A Whole School Environmental Education Initiative
1. THE CONTEXT OF THE SCHOOL
The village of Pumpherston is situated in West Lothian, fourteen miles from
Edinburgh, on the boundary of Livingston new town. It is a small, close-knit,
community anxious to preserve its own identity, and has a population of around
1500. The main occupation was at one time oil-shale mining and the village was
built originally to house workers from the first James Young Oil Refinery -
now the multi-national oil company BP - although no mining takes place in the
area now, and the BP factory was recently closed. The primary school building
dates from 1886, contains six classes and 130 pupils aged 5-12 years. When the
current headteacher took over in September 1988, there was no tradition of community
involvement but since then the school has become an integral part of the community
and these developments have been recognised in a recent report by Her Majesty's
Inspectors.
2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
When, in the early part of 1991, the school was invited to take part in the
OECD Environment and School Initiatives Project (ENSI project) it seemed that
a small school, in an area such as this, would have little to contribute. On
analysing the school's environmental education aims however, it became apparent
that they were concerned not only to raise awareness for environmental issues
but, that through meaningful activities, could encourage the whole community
to move with them in changing attitudes and values towards the environment.
Some interesting work with an environmental focus had already been undertaken
by the children within their own community e.g.:
While these had
been important initiatives in themselves the review suggested opportunities
for a wider focus involving the whole school and the community in a shared enterprise
to improve the environment in which they lived. The school initiative would
aim to provide a framework whereby the pupils would gain knowledge and understanding
of their own community and also come to recognise that, through their actions,
they as individuals could positively influence the quality of their own and
the wider environment.
While the actions taken might in the end appear small and limited from an adult
perspective, the processes in which the children became involved, contributed
towards less tangible, but arguably far more important, ideas associated with
values, stewardship of the environment and the development of positive attitudes.
The principal aim was to give children a vision of the future that holds more
than just the passive acceptance of what is there, that through empowerment
they can influence the reality in which they live. They can make it better.
As the project was planned as a whole school initiative, it was important that
time was given for staff to discuss and plan. Planned Activity Time (time allocated
for school-based staff development) was set aside for this purpose. Because
they were trying to restore a sense of pride in the village they decided to
call the initiative Take Pride in Pumpherston and agreed to work towards a set
of aims designed to:
To raise awareness
in the children, capture their interest and create the initial stimulus, each
class began by surveying the village to identify where they could plan to take
action - an area where the children could be instrumental in improving the quality
of life for themselves, for other people and for the environment.
It was important that the areas identified for action were nominated by the
children themselves, and that each class would be responsible for planning/
resourcing their part of the overall project. It was important too, however,
that the projects adopted should be both practical and possible and this was
emphasised in discussion with the children. The projects selected by the children
were:
PRIMARY 1 Tree Planting
Each child in Primary 1 planted a tree which they will personally look after
during their seven primary school years, the aim being that the trees would
eventually attract birds and other wildlife and be used as a future learning
and teaching resource for the school.
PRIMARY 2 Pond Clearance
Primary 2 cleared litter from around a pond area near the school and wrote to
the District Council asking for their help in having large items of rubbish
removed. They researched and produced a Pond Wildlife Guide a copy of which
they delivered to every household in the village.
PRIMARY 3 Window Boxes/Tree Guide
Primary 3 designed wooden window boxes for the front of the school to enhance
its appearance. They also planted trees around the local golf course and researched,
prepared and produced a Tree Guide. This guide was also distributed to every
household in the village.
PRIMARY 4/5 Road Safety
Primary 4/5 investigations of road safety revealed several potential dangers.
They decided to embark on a campaign to make the village safer. Traffic surveys
conducted revealed the large number of heavy goods vehicles using the main street
and the local police demonstrated how they deal with the problems of speeding.
The children designed a 'Welcome' sign for the entrance of the village and contacted
the Council to enlist their support and assistance. The 'Welcome' sign has now
been erected which asks motorists to:
| Take
Pride in Pumpherston and Please Drive Carefully |
The children also
asked the local Council to improve road safety in other ways and persuaded them
to paint yellow zig-zag warning lines on the road outside the school.
PRIMARY 5/6 Bulbs and Shrubs Planting
Primary 5/6 thought the village 'looked really dull' so they decided to plant
bulbs and shrubs throughout the main street. This would make the street more
attractive for the people of the village and for others passing through. The
District Council, once approached by the children, as well as supplying bulbs,
helped the class plan the project and plant the bulbs. The children were involved
throughout the planning and design work with the Council acting as advisers
and providers of resources such as maps, plans and eventually materials.
PRIMARY 7 Seating Area and Mural
Primary 7 thought they would like to do something positive for the older members
of the community and decided to create an attractive seated area where they
could meet and talk with their friends. The children decided a suitable location
would be near the village shop, but the gable wall of the shop was covered with
racist graffiti which spoiled the whole area. They decided that if they painted
a mural it would get rid of the graffiti, maybe even stop vandalism and help
Mr Mohammed, the shopkeeper, who they felt must be upset by the written comments
on the wall. As Pumpherston had at one time been a mining village, the children
agreed on designing the mural on a mining theme, conscious that with the seats
in place, the elderly could sit there and discuss former times. In these ways
the children were, in their own words, “taking a pride in the past as well
as the future which is something we feel is really important.”
3. TIMESCALE
The whole-school initiative was carried out over one school year (1991-92) but
was always planned to be on-going in terms of monitoring e.g. litter, caring
for trees/bulbs, additional planting, and using trees as a future resource for
wildlife studies. The class projects were planned within the time allocation
for environmental studies with additional, important, opportunities developed
particularly through the expressive arts and in language development. The community-focused
action projects were also the vehicle for classes to make studies of some wider
global environmental issues e.g. pollution, energy use and conservation.
