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THE<br />
<strong>KEEP</strong><br />
<strong>SWEDEN</strong><br />
<strong>TIDY</strong><br />
FOUNDATION<br />
SCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL<br />
Communicating<br />
Environmental<br />
Actions to Children<br />
and Youth<br />
English Summary<br />
The project Communicating<br />
Environmental Actions to Children<br />
and Youth is partly financed by<br />
the EU fund LIFE+<br />
2009–2011<br />
school and preschool – the keep sweden tidy foundation 1
PHOTO: MAGNUS NORRMAN<br />
“Looking back I can<br />
see that we have taken<br />
on the challenge with<br />
brilliant results, and<br />
that the project has<br />
created hope for our<br />
common future.”<br />
lina lundström, project manager,<br />
the keep sweden tidy foundation<br />
2 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool<br />
Give Children and Youth<br />
the Tools to Create and<br />
Live in a Sustainable World!<br />
we are happy to now, after three years, be able to show our results from the project that<br />
we have carried out with the help of regional coordinators throughout the country. As Project<br />
Manager, I would like to thank everyone that has made it possible for us to meet such<br />
an incredible number of teachers, headmasters, and others working within the school and<br />
preschool sector. It is a privilege to meet so many dedicated people, and so many who are<br />
willing to change their lifestyle to give our children a good future. We, who have been working<br />
in the project, will remember all the people who have made this project possible.<br />
the keep sweden tidy foundation is a non-profit organization and has been between the<br />
years 2009–2011 carried out the project “Communicating Environmental Actions to Children<br />
and Youth” (Com-U). The aim of the Com-U project is to give as many children and youth<br />
as possible the tools, knowledge and courage to work for a sustainable world, where there<br />
are enough resources for everybody, today and in the future.<br />
By using the EU environmental policy and the Swedish national environmental objectives<br />
as starting points, the project has received both national and international support, consisting<br />
both of knowledge and inspiration, as well as financing.<br />
the highly set goals and the high ambitions have been an incentive and a challenge for<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation and all the people involved in the project. Looking back<br />
I can see that we have taken on the challenge with brilliant results, and that the project has<br />
created hope for our shared future.<br />
so thank you to all of you who have participated in the Com-U project. Without all the<br />
creative, inspiring and competent teachers, co-workers and educational representatives in the<br />
municipalities all around Sweden, we would never have reached as far as we have.<br />
EDITORIAL STAFF<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation is an opinion forming organization, working to reduce individual littering, promoting recycling and raising<br />
environmental awareness. The work is pursued by campaigns and projects, as well as by environmental educations and eco-labeling.<br />
This is an English summary from an education project, partly financed by the EU fund Life+.<br />
Editors: Lina Lundström and Petra Holgersson. Writers : Eléonore Elfström Fauré, Katarina Hellberg, Lina Lundström,<br />
Lisa Adelsköld, Ola Jacobsen, Petra Holgersson. Featured on the cover: Anna-Karin Karlsson. Photo: Ola Jacobsen. Graphic design:<br />
Susanna Bäckman, Tidningsmakarna and Maria Gustavsson, The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation Print: DanagårdLitho. Paper: Insert 115g<br />
CyclusPrint, cover 300g Cocoon offset. Contact: the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, Box 4155, 102 64 Stockholm, Sweden, info@hsr.se,<br />
www.hsr.se, phone: + 46 8 505 263 00.
“There is so much<br />
happening with<br />
planet earth. It is<br />
important to start<br />
working already<br />
with the youngest<br />
children.”<br />
20<br />
4<br />
“It is not tricky<br />
or difficult at all<br />
to work with the<br />
Eco-Schools programme.”<br />
Facts Inspiration<br />
4 What has happened<br />
within the Com-U project?<br />
6 The Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
Foundation throughout Sweden!<br />
7 Political contact person for<br />
Eco-Schools – an honorary task!<br />
7 This is going on in the world.<br />
8 This is how we reach national<br />
and international objectives<br />
through the Eco-Schools<br />
programme.<br />
8<br />
12<br />
10 The municipality of Jönköping<br />
invests in the environment<br />
12 Things that are already being<br />
done in Sundsvall.<br />
14 Complementing their own objec-<br />
tives – Eco-Schools in Enköping<br />
16 Education has speeded up the<br />
work in Edvalla.<br />
18 The Eco-Schools programme<br />
makes the objectives concrete in<br />
Arentorp.<br />
20 In Vaxholm, litter is being trans-<br />
formed into art.<br />
10<br />
22<br />
22 The Eco-Schools programme<br />
in the Upper Secondary School<br />
Frans Suell in Malmö.<br />
24 Environmental cycles and<br />
chewing gum cultivation in<br />
Hägersten.<br />
26 The Lightning Patrol spreads<br />
competence to act.<br />
Your Guide to Energy & Climate.<br />
27 Nature Schools, our invaluable<br />
partners.<br />
Eco-Schools on You Tube.<br />
“During the course of the project, we have visited 209 out of totally 290 municipalities”<br />
pages 6–7<br />
school and preschool – the keep sweden tidy foundation 3
Communicating environmental actions to children and youth<br />
– three years of communication<br />
Between 2009 and 2011, the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has carried out the project<br />
Communicating Environmental Actions to Children and Youth, aiming to give children and<br />
youth the tools and the competence to act upon the challenges facing humanity, regarding<br />
environment and sustainability.<br />
TEXT LINA LUNDSTRÖM PHOTO BJÖRN TESCH/BIGFISH<br />
the objective has been to reach 260.000<br />
children and youths through the project.<br />
With the results at hand, we realize that<br />
we have done even better, having reached<br />
340.000 children and youths. The Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation has chosen to<br />
educate teachers, who, in their turn, bring<br />
the knowledge and the inspiration from<br />
the courses held by the foundation to<br />
the children and the pupils. During the<br />
project the Foundation has been using<br />
the Eco-Schools programme as a tool to<br />
implement the EU environmental policy<br />
in the schools and preschools. Within the<br />
project, we have cooperated with Nature<br />
Schools throughout the country. The<br />
project is partly financed by the EU fund<br />
Life+. During the course of the project,<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
met with many different actors: teachers,<br />
headmasters, preschool managers, development<br />
managers, environmental coordinators,<br />
Agenda 21-coordinators, managing<br />
directors from the private school and<br />
preschool sector, as well as other actors<br />
from the education sector, both national<br />
and international.<br />
The Keep Sweden Foundation has been<br />
able to carry out the project within the<br />
budget of 2.5 million Euros. The largest<br />
cost has been external assistance from<br />
the Nature Schools and other consultants.<br />
The project has been financed by<br />
the Life+ fund with 50 percent.<br />
Courses and seminars<br />
EU environmental policy course – Step 1<br />
By providing further education courses to<br />
more than 2.000 schools and preschools,<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
reached thousands of teachers and representatives<br />
from these sectors.<br />
4 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/facts<br />
The purpose of the courses has been to<br />
give representatives from schools and preschools<br />
the inspiration and support they<br />
need to be able to introduce and run the<br />
environmental and sustainability work at<br />
their schools or preschools. These courses<br />
have also been attended by headmasters<br />
and preschool managers, as well as municipal<br />
coordinators.<br />
In the long run, the courses are to give<br />
children and youth qualifications to take<br />
on the challenges described in the EU environmental<br />
policy. This should be carried<br />
out by using the steering documents of<br />
school and preschool and by using the<br />
Eco-Schools certification administrated<br />
in Sweden by The Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
Foundation.<br />
EU environmental policy course – Step 2<br />
At the next step, the Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
Foundation met with all the personnel of<br />
a certain school or preschool for an inspirational<br />
meeting. Through these inspirational<br />
meetings, the regional coordinators<br />
and the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation<br />
have met more than 14.000 teachers from<br />
more than 1.000 schools and preschools.<br />
The objective of the meetings has been<br />
to give schools and preschools the tools<br />
to work with environmental and sustainability<br />
issues. The coursed have been designed<br />
for all the personnel at schools and<br />
preschools.<br />
Regional coordination<br />
Conferences<br />
During the three years of the project, the<br />
Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has, as<br />
mentioned earlier, cooperated with Nature<br />
Schools around the country (see page<br />
27). Thanks to the Nature Schools, which<br />
have worked as regional coordinators, the<br />
project has been able to support schools<br />
and preschools throughout the country.<br />
This has made it possible for us to achieve<br />
our goals, and also to become an agent<br />
active all over the country. The cooperation<br />
with the Nature Schools has been an<br />
essential factor for a successful project.<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
arranged five conferences for the regional<br />
coordinators during the project.<br />
Regional Coordinator Network Meetings<br />
In all, the regional coordinators (the Nature<br />
Schools) have arranged 100 network<br />
meetings during the course of the project.<br />
The objective of the network meetings has<br />
been to get schools and preschools in one<br />
region to interact and to exchange ideas.<br />
The meetings have been appreciated and<br />
fully booked throughout the country. The<br />
Nature Schools that we have cooperated<br />
with have had a good network already<br />
before the start of the project. This has facilitated<br />
the organization of the network<br />
meetings.<br />
During the network meetings, the participating<br />
schools and preschools have<br />
presented their activities, and how they<br />
have gone about their work in the Eco-<br />
Schools programme. They have also<br />
shared good examples and ideas.<br />
Information Material<br />
Films<br />
To reach out through as many channels as<br />
possible, we have created three films. The<br />
films have been put out on YouTube (www.<br />
youtube.com/hallsverigerent), and have<br />
been shown at courses and conferences.<br />
Read more about the films on page 27.
