On 14 and 15 th of January, I facilitated a session on Eco School over two mornings with two German teachers specializing in teaching students with special needs. The aim of the sessions was to explore the importance of sustainability, environmental education, and the integration of these concepts into teaching students with different learning needs.
On Tuesday morning, I introduced the Eco School program framework and discussed the importance of Environmental education especially for students with special needs, furthermore, we discussed the Eco School initiative and its objectives. I then went on to give a presentation on the core principles of Eco Schools, including: the 7 steps to becoming an Eco School and reviewing the major themes of Eco School, such as: biodiversity, energy conservation and – last but not least – waste management.
The discussion which followed was mainly about the challenges and opportunities when introducing Environmental education to these students and the teachers shared their own personal experiences on how they taught such themes and came up with ideas on how to implement Eco School into their teaching. Finally, together we identified the areas which would require extra support like resources which could be useful for students with serious physical disabilities.
On Wednesday morning, the participants came up with some plans on how to integrate Eco- School principles into their teaching program and discussed different strategies for an inclusive classroom. Moreover, we re-capped on the previous day, pondered on some
reflections and shared valuable feedback.
In conclusion, the 2 day session provided an overall valuable insight into Special needs pedagogy and Environmental Education, hence, the feedback received from the German teachers highlighted the importance of activities which must be adaptable, sensory-based and cater for different types of disabilities. The session was just a starting point towards empowering Special needs teachers to inspire the latter in becoming Eco- conscious citizens.
Author: Isabel Di Cello – JUMP Trainer
