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Local Communities and Schools Tackling Sustainability and Climate Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Rick Flowers  and
Andrew Chodkiewicz
Rick Flowers*
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney
Andrew Chodkiewicz
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney
*
†, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UTS, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007. Email: Rick.Flowers@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

Local communities and their schools remain key sites for actions tackling issues of sustainability and climate change. A government-funded environmental education initiative, the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI), working together with state based Sustainable Schools Programs (SSP), has the ability to support the development of more effective community and school relationships. We are interested in the possibilities of enabling more authentic and transformative learning experiences in community and school relationships, by developing a more analytical approach to communities and schools working together. Drawing on Uzzell's (1999) framework and a number of recent empirical studies we describe how communities and schools in one Australian State, New South Wales, have been working together for environmental sustainability. We point to how the links between local communities and schools continue to be under-utilised, and suggest ways that these important relationships can be strengthened and extended.

Keywords

Sustainabilitylearningcommunitiesschoolslocal government
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 25 , 2009 , pp. 71 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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