Today St Margaret’s School held its first Learning for Sustainability (LfS) day for IS-IIIS pupils. LfS in Scotland encompasses Sustainability, Global Citizenship and Outdoor Learning and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It is a right of every pupil to receive Learning for Sustainability education, which is designed to tie in with the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (a global action plan to end poverty, combat climate change and fight injustice and inequality by 2030) and the UNCRC. Our world is an increasingly crisis-driven place and LfS aims to equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills and values to enable them to navigate complex issues successfully.
Our LfS day focussed on five themes which directly affect our pupils in their everyday lives: food supply, fashion, mobile phones, fair trade and climate justice. The girls selected their preferred topic and followed this for the day, and our academic staff undertook training in global citizenship education which centres around participatory learning. The tasks and learning activities used were designed to foster questioning, openness and a willingness to express views, listening to others and to consider different perspectives in complex issues. Developing skills in critical and creative thinking, empathy, self-awareness and reflection, communication, cooperation, managing complexity and uncertainty and taking informed and reflective action. Through their activities the girls learned about social justice and equity, diversity, globalisation and interdependence, sustainable development, human rights and power and governance relative to the topic they chose. Global citizenship education also provides a space where girls can consider their own values and attitudes toward self-identity and self-esteem, commitment to social justice, equity, and inclusion, respect for people and human rights, value diversity, concern for the environment and a belief that people can bring about change.
It was an exciting programme of fully interactive activities with valuable input from visiting speakers and regular social media updates and engagement. The girls worked in small groups of mixed ages which then led to consider possible solutions and actions in response to their learning. All groups gathered at the end of the day to share their learning and ideas with each other in the school gymnasium. We look forward to seeing where these conversations take us, and which direction the girls would like the school to go in relation to their chosen topics.
Founded in 1846, St Margaret's School for Girls is the oldest all-through girls' school in Scotland. A supportive and welcoming environment where we strive to support each girl to achieve her potential in both the curricular and extra-curricular life of the school.