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WWF’s One Planet Education initiative is developing new approaches to education that will help us live more sustainably.

We’d all like to think that our children’s education is helping prepare them for their future.

But is it? And what sort of future might that be?

Children starting school today will be growing up in a world that’s very different from the one we know now – thanks to climate change and over-exploitation of natural resources.

So shouldn’t our children be learning new skills and new ways of living sustainably on our planet?

Yet the school system is essentially designed according to a blueprint of the past, not the future.

Changing the way we educate

The way children are currently educated is designed to encourage the values of individual success, largely measured in material possessions – locking them into an unsustainable spiral of ever-increasing consumption.

We advocate an education system in which the values that underpin sustainability shape teaching and learning: community and cooperation, learning, questioning and enquiry.

We would like education to be based on our interdependent relationship with nature and the health of our planet, and the life-enhancement and joy that can be had from appreciating this relationship.

If we’re going to change how we live, then the way we educate our children needs to change too. Childhood is the time when most values are acquired, and the knowledge and skills for living in our fast-changing world are developed.

We need an education system that promotes new ways of thinking and core values that support sustainable lifestyles.

WWF’s One Planet Education project is taking a bold approach to address this issue.

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WWF’s other work in education

Leadership support: we continue to support the work of the National College for School Leadership, the government agency responsible for the training of current and future school leaders.

Leadership is repeatedly cited as the most important element in helping schools move from small-scale engagement with sustainable practices to whole-school adoption that makes connections with the wider local and global community.

Supporting classroom practice: we support classroom teaching through a wide range of activities via our One Planet Schools initiative.

These include: resources for schools to work together to develop a whole-school approach to sustainability; lesson ideas and activities for teachers to use with their students; and an annual conference for teachers.

We’re also identifying core teaching and learning methods that give teachers the confidence and competence to help students understand and embrace sustainability.

A guiding set of practices and approaches will then be promoted to those responsible for teacher education.

Schools and local communities: we’ll develop initiatives to demonstrate how schools and local communities can work together to develop sustainable neighbourhoods.

WWF Educators’ Network: we meet increasingly often with educators across the WWF global network to share ideas and experience and learn together.
We believe that WWF education programmes must aim for more ambitious changes in national education systems around the world.

Find out more at wwf.org.uk/oneplanetschools

Our latest report

• Learning for Sustainability: from the pupils perspective

Education links

• One Planet Schools
• One Planet Education

How you can help

• Become a family member

Take action

• Campaign for a One Planet Future

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