Catherine W GichukiDOHA A group of grade V students from Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Qatar Academy Doha (QAD) visited Tanzania for an international learning experience to learn about sustainability, where they interacted with the community of Mount Meru and the sustainable community of Africa Amini. The students also visited the communities’ local school and learned about their vision for a greener future and how they were taking action towards a more sustainable future. Assistant Principal, Qatar Academy Doha Primary School and Eco-Schools Evaluator for Qatar, Elizabeth Kennedy, said, “Our students were inspired by the process their students led in recycling local plastic waste to create new buttons, rulers, cups and items to sell in the local market. For our students to be immersed in a community where plastic bags are already banned and witness alternative solutions, that is, cloth bags, bag leave wrapping, was truly inspiring. Our students are excited and inspired to support Qatar towards a greener future.”Kennedy said that sustainability was essential element of 21st century education and as educators they played a vital role in ensuring environmental education is a thread that weaves their student’s conceptual understanding together. “Our students must be nurtured to cultivate a sustainable mindset that understands the immediacy of environmental awareness, agency and the role activism plays in their daily lives. Sustainability is more than sowing the seeds of tomorrow. It is understanding and taking the actions needed to foster harmony, connection and growth. The empowerment of our children and the development of their knowledge and skills will undoubtedly support them today and set the course toward a more sustainable future,” she said.She reiterated that sustainability in education provides a lens which amplifies and deepens the ethical value of their students by connecting to their cultural, personal and religious values and that the students come from strong values and ethics rooted in sustainable practices and beliefs. “Our role as educators is to support our students to see how their beliefs and values connect to how the world works. As these values are an important part of who they are and how sustainability is vital to the betterment of society. A solid education encompasses empowering youth agency and action to lend a hand, unite their voices and lead from a place of strong ethical values and beliefs,” she said.Kennedy said that they have managed to integrate sustainability in the classroom successfully and one of the most impactful steps they took as a learning community was to change their school’s mission and vision, over two years ago, to include the importance of fostering students who demonstrate environmental consciousness, as well as responsible citizens who are both locally rooted and globally connected. According to her, they have worked hard as a learning community to enrich learning through the lens of sustainability and the first step towards successfully weaving sustainability into their classroom was to listen to the students’ questions, wonders, worries and interests. “Nurture and support the empowerment of student agency and voice by allowing students to develop their understanding of sustainability while strengthening their values, skills and knowledge. My best advice is to slow down and be in the moment with your students, for it is in the moments that knowledge, curiosity and change all can spark. As a school, Qatar Academy Doha continues to evolve and increase our implicit and explicit sustainability curriculum. We are currently in the process of formally adopting Sustainable Educational standards into our curriculum framework to strengthen both our educational practices and purpose,” Kennedy added.Talking about ways to encourage students to consider sustainability careers, Kennedy said that through various passion projects and initiatives, their school aims to connect the students with leaders and mentors in our community, for instance the Human Library is one way they foster and mentor the students towards sustainable careers. She said, “Through working with researchers, entrepreneurs and leaders in our community we have sparked curiosity and lit a passion for the environment that has led to many of our students working on community projects through the lens of sustainability. Another way we supported our students to consider sustainable careers was through our collaboration on World Environment Day where we brought our students to an event in collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University called Sustainable Futures. “During this event, our students met with leading local researchers, entrepreneurs and business leaders whose careers have been shaped and directed by their deep values for supporting a more sustainable future. This was an impactful way to allow our students to see that they can be anything they want to be in the future while allowing their value of sustainability to positively impact the future.”Since sustainability was added to the curriculum a few years ago, Qatar Academy Doha Primary School plays a defining role in nurturing children’s mindsets and supporting the development of healthy, sustainable habits through the approach of model, inquire, foster knowledge, and support the students to find their passion and lead by example. Kennedy said, “We hope that through our dynamic approach to sustainability our students will find multiple pathways to develop their awareness and confidence to be the change-makers our world needs. Through collaboration with staff, students, parents and the larger community we look to the future with excitement knowing our approach will continue to transform our school, students, and world.
