Press release
Minister for Education announces €550,000 for sustainable development projects in schools
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Education Norma Foley has announced the delivery of €550,000 in funding for sustainable development projects in schools.
The successful projects include new school gardens and outdoor classrooms, local air quality initiatives, wildlife walkways and poetry for climate action and climate justice.
Approx. €550,000 is being provided in funding for the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects in 65 primary and 64 post-primary schools across the country. This is a three-fold increase on the ESD funding of €167,000 which was provided to 49 schools in 2022.
Funding amounts of between €1,000 and €5,000 are being paid to schools who successfully proposed their 2023 / 2024 sustainability projects for funding under the second National Strategy – ESD to 2030.
Minister for Education Norma Foley said:
“It is timely to announce this funding during the opening of COP28, the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting, in Dubai today.
“It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative and innovative projects which schools proposed and congratulations to all of those who are now receiving this vital funding which will help them turn their ideas into reality. Whether pupils will now progress to develop active wildlife walkways, nesting boxes for birds, bike libraries, weather stations, Fair Trade mini companies, or any one of a whole host of other projects, they will be leading the way on promoting sustainable development in their communities.”
Last year, Kinsale Community School in Cork received ESD funding to buy a biodigester to deal with the problem of food waste at the school. It converts food waste using anaerobic digestion into methane gas and liquid fertiliser. The methane gas is used for cooking in the school’s home economics room and the liquid fertiliser is used in the school’s greenhouse.
This year, the poetry for climate action and climate justice project in Our Lady Queen of the Apostles National School in Clondalkin in Dublin is going to feature at COP in Dubai next week. It is one of five projects internationally that has been selected by the Ministry of Education of United Arab Emirates, in partnership with the Office for Climate Education and ALEF Education, to be presented at the Teachers COP during COP 28.
Minister Foley said:
“We are committed to supporting schools to address the transformation needed to make our schools places and spaces for sustainability. We have recently published a sustainability toolkit for schools, so that they can develop their own Sustainability Policy Statements.
“We have also published a new Primary Curriculum Framework, which includes a new area of learning – ‘Social and Environmental Education’. This will help children to develop an understanding of the human and natural environments and empower them to promote a more sustainable future.”
The ESD to 2030 strategy is about equipping students with the knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development. The strategy has five priority areas: Aligning Policy, Transforming Learning Environments, Building Capacity of Educators, Empowering and Mobilising Youth and Accelerating Local Level Action.
Included among the successful proposals for ESD to 2030 are projects focusing on inclusion through creativity in a cluster of schools including two Schools for the Deaf. Other projects are focused on eradicating poverty and improving water and marine sustainability. Many of the projects include workshops for students and Continuous Professional Development for teachers.
The 2nd National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development – ESD to 2030 – is co-sponsored by the Department of Education, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
ESD aims to ensure that all learners have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. ESD is a target under the Sustainable Development Goals (Target 4.7) and acknowledged as a key enabler for the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ESD to 2030 has five priority areas, in line with UNESCO’s framework for ESD for 2030:
The accompanying ESD to 2030 Implementation Plan 2022 – 2026 sets out the roadmap to achieving target 4.7 by 2030 across the Education Sector from Early Learning and Care to third level and beyond to non-formal and informal education.
ESD has three interlinked and equally important strands: Environmental, Social and Economic Sustainability.
Funding of €550,000 is being delivered to schools to support them in carrying out ESD related projects in their school, including for example; making the school and its grounds more sustainable; teacher training in ESD; student projects; collaborative projects between the school and the local community and so on. Detailed criteria were set out in the funding call document. Funding was allocated based on the criteria and subject to level of demand.
Funding of almost €270,000 was delivered to organisations in June 2023 to support a range of ESD- related projects for schools.
ESD to 2030 supports the implementation of the Climate Action Plan, the Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan, The EU Green Deal and the UNs Agenda 2030 (17 Sustainable Development Goals).
The Public Sector Climate Action Mandate highlights the main Climate Action objectives for the Public Bodies and supports those bodies to lead by example, including through the development of Climate Action Roadmaps.
Recognising the variance between large public bodies and the school sector and the distinctive role schools are playing in the areas of Education for Sustainable Development and Climate Change, a dedicated School Sector Climate Action Mandate was published in March 2023.
To support schools in implementing the mandate and ESD, the department, in collaboration with key stakeholders, has developed a sustainability toolkit for schools. The toolkit comprises 1) a self-assessment sustainability audit 2) sustainability guidelines and 3) Sustainability Policy Statement template.
The Climate Action Plan 2023 (CAP23), launched in December 2022, is the second annual update to Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2019. This plan is the first to be prepared under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and following the introduction of economy-wide carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings. Implementation of the Climate Action Plan will create jobs, new economic opportunities and protect people and the planet.