Sustainable Development Blog – Rebecca Schaschke

Serial Day tasks

During your eight serial days, you should spend the equivalent of three days gathering this information, by observing, speaking to class teachers and other colleagues, interacting with learners, reading school policies, and any other appropriate activities. The tasks will be explained in greater detail in relevant sessions during the module.

Mapping of school grounds/area. 

Evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school such as garden area, recycling bins, litter picking ‘wardens’, bird boxes, and so on. 

The School has an eco committee which allows children to understand the importance of keeping the school clean. They also have regular and recycling bin in every classroom. The lights have a switch off sign which lets children know they should turn the lights off when there is no one else in the room. A battery bin is also available for children to dispose of their batteries sensibly. Bike racks are there to encourage children to cycle to school.

Below is pictures from class fives recycling project.

Consideration of actual play space for children and its suitability.

The school has a big play ground which children of all ages can use. There are different lunch bells to avoid the play ground from being too congested. A lot of the play ground it concrete which can be dangerous if children are running around on it and fall.

What opportunities are there for exploration, development, challenge etc.?

An example of outdoor learning was the environmental  art lesson were class five had to find different objects in the playground and create a picture in groups.

How is this space used?

This space is used for break and lunch time, sometimes outdoor lessons and the daily mile.

Discussion with children on these aspects of sustainable education.

Children claimed that they enjoy going outside and in particular they all enjoyed this art lesson. The daily mile they claim can be boring but some enjoy it and it is good for their health. The class reps for the eco committee were very excited when they heard I myself was part of the committee in primary school. Children explained to me what bins I should use, as they were taught it in their last topic.

My local Urban Area – Glasgow

Where you come from is very important. It is important we celebrate our own cultures as well as others. Community is a big part of many cultures. As the saying goes “ it takes a village to raise a child” this connotes the idea that you are brought up by your surroundings and everyone in your community and not just your nuclear family. Your perception of the rest of the world can be different depending on where you were brought up. In the western world it is more likely that you will have a better idea and understanding of climate change. This is perhaps because developed countries have more time and money to focus on it. 

Alessandra Orofino states in her Ted Talk in  2014, that there is a link between urban cities and global issues and that 75% of global energy consumption is used in cities. Glasgow is of course a major city and cannot be exempt from this. Orofino also states the 80% of gas emissions that cause global warming come from cities. This is a result of urbanisation and although the perks of today make life easier now, they are contributing greatly to climate change.

It is important for world leaders to work together to come up with a solution to help the whole world from destroying itself and give everyone the best quality of life.

Population Density

In my urban area of Glasgow there are roughly 596,000 people, making this the largest city in Scotland. In 1950 the population recorded at 1.089 million people. “The 1960s saw the clearing of poor inner city areas like Gorbals and the relocation to “new towns” that led to the population decline in the city.” (Glasgow Population ,2018). This initiative has helped the population decline to almost half in the last seventy years. This is an indiction that Glasgow part of a very developed country.

Community Spaces

There are 148 primary schools in Glasgow and 37 secondary schools within the city to accommodate the vast number of people and children within the city.

Hyndland Secondary School

Physical Characteristics

Glasgow is predominately victorian buildings which have stood the test of time. The picture above of Hyndland secondary school highlights the material used for the majority of buildings. “Glasgow… has some of the finest historic stone architecture in the United Kingdom. All the building stone quarries in the Glasgow area are closed and stone for repairs is now imported” Materials Characterisation. Due to the stones being so old if they need replaced it is not as simple as newer buildings and this can be quite expensive to do

Recreation Areas

Within the city there are notable recreational areas such as famous art galleries and parks such as Kelvingrove and the Botanic gardens as well as many sports centres and swimming pools. This is to try and improve the fitness and wellbeing of the local people. They give young people discounts to encourage them to be more active.

Transport

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As presented in the graph above, it can be noted that the number of it is far more popular to take drive than to take the bus which would be much better for the environment. This could be because its far more convenient to take your own car directly to the destination required rather than having to walk from the bus stop, which could be a distance from where one wants to go. However the number of cyclists has also increased. 

“Tackling the daily commute by bicycle has become more and more popular in Glasgow, and it’s no wonder, given that commuting on two wheels is both environmentally friendly and provides a dose of extra exercise. With over 300km of cycle ways in the city” (Cycling in Glasgow, 2018)

Glasgow is a great city to cycle round. It is improving its cycle paths so that it is easier and safer for cyclists to get from A to B. It also has a cheap inner city cycle hire system for both locals and tourists. It has connected with Glasgow university halls to give free access to those students. This will help keep Glaswegians healthy in terms of exercise but also boost the economy.

Industry and Work

The employment rate in Glasgow is very low compared to Scotland as a whole.

As the graph shows, the employment rate for Scotland is 73.4% but in Glasgow it drops to only 67.4%. This is not a good statistic to have.

“Glasgow has the highest proportion of public sector employees of the selected Scottish cities.  Work in public administration, education and health account for more than one third of all employment in Glasgow (34.1%).”

https://www.understandingglasgow.com/indicators/economic_participation/comparisons/with_other_places/employment_by_industry/scottish_citi

The Air Quality

The air quality of the West end of Glasgow is detailed in the table below which was sourced from Air Quality Scotland’s website. Low band 1 means that the pollution in the air is at the lowest level. This is a good achievement for a major city.

Primary 5 Class Activity 

A primary 5 class could go round their local area to “broaden my understanding of the world by learning about human activities and achievements in the past and present” by taking a note of the different styles of buildings in their surroundings to see what the difference is. They can then decide whether the buildings in society are old or new and who they think are responsible for this. They can talk about their own housing and see how it compares to the norm.

References

• Air Quality Scotland, 2018. [Online] Available: http://www.scottishairquality.scot/latest/?postcode=g11+7lg&postcode-submit.x=0&postcode-submit.y=0&postcode-submit=Search[Accessed: 25/09/18]
• Alessandra Orofino. (2014) [Online] It’s Our City Available: https://www.ted.com/talks/alessandra_orofino_it_s_our_city_let_s_fix_it#t-890770 [Accessed: 24/09/18]
• Cycling in Glasgow, 2018 [Online] Available: https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/cycling-in-glasgow
• Curriculum for Excellence. Curriculum for Excellence: social studies experience and outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed: 25/09/18]
• Glasgow Population ,2018 [Online] Available: http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/glasgow-population/
• Scottish cities, 2017  [Online] Available: https://www.understandingglasgow.com/indicators/economic_participation/comparisons/with_other_places/employment_by_industry/scottish_cities
• Scottish cities, 2017  [Online] Available: https://www.understandingglasgow.com/indicators/economic_participation/comparisons/scottish_cities