The Scottish education curriculum reform, Curriculum for excellence houses four capacities, one of which places emphasis on creating ‘responsible citizens’, which can work in parallel with previously embedded ‘Eco Schools’ initiative.  These two initiatives go hand in hand.

As part of my final placement I designed a unit of work to develop ‘responsible citizens’ through working alongside the ‘Eco Schools’ initiative to:

• improve the school’s environment
• reduce litter and waste
• encourage active citizenship
• build strong partnerships with a variety of community groups

The unit of work was designed to allow students to be creative whilst working individually and together to become responsible citizens and build up a relationship with their local community.

The student’s were asked to design a sustainable youth shelter for their community, which would provide a place for youngsters to meet, with rubbish bins and would be manufactured from locally sourced sustainable material. 

Elaine Freeman