Whole School Approach
The “Whole School Approach” concept extends beyond sustainability and has been applied in various educational contexts. It generally refers to a comprehensive strategy that involves all aspects of school life, including teaching and learning, community engagement, policy, and practice, to improve educational outcomes. The term has also been linked to educational reforms that aim to create a cohesive and supportive learning environment for all students. This includes engaging with parents, and local communities, and integrating various services and supports to address the diverse needs of students. While the specific origin of the term “Whole School Approach” outside the context of sustainability is not attributed to a single individual or paper, it has been a part of the educational discourse for several decades and continues to evolve as it is applied in different contexts around the world.
Whole School Approaches to Sustainability (Mathie, et.al., 2022)
Whole School Approaches to Sustainability: Exemplary Practices from Around the World
Whole School Approach (WSA), as the starting point of the development of Green Learning Ecologies to facilitate students learning, refers to a holistic, systemic, co-creative, and reflexive effort by all stakeholders involved in education to meaningfully engage students and in general, the school community in complex sustainability challenges. Holistic highlights the attempt to explore and address sustainability issues from multiple perspectives in an integrated and relational way. Systemic refers to considering key aspects of the education system simultaneously (formal, non-formal, and informal education, curriculum, pedagogies and learning, professional development, school-community relationships, school practices, vision, and leadership). Co-creative refers to the inclusion of multiple voices and stakeholders in the development of the approach within a given context either at a school or a policy level. At last, reflexive refers to the need for continuous learning, monitoring, evaluation, and re-calibration in response to an ever-changing world (Sotiriou et, al. 2024).
For more information on the Whole School Approach please refer to the Inspiring Practices in the SYNAPSES Portal.
References:
Mathie, R. G. and Wals, A.E.J. (2022) Whole School Approaches to Sustainability: Exemplary Practices from around the world. Wageningen: Education & Learning Sciences/Wageningen University. 62 pages. https://doi.org/10.18174/566782.