4. PLANNING AND TAKING ACTION
Staff Involvement
An important awareness-raising experience for staff resulted from an incident
where a young child had vandalised a swan's nest (by setting fire to it) at
a nearby pond, this led the staff to reflect on their aims for environmental
education and re-examine their success in achieving these. Clearly, this was
evidence that the current school provision was superficial in promoting a personal
code of environmental responsibility and values in pupils. There then followed
a 'needs analysis' exercise looking at curriculum priorities with the whole
staff. The clarity of the incident of the swan's nest unified the staff in deciding
to commit themselves to a programme designed to develop positive attitudes and
values with all the children and in the community.
Prior to embarking on any detailed planning for individual classes a number
of all-staff meetings were held to:
Quality Circle
Group Formed
The school had previously successfully employed a collaborative, participative
approach borrowed from industry (e.g. used by Volvo motors) Quality Circles
designed to involve all members of the school community in aspects of decision
making. Nominated children (elected by their peers) from each class met and
discussed with teaching and support staff how the quality of a particular service,
in the previous case, school meals, could be improved. The Quality Circle formed
for the Take Pride in Pumpherston campaign, consisted of 6 elected children,
1 parent, 1 grandparent, 1 community education worker, 1 teacher and 1 non-teaching
staff member. In addition to the individual class initiatives the Quality Circle
accepted the part of overall planning for the project. The Quality Circle acted
in a co-ordinating role for the campaign as overall managers, suggested new
ideas to classes and was the channel for communication. The children on the
Quality Circle then designed a campaign logo, arranged for the preparation of
a publicity leaflet for distribution round whole village. Campaign badges for
all the children in the village were suggested and these were made by Primary
6 and 7. The press was informed of the project and this attracted additional
publicity for the campaign.
Community Involvement
Community involvement was secured by first setting up an 'environmental awareness-raising'
course for adults in the school (with crèche facilities) in collaboration
with the Community Education Service. The course, which ran weekly for ten weeks,
was attended by 10-15 adults. It was planned to be active and involved fieldwork
and expert visitors. The topics covered were:
Introduction: What does the environment mean? What are the areas of concern
and for action (personal, local, global)? What is the campaign Take Pride in
Pumpherston?
Village Landscape: Survey own gardens, streets. Identify problems. How
to deal effectively with litter. What are the re-cycling possibilities in the
community?
Trees: Visit to golf course and woodland. Tree identification. Importance
of trees in the carbon cycle.
Pond Visit: Dipping for living things. Identify causes of water pollution
and offer solutions. Visit to a Country Park. View videos.
Traffic Survey: Safety issues. Transport and energy, personal lifestyles.
Shopping habits. Consumption at home shop survey for 'green' items - are all
claims true?
Evaluation and Action: How successful has the course been? How can we
act ourselves and within the community? How can we best support the children's
campaign?
This exercise was most interesting and resulted in the following outcomes:
Pupil Involvement
The local environment was to be used in its widest sense - natural, built and
social as a resource to stimulate and enrich the children's learning. The class
projects were planned as cross-curricular initiatives supporting all areas of
the curriculum. Active learning was encouraged through:
Opportunities were
given for the children to meet and talk with a range of people outside the school:
Community – Elderly, parents, local shopkeepers, council workers,
community council, etc.
Industry – Local business for sponsorship and to discuss environmental
issues.
'Experts' – Wildlife photographer, Forestry Commission –
Countryside Ranger – Art Specialist, etc.
In all these cases the children were responsible for making contacts, arranging
meetings and writing appropriate follow-up 'thank you' letters.
Resource Requirements
Resource needs were identified by each class and the children themselves had
to resource their own projects. To this end, problem-solving exercises were
set up as to how this could be done. For example:
Primary 5/6 surveyed lorries passing through the village on a regular basis
and wrote to these companies to raise money for bulbs. They raised a total of
£100 and were given 4,000 crocus and 2,000 daffodil bulbs as well as other
plants and shrubs. One firm invited them for a buffet lunch in recognition of
their actions. The District Council, as well as supplying bulbs, etc., helped
the children plan the project and plant the bulbs.
Primary 7 children researched addresses using the telephone directory and wrote
to various paint companies for help and advice with the mural and were again
very successful. Craig and Rose, who supply the paint used for the Forth Railway
Bridge, agreed to sponsor the materials needed for the mural and invited the
class to meet with their technical staff to discuss the different types and
properties of paints that could be used.
The local librarian, who is also a member of the school board, was most helpful
in advising the children on sources of information. Expert help and advice was
also given by others including the Forestry Commission, Countryside Ranger Service
and a video recorder was made available from Lothian Regional Council. Human
resources were essential support in contributing to the success of many of the
activities.
5. COMMUNITY RESPONSE
Initially the response to the proposed campaign was very negative and teachers
were frequently met with comments such as:
“Nae point tryin' that, hen - it'll never work”.
“It'll a' be vandalised onyway”.
“Plantin' trees and bulbs has nothin' at a' tae dae wi' education”.
“Improvin' the environment??? - In Pumpherston??? - ye must be kiddin'!!!”
The children also reported experiencing this very negative attitude at home
so the decision to set up the adult group in the school to raise their awareness
was an important part of the overall project. As interest and confidence in
the project grew, partly through the parent group, partly through the work of
the children, other agencies in the community became involved e.g. shopkeepers,
police, local industry, etc., and people became more positive about the Take
Pride in Pumpherston campaign and active in it. The response from local
industry was particularly encouraging as was the local press by giving regular
coverage and support.