6 tips to create a Sustainability Action Plan for Childcare Centres that actually drives action
How many organisations have invested time and effort creating a Sustainability Action Plan (or some other kind of plan) just for it to sit in a folder? Well, I actually don’t know the answer to that question, but let’s not let it be you!
Sustainability Action Plans (SAPs) - done right - are a powerful tool to drive sustainability at your centre. It’s help you lay down your objectives, break down the steps to get to your objectives and measure your progress towards them. Without a plan that you actually refer to, it’s too easy to get distracted, lose direction and motivation particularly when many people are involved. But we don’t just need a plan, we need one that actually drives action.
If you feel like a meme to illustrate the situation I am describing here, this one made me laugh:
https://www.tiktok.com/@digitallybaffled/video/7099413639412731142?lang=en
Make your Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) work for you
Having a Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) matters because it helps you work towards your sustainability objectives, not because someone said you should have one. It’s a tool to get to an outcome. And naturally it has to be just the right tool for your needs.
Does it have to be big, formal and cumbersome? No, it doesn’t. In fact, we really strongly advise against it. The more formal and convoluted it becomes, the less likely it is to be understood and used. A great Sustainability Action Plan is one that the whole staff understands and can stand behind. It is one that has been co-created based on a holistic understanding of sustainability, is aligned to the vision, mission and philosophy of the centre as well as EYLF 2.0, the NQS and your QIP, and it is one where progress can be achieved and measured.
Tip #1: Co-create your Sustainability Action Plan
What do I mean by co-create? I mean get some, if not all, of the staff involved. Get their thoughts and ideas, I am certain they have plenty of goodness to contribute. Also, very importantly, co-creation means co-ownership, the more everyone is involved in the process of co-creation, the more they are likely to put the Sustainability Action Plan into action at whichever level they operate at. It will feel like their baby and they’ll take care of it! There are plenty of ways in which you can do that from an anonymous suggestion box (very low calories), to a working group who gather feedback from their peers, to highly engaging workshops in which everyone participates - and everything in between. So take out the Post-It notes and get everyone to share their thoughts.
Once you’ve got a draft, same thing. Ask everyone for feedback. You can ask for open feedback (they can make any comments) or specific feedback to improve particular sections. You could print the document, pin it to the wall of our staff room, give the staff some little dot stickers and ask them to place the stickers on the bits that resonate the most. You might also ask the staff to identify areas where greater clarity or explanations are needed.
There also is a great opportunity to involve children and parents in your SAP creation process. What would happen if you had children and families as accountability partners?
Tip #2: Be clear on your vision, mission and philosophy
Copying someone else’s SAP is never going to work. A SAP that drives action is a place-based SAP, one that has been written for your specific centre, by your people, for your people. A great way to start this process is to review what the centre stands for and is working towards, which might be summarised into the vision, mission and centre philosophy. Your SAP has to be closely aligned to those if it is to help you drive meaningful change towards sustainability. Naturally, as you work on your SAP, you might also decide to update some of your overall vision, mission and philosophy to reflect your engagement towards sustainability.
Tip #3: Seek to Understand Sustainability Deeply & Holistically
This might seem like an obvious one but too many organisations dive into their SAP equating sustainability to the environmental dimension of sustainability alone. Sustainability, as per the definition in EYLF 2.0, has 3 intertwined dimensions which are the environmental dimension, the social dimension and the economic dimension. The environmental dimension is about protecting and caring for the natural world, the social dimension is about wellbeing and longevity of communities, and the economic one is about production, consumption, resources and waste.
In the context of early childhood education, sustainability is much more than using clothes nappies, minimising paper towels, gardening, composting and recycling. Those are all important but they might not be what works for you and your centre right now. There are many other things you could put in place that might be specific to your centre’s location, configuration, staff and families.
Very importantly, sustainability in early childhood education should be reframed as Education for Sustainability. You’ll find that doing so will open your eyes to the many opportunities we have in our day to day to shape a new generation of sustainable 21st century citizens all of the way from early childhood.
So we highly recommend going back to the definitions of sustainability - including Indigenous perspectives on sustainability and regeneration - before starting to craft your SAP. Bring the whole team together for a professional development session and holistically explore all things sustainability (we can help with that! 😉).
Sustainability is a holistