Dundee City Council's story
Eco Schools is a global programme designed to encourage a whole school approach to Learning for Sustainability. It encourages young people to engage in their environment by allowing them the opportunity to actively protect it. As part of the Dundee Climate Action Plan, we are actively increasing participation in the Eco Schools programme through improved local support and engagement. In 2018, Dundee had one of the lowest Eco Schools participation rates in Scotland, however over the past 3 years the number of schools participating has increased tenfold, with 43% of Dundee Schools now registered with the programme.
Many schools in Dundee undertake a wide range of activities related to sustainability and climate change, providing a significant opportunity to affect behaviour change as well as directly reduce resource use across buildings.
Our Dundee COP26 programme of events had a positive impact on the number of schools participating in Dundee Eco Schools, through a range of activities which engaged young people. We engaged over 700 pupils in our Eco Schools COP26 Conference which included workshops on Eco Schools action planning, a litter and waste workshop and an energy workshop hosted by partner organisations Keep Scotland Beautiful, Scrapantics and Bright Green Hydrogen. Children were involved in an art project commissioned by DCC and Scrapantics, to create a whale sculpture, Moby, which taught them about waste and was shared at the PlanetMark Zero Carbon Tour in Dundee. Additionally, a number of schools had the opportunity to attend the MSIP Showcase event and lots of children attended the wider city event "HubFest" with their families.
We are refreshing the Eco Schools resource pack for schools in order to provide information on the new topic, "Climate Action," and to ensure schools are aware of the local support available to them. By supporting schools we hope to help them achieve Green Flag status and create positive changes in their schools.
Useful learnings from Dundee City Council
Eco-Schools can be easily integrated into the curriculum across many learning objectives. By engaging with schools, we have learned how we can best support them on their journey to Green Flag status.
The creation of the Eco Schools Working Group has been hugely beneficial for information sharing, organising events and engaging more schools.
The support from Keep Scotland Beautiful and other partners has been hugely appreciated and it will be great to work together on future events for schools in Dundee.
Dundee City Council's metrics
Number of Dundee schools taking part in Eco Schools.
Number of schools working towards the Green Flag Award.
Number of Green Flags Awarded.