Material<br />
During the course of the project, the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation has developed<br />
three materials that support teachers<br />
when working with environmental and<br />
sustainability issues.<br />
• Energy and climate – an educational<br />
material in sustainable development<br />
for schools year 6–9.<br />
An interdisciplinary educational material<br />
for teachers, with an abundant<br />
graphic material. The material is divided<br />
in three sections: Interest rousers,<br />
Climate, and Energy. There are also<br />
value exercises giving teachers great opportunities<br />
to work successfully with<br />
sustainable development. Some of the<br />
exercises can be used for examination.<br />
The material is developed together<br />
with the Swedish Environmental Protection<br />
Agency (Naturvårdsverket).<br />
• Guide for working with climate and<br />
engery. For compulsory school, year<br />
1–6. Read more about the guide on<br />
page 26.<br />
• Jigsaw puzzle – a material about local<br />
surroundings for preschools. Read more<br />
about the jigsaw puzzle on page 26.<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
reached 340.000 children through the project.<br />
The web<br />
To get a good distribution of the information<br />
material, the competitions, the films<br />
etcetera, that are part of the project, it<br />
has been essential to use our website. The<br />
Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has chosen<br />
to put out all the material and information<br />
from the project on the website, since,<br />
according to a survey performed during<br />
the course of the project, the teachers feel<br />
this facilitates their work.<br />
Competitions<br />
During the project, we have held two<br />
competitions, with the aid of Wettex<br />
(manufacturer of biodegradable dish<br />
cloths) and Länsförsäkringar Skaraborg<br />
(Swedish insurance company).<br />
To create commitment for the Baltic<br />
Sea, the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation arranged<br />
a school competition called “What<br />
goes on under the surface”. School classes<br />
examined the environment of the Baltic<br />
Sea, and came up with creative ways<br />
of sharing their experiences with other<br />
schools.<br />
More than 50 contributions were sent<br />
in. After considering, the jury, consisting<br />
of the Swedish Environmental Protection<br />
Agency, Wettex, and the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation pronounced the fourth<br />
grade class at the Rockneby school in<br />
Kalmar winner of the competition. Read<br />
more about the competition “We Care”<br />
on page 19.<br />
Newsletter times 3<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
sent out three different newsletters, four<br />
times a year. One of the newsletters has<br />
been sent to international stakeholders,<br />
another to our national coordinators, and<br />
the last one to our network of schools and<br />
preschools in Sweden.<br />
The purpose of the international newsletter<br />
has been to inform about the project<br />
and the progress of it, in order to give other<br />
EU-countries the possibility to use the<br />
experiences made. The newsletter to the<br />
national coordinators has supported them<br />
in their work of educating and inspiring<br />
schools and preschools. The newsletter<br />
for schools and preschools working with<br />
the Eco-Schools programme has supported<br />
and inspired them to proceed in their<br />
environmental and sustainability work.<br />
Seminars and Conferences<br />
An important component to make the<br />
project successful is the fact that we have<br />
been constantly updated with what is going<br />
on in schools and preschools throughout<br />
Sweden. Another component is that<br />
Com-U has received help and inspiration<br />
from other networks and projects run by<br />
other actors.<br />
To get a good overview of what is going<br />
on with the environmental and sustainability<br />
work in schools and preschools,<br />
we have, among other things, participated<br />
in around 30 conferences and seminars.<br />
International Com-U conference<br />
To be able to further share the Com-Uproject<br />
with national and international<br />
actors, an international conference with<br />
around 80 participants was arranged. The<br />
purpose of the conference was to introduce<br />
the Com-U project so other countries<br />
and operators could translate the<br />
project and use it in their own countries.<br />
At the conference, it was also discussed<br />
what future cooperation might look like<br />
and whether there are possibilities of cofinancing<br />
future projects. a<br />
school and preschool/facts – the keep sweden tidy foundation 5
Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
all over Sweden!<br />
During the three years of the<br />
project, the Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
Foundation has held courses in<br />
209 out of 290 municipalities in<br />
Sweden. This has been possible<br />
thanks to the foundation’s<br />
cooperation with regional<br />
coordinators, such as Nature<br />
Schools, throughout the country.<br />
The regional coordinators have<br />
been essential to achieve the<br />
goals of the Com-U project.<br />
TEXT LINA LUNDSTRÖM<br />
ILLUSTRATION MARIA GUSTAVSSON<br />
29.000 is the number of teachers/<br />
school personnel/ officials / politicians educated within<br />
the project.<br />
9.497 is the number of subscribers<br />
of the newsletter to the national<br />
network of schools and preschools.<br />
Page 18–19.<br />
Malmö: The Frans<br />
Suell upper secondary<br />
school cooks<br />
sustainable food and<br />
exchanges clothes,<br />
page 22–23.<br />
86.070 is the number of unique visitors<br />
to the school and preschool pages of the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation website.<br />
1.130 new<br />
6 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/facts<br />
Page 12–13.<br />
•<br />
Page 10–11.<br />
Municipalities visited and educated within the project.<br />
For an index of<br />
the municipalities<br />
where the project<br />
has carried out<br />
education– visit<br />
www.hsr.se/skola.<br />
Page 20–21.<br />
Tierp: Education<br />
speeded up the<br />
environmental work<br />
on the preschool<br />
Enbacken, page<br />
16–17.<br />
Enköping: With support<br />
by the Eco-Schools<br />
programme, Härnevi<br />
Preschool reaches the<br />
goals of the curriculum,<br />
page 14–15.<br />
Page 24–25.<br />
schools and preschools in the Eco-Schools network.
Being a Political Contact Person is an Honorary Task<br />
Schools and preschools working<br />
with the Eco-Schools<br />
programme choose a political<br />
contact person in the municipality,<br />
who will support and<br />
acknowledge the environmental<br />
and sustainability work of the<br />
school or preschool. The political<br />
contact person is a link between<br />
the school or preschool<br />
and the municipality, ensuring<br />
that the different actors can<br />
communicate and empower<br />
each other. The municipality<br />
learns from the school or preschool<br />
and vice versa.<br />
TEXT KATARINA HELLBERG<br />
International outlook<br />
In Sweden there are more than 3.000<br />
schools and preschools working thematically<br />
with the environment and sustainability<br />
through the Eco-Schools programme.<br />
All these activities are supported<br />
by international directives and legislation.<br />
In December of 2002, the General Assembly<br />
of the United Nations decided to proclaim<br />
a decade of education – 2005–2014 – for<br />
sustainable development, with UNESCO<br />
as responsible organization. The year before<br />
that, and in the beginning of the decade, the<br />
government chose to put in big recourses for<br />
schools to invest in research, education and<br />
further education about sustainable development.<br />
More and more schools and preschools<br />
joined the Eco-Schools programme, the certification<br />
program administrated in Sweden<br />
by the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation. At<br />
the same time, the Swedish National Agency<br />
for Education was commissioned to initiate<br />
the Sustainable School Award. In November<br />
2010, the Ministers for Education of the EU<br />
gathered and agreed on the importance of<br />
Sverker Ottosson, the<br />
political contact person<br />
in Sundsvall:<br />
“Being a political contact<br />
person gives you inspiration,<br />
and new perspectives<br />
on life and problem<br />
solving. In my opinion, the concept is spot<br />
on,” says Sverker Ottosson, municipal<br />
commissioner for the Swedish Green<br />
Party, and chairman of the Committee of<br />
Infrastructure and Service of the Municipal<br />
Council.<br />
The Eco-Schools programme ensures<br />
that at an early age, and in a playful way,<br />
children will learn about the environment<br />
and understand their own role in an ecological<br />
and social context.”<br />
“When you are in a decision-making<br />
position, it is important to have a bearing<br />
on reality, and to have those important<br />
contacts. As a political contact person I<br />
get to know what our children and youths<br />
find important and what they want to<br />
change, and what daily life is like.”<br />
sustainable development in schools, and that<br />
appropriate measures would be taken.<br />
In 2001, the EU environmental policy<br />
was launched. It states that EU politics<br />
and legislation must better reflect environmental<br />
and sustainability issues, the public<br />
shall be informed and included and environmental<br />
concern will be taken when<br />
planning for cities and development. The<br />
environmental policy divides environmental<br />
and sustainability questions in four different<br />
fields: Climate Change, Nature and Biodiversity,<br />
Environment and Health, and Natural<br />
Resources and Waste. The policy suggests actions<br />
such as developing a strategy for sustainable<br />
use of natural resources, increasing the<br />
efficiency in use of natural resources, improving<br />
systems of waste management etcetera. In<br />
the EU environmental policy, the EU suggests<br />
a broad consultation with the governments<br />
of the candidate countries about sustainable<br />
development, as well as a close cooperation<br />
with Non-Governmental Organizations and<br />
companies in these countries. Measures taken<br />
Rosa Lundmark, the<br />
political contact person<br />
in Vantör:<br />
“The concept of political<br />
contact persons within the<br />
Eco-Schools programme<br />
is special, because it<br />
is such a positive task. Usually, being a<br />
politician means that people often contact<br />
you when they are dissatisfied and want to<br />
complain about things. In that respect, this<br />
assignment is unique.”<br />
Those are the words of Rosa Lundmark,<br />
member of the board of the Left Party of<br />
Sweden in Vantör, and vice president of the<br />
City District Committee of Enskede-Årsta-<br />
Vantör in the City of Stockholm.<br />
“I see this as an honorary task in my work<br />
as a politician,” says Rosa.<br />
“It is good for schools and preschools to<br />
be in contact with the politicians. We have<br />
a big department with quite a distance between<br />
the officials and the people who really<br />
work out there on the floor. We get so many<br />
papers to plow through, and this is a way<br />
for me to meet the children and the teachers<br />
and see a whole new side of things.” a<br />
to ensure the implementation of the international<br />
environmental agreements are strongly<br />
encouraged.<br />
Grön Flagg (Green Flag) is the Swedish<br />
name for the Eco-Schools programme, and<br />
with the Eco-Schools programme you can bee<br />
awarded the Green Flag. Eco-Schools is run<br />
by the international organization Foundation<br />
for Environmental Education (FEE).<br />
Eco-Schools was initiated in 1992, and<br />
exists in more than 60 countries all<br />
over the world. The representatives<br />
of the different countries meet every<br />
year for knowledge exchange.<br />
There are also possibilities for the<br />
schools and preschools linked to<br />
Eco-Schools to benefit from other<br />
projects worldwide, as well as to<br />
participate in shared projects about<br />
different themes, such as Climate and Local<br />
surroundings. This shows that the work with<br />
the Eco-Schools programme, and with the<br />
Com-U project receives support at all levels,<br />
both nationally and internationally. a<br />
school and preschool/facts – the keep sweden tidy foundation 7
A Tool for National and<br />
International Objectives<br />
Working with the Eco-Schools programme, administrated in Sweden by the Keep Sweden<br />
Foundation, makes schools and preschools integrate sustainable development in their own<br />
activities and work with national and international environmental objectives.<br />
8 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/facts<br />
TEXT LISA ADELSKÖLD ILLUSTRATION MARIA GUSTAVSSON<br />
This is an example of how schools and preschools,<br />
working with the theme of consumption<br />
and how their work, within the Eco-<br />
Schools programme, can be linked to national<br />
and international environmental goals.
