Whole School Approaches to Sustainable Development

A Whole School Approach (WSA) provides a framework for re-orienting and redesigning education considering emerging global sustainability challenges4. It invites a holistic, systemic, co-creative and reflexive effort by all stakeholders involved in education to meaningfully engage students in complex sustainability challenges. Holistic here refers to the attempt to explore and address sustainability issues from multiple perspectives in an integrated and relational way. Systemic refers to considering key aspects of the education system simultaneously (curriculum, pedagogy and learning, professional development, school-community relationships, school practices, ethos, vision and leadership). Co-creative refers to the inclusion of multiple voices and multiple stakeholders in the development of the approach within a given context. Lastly, reflexive refers to the need for continuous learning, monitoring, evaluating and re-calibrating in light of a world that is in constant flux.