Environmental Sustainability in School and the Wider Community
Environmental Sustainability in School and the Wider Community.Assignment overview Reports are useful forms of assignment in a pre-service teacher education program as they assess what you’ve learned from your readings, research and class discussions. They also enable you to develop report writing skills and research that is widely used in the education work place. This assignment is asking you to take a leap forward to your role as the leader of a newly developed environmental sustainability team at a K-6 school. Prior to the establishment of this team, the educational setting has not had a focus on sustainability. A number of staff have been resistant to the inclusion of sustainable initiatives due to concerns over workload and an already ‘crowded curriculum’. You’ve been asked to work with your team to develop a variety of school-wide initiatives that integrate concepts of sustainability and formalise this thinking into a professional report. The purpose of this report is to on-board staff, inform families, guide teachers and students, and make the community aware of the aims and practices of the school. Formalising this thinking and practice means that this report can also be used for award and grant applications to demonstrate the schools progress and commitment to environmental sustainability. Related learning outcomes This task is assessing your ability to demonstrate that you meet the following unit learning outcomes: 1. Summarise the scope and purpose of educating for a sustainable future. 3. Consider concepts and themes related to environmental sustainability and how these effect their teaching and professional role. 4. Analyse the concept of ecological literacy and articulate the benefits and limitations of becoming eco-literate. 5. Create a school profile with a holistic range of teaching and learning strategies to integrate sustainable perspectives, critical thinking, values and citizenship objectives implicit in reorienting education towards sustainable futures. Assignment detail A typical report investigates, describes, and analyses information in a thorough and logical manner. This information is then presented in a clear report format. Some features which typify a report format include: numbered sections and/or with headings, a contents page, information presented with images, tables, or diagrams, short paragraphs, and objective language. Your report should adhere to the following format and include the required information set out below: Title page and presentation Create a title page for your report that includes the following: • Title of the report. • Author (yourself). • Date. You can make choices about the professional presentation of your report making sure it’s professional and clear. Executive summary This is a snapshot of the whole report. Its purpose is for the reader to become familiarised with the report’s content without needing to read the entire document. Background and context Describe the school context such as location, how many students, grades, unique features, etc. Table of contents The contents page should list the different sections and/or headings together with the page numbers. Whatever heading and/or numbering system you use make sure that the relationship with headings and sub-headings are clear and consistent Introduction The introduction sets the scene for the main body of the report and should include the following: • Brief explanation of the purpose of the report. • Rationale highlighting the importance of educating for a sustainable future. You may include links to the Early Years Learning Framework and/or the Australian Curriculum. • An outline of the aims of the school that highlight a commitment to: o integrating perspectives of sustainability o critical thinking o values and citizenship. Main body The body of this report should include the following discussion points: 1. Analyse the concept of ecological literacy and articulate the benefits and limitations of becoming ecoliterate. 2. With your understanding of the key themes and concepts related to sustainable perspectives, develop three key initiatives that the school will implement in their: o classrooms o outdoor spaces, and o the wider community. Note, that each point should focus on one ongoing initiative that helps to integrate sustainable perspectives—not a one-off activity. Conclusion Your conclusion should include: • a short summary of key points • recommendations by the environmental leadership team for how to progress. Assignment criterion 1. Summary of the scope and purpose of educating for a sustainable future. 2. Analysis of ecological and relational perspectives. 3. Examples of what environmental sustainability could be in education. 4. Depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of sustainable perspectives. 5. Academic and professional report writing. Your work will be assessed using the following marking guide: Grade Descriptor Pass [P 50-59%] To be awarded a Pass for this task, all aspects of the task must be completed, and the work must be the author’s own except where cited works of others have been used. The requirements of all criteria must be met at a satisfactory level as described by the standards statements • The report: o generally includes all outlined requirements and is clearly and logically presented o includes a rudimentary understanding of the purpose for educating for a sustainable future o addresses concepts of sustainability and includes ideas for educating for a sustainable future with examples. • Attention to professional communication (spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, sentence structure and headings) is evident. • The report is supported with academic literature to analyse issues with attention to APA referencing and includes a reference list Credit [C 60-69%] To be awarded a Credit for this task, the work must fulfil the requirements of the Pass grade but at a higher standard, as described by the standards statements. • The report: o is clear, logical and includes all required components o demonstrates a clear understanding of the purpose of educating for a sustainable future o explores the concepts and themes of sustainable perspectives and clearly articulates what these could look like in practice o includes a choice of relevant scholarly literature, including course materials, to support the task elements. • Correct citation is used where the work is not the author’s original work. • Academic writing demonstrates accuracy and the ability to capture ideas. It’s mostly free from errors and APA referencing is generally correct throughout. Distinction [D 70-79%] To be awarded a Distinction for this task, the work must fulfil the requirements of the Credit grade but at a higher standard, as described by the standards statements. • The report: o demonstrates the depth and breadth of content and accuracy that is required for such a document and therefore supports the outlined purpose o includes a sophisticated understanding of concepts and themes of sustainability o demonstrates a comprehensive analysis of the key ideas and includes relevant and creative examples of what this could look like in practice o reflects precise integration of scholarly literature, including course materials and additional relevant texts. • Referencing and citations are accurate. • Academic writing demonstrates highly developed skills with structuring the discussion in relation to the needs of the audience. High Distinction [HD 80-100%] To be awarded a High Distinction for this task, the work must fulfil the requirements of the Distinction grade but at a higher standard, as described by the standards statements. • The report: o demonstrates detailed, accurate, thoughtful, mature and professional knowledge and understanding of the importance of integrating environmental sustainability in education settings o is professionally presented, with obvious care and attention to planning, editing, compilation and proofreading o describes a range of insightful initiatives that reflect a comprehensive understanding of key ideas of sustainable themes and concepts and demonstrate insightful thinking that capture the aims and practices of the school o is sound, clearly argued, and well supported in terms of the use of literature and evidence to support or refute. It is free from ambiguity and contradiction. • There are no referencing errors and obvious care and attention has been given to planning, editing and proofreading. • Academic writing is professional, engaging, interesting and insightful
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