schools and preschools have an explicit<br />
assignment to contribute to a sustainable<br />
development. The assignment is expressed<br />
in steering documents such as the Education<br />
Act, the Curricula and Syllabi.<br />
Schools and preschools also have a part<br />
in the important work with the national environmental<br />
objectives. They set the course<br />
for the adaptations society needs to make<br />
in order to deal with the most important<br />
environmental problems.<br />
Since pollution does not stay within<br />
country borders, and many nature resources<br />
are shared, the EU environmental work<br />
has a key role in whether we are to achieve<br />
the Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives.<br />
Hence, simultaneously working to<br />
obtain objectives and environmental priorities<br />
of the EU environmental policy must<br />
also be prioritized.<br />
there is a lot going on at the same time,<br />
and it requires that headmasters and teachers<br />
coordinate and structure the work towards<br />
the objectives and guidelines. The<br />
work must also be carried out in a way that<br />
gives children and youth the possibility to<br />
actively participate.<br />
The Eco-Schools programme helps<br />
Foto: Emma Ingolf www.emmaingolf.se<br />
schools and preschools to integrate sustainable<br />
development in their own activities,<br />
and to work actively to achieve Swedish<br />
and international environmental objectives.<br />
In the Eco-Schools programme, schools<br />
and preschools work with six broad<br />
themes. The themes explicitly include both<br />
the EU environmental policy and the Swedish<br />
Environmental Quality Objectives.<br />
the eco-schools programme is based on a<br />
thematic way of working and involves the<br />
whole school or preschool, broad themes<br />
such as climate, energy and consumption<br />
and can be incorporated in all subjects.<br />
This interdisciplinary work implies a<br />
greater possibility to obtain the objectives<br />
of the curricula and the syllabi.<br />
To get an insight into the progressing<br />
work with environment and sustainability,<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation communicates<br />
on a daily basis with a great number<br />
of schools and preschools. During last year,<br />
when focus had been on implementing<br />
the new or modified curricula, we see that<br />
many sectors are using the Eco-Schools<br />
programme more actively in adjusting to<br />
the curricula, and in accounting for quality.<br />
The EU environmental policy also fo-<br />
cuses on making it easier for the citizens<br />
to be more environmentally friendly. However,<br />
being aware of the objectives and<br />
guidelines is not enough. Turning knowledge<br />
into practical actions requires action<br />
competence. Knowledge combined with<br />
personal motivation and possibility to influence<br />
and to act leads to increased action<br />
competence.<br />
The Eco-Schools programme creates<br />
competence to act through an action orientated<br />
working method, in which it is central<br />
that youth and children participate, and<br />
have a possibility to influence the work.<br />
Schools and preschools are encouraged to<br />
work concretely with the process. Hence,<br />
the Eco-Schools programme contributes to<br />
schools and preschools being a part of the<br />
solution, and to the implementation of the<br />
Swedish environmental objectives, and the<br />
EU environmental policy.<br />
the keep sweden tidy foundation believes<br />
that children and youth, with positive experiences<br />
from environmental and sustainability<br />
work, will be inclined to take on the<br />
important questions about the future with<br />
a spirit of optimism and self-esteem. a<br />
school and preschool/facts – the keep sweden tidy foundation 9
The Cooperation with<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy<br />
Foundation a Success<br />
In 2010, the Municipality of Jönköping learnt through user surveys<br />
addressing parents with children attending school or preschool,<br />
that there was a wish for a more explicit environmental work.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
“therefore, the politicians decided to<br />
focus even more on the environmental<br />
issue. We chose to be a part of the Com-U<br />
project with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
to achieve the environmental objectives of<br />
the community, since it is a reliable tool<br />
which also feels meaningful to work with<br />
both for teachers, children and students,”<br />
says Lars Öster, Traffic and Environmental<br />
coordinator at the board of education<br />
in the Municipality of Jönköping.<br />
in order to work efficiently with the<br />
municipal environmental objectives from<br />
preschool to upper secondary school, the<br />
Municipality of Jönköping realized they<br />
needed to think creatively and cooperate<br />
with other actors. They therefore chose to<br />
organize the environmental work centrally,<br />
with an official acting as a coordinator.<br />
“I started by scanning the market for<br />
appropriate partners. Now we are working<br />
with the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation,<br />
the School of Education and Communication,<br />
and the Environmental Office<br />
in Jönköping.”<br />
The first goal is to double the number of<br />
units certified by Eco-Schools, from 10 to<br />
20 between 2010 and 2013, but already<br />
they have gone from 10 to 27.<br />
“It would surprise me if we don’t have<br />
more than 30 before 2013, and exceed the<br />
goal with 100 percent,” says Lars Öster.<br />
To reach the objects of the Com-U project,<br />
to give the next generation knowl-<br />
10 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
edge, tools and courage to deal with the<br />
big future questions regarding the environment,<br />
the Foundation has provided<br />
educational courses for free. How has that<br />
influenced the Municipality of Jönköping?<br />
“A great deal. It has been a generous<br />
offer from the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation,<br />
through the EU fund Life+. We<br />
have not experienced any limitations. The<br />
Foundation has come to us with study<br />
material and dedicated lecturers. It goes<br />
without saying, it is a success factor not<br />
having a brake, being able to focus only<br />
on the accelerator.”<br />
for preschools and schools in the Municipality<br />
of Jönköping, the work with<br />
the Com-U project has been somewhat<br />
easier than in other municipalities. Lars<br />
Öster has been the contact person both<br />
for preschools, schools, the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation and for the School of<br />
Education and Communication.<br />
“All contacts go through me. I make<br />
all the practical arrangements, and piece<br />
together the entirety, so all others involved<br />
can focus on their own part. It means that<br />
all the actors we work with feel extra safe.<br />
They know that the official in the municipality<br />
manages the contacts with the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation, and when it is<br />
time for further education, everything is<br />
signed, sealed and delivered. I myself have<br />
felt good support from the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation, as they have been a<br />
corner stone for making things work<br />
this well. So far, around 250 teachers in<br />
Jönköping have participated in the Com-<br />
U project managed by the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation at the School of Education<br />
and Communication.”<br />
What is your advice on how to speed up<br />
the work with the environmental objectives<br />
in other municipalities?<br />
“Jönköping went in for this from a user<br />
perspective. It is not a political invention. By<br />
having a smart organization and by choosing<br />
the right partners, we have given environmental<br />
issues a real boost in the municipality.<br />
We have increased the compliance of<br />
the environmental objectives, and we have<br />
been better at satisfying the requests of the<br />
citizens of the municipality.” a<br />
Facts<br />
Name: Lars Öster<br />
Occupation: Traffic and Environmental<br />
coordinator, coordinator<br />
of the Eco-Schools programme in<br />
the Municipality of Jönköping.<br />
Lives: In Huskvarna.
