A new teaching programme for the Istituto Tommaseo in Milan, which becomes the first School of Sustainable Development in Italy. Here's how.
Talking about respect for the planet is pointless if younger generations are not educated in sustainability. This is one of the many reasons that prompted the Istituto Marcelline Tommaseo in Milan to establish the first school of sustainable development in Italy.
The teaching programme was presented on 19 January in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of the City of Milan, Anna Scavuzzo, representatives of the Miur, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, and of Asvis, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development. Entitled Grow the World, it is aimed at all students at the institute, from nursery school through to upper secondary school. The objective: to generate awareness of sustainable development issues among students, but also among parents and teaching staff, so that all members of the school community become advocates for change.
With this initiative, the Istituto Tommaseo responded enthusiastically to a need expressed by both the Pope and the United Nations: to bring sustainability into schools.
"Young people demand change from us. They ask themselves how it is possible to claim to be building a better future without thinking about the environmental crisis and the suffering of the excluded," said Pope Francis, who with the encyclical Laudato si' made environmentalism his defining hallmark.
Bergoglio's commitment also goes hand in hand with the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, contained in the Agenda 2030 document, in which the quality of education, the spread of culture, and environmental and social awareness represent vitally important points. These considerations prompted the Marcelline Sisters, who have always been involved in the education of young people, to develop a teaching programme whose key word is sustainability.
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Grow the World, literally "making the world grow", aims to promote a new management model and a new approach to teaching that allow both personal growth of the individual and collective growth of environmental awareness.
The lessons and activities offered by the school (from sport to theatre) will be centred on several macro areas – solid culture and critical thinking, practical and creative intelligence, aptitude for listening and reflection, leadership and cooperation skills, sustainable lifestyles for oneself and for others – within which the 17 points of Agenda 2030 will be explored in depth.
To achieve the goal of educating individuals in sustainability, on one hand the school has established partnerships with the most innovative and virtuous local organisations, arranging educational trips to visit leading scientific and technological establishments, and involving experts, testimonials, institutions, universities, research centres and forward-thinking entrepreneurs in its teaching activities.
On the other hand, from nursery school onwards, the commitment is to pass on to students all those good practices that enable us to adopt a truly sustainable lifestyle in our daily lives: children are taught to sort waste for recycling in the classroom and to tidy shared spaces, not to waste food, water, energy or heating, and to respect the nature around them, and to prefer "soft" modes of transport for getting around — such as bicycles — over, for example, mopeds (for older students).
The project is set to properly launch in the next school year: time will tell whether, by 2030, the holistic approach of the school of sustainable development will have borne its first fruits.