Petitioning The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

5th April 2013

 The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP: Keep Sustainability in the National Curriculum Objectives

Petition by SEEd

“Pupils should develop awareness and understanding of, and respect for, the environments in which they live, and secure their commitment to sustainable development at a personal, national and global level.”

This has allowed pioneer schools to create local whole school curricula and activities that make core knowledge relevant, motivational and by including effective teaching methodologies such as experiential/action learning, critical thinking, problem solving, team working and working with local and global communities. Schools embedding sustainability in their practice have been shown by Ofsted in many research reports to be Good or Excellent and with good links to improved achievement. But this practice is not yet across all schools.

Sustainability skills are commonly cited as needed by:
1. students (over 80% of 7-14 year olds want to learn more about global issues at school and rank this 3rd after numeracy and literacy – The Cooperative 2011 Ipsos Mori),
2. university students (over 85% believe they need 8 sustainable development competencies in order to get jobs – HEA/NUS 2010, 2012),
3. teachers wanting to prepare their students for a sustainable future (many surveys and our experience including government Sustainable Schools consultations 2005)
4. businesses wanting both an understanding of, and skills for sustainability (many CR reports)

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