“I started by scanning the<br />
market for appropriate<br />
partners. Now we work<br />
with the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation.”<br />
lars öster, traffic and environmental coordinator<br />
in the municipality of jönköping<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 11
Things that are<br />
Already Being Done<br />
In Sundsvall, the teachers are the ones who have gotten the work with the Eco-Schools<br />
programme going in schools and preschools. There is a great commitment to the Eco-<br />
Schools programme, and to sustainability issues, even though the Childcare and Education<br />
Department has not pursued the issue in the municipality. Many of the teachers have been<br />
inspired and educated by the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation within the frames of the Com-U<br />
project.<br />
TEXT PETRA HOLGERSSON PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
12 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
In the industrial city of Sundsvall, it was<br />
not that long ago that the morning fog<br />
was filled with pollution. The city has a<br />
long tradition of heavy industry, and in<br />
later years it has worked hard with ecological<br />
adaption of the activities. However,<br />
the municipality has not chosen to<br />
promote the Eco-Schools programme, or<br />
any other environmental award, in its<br />
schools or preschools.<br />
Still, this has not stopped environmental<br />
commitment from flaring up in the<br />
schools and preschools of the municipality.<br />
A lot of people from the new generation<br />
of the Sundsvall citizens are now<br />
learning plenty about environmental issues,<br />
and are themselves working with<br />
issues regarding environmental cycles,<br />
water, and maintenance of the local surroundings.<br />
There is no doubt that the<br />
children are participatory. At least not in<br />
the two preschools managed by Agneta<br />
Stenmark.<br />
“I was attending a EU environmental<br />
policy course held by the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation in Gävle, when I suddenly<br />
realized something,” says Agneta.<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation spoke<br />
about our resources being limited – that<br />
we can’t just keep on taking from nature,<br />
and that there is only one globe. That<br />
went straight into my heart.”<br />
now the work with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
is in full swing on both of Agnetas<br />
preschools. On the preschool Rönn-
acken, the Green Flag has been waving<br />
since 2010, and at the preschool Humlan,<br />
the action plan for the Eco-Schools programme<br />
has just been approved.<br />
“We have noticed that there is a huge<br />
craving for a project like this with education<br />
and inspirational meetings in the preschools<br />
in Sundsvall,” says Agneta. Our<br />
first educational meeting here in Sundsvall<br />
gathered 31 teachers, and in the last<br />
few years, several hundreds have attended<br />
courses.”<br />
Agneta has a great commitment, and she<br />
is passionate about environment issues,<br />
and for all children’s right to participate.<br />
However, she emphasizes that a lot of what<br />
is demanded in the Eco-Schools program<br />
are things that the preschools are already<br />
working with. A big KRAV-sign crowns the<br />
entrance door of the preschool Humlan,<br />
and the children are served KRAV-food<br />
every day (KRAV is a Swedish association<br />
that develops organic standards, and promotes<br />
the KRAV-label for products living<br />
up to the standards.)<br />
Agneta has created a small library for<br />
all children and parents, where you simply<br />
pick out your book, put it in a homemade<br />
tote bag, and make a note in a small notebook<br />
of what you have borrowed. This<br />
way all children can have a bedtime story<br />
at home. These are two examples of activities<br />
that fit perfectly within the Eco-Schools<br />
programme – activities that already exist<br />
at the preschool.<br />
“It is not tricky or difficult at all to work<br />
with the Eco-Schools programme,” Agneta<br />
says. “We started with the activities we already<br />
have, and it has been moving along<br />
from there by itself. We are very proud of<br />
our preschools.”<br />
but why has the municipality not pursued<br />
the issue, when there is obviously such great<br />
interest among the schools and preschools?<br />
“I’m not really sure,” says Lars Karlstrand,<br />
former Head of Compulsory School<br />
in the North district, and now, among other<br />
things, responsible for the Student Health<br />
Service on the Education Department.<br />
“We who work at the Childcare and<br />
Education Department have never really<br />
owned the environmental issue. It has never<br />
asserted itself among us. Maybe it’s because<br />
we who work within the department have<br />
been forced to focus on other issues.” a<br />
PHOTO: PETRA HOLGERSSON<br />
A lot of work within the Eco-Schools programme is things that we are already doing at<br />
the preschool,” says Ingrid Nordling, teacher at the preschool Rönnbacken in Sundsvall.<br />
Ingrid Inspires Others to Start Working<br />
with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
The Eco-Schools programme<br />
takes up a lot of things that we are<br />
already doing at the preschool. For<br />
me, personally, the tool has meant a<br />
greater consciousness of environmental<br />
issues, which in fact is also true for<br />
the whole work group of the preschool.<br />
It is pretty awesome when you<br />
think about it, that the little we do can<br />
have such great influence. Those are<br />
the words of Ingrid Nordling, teacher<br />
at the preschool Rönnbacken, who<br />
also lectures about the Eco-Schools<br />
programme on other preschools in the<br />
municipality.<br />
Ingrid learnt about the Com-U<br />
project through the neighboring school<br />
Kyrkskolan F–3. Their work inspired<br />
her and her colleagues.<br />
“We thought that we wanted a green<br />
flag like that too,” Ingrid says. “So we<br />
started doing some research, and applied<br />
to the Eco-Schools programme<br />
on the web, and got the work going. It<br />
was a lot of fun, but looking back, the<br />
ambition of the teachers was far too<br />
high, they were speeding to fast.”<br />
An advice from Ingrid is to start from<br />
where you are at present.<br />
“Choose a theme that fits the situation<br />
you are in. We were far too ambitious<br />
in the beginning and wanted to<br />
do so much, but now we have calmed<br />
down and adjusted to the children and<br />
to our situation.”<br />
Ingrid and her colleagues found the<br />
Com-U project and the offer about<br />
inspirational meetings on the web, and<br />
after the meetings, Ingrid herself has<br />
started inspiring other preschools.<br />
“I think it is good if someone who is<br />
also out on the field informs about the<br />
Eco-Schools programme. A teacher<br />
explaining that it is not complicated at<br />
all. In fact it’s about things we already<br />
do, just in a little more structured way.<br />
That is very appreciated!”<br />
For Rönnbacken, the Eco-Schools<br />
programme has also led to new yearly<br />
traditions. In spring, we have an environmental<br />
week with a litter theme,<br />
and in the autumn we have a harvest<br />
home,” Ingrid says. It is so inspiring<br />
to contribute to making children,<br />
teachers, staff and parents more aware<br />
of our environment. a<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 13
“It was not very difficult to<br />
join the Eco-Schools programme.<br />
Everyone in the staff<br />
understands what we need<br />
to do, so now everybody is<br />
trying to contribute,” says<br />
Vivi-Anne Granlund, teacher<br />
at Härnevi Preschool outside<br />
of Enköping.<br />
14 the håll keep sverige sweden rent tidy – skola foundation and förskola/inspiration<br />
– school and preschool/inspiration<br />
Facts/Härnevi<br />
Preschool<br />
Location: Härnevi<br />
Municipality: The Municipality<br />
of Enköping<br />
Number of children/pupils: 20 in<br />
the preschool, and 8 in the afterschool<br />
center<br />
Number of years with Eco-Schools: 1
The Eco-Schools<br />
Programme<br />
Complementing Preschools Own Goals<br />
On the plains, just over ten kilometers north of Enköping, in the old Society House between<br />
the fields and the forest, is where Härnevi Preschool is located.<br />
“We have such great environment here – for free. It is so nice. We have to show how to<br />
take good care of what we have around us,” says the teacher Vivi-Anne Granlund.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
härnevi preschool started working<br />
with Eco-Schools theme of Lifestyles and<br />
Health one year ago.<br />
“Through the Com-U project the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation offered a free<br />
EU environmental policy course. It turned<br />
out not to be difficult at all. We were<br />
afraid it would mean extra work, but as<br />
it turned out, it was not that difficult to<br />
write this kind of report,” says Vivi-Anne<br />
Granlund.<br />
The Eco-Schools programme report<br />
complemented the goal documents that<br />
the preschools were already working<br />
with. The revised curriculum is also easy<br />
to integrate with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
documentation.<br />
even though härnevi preschool has only<br />
worked with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
for one year, there was already a strong<br />
environmental commitment at the preschool.<br />
“The Eco-Schools programme has not<br />
implied such a big difference for the way<br />
we work with the children. The big difference<br />
is the way we think and talk about<br />
what we are doing, and that we keep better<br />
records of it. We are more aware of<br />
how and why we do what we do. One<br />
of the objectives of the theme Lifestyles<br />
and health is outdoor activities that promote<br />
physical activity. At the Preschool,<br />
they already had a lot of physical activity<br />
outdoors, but with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
in mind, they have become more<br />
aware of what they do and why.”<br />
“Children need a lot of outdoor physi-<br />
cal activity. They have to build up their<br />
bodies to be able to sit still in school later.<br />
It pushes you a little, having to reflect<br />
‘What are we thinking now then?’. With<br />
the Eco-Schools programme, everything<br />
comes together,” says Vivi-Anne Granlund.<br />
She sees many benefits from spending a<br />
lot of time outdoors with the child group.<br />
