93% of teachers surveyed believe they need support from other staff in the school in order to improve engagement
- 90% of teachers surveyed would like clearer benefits of Eco-School participation outlined
- 88% of teachers surveyed believe they need support from students’ peers in order to improve engagement
This is not a ringing endorsement of the work of Eco-schools. In particular, it seems hardly surprising that a mere 15% of teachers think their students understand the big picture of sustainability when 94% of teachers surveyed would like more guidance on the meaning of sustainability.
What, I wonder, has been going on in the 17, 000 schools that Eco-schools "reaches"? Or, more aptly, perhaps, what does "reaches" really mean. Answers, please, to Blue Marble at admin@theblue-marble.com
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