Consider these nine steps to help you integrate Education for Sustainability (EfS) into your school.

1. Start with a group

Convene a group of interested people across the school community including the principal, teachers, students, support staff, parents, local government and the local community. These people will form your EfS working group.

Consider which framework or model would be most suited to your school. Don’t just explore state or territory-specific models for your school. You may wish to extract different parts from several different models and adapt them to suit your school. EfS is flexible and creative!

Find a mentor to support you - experienced teachers are often very willing to share their learnings. 

Explore this site's support pages for links to whole-school frameworks, and networks which may be able to connect you to a suitable mentor.

2. Take stock

Before you get too far into planning, review what you are already doing that is Education for Sustainability. Gather, document and review what you are doing within and beyond the school across school culture, curriculum development, campus management and culture.

3. Communicate early and often

Create an opportunity for a variety of members of your EfS working group to introduce EfS to the whole school community.

At this session you will need to explain sustainability and EfS so all members of the school community are clear in their understandings of EfS. Highlight what is already being done toward EfS within current activities, projects and programmes.

Discuss the benefits of EfS to school improvement and enhancing young people’s wellbeing and learning.

4. Support and encourage staff

Arrange a further opportunity for staff to discuss sustainability in the Australian Curriculum and then discuss ways they could incorporate EfS within their learning programmes.

5. Develop a clear vision

Developing a clear vision for your school is a process that involves commitment from your whole school community, leadership, teachers, parents and students.The Queensland Sustainable Schools program has some great ideas for developing a vision for your school.

6. Identify key steps

Plan and document priorities for action for EfS within the school vision, site/campus management plans, curriculum and community.

7. Get to it!

Put plans into action in consultation with all sections of the school community.

8. Review and refine

Implement a process of continual review to assess and refine progress and actions around EfS.

9. Consult and extend

Look at some of the indicators from the frameworks and models listed in this site's support pages to identify what your next steps may be.