The spirit of the group improves by outdoor<br />
activities. There are fewer conflicts<br />
when the children have more space.<br />
“The afternoon is a lot calmer if we<br />
have spent the morning outdoors,” says<br />
Vivi-Anne Granlund.<br />
A concrete difference since start of the<br />
work with the theme Lifestyles and health,<br />
within the Eco-Schools programme, is<br />
that the preschool tries to take care of<br />
all catering waste they produce, since<br />
they want to teach the children a healthy<br />
lifestyle.<br />
“We collect the waste under the sink,<br />
and the children helps out filling the compost<br />
bin out on the yard. We have had a<br />
see-through compost container too, so<br />
the children could see clearly what the<br />
worms fed from,” says Vivi-Anne Granlund.<br />
They will use the soil they produce<br />
in the sowing containers by the swings,<br />
where they cultivate tomatoes, squash,<br />
flowers and parsley.<br />
“This spring we will not have to buy<br />
soil, the children will have made their<br />
own,” says Vivi-Anne Granlund. a<br />
Theme/Lifestyles<br />
and health<br />
Among other things, the schools<br />
are working with: eating habits,<br />
physical activity and relaxation,<br />
indoor environment, friendship.<br />
Through their work schools and<br />
preschools help obtaining: The<br />
Swedish Environmental Quality<br />
Goals: A Good Built Environment,<br />
A Non-Toxic Environment,<br />
A Safe Radiation Environment,<br />
Clean Air.<br />
The EU environmental policy:<br />
Environment and Health, Natural<br />
Resources and Waste<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 15
Com-U Course Speeded up Work with<br />
the Eco-Schools Programme<br />
One year ago, when the staff at the preschool Enbacken decided to go in for the Eco-<br />
Schools programme, they invited an educator from the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation for an<br />
EU environmental policy course within the Com-U project. That was the starting point, and<br />
from that evening on, all the teachers were highly motivated.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
16 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration
Facts / Enbacken<br />
Preschool<br />
Fakta/Enbackens<br />
Location: Edvalla<br />
Municipality: förskolathe<br />
Municipality<br />
of Tierp<br />
Number of children/pupils: 24.<br />
Number of years with Eco-<br />
Schools: 1<br />
“once we got started with the Eco-<br />
Schools programme that was it, everything<br />
else had to fit into that,” says team<br />
leader Carina Ederyd.<br />
To carry out the theme as efficiently as<br />
possible, all other objectives regarding for<br />
instance languages, mathematics, motoric<br />
skills and physical movement, were linked<br />
together with the the Eco-Schools programme.<br />
“Going in for the Eco-Schools programme<br />
was a common decision and all<br />
of us have been educated by the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation. One of the<br />
main reasons why we prioritize working<br />
with nature and environment, as we do<br />
in the Eco-Schools programme, is that it<br />
reflects the objectives and guidelines in<br />
the revised curriculum. Working actively<br />
with the different themes within the Eco-<br />
Schools programme allows us to work<br />
more explicitly towards the objectives regarding<br />
natural sciences, technology and<br />
the environment,” says preschool teacher<br />
Cecilia Jacobsson.<br />
the teachers have received a lot of help<br />
by teaching material from both the World<br />
Wide Fund for Nature and the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation. Especially the<br />
Lightning Patrol material has been much<br />
appreciated by the children. (Read more<br />
about the Lightning Patrol on page 26.)<br />
“The children have become the Lightning<br />
Patrol themselves. It is exciting to be<br />
part of a secret environmental club that<br />
goes out looking for litter,” says Cecilia<br />
Jacobsson.<br />
“We already had this interest for nature<br />
and for the environment, but through<br />
the Com-U project we have become more<br />
eco-conscious, and it rubs off on the children.<br />
They are very engaged, and they also<br />
teach each other things they have learnt<br />
at home,” says Cecilia Jacobsson.<br />
Today the preschool class gathers round<br />
the fireplace out by Eneboa, the shelter<br />
right at the edge of the forest on the large<br />
outdoor yard of the Enbacken Preschool.<br />
“What happens with the earth if there<br />
is too much pollution?” Cecilia Jacobsson<br />
asks.<br />
“It will have a fever!” the children call<br />
back.<br />
It’s time for the Eco-Schools gathering,<br />
and the five year olds are going to make<br />
an experiment within the theme Energy<br />
and climate. They are going to pour salt<br />
on big blocks of ice, in order to simulate<br />
global warming. The water from the melting<br />
ice is colored red to make it easier<br />
to see.<br />
“It’s breaking! Now the polar bears will<br />
drown!” the children cry after a while.<br />
“The Preschool magazine had a theme<br />
issue on sustainable development, and<br />
there was a story in it that made us realize<br />
that we can work with the Climate<br />
and energy theme also with the younger<br />
children,” says Carina Ederyd.<br />
According to her, Eco-Schools is also a<br />
good tool for teaching the children basic<br />
democratic values.<br />
“We must teach them that there is<br />
hope for the future and that all people<br />
can make a difference, no matter what<br />
age they are.”<br />
By concretely trying, discovering and<br />
doing different things, the Eco-Schools<br />
programme improves the action competence<br />
of the children. When they have<br />
tried something at the preschool, they<br />
want to do the same thing at home. Furthermore,<br />
the wish and the knowledge to<br />
change things do not go away.<br />
“The children turn into Environmental<br />
Police Officers at home, it can almost be<br />
a bit tiresome. But the children really do<br />
influence their parents, I find that pretty<br />
awesome,” says Cecilia Jacobsson. a<br />
Theme/ Climate<br />
and energy<br />
Tema/Klimat<br />
and energi<br />
The schools work with, for example:<br />
global warming, energy<br />
sources, energy efficiency, transports.<br />
Through their work, the schools<br />
and preschools help obtaining:<br />
the Swedish Environmental Quality<br />
Objectives: Reduced Climate<br />
Impact, A Good Built Environment,<br />
Clean Air, A Magnificent<br />
Mountain Landscape, Natural<br />
Acidification Only.<br />
The EU environmental policy:<br />
Climate change, Nature and<br />
biodiversity, Natural resources<br />
and waste.<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 17
Eco-Schools<br />
Programme<br />
Makes Environmental<br />
Objectives Concrete<br />
this year’s theme, Water resources, will<br />
teach the children about the properties<br />
of water and the water cycle and about<br />
some of the animals and plants down<br />
by the swimming lake. The theme begun<br />
with various experiments through<br />
Theme/Water resources<br />
The schools work with, for example: properties of water and the water cycle,<br />
animals and plants, global water issues.<br />
Through their work, the schools and preschools help obtaining: the Swedish<br />
Environmental Quality Objectives: Good-Quality Groundwater, A Balanced<br />
Marine Environment, Flourishing Lakes and Streams, Thriving Wetlands.<br />
EU environmental policy: Nature and biodiversity, Environment and health.<br />
18 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
which the children were to learn more<br />
about the properties of water.<br />
“Experiments are fun; it’s different<br />
from ordinary classes. We work more<br />
in small groups and the teacher doesn’t<br />
lecture as much,” says twelve year old<br />
For ten years, the Green<br />
Flag has fluttered outside the<br />
Arentorp School in Vara.<br />
“The Eco Schools programme<br />
helps us to concretize the<br />
environmental objectives,<br />
but now we have been doing<br />
this for so long that we have<br />
learnt a way of thinking,” says<br />
Camilla Lundmark, teacher at<br />
the Arentorp School.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
Clara Johansson.<br />
The older pupils also arranged an Environmental<br />
Field Day for the younger<br />
ones. One of the activities was to melt<br />
an ice cube as fast as possible.<br />
“Some put it under one arm and some<br />
Facts/Arentorp<br />
School<br />
Location: Arentorp<br />
Municipality: the Municipality of<br />
Vara<br />
Number of children/pupils: 130<br />
pupils, age 6-12<br />
Number of years with Eco Schools: 10
put it in their mouth. The ones who put<br />
it in their mouths won, but it did get<br />
a bit cold!” says twelve year old Alma<br />
Engblad.<br />
For a long time, the teachers at the<br />
school had wanted to work more specifically<br />
with environmental questions.<br />
The only problem was to find a way<br />
to break down statements such as “We<br />
will take care of the environment” into<br />
concrete objectives that they would be<br />
able to communicate to the pupils.”<br />
“We did not know how to begin. We<br />
had ideas about what we wanted to do,<br />
but we found it difficult to tie it together<br />
in a good way,” says Camilla Lundmark.<br />
A colleague of hers found the Eco<br />
Schools programme on the web.<br />
“The Eco-Schools programme was<br />
perfect for us; it was exactly what we<br />
were looking for. It had specific goals<br />
to work with,” says Camilla Lundmark.<br />
the arentorp school has worked with<br />
the Eco-Schools programme for ten years.<br />
Every year, when it’s time to choose a<br />
new theme, a couple of pupils from the<br />
Environmental Council, together with<br />
Camilla Lundmark, consult the webpage<br />
of the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation to<br />
get suggestions and ideas about how to<br />
work with each theme. Later, they will<br />
present different suggestions to teachers<br />
and pupils in the combined Environmental<br />
and Student Council, who will make<br />
a decision.<br />
Before starting to work with the theme,<br />
the school sends an action plan to be approved<br />
by the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation.<br />
“Then they usually come up with<br />
thoughts and ideas on how to develop it<br />
further. The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation<br />
also comments on the final report,<br />
giving us good advice and ideas of how<br />
