1. Sustainable school buildings

Although municipalities are in principle responsible for school buildings, school boards can take energy-saving measures themselves. The condition is that these measures pay for themselves within a reasonable period of time, because schools are actually not allowed to use their government funding for buildings.

With the help of Green Deal Schools, schools have taken steps in recent years to emit less CO2, generate their own electricity or even become completely energy-neutral and move away from gas. At present, eleven primary schools are participating in the Ministry of the Interior’s Natural Gas-Free and Healthy Schools pilot. The PO-Raad endorses the importance of the climate agreement and wants all school boards to make agreements with their municipality in the coming years about working towards energy-neutral school buildings.

On the Bouwstenen voor Sociaal website, school boards can exchange practical experiences with energy-saving measures.

2. Healthy School

A healthy learning environment leads to better learning outcomes, fewer health complaints and less absenteeism due to illness among both students and teachers. That is why the Healthy School programme encourages schools to pay attention to the environment in and around the school building. The criteria for obtaining the Nature and Environment certificate, as well as additional tips, can be found on the Healthy School website. Here are a few examples:

  • The design of the school playground encourages students to engage with nature.
  • Use the school playground as an outdoor classroom.
  • Make the school playground accessible after school hours.
  • Waste is separated.
  • Ensure good ventilation, either mechanical or natural. Tip: appoint a student as ventilation monitor. This student’s task is to keep an eye on the CO2 meter.
  • Turn off computers rather than leaving them on standby.
  • Involve students, parents and staff in activities relating to the environment and nature.
  • Encourage parents, students and teachers to walk or cycle to school.

Sustainability also plays a role within the Healthy School theme of ‘Nutrition’, for example in the question: where does our food come from?

3. Sustainability in the new curriculum

Students see the world around them changing. They can and want to contribute to keeping the world liveable. What knowledge do they need to make conscious choices in their own behaviour? How do we teach them to reason from their values and standards and to make value judgements about sustainable solutions?

The teacher development teams of curriculum.nu are currently working hard on elaborating the building blocks for the new attainment targets. These building blocks describe the knowledge and skills that are important for all students at the various stages of primary and secondary education. Sustainability features prominently in both the Citizenship and People and Nature learning areas.

Excerpt from the fourth interim product on Citizenship, assignment ‘Responsible for your living environment’
“Students learn to deal with and reflect on the tensions between different values and interests and their consequences for the living environment, now and in the future. They investigate their own choices and views, as well as those of others, concerning how to deal with the living environment and what constitutes ethically responsible and sustainable choices in this regard. In doing so, they also investigate which forces and powers make these choices more difficult. Students learn to take responsibility for their behaviour and are aware of its effect on the living environment.” (read more on the curriculum.nu website)