These 5 workshops each have their place in the curriculum, focusing on various topics of interest with a common thread of peer educating, proactive communication, and teamwork. Informative and engaging workshops educate students and teachers alike, equipping them with the skills to educate their peers and pupils. More specialised workshops focus on industrial and commercial factors like transportation and fashion, applying sustainable thinking to real-world examples.
The Sustainability Action workshop serves as an introduction to sustainability with a proactive approach, allowing students to pursue issues that they care about and examining and enacting change in the pursuit of sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Plastic Action involves 2 workshops examining the causes, effects, and solutions to plastic pollution. Students train to peer educate other students on plastic, acquiring the tools and knowledge needed to raise awareness about plastic among peers and in their community. In 2018, Education for Sustainability workshopped with the students of Newpark Comprehensive School for six weeks. In three months, students’ commitment made Newpark Ireland’s first single use plastic free shool. Learn more about their remarkable achievements here.
The Biodiversity Loss workshop examines issues related to both local and global biodiversity loss, identifying the problems and exploring sustainable solutions to restore and protect natural habitats.
Sustainable Transport focuses on efforts to mitigate environmental damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution through sustainable transport. This session bridges sustainable transport to social, environmental, and climate impacts.
The Fast Fashion workshop examines the environmental impacts of the fashion industry. This highly profitable business model is based on replicating high-fashion catwalk designs and mass-producing them more sustainably at a lower cost. This can be a complex subject, with heroes and villains on both ends. Diving into this material earnestly compels students to more closely examine socioeconomic impacts to their world.
By bringing these workshops to classrooms and communities, students are learning about more than sustainability by developing critical communication and problem-solving skills, and assuming the responsibilities of a Peer Educator. Workshops are available for secondary school students in two age groups, equipping them with skills they’ll use throughout their lives. With a variety of topics communicated proactively through inoperative and cooperative methods, the value of these workshops cannot be overstated.
Simple solutions may be the first step toward more sustainable practices. A Plastic-Free School Eco Thermos Flask for your students is a great way to start. Bring these valuable workshops into your classroom and empower your students to turn their ideas into action. For more information about these workshops in Sue’s own words, have a look at this short video.
