Can changing our mindset on sustainability change everything?
I'm just back from a few days in Chester attending the Society of Heads annual conference on Sustainability in Schools. I was asked to offer the keynote exploring a whole-school approach. And - as ever - found myself being an inconvenient woman...
Right now schools are dealing with sustainability in many different ways, depending on many different things. The symptoms of a world in crisis are showing up in our schools and teachers are needing to respond. In general, the story is somewhat like this image below:
Schools are trying to both protect, heal and strengthen young people to deal with the challenges and unknown opportunities of our changing world, protecting from the bombardment and supporting them to move forward:
To help 'clean up' the mess, many schools are now implementing inspiring actions in the community - from initiatives to focus on food waste to campaigns on transport to decarbonising the schools energy systems and everything in between.
To respond to the emotional symptoms showing up, many schools have recognised an increasing need for meditation, mindfulness practices and establishing mental health first aid practices to support eco-anxiety and emotional overwhelm across the age groups.
To strengthen young people's capacity to continue to face the shockwaves coming, many schools have got 'resilience' at the forefront of action plans, recognising the need to be supporting young people’s emotional resilience and wellbeing for the road ahead.
This is why schools now have mental health leads, sustainability officers, wellbeing leads and teachers who are working to ‘protect’ or support young people in our VUCA world (*volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous). All of these roles - and all of this work - is an essential part of 'cleaning up the mess' of our inharmonious ways of living in the world, and something that schools will all have to deal with and respond to. This range of support is also just as essential for the staff, who are in need of this protection and strengthening as much as young people.
But here's the inconvenient (but also very welcome) question: Do we really want to be 'sustaining' this?
When thinking about what is currently happening in our communities, do we really want to continue responding to the symptoms of mess and to be constantly firefighting?
Take a look for a moment at the character on the left hand side of the image - the one causing all of the chaos. What about also putting our attention onto the 'mess-maker' as well? What if we nurtured healthier behaviours here as a priority in our schools? What if we helped young people (and adults!) learn how to better care for themselves, each other and the planet, so that we wouldn't continue to make such a mess and have to keep cleaning up the consequences?
What if the aim of schools was to teach young people to care for themselves, for each other and for the planet?
Sustainability is not (and never will be) a quick-fix - it is a mindset, welcoming us to look at the ways we are living, the habits we are perpetuating and the learning that can happen in school to teach and support healthier behaviours and healthier mindsets for a healthier future. It is a journey, but one that can have a much happier ending if we shift our attention to a different part of the story. And schools are where we shape the stories of our futures.
These were just a few of the thoughts I explored with the Headteachers up in Chester, and I left the conference with new wisdom gained from some beautiful conversations, and with gratitude and appreciation to the inspiring bunch of leaders who welcomed me in and who are on the journey towards a healthier future for education. I'm with you all the way.
#sustainability #regeneration #selfcare #peoplecare #earthcare #mindset #habitchange