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Minister for Education Norma Foley has announced the delivery of over €450,000 in funding for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects in 105 primary and 84 post-primary schools across the country.
Funding of between €1,000 and €2,500 has been delivered to schools who successfully proposed their 2024/2025 sustainability projects for funding under the 2nd National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD to 2030).
Some of the wide range of school projects in receipt of ESD funding include the development of school gardens and outdoor classrooms and learning spaces, forest school projects, Harvest Festival, biodiversity projects, training workshops and teacher CPD, local air quality, weather station and local river monitoring, marine conservation, rainwater harvesting, building a sustainable city through STEM, composting, waste management and recycling projects.
ESD to 2030 aims to ensure that all learners have the knowledge and skills needed 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.
Minister for Education Norma Foley said:
“I am delighted to see so many excellent ESD projects taking place in schools right across the country again this year. Education for Sustainable Development is a key priority for the department and we are committed to supporting schools to address the transformation needed to make our schools places and spaces for sustainability. We want schools to promote sustainable development and to empower their students to take action."
The ESD to 2030 funding can be used by schools to further support ESD projects and / or capacity building of teachers and so implement their Sustainability Policy Statements. The Sustainability Toolkit for Schools published in September 2023 is supporting schools in implementing the School Sector Climate Action Mandate, in particular in developing and publishing their Sustainability Policy Statements.
ESD to 2030 supports implementation of the Climate Action Plan, the Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan, the EU Green Deal and the UNs 2030 Agenda.
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 over €450,000 is being delivered to schools across the country 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. 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 €254,000 was delivered to organisations in June 2024 to support a range of ESD related projects for schools including Teacher CPD and resource development.
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 revised School Sector Climate Action Mandate was published in November 2024.
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.
Further information on ESD to 2030, funding and the sustainability toolkit are available at National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in Ireland
