Anna Cooke, AuSSI VIc Regional Facilitator (Mornington Peninsula) delivering a Staff Professional Learning session at a residential conference in Harrietville, Vic.

Sometimes it's hard to know where to start when you are taking on a task as broad and as complex as making your school a more sustainable one. The best way to get started on your school sustainable journey is to join the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI).

However, joining AuSSI might not be suitable for your school for a number of reasons. Maybe a stand alone, one-off professional learning session on a sustainability related issue might be of more use to your school as you may: require some in depth help/advice on a more complex topic; need some help on embedding sustainability into the curriculum using VELS; be in the process of completing your school master plan; or just want to maintain staff (new and old) interest and enthusiasm for your sustainability in school program! If you are a fully accredited 5 Star Sustainable School, need some re-invigoration for your AuSSI program or just want to find out a bit more about Sustainability in Schools without committing fully to AuSSI, then a CERES Professional Learning session might be just what you need!

Experienced facilitators can come to your school /workplace and deliver full /half day or after school professional learning sessions on a range of environmental and sustainability issues.

Topics include:
• Using VELS to embed Education for Sustainability into the curriculum
• Momentum: A Sustainable Schools Refresher
• Lightening the Load- Setting up Student Action Teams
• Greening Small Business/ Schools- Saving costs and resources by applying the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach
• School Grounds Master Planning
• School Grounds Development
• Green Purchasing and Cleaning
• Moving towards Carbon Neutrality
• Hot Topics- empower your staff with the knowledge and confidence required to teach about complex/new environmental issues- topics according to school needs.

Prices are available on request.

Can't find what you're looking for?
CERES can also tailor make programs to suit your school’s needs, with activities run both in and out of the classroom for staff. We can also organise and run activities for your full or half day special event, including environmental days, fetes, residential conferences or school ground improvement days. We can even run student incursions on a range of sustainability themes at your school!

Using VELS to embed Education for Sustainability into the Curriculum.

The ultimate aim of Education for Sustainability (EFS) is to give students ‘ecoliteracy’ and help future generations become citizens who are environmentally, socially and economically responsible. Although sustainability is not explicitly listed as a Domain or Dimension in the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), the Learning Focus statements and Standards are underpinned by the principle. Our hope is that EFS will be contextualised across all domains of the curriculum but we are well aware that many teachers may not be confident or knowledgeable enough in the area of EFS to allow this to occur.

There are many explicit references to sustainability topics in the Learning Focus statements and Standards of VELS. Clear sustainability themes appear in each VELS level. Sustainability topics can be addressed in every domain at every level by combining the explicit sustainability references contained within certain Learning Focus statements with some lateral thinking to interpret other Learning Focus statements where sustainability topics are not explicitly mentioned.

The "Using VELS to Embed Education for Sustainability into the Curriculum" session is approximately 1.5 to 2 hours duration. It aims to empower teachers to feel more confident in using the VELS to embed EFS in their curriculum, using the “WHY, HOW and WHAT” approach. The session utilises hands on group work to facilitate the creation of throughlines for a specific ‘Big Question’ that staff will brainstorm in the session, using VELS as a tool. As part of the session, schools will be provided with an easy to use, comprehensive guide documenting, for every level and domain, Learning Focus statements and Standards applicable to EFS, with possible themes and critical questions included.

Sample VELS and Sustainability Matrices
The sample matrices provided below were created by CERES for the Department of Education's Strategic Partnerships program. The comprehensive guide provided in the VELS and Sustainability Professional Learning session is much more comprehensive (100+ pages) than the attached matrices- the samples are just a taste of what's possible with EFS! The suggested activities included in the matrices (Waste, Water, Energy and Biodiversity themed) are based upon the Learning Focus statements of each domain and attempt to create ‘throughlines’ in the domains and levels.

To download the matrices, click here (PDF - 905Kb, Knowledgebank website).

Momentum: A Sustainable Schools Refresher.

An annual Professional learning program to maintain the momentum of any Sustainable School. What are the current and emerging sustainability issues we need to consider? How has the AuSSI structure changed? What can you do to ensure continuous improvement? What new Education for Sustainability opportunities are there for schools to persue? What support is out there for you?

Perfect for schools that have been in the program for a while (or may have already become fully accredited) who need to rekindle waning enthusiasm for their program or who need to ensure that new staff are fluent on important sustainability issues and the AuSSI philosophy.

Further Information about CERES Adult Professional Learning.

For further information or enquiries about CERES Adult Prtofessional Learning please contact:

Cara Horner, Lorna Pettifer, Eric Bottomley
Sustainable Schools Team
CERES Community Environment Park
8 Lee Street, East Brunswick Vic 3057
Phone : (03) 9380 1556 or 9387 2609
Fax : (03) 9381 1844
Email :cara@ceres.org.au, lorna@ceres.org.au, eric@ceres.org.au

For more information about CERES onsite programs (excursions) click here.
For more information about CERES incursion programs click here.

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