Professional development: Pilot schools

Since the year 2000, over 85 New Zealand schools, both primary and secondary, have been involved in professional development for implementing key aspects of environmental education.

The pilot schools have chosen a variety of ways to do this, for example:

developing and teaching Education for Sustainability units of work,
aligning their waste and energy management with environmental curriclum principles,
developing special edible and native plant garden areas,
developing national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA) courses around themes of environmental education,
joining with other schools to establish a restoration project on an island in the Marlborough Sounds.

Pilot schools' learning journals
Read a summary of findings extrapolated from learning journals written by 28 of the schools that took part in the Education for Sustainability pilot schools project in 2000–2003. The learning journals record comments from the schools while they implemented a particular aspect of the Guidelines for Education for Sustainability in New Zealand Schools.

The learning journals illustrate the range of benefits experienced by the schools, many of which have gone on to become enviro-schools.