SUSTAINABILITY IN THE

CLASSROOM AND BEYOND –

ENGAGE THE WHOLE SCHOOL!
Using the knowledge and ideas that you’ve gathered from the course, you will create an
action plan in three chapters:

 background, where you provide some basic information about yourself and your
school
 preparation, where you brainstorm about the role of sustainability in your class
 action, where you come up with a project and map out the steps needed to
complete it

Don’t forget to check the evaluation criteria by which your plan will be assessed.

CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND

Introduce yourself. Simple as that!

My name: Alexandra Duarte

My country: Portugal

My role: EFL teacher | eTwinning mentor

My school: My school cluster is located in Soure, a rural area, about 30 km

away from Coimbra (the famous university town). It comprises 10
Kindergartens, 12 Primary schools, with the main office / school
being Escola Sec/3 Martinho Árias, where I am an EFL teacher. My
school alone has 552 students (day shift) and 72 teachers, and also
offers vocational and Adult Education courses. There is a huge
concern now related with the English language teaching and learning
due to the decrease of weekly time allocated to the subject,
especially now that my school is involved in several ERASMUS+ and
eTwinning projects and, therefore, with its process of
internationalisation. We teach in one-computer classrooms.
For 12 years now that we have been awarded the Eco-Schools
Green Flag, and for about the same number of years that our school
has won several eTwinning National Quality Labels, European
Quality Labels and, in 2021, we became an eTwinning School. Other
awards include the European Language Label for two years in a row
(2019 and 2020). As said before, we have several on-going
ERASMUS+ Projects aimed at staff, regular and vocational courses.

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CHAPTER 2: PREPARATION

Think about a class that you currently teach, or a single lesson if you prefer. How can
you add more sustainability elements to it?

You don’t need to fill in all the blanks! Only fill in what is relevant to your subject,
needs and goals. The point of this exercise is just to help you brainstorm and set
priorities. You can simply write ‘N/A’ if some cells are not relevant to your
objectives.

My class/lesson: WHY (STILL) CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

IN MARCH 2023?

Environment

Some related Sustainable Development Goals: affordable and clean energy;

climate action; responsible consumption and production
Sts can recognise Greta Thunberg, the Swedish
Knowledge already in my
environmental activist who is known for
class: challenging world leaders to take immediate action
for climate change mitigation
Knowledge I would like to Update info about the young female activist
add:

Local issues already in my N/A

class:

Local issues I would like to Portuguese female activists

add:

Competences already in my N/A

class:

Competences I would like to N/A

add:

Society

Some related Sustainable Development Goals: gender equality; reduced

inequalities; peace, justice and strong institutions
Sts can recognise Malala Yousafzai, a
Knowledge already in my
Pakistani female education activist and the
class: 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Update info about the young female activist;
Knowledge I would like to
Introduce sts to Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old
add: Iranian woman, who died in custody after she was

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 detained last month by morality police in Iran’s
capital, Tehran, for allegedly failing to fully cover
her hair and defying the country’s strict dress
codes.
Local issues already in my N/A
class:
Female dress codes
Local issues I would like to
Women’s place in the Portuguese society
add:

Competences already in my N/A

class:

Competences I would like to Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving

add:

Economy

Some related Sustainable Development Goals: no poverty; affordable and

clean energy; industry, innovation, and infrastructure

Knowledge already in my N/A

class:

Knowledge I would like to N/A

add:

Local issues already in my N/A

class:

Local issues I would like to N/A

add:

Competences already in my N/A

class:

Competences I would like to N/A

add:

CHAPTER 3: READY, SET… ACTION PLAN!

Think about a class that you currently teach, or a single lesson if you prefer. How can
you add more sustainability elements to it?

Now that you’ve identified some gaps and needs in your curriculum, try to think of a
whole-school sustainability project that you can carry out to further them.

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 The project can be anything from a pedagogical innovation (e.g., using issue analysis
in your lessons, building a school garden) to an organisational change (e.g., setting
up an eco-committee, collaborating with colleagues on a series of lessons) to a
community effort (e.g., painting a ‘Cut X%’ mural, contacting a local NGO for
workshops). There are many paths to the same destination!

If you’re not sure what project you want to carry out, you can write down a few
possibilities on a sheet and give them a score between 1 and 5 based on ‘importance’
and ‘availability of resources’. The project with the highest combined score should be a
good candidate. Then...

1. Write the title and/or summary of your project in the first row
2. Outline the steps you need to follow to carry out the project
3. Note down who will be involved in each step and how long you think it will
take

You can add or remove rows if you wish.

WHY (STILL) CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IN MARCH 2023?

Sustainable Development Goals: gender equality; reduced inequalities; peace

What? Who? How long?

-Raising awareness for women’s -Mother language and EFL -1 week

status in the 21st Century, in teachers
Portugal and around the world

-Motivating and engaging -Mother language and EFL -1 week

students for the issue with teachers
memorable (and shocking)
photos of memorable (young)
women

-Doing research work -Geography and History

-3 weeks
concerning the dress code / teachers

education / jobs in different

countries around the world

-Sharing a survey locally,

especially among our students’

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families -Sciences and Mother language
teachers
-Analysing and debating a poem -2 weeks
by a Portuguese author, António
Gedeão, “Lágrima de Preta” (A -Mother language and Physics &
black woman’s tear) Chemistry teachers
-2 weeks
-Sharing stats

-Digital presentation(s) of the

results / conclusions
-Maths teachers

-ICT teachers

-1 week

-3 weeks

Basic time & cost calculations Me & administration

Meeting with the school board Me & schoolboard / 1-2 days

for logistics, invites and event headmistress
visibility

Celebrating the 8th March, 2023 – -Students, the school and local -Wednesday morning
International Women’s Day community, & stakeholders

This worksheet is adapted from UNESCO’s Education for sustainable development toolkit.
We hope you will find good use for this action plan in your school.

European School Education Platform and eTwinning are initiatives of the European Union and funded by
Erasmus+, the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. This document has
been prepared for the European Commission by European Schoolnet under a contract with the Union, however
it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.

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