12.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SUPPORT
LOCAL CHURCHES
The Eco-Congregation Programme
A National
and Local Scheme
Eco-congregation was set up in 2000 by Churches Together in
Britain and Ireland and the environmental awareness charity
“Going for Green” (established as part of the UK government’s
response to the 1992 Earth Summit). It is an ecumenical scheme
and can easily be adopted by LEPs. With its emphasis on links
to the local community, Eco-congregation creates excellent
opportunities for mission.
For the
whole church
The
eco-congregation programme provides a framework in which all
church people, lay and ordained, together with people from the
local community, can work together to learn about and
participate in environmental awareness projects
In the
foreword to ‘Sharing God’s Planet’, the Archbishop of Canterbury
called on the whole church to undertake an ecological audit. He
wrote: “Such local, internal responses are vital if our voice as
a Church is to have integrity."
Joining in
To register on
the scheme a Church has to do three things:
For more
information
see
Paper 16. Resources: Study Programmes and Books
CHURCH AND
COMMUNITY
Within most
communities there are people who are aware of the need to care
for the environment. Their concerns will vary. Some will be
changing their way of living. Some will support environmental
organisations from the RSPB to Greenpeace. Many want to do
something but do not know what they can do. Many are concerned
but feel helpless.
Around the
diocese members of local congregations and sometimes PCCs are
working with others within their communities. Paper 19 describes
one such project: Go Zero in Chew Magna.
In some
communities, particularly where the life of the church is quite
integrated with local community life, this might be the best way
for a local church work in caring for the environment.
SCHOOLS
Action to
encourage green thinking
The DfES has
designed this school year as the “Year for Action on
Sustainability for Schools”. Some key documents include:
-
The
National Curriculum: Statutory requirements ensure that
every child is taught environmental awareness, particularly
via geography, science and citizenship, at all phases of
education. For examples see Ref 1.
o
Food and drink
o
Energy and water
o
Travel and traffic
o
Purchasing and waste
o
Buildings and grounds
o
Inclusion and participation
o
Local well-being
o
The global dimension
Schools
Making Changes
Many schools
recognise that this topical and urgent issue needs to be taken
on by the whole school. The pace and extent of this recognition
is patchy, with some schools, particularly primary schools, at
the forefront of thinking and action. Others are slower to
integrate these issues into what they see as an already crowded
curriculum.
The key factor
in all examples of good practice is that it is the children
themselves who are leading the action – this does not feel like
an imposed curriculum!
Examples of
some of the many projects in schools:
-
“Eco-schools” motivates children to reduce their own
environmental impact and that of their communities. Schools
work towards their “green flag awards” by addressing 10
areas of sustainable development (similar to the “doorways”
above). Crispin School in Street was the first Somerset
school to achieve a green flag award; Milverton Primary and
Milfield Preparatory joined them this year, and many other
schools are on the route.
-
Other projects involve sourcing school food
from local traders / healthy ways to travel to school /
reduce, reuse and recycle initiatives / global citizenship
projects / energy monitoring ... the sight of groups of
children with clipboards, daily taking the school’s
electricity meter readings, and setting goals for energy
consumption, is becoming common!
-
At a
different level, schools recognise that sustainable
development contributes to strategic school improvement e.g.
via achievement-raising, behaviour improvement, and cost
savings, as well as providing a means to engage the whole
school community in an issue of great topical importance.
The role of
schools in communities
Churches were
the “hearts of their communities” – built physically in the
centre of communities and acting as the centre-board, for
centuries. What is clear now is that the government is seeing
schools as taking this role in C21 communities.
The
Government's Sustainable School Strategy sees young people in
general as part of the solution, but schools in particular,
“because they have the potential to be the hearts of their
communities”. The aim is for “all schools to become models of
sustainable development for their communities”.
Schools and
churches working together
So how can
churches work together with schools, to encourage, resource and
inspire the action which is already taking place?
-
To be
aware of the energy and creative thinking of children, who
take on these issues far more readily and more urgently,
often, than adults
Schools can
provide for churches a perfect setting for interacting with
children and young people on the issue which is of such vital
importance for the future of our earth, and ourselves.
THE DIOCESE
The School of
Formation is organising an Inter-departmental day in January
2007 to work out the best way forward for the diocese in
education, training and support.
The School of
Formation will support the development of teaching and training
programmes on environmental matters across the diocese.
The Department
of Ministry Development is preparing two CME days, each held in
three locations during 2007-8: one on preaching on creation and
hope, the other on developing worship in the context of an
ecological crisis.
RECOMMENDATIONS
We recommend
that
-
the
Diocesan Board of Education and its officers should continue
to help schools make links between RE and other aspects of
the curriculum in which ecological awareness and thinking
are being developed; to follow such relevant themes as
creation, stewardship, penitence and hope in school worship;
and to adopt an environmental education programme such as
eco-school.
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