This blog post shares the personal experience of Susan, a secondary school teacher who worked with University College Dublin on the European VECTOR project. Motivated by her passion for both education and environmental issues, she joined the project to help her students engage with real-world sustainability challenges. This post reflects on the challenges, achievements, and effects of her involvement.

Motivation and Expectations. 

In early 2023 I responded to an intriguing call to action on Twitter, “Are you interested in sustainability? Do you care about education?” This marked the beginning of my time with a unique Community of Practice, which promised collaboration, learning and meaningful contribution to urgent global issues. My primary motivation for joining the Community of Practice was to deepen my understanding of how to communicate contentious issues surrounding climate change in the classroom. The prospect of learning from the latest research and engaging with experts in the field was appealing. I was hoping to gain insights that I could bring back to support students who often felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of these issues. The words I repeatedly hear in the classroom around climate change issues include “existential”, “emergency”, “crisis”, yet students often feel there is little room to express and explore them in a meaningful way. It can often feel like the house is burning down while they are told to sit still and study for exams. Searching for fresh perspectives and strategies to combat this, I embarked on the Community of Practice experience.

The Community of Practice

A Community of Practice is a group that develops where there are shared passions and a concern to achieve common goals. However, it is not merely a coming together of like-minded people wanting to have insightful chats, even though that is a nice by-product. Members of a Community of Practice are practitioners. They typically develop a shared practice to tackle a problem or issue to be solved.

I have often been attracted to this process and it has proven to a be a useful perspective on learning and knowing in my professional life. I have previously been a member of the PPLI (Post-Primary Language Ireland) Community of Practices, which are meetings of teachers who have a common interest in languages and language teaching. We regularly come together to share best practice, organise events raising awareness, create new resources and exchange ideas. My involvement with Philosophy Ireland to establish the Philosophy Short Course for the Junior Cycle was another example of a very productive Community of Practice where a network of teachers, researchers, academics collaborated to achieve our ambitions of advancing reflective inquiry at all levels of Irish society. In essence, these communities are characterised by shared learning experiences and mutual engagement in our field of interest.

The Next/Act Community of Practice led by Shane and Rosie, and facilitated by Chris Chapman, consisted of about fifteen to twenty members who met regularly throughout the year. These meetings were rich in ambition with discussions on teaching complex issues, the role of critical raw materials in achieving targets, and the European Green Deal’s goal of making the EU the first climate neutral continent. From our first get together at the University College Dublin School of Education, it was a dynamic environment where we not only co-created and assessed educational practices and knowledge, but also dug deep into our values to consider what and who mattered. 

Projects and their Impact

I had the honour of sharing my own pedagogical approach to contentious issues, focusing on creative thinking and incorporating various thinking routines, which I apply regularly in my classes to support a culture of reflection and purpose. We explored how higher order questioning techniques could be integrated into subjects like Science and Geography and, to include the voice of the teenage student into our practice. We analysed some of my students’ questions comparing them to ones generated by ourselves. It underlined to us that the student perspective and motivation to learn does not always align with our expectations.

A project emerged from a brainstorming session which followed one of our stimulating “nature walks” around the campus. Focusing on sticking points in the school system, a proposal to use the classroom-based assessments (CBAs) to focus on sustainability in a more meaningful way, was supported by the group.

Second-year students at Temple Carrig School were invited to create cross-curricular CBAs using the theme of sustainability, by examining our planet through the lenses of Science, Geography, and Maths. Initial brainstorming sessions began in the Philosophy classroom. This project culminated in a short film funded by the Department of Education, documenting the students' progress.

Undertaking a cross-curricular project on sustainable issues was challenging but rewarding. We learned that understanding these issues required a multi-disciplinary approach, mirroring real-world complexities. Despite logistical and timetabling challenges, the project fostered deep learning and critical thinking. It even sparked the creation of a new Community of Practice within Temple Carrig School, with the aim of increasing links between our subjects and to establish an annual CBA Exhibition.

Conclusion

Participating in the Community of Practice at University College Dublin was transformative. It enhanced my professional skills, gave me confidence to put ideas into action, renewed my commitment to sustainability, and demonstrated the power of collective action and interdisciplinary collaboration. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of this vibrant community and look forward to continuing to promote sustainability and environmental education.