Sustainability Education
Globeducate´s commitment to Eco-Schools
Eco-Schools is the world´s largest sustainability education programme and it offers an accessible framework for schools in every country in which we work.
Student-led action for a sustainable future
Globeducate schools are all committed to being Eco-Schools and to achieving and retaining Green Flag status – using this globally recognised benchmark, and seven-step process as shown in the diagram, as a tangible tool for meeting our vision to address the UN Sustainability Development Goals 2030 and to prepare each student to become a global citizen who can shape the world.
Our Eco-Schools councils have regular action-planning meetings, including students of all ages in appropriate ways - from Early Years to Secondary.
Learning to be change-makers
Younger children are empowered from an early age to participate in eco-action activities, building up to Middle Years curriculum-linked activities and to Secondary students leading the school's Eco-Action Plan and developing the Eco-Code to support change-making.
Each school has its own teacher coordinator who leads on our global agenda projects and oversees the Eco-Schools accreditation and journey. These teachers also meet regularly with others in this role, online, to share good practice and to inspire and learn from each other.
In 2024, more than half of our schools are already certified Eco-Schools and our other schools are on the Eco-School accreditation journey.
Hands-on learning in Globeducate schools
The Eco-Schools committees in different parts of the world have shared fantastic projects, from beekeeping on the school rooftop garden in Toronto to a project supporting street children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sunga Bana, started by Hattemer students in France. In Portugal, students worked with a local artist to create art installations of marine mammals made with plastic. In Spain the President of Eco-Escuelas visited our schools and spoke to students about the differences they can make, and in Canada and India, Eco-Schools met with our Chief Academic Officers.
Since our Globeducate Agenda launched in 2020, RIS Rome's Eco-School activities were recognised by global international education awards The PIEoneer Awards, being shortlisted for the Sustainability International Impact Award, and most recently, in 2023, Agora Portals International School in Spain is a Top Ten shortlist finalist of The World´s Best Schools Prize for Environmental Action.
Celebrating the planet as a global team
Our schools celebrate United Nations official days to support eco-awareness and conservation. Across our network, our students and teachers work with their own Eco-School committees and come up with inspiring ways to mark globally recognised eco events such as Earth Hour, Earth Week and Earth Day, as well as those less well known such as International Bee Day, International Oceans Day and World Wildlife Day.
These days unite our whole Globeducate family as our students and teachers from across different age groups and cultures share what they have done with their contemporaries and families. By building these events into our school calendars, teachers are able to provide students with meaningful contexts for these events which have long-lasting impact.