to go about it next time.”<br />
Ten years of working with the Eco-<br />
Schools programme has changed the way<br />
that the teachers at the school think.<br />
“The Eco-Schools programme helps us<br />
to concretize the environmental objectives,<br />
but now we have But we have done this<br />
so many times so we have created a way<br />
of thinking.”<br />
According to Camilla, the most demanding<br />
part of the Eco Schools work<br />
is the documentation. However, working<br />
with the Eco-Schools programme does not<br />
Safety in School – an Impetus<br />
Anna-Karin Karlsson is devoted to<br />
increasing the feeling of safety at the<br />
school.<br />
“I love working with basic values. I<br />
want the children to feel good inside.<br />
They should not have to feel insecure<br />
and unsafe when they are at school.”<br />
During a re-organization in 2009,<br />
the Arentorp School introduced daily<br />
EQ-hours within the mentor groups.<br />
That means that every day they will<br />
talk about things that have happened<br />
and about how to behave among each<br />
other. Anna-Karin Karlsson works as a<br />
leisure time pedagogue. She is also a<br />
member of the School Safety Team and<br />
has coordinated all the work with basic<br />
values on the school.<br />
“When there is a dialogue about<br />
things that happen and about the way<br />
we treat each other, the children feel safer<br />
and are able to focus on the school<br />
work the rest of the time. It is hard to<br />
learn something if your head is full of<br />
worries,” says Anna-Karin Karlsson.<br />
The Arentorp School won first prize<br />
in a competition arranged by the Keep<br />
Sweden Tidy Foundation and Länsförsäkringar<br />
within the Com-U project<br />
“We care”. The school won partly<br />
because of its well considered cooperation<br />
between parents, children and staff<br />
but also for its work regarding safe and<br />
unsafe places on the school grounds.<br />
Four times a year, the children answer<br />
a survey about where they feel unsafe<br />
in the school building and on the school<br />
grounds. The survey includes a map<br />
where the pupils mark the places they<br />
perceive as unsafe with a cross. The<br />
result is then displayed on a Styrofoam<br />
model of the school.<br />
“How did you come up with that<br />
idea?”<br />
“I was thinking that there must be a<br />
way for school prefects and monitors to<br />
know where the children don’t feel safe<br />
at the school grounds, so they can keep<br />
increase the general workload for her and<br />
her colleagues.<br />
“A lot of the work that we put in to the<br />
documentation within Eco-Schools can be<br />
an extra eye there. It was really easy to<br />
make the model; I just used the fire protection<br />
plan as a base. We have used it<br />
for many years now.”<br />
However, the work with safe and<br />
unsafe places does not end with putting<br />
needles on a Styrofoam model. In a<br />
survey last year, all of<br />
a sudden there were<br />
eleven marks by a<br />
copse of trees on the<br />
school yard.<br />
“We do the survey to<br />
bring problems to the<br />
surface, and then we<br />
must go on and solve<br />
them. By the copse, Name: Annawe<br />
kept some logs that Karin Karlsson<br />
Age: 37 years<br />
were used for building<br />
Lives: Arentorp<br />
little houses. The chil- Family: Yes,<br />
dren often fell out over husband and<br />
them, and many bad two daughters.<br />
things aroused from Best advice on<br />
how to create<br />
that,” says Anna-Karin<br />
a safe school:<br />
Karlsson.<br />
Simply, to care.<br />
The logs were<br />
removed, and the situation was also<br />
discussed in the mentor groups. In the<br />
next survey, the result showed.<br />
“All the eleven crosses were gone.<br />
There was simply no one feeling unsafe<br />
there anymore. The children should feel<br />
good and safe when they are here; we<br />
always have to be here for them and<br />
always do what we can.”<br />
“What motivates you to do that bit<br />
extra every day?”<br />
“I like this communication with the<br />
children, what is going on in their heads<br />
at these ages; the social interaction, to<br />
be able to work with that. It’s exciting.”<br />
“What would happen if you would<br />
stop working like this?”<br />
“We have to talk about how we treat<br />
each other and be reminded of it every<br />
day. I have worked at this school for 15<br />
years, and I have never dared to try not<br />
working like this.” a<br />
copied directly into our Quality Report.<br />
We can also use part of it in our Equal<br />
Treatment Plan. So they are texts we need<br />
to write anyway.” a<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 19
Litter Transformed into<br />
At the preschool Äppelgården,<br />
the children have transformed<br />
waste from their homes into a<br />
mobile city with its own recycling<br />
station – and into waste art.<br />
Tonight it is the opening of the<br />
exhibition.<br />
“Since we just started working<br />
with the Eco-Schools programme,<br />
it is especially important to<br />
display the work,” says Monika<br />
Bloomberg, teacher at the preschool<br />
Äppelgården, located in<br />
Vaxholm, in the archipelago of<br />
Stockholm.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO OLA JACOBSEN<br />
the minimal outdoor yard, that is, the<br />
space between the preschool building<br />
and a rock-face, made it easy for Äppelgården<br />
Preschool to choose the first the<br />
Eco-Schools theme: Local surroundings.<br />
“Since we have such a small yard, the<br />
local surroundings are a great resource,”<br />
says Monika Bloomberg.<br />
They have recently pursued the first<br />
objective, waste management, and part<br />
of the result is being displayed at the exhibition.<br />
On the combined opening night<br />
and parent-teacher meeting, the preschool<br />
is packed with parents and siblings.<br />
what is being displayed started with an<br />
idea of making a city out of waste. The<br />
children were encouraged to bring waste<br />
from home. Everyone participated, the<br />
older children made the houses and the<br />
city’s waste station while the youngest<br />
made trees out of play-dough and ice<br />
cream sticks.<br />
“It is important that the youngest children<br />
also participate. Everyone should be<br />
included and involved in the work with<br />
the eco-schools programme on their individual<br />
level. You can create something<br />
useful out of waste. It’s all about making<br />
20 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
Facts/Äppelgården<br />
Preschool<br />
Location: Vaxholm<br />
Municipality: the Municipality<br />
of Vaxholm<br />
Number of children/pupils: 36<br />
Number of years with Eco-<br />
Schools: 1<br />
the children aware that you can reuse<br />
things, you don’t have to throw everything<br />
away,” says Monika Bloomberg.<br />
The waste city is mobile; you can take it<br />
apart and rebuild it to play with it somewhere<br />
else. However, when the city was<br />
finished there was still plenty of waste left,<br />
and that is how the idea of the waste art<br />
was born. Glitter and spangles were used<br />
to decorate the not so nice looking waste<br />
and to turn it into the magnificent art that<br />
now adorns the walls of Äppelgården.<br />
the work with the eco-schools programme<br />
started with an eu environmental<br />
policy course at the preschool, arranged<br />
by the keep sweden tidy foundation within<br />
the frames of the COM-U project. Since<br />
then, Monika Bloomberg has stayed in<br />
touch with the educator.<br />
“I think it can be what you make of<br />
it yourself. If you get in touch with the<br />
foundation you will get feedback. I feel i<br />
can call them at any time and ask questions<br />
when i need to. Next year we will<br />
hopefully get our flag, but we will have
Waste Art<br />
to keep up the work in order to keep the<br />
certification.”<br />
Äppelgården preschool is one of the last<br />
in the municipality to join the eco-schools<br />
programme.<br />
“There is so much happening on planet<br />
earth. It is important to start working already<br />
with the youngest children, to let<br />
it be important to them from the start.<br />
To me, it’s a very meaningful job,” says<br />
Monika Bloomberg.<br />
one way to display the work with the ecoschools<br />
programme, and also to involve<br />
the parents, has been to circulate the little<br />
teddy bear miljömulle (miljö is the swedish<br />
word for environment). The children<br />
bring him home along with a notebook,<br />
in which the parents are supposed to<br />
write about the environmental attitude<br />
they have at home; if they separate waste,<br />
turn off the lights and the tv.<br />
“Later on, when we gather the children,<br />
they have used the book to explain to<br />
each other how they do things at home.<br />
Theme/<br />
Local surroundings<br />
The schools work with, for example:<br />
littering, housing, nature<br />
in the local surroundings, Right of<br />
Public Access.<br />
Through their work, the schools<br />
and preschools help obtaining: the<br />
Swedish Environmental Quality<br />
Objectives: A Good Built Environment,<br />
A Non-Toxic Environment,<br />
Sustainable Forests, Flourishing<br />
Lakes and Streams.<br />
EU environmental policy: Nature<br />
and biodiversity, Environment and<br />
health, Natural resources and waste.<br />
“There is so much happening<br />
on planet earth.<br />
It is important to start<br />
working already with<br />
the youngest children”<br />
monika bloomberg, teacher at äppelgården<br />
preschool in vaxholm<br />
Since the preschool started working with<br />
the Eco-Schools programme, many parents<br />
relate that they have been told what<br />
to do – and what not to do – with the<br />
household waste.<br />
“The work with the Eco-Schools programme<br />
creates circles on the water,<br />
for both children and grownups. The<br />
children carry along an awareness that<br />
spreads to the parents.” a<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 21
Eleven Years with<br />
Eco-Schools<br />
Frans Suell Upper Secondary School is on its eleventh<br />
year working with the Eco-Schools Programme. The latest<br />
theme was Consumption – a theme that engaged a lot of<br />
students. Among other things, they arranged a big swapping<br />
day at their school.<br />
TEXT PETRA HOLGERSSON PHOTO HÅKAN EKBERG<br />
the trademarks of the Frans Suell Upper<br />
Secondary School are handicraft, entrepreneurship<br />
and service. There are a<br />
number of vocational educations, such<br />
as the Food Program and the Hotel and<br />
Restaurant Program. Olle Bredin, contact<br />
person for the Eco-Schools programme,<br />
works at the Restaurant Program.<br />
“we work every day with the environmental<br />
aspects of the education,” says Olle. It<br />
becomes very concrete in the restaurant<br />
cuisine, which ranges from delicacies over<br />
take-away and classical restaurant food<br />
to large scale kitchen where we cook for<br />
1.300 students every day. At the moment,<br />
we are for example working a lot to both<br />
reduce the waste and to increase the share<br />
of KRAV- labeled ingredients we use for<br />
cooking. (KRAV is a Swedish association<br />
that develops organic standards, and promotes<br />
the KRAV-label for products living<br />
up to the standards.)<br />
During last year’s theme, Consumption,<br />
the school managed to increase the share<br />
of ecologically and locally produced products<br />
they purchased from 6 to 18 percent<br />
and the school will strive to further increase<br />
the percentage.<br />
22 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
“We have, among other things, changed<br />
our purchase system, making it easier to<br />
order ecological products,” says Olle.<br />
So hopefully we will reach beyond the<br />
goal of the City of Malmö, namely that<br />
ecological products should constitute 22<br />
percent of the purchases.<br />
It is not always easy to get students this<br />
age committed. Lots of other things attract<br />
their attention. However, the theme<br />
Consumption has been easy to communicate.<br />
Last year, for example, the students<br />
arranged a big swapping day on<br />
which huge amounts of clothes exchanged<br />
owners. Also, students from the Textile<br />
Program have been very interested in the<br />
effects of using palm oil. Their teachers<br />
had attended a lecture held by Swedish<br />
nature photographer Mattias Klum, and<br />
passing on the information about the issue<br />
to the students, the students’ interest<br />
was aroused.<br />
the environmental council then tried to<br />
arrange for Mattias Klum to lecture at the<br />
school, but did not succeed. Instead, that<br />
led to the school establishing a contact<br />
with Malmö Museum – a contact that in<br />
its turn has led to a future cooperation<br />
Theme/<br />
Consumption<br />
The schools work with for<br />
example: production and<br />
transport, reuse, advertising,<br />
ECO-labels<br />
Through their work, the<br />
schools and preschools help<br />
obtaining: the Swedish<br />
Environmental Quality<br />
Objectives: Reduced Climate<br />
Impact, A Non-Toxic<br />
Environment, A Varied<br />
Agricultural Landscape,<br />
Zero Eutrophication, A<br />
Good Built Environment.<br />
EU environmental policy:<br />
Climate change, Nature<br />
and biodiversity, Environment<br />
and health, Natural<br />
resources and waste.<br />
between the school and Malmö Museum<br />
around different environmental themes.<br />
“We have been thinking about maybe<br />
having Water resources as our next theme,”<br />
says Olle. If so, we have discussed with the<br />
museum that they can bring the students to<br />
a number of showings and then the students,<br />
together with the museum pedagogues, can<br />
create an exhibition on the theme.
The students prepare<br />
meals for 1.300 guests<br />
every day.<br />
“Among other things, we have<br />
changed our purchase system, making<br />
it easier to order ecological<br />
products.”<br />
olle bredin, contact person for the eco-schools programme, the<br />
restaurant programme, frans suell upper secondary school.<br />
However, it is not decided whether Water<br />
resources will be the next theme. In<br />
the true spirit of Eco-Schools, the whole<br />
school elects the theme together, which<br />
means that one or two representatives<br />
from each class, along with the Environmental<br />
Council, will elect the theme on a<br />
big meeting.<br />
“We will have to book the lecture hall<br />
when it’s time for the election,” says Olle.<br />
After eleven years with the Eco-Schools<br />
programme, the school has good working<br />
routines, but to Olle, the Keep Sweden<br />
Tidy Foundation’s website within the<br />
Com-U project still is a great help to get<br />
inspiration and ideas regarding the work.<br />
“It gets a lot easier to go to the website<br />
and check what others have done – it’s a<br />
great help,” says Olle.<br />
the educations within the Com-U project<br />
that the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation<br />
has provided, has also helped the school<br />
to proceed with their work.<br />
The school has received a lot of attention<br />
for its sustainability work, for example;<br />
the school has been awarded with<br />
the Valfrid Paulsson Environmental Prize,<br />
the Edberg Environmental Prize, and the<br />
environmental prize of the Department<br />
of education.<br />
The school has also welcomed guests<br />
from far way away, for example from<br />
China, that have come to study their sustainability<br />
work.<br />
“We are of course thrilled to get attention<br />
for what we are doing,” says Olle.<br />
“We are proud of our work and our<br />
school, and we are convinced that our<br />
genuine work with sustainability at the<br />
school also attracts students to our programmes.”<br />
a<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 23
Composting<br />
It is a sunny day, and the garden plots are thriving outside of the school Pilgrimsskolan in<br />
Aspudden in the south of Stockholm. Some of the pupils are picking weeds in the plots at<br />
the front yard, and there is a frantic activity in the corner where the compost bins are.<br />
TEXT AND PHOTO KATARINA HELLBERG<br />
the pupils help each other to scrape today’s<br />
food waste down the bins. Macaroni,<br />
sandwiches, pieces of fish and a few<br />
potatoes go into the bin.<br />
“I find the compost disgusting, but exciting<br />
too,” says Masha. “It’s cool, because<br />
I have never seen the inside of compost<br />
before. There are insects in it.”<br />
This semester’s last meeting of the<br />
Eco-Committee has just finished and the<br />
participants have gathered around the<br />
compost bins at the yard. During the past<br />
school year, a representative from each<br />
class and two teachers have held meetings<br />
more or less once a month.<br />
One of the goals within their work with<br />
the Eco-Schools programme has been<br />
to look at the composting and find out<br />
how much food waste there is left from<br />
lunch and afternoon snack. Scales were<br />
acquired and the class representatives of<br />
the Environmental Council taught their<br />
classmates how to weigh.<br />
“what’s really the point with weighing<br />
food waste?” physical education teacher<br />
Susanne Ebers asks.<br />
“To see how much we throw away.”<br />
Masha answers.<br />
“And if we need more compost<br />
bins,”Adam adds.<br />
Consideration of environmental cycles<br />
is important at our school,” says the<br />
school’s administrator and supervisor Annika<br />
Piirimets. The food waste is put in<br />
the compost, where it molders and turns<br />
into soil that is put on the plots. In the<br />
soil we grow vegetables that the school<br />
cook will prepare for us to eat. That way<br />
we have created an environmental cycle<br />
24 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
that we can follow and examine.<br />
“The way I think of Eco-Schools is<br />
as a tool that brings our environmental<br />
work forward”, Annika explains. “How<br />
do we move on from here? How do we<br />
get better? You have to think like that<br />
all the time, and that’s where the Eco-<br />
Schools programme enters the picture.<br />
We do think about the environment in<br />
many different ways at this school, but<br />
Eco-Schools is what brings us forward.<br />
We get everything down on paper, an action<br />
plan and then – bang – something<br />
concrete comes from it. It’s a tool that<br />
somehow speeds up what we are doing.”<br />
Susanne Ebers adds:<br />
“Another positive thing is the frames<br />
that the Eco-Schools programme has<br />
given us on how to carry out the environmental<br />
work, like for example with<br />
the Environmental Council. The teachers<br />
have decided the objectives, but the<br />
children decided what kind of activities<br />
there would be.”<br />
In the front yard, right next to the<br />
school building, there are several plots<br />
where potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, radish<br />
and flowers are growing. Salma, Fabian,<br />
and Kasper are sitting by one of the plots<br />
picking weeds.<br />
“It is fun to see the things we have<br />
planted grow and become flowers and<br />
potatoes and things like that. But it takes<br />
a long time of course,” says Kasper.<br />
“Here we grow chewing gum, come<br />
take a look over here,” Eva Östman calls.<br />
The children race there.<br />
“That’s right, it’s mint, it tastes like<br />
chewing gum,” says Salma. “Mmmm, it<br />
smells so good!” a<br />
Facts/Pilgrimsskolan<br />
Location: Hägersten<br />
Municipality: the Municipality of<br />
Stockholm<br />
Type of school: Compulsory<br />
school, age 6–11<br />
Number of pupils: 120<br />
Number of years with Eco-<br />
Schools: 1
and growing<br />
Chewing Gum<br />
Theme/Environmental cycles<br />
The schools work with, for example: natural cycles,<br />
reuse, recycling and cultivation<br />
Through their work, the schools and preschools<br />
help obtaining: the Swedish Environmental Quality<br />
Objectives: A varied Agricultural Landscape, A Rich<br />
Diversity of Plant and Animal Life, Flourishing Lakes<br />
and Streams, Sustainable Forests, Thriving Wetlands.<br />
EU environmental policy: Nature and biodiversity,<br />
Environment and health, Natural resources and<br />
waste.<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 25
Your Guide to<br />
Energy & Climate<br />
the school has a key role in our society’s ability<br />
to change towards sustainable development and<br />
towards a more climate wise and energy efficient<br />
society. But how do you teach climate and energy<br />
in a good way? Our conclusion was that what the<br />
teachers wanted was a guide that gave advice both<br />
on teaching methods and existing teaching material.<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, together<br />
with the Swedish Energy Agency, carried out a<br />
survey in which teachers throughout the country<br />
were asked about their needs. In conclusion, the<br />
teachers expressed the need for teaching material,<br />
further education, and methods for teaching<br />
climate and energy. They requested material that<br />
is available on the internet, and that has a flexible<br />
structure so that the teachers can use it the<br />
way they prefer. The teachers also want teaching<br />
material that rouses the interest and the commitment<br />
of the students. Based on these requests, the<br />
Foundation and the Swedish Energy Agency have<br />
created a guide that works as a main thread in<br />
teaching climate and energy. We give advice on<br />
different types of teaching material such as books,<br />
booklets, web based material and films. The guide<br />
is based on the Eco-Schools way of work and has<br />
examples of objectives and activities and how to<br />
link the activities to the Lgr 11, Curriculum for<br />
the compulsory school, preschool class and the<br />
leisure-time center 2011.<br />
the bogesund school in Ulricehamn has used the<br />
guide to formulate their objectives in the Eco-<br />
Schools programme within the theme Climate and<br />
energy. They chose the guide because of the links<br />
to the new curriculum, Lgr 11.<br />
“This spring, when we will focus on the implementation<br />
of Lgr11, the guide’s way to work with<br />
Climate and energy will make that work easier and<br />
more concrete,” Solveig Ljunghager, teacher at the<br />
Bogesund School, believes.<br />
“Teachers spend an enormous amount of time<br />
trying to find good material, so guides like this one<br />
can save us a lot of time,” says Solveig.<br />
“Then you still want to do things your own way,<br />
but it is important to be inspired and get suggestions<br />
on concrete activities.”<br />
“Another good thing is that when you use a<br />
guide like this from a source you trust, it also gives<br />
you quality assurance.”<br />
Text: Lisa Adelsköld<br />
26 the keep sweden tidy foundation – school and preschool/inspiration<br />
ILLUSTRATION: GRO PLAY AND DESIGN<br />
9.000 Jigsaw Puzzles<br />
within the frames of the Com-U project, the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation in<br />
cooperation with Gro Play and Design and PostkodLotteriet (People’s Postcode<br />
Lottery) have created a material consisting of a puzzle and an instruction packed<br />
with experiments, games and creative activities. The purpose is to work with issues<br />
such as littering, recycling, reuse and the Right of Public Access in a way that is<br />
concrete and fun. The activities encourage outdoor teaching and are linked to the<br />
revised curriculum for the preschool.<br />
In the material we get to follow the Lightning Patrol – a group of kids that have<br />
formed a secret club. The children are very good at all sorts of things and together<br />
they solve tricky problems and help people, plants and animals.<br />
the jigsaw puzzle was sent to all the preschools that signed up for the National<br />
Litter Picking-days 2011. Since there was nearly 4.000 preschools participating,<br />
and many of them got several jigsaw puzzles for their different units, in all, many<br />
thousands of jigsaw puzzles were sent.<br />
A couple of months later, the Foundation asked all the preschools what they<br />
thought about the material and how they had used it. The response was fantastic.<br />
86 percent of those who had received the material had actually used it, most of them<br />
(95 percent) were also able to use it within the frames of the pedagogical activity.<br />
Voices on the material:<br />
“Yes, we have had great<br />
response from parents, telling<br />
us how committed their<br />
children are to environmental<br />
questions. They tell us that the<br />
children are trying to make<br />
their parents get on the train.<br />
Many express that particularly<br />
forming the Lightning Patrol<br />
is what the children find most<br />
exciting.”<br />
“A very good guide. We are<br />
impressed with the range of the<br />
material, and will use it for a<br />
long time. Children and staff at<br />
our preschool have also formed<br />
a Lightning Patrol.”
Nature Schools<br />
Important Partners<br />
The cooperation with regional<br />
coordinators from Nature<br />
Schools throughout the country<br />
has been one of the most important<br />
success factors for the Com-<br />
U project.<br />
During these three years, they<br />
have supported the teachers,<br />
from preschool to upper secondary<br />
school, in their work<br />
with sustainable development and the<br />
EU environmental policy.<br />
The Nature Schools have been extremely<br />
important as an inspiration to the<br />
teachers. Riitta Carlström from NAVET<br />
describes the thoughts behind the meetings<br />
they arrange for teachers: “By using<br />
different ‘eye-openers’ to show how<br />
amazing life is, we hope to plant a seed<br />
that can grow into commitment to a sustainable<br />
future.”<br />
“the inspirational meetings should not<br />
be too formal, she continues. We don’t<br />
want to get stuck in the steering documents,<br />
even though we want to show how<br />
everything is connected and what role the<br />
school and preschool has.”<br />
Riitta thinks the project has been invaluable.<br />
The two hour long inspirational<br />
meetings with all the school or preschool<br />
staff has been a successful concept. Additionally,<br />
the venture has created resonance;<br />
towards the end of the project, she<br />
has noticed that teachers on other courses,<br />
that have nothing to do with the project,<br />
have started to requested information<br />
about sustainable development and about<br />
“It is good, it made us<br />
teachers think a little bit<br />
extra about environmental<br />
questions. Good with a<br />
simple and clear material.<br />
Easy to use, none or little<br />
planning was needed to be<br />
able to use the material.”<br />
Riitta Carlström<br />
the EU environmental policy.<br />
The information simply<br />
has spread.<br />
the five national conferences<br />
attended by all the<br />
regional coordinators have<br />
been very rewarding. The<br />
coordinators have strengthened<br />
their own networks<br />
and the conferences have become a platform<br />
for knowledge exchange.<br />
The possibility to reach so many teachers,<br />
thanks to the support from the EU<br />
and the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation,<br />
has been another advantage.<br />
Facts: The Swedish Nature School Association<br />
is a network of Nature Schools,<br />
using outdoor pedagogics as a method to<br />
work with the objectives of the curriculum.<br />
It also aims to give children and<br />
teachers a feeling for nature, outdoor<br />
experience, and to contribute to public<br />
health and sustainable development. Today<br />
there are around 90 Nature Schools<br />
in Sweden.<br />
The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation has<br />
cooperated with 20 Nature Schools and<br />
similar partners. Together they have held<br />
almost 700 courses for teachers during<br />
the course of the project.<br />
Text: Eléonore Elfström Fauré<br />
Photo: Borås Energi and miljö<br />
“The guide has been awesome! We’ve really<br />
gotten started with for example recycling<br />
and litter picking, and the children are so<br />
attentive when we go out for a walk. There<br />
are lots of discussions about what happens<br />
when we litter, and the children bring<br />
the discussions home too. The interest for<br />
animals and nature has increased. Very good<br />
setup, linked to the revised curriculum.”<br />
3 Films<br />
to encourage children, youth and adults<br />
to get involved with environmental issues,<br />
we need to communicate through many different<br />
channels; everything from web based<br />
material to traditional textbooks. When<br />
the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation asked<br />
a large number of teachers what kind of<br />
teaching material they wanted, a majority<br />
of them answered that they wanted material<br />
they could get from the web, and that<br />
makes classroom teaching fun and varied.<br />
They also want material that arouses the<br />
interest and the engagement of the pupils.<br />
With that in mind, the Foundation has<br />
created three films aimed to support and<br />
inspire schools and preschools in their environmental<br />
and sustainability work. The<br />
films are available on YouTube and can be<br />
used freely for teaching, or to be watched<br />
at home.<br />
the first film, the one we refer to as “the<br />
Inspirational film”, is meant to create a<br />
feeling of community, and to let us know<br />
that there is already a young environmental<br />
movement struggling for a more sustainable<br />
society. Just tag along!<br />
The second film, “the Information film,”<br />
explains how to use the Eco-Schools tool in<br />
order to achieve a structured and organized<br />
environmental and sustainability work on<br />
the school or preschool.<br />
The third film “Why the Eco-Schools programme?”<br />
wishes to communicate why a<br />
school or preschool should work with the<br />
Eco-Schools Programme and the strongest<br />
arguments are that by doing so, they will<br />
reach the goals of the school or preschool<br />
curriculum as well as national and international<br />
environmental objectives.<br />
The films are available on www.youtube.<br />
com/hallsverigerent and are also available<br />
with English subtitles – feel free to use them!<br />
They can be used, for example, at parentteacher<br />
meetings, staff meetings, or when<br />
you want to talk about or get inspired to<br />
work with the EU environmental policy<br />
through the Eco-Schools programme.<br />
school and preschool/inspiration – the keep sweden tidy foundation 27
SVERIGE PORTO BETALT B<br />
Returadress:<br />
<strong>Håll</strong> <strong>Sverige</strong> <strong>Rent</strong><br />
Box 4155<br />
102 64 Stockholm<br />
Join the<br />
Eco-Schools Programme!<br />
– The largest environmental movement in Sweden for children and youth<br />
The Eco-Schools programme is a tool and a certification that stimulates<br />
action competence, faith in the future and increased involvement<br />
from children, students and school and preschool staff.<br />
Join the Eco-Schools programme and get structure and long-term thinking<br />
in your environmental and sustainability work. The Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation’s website<br />
provides inspiration and support to start up or<br />
further develop the environmental and sustainability work of your school or preschool.<br />
Also, check out the films of the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation at<br />
www.youtube.com/hallsverigerent<br />
Welcome to send your application to: www.hsr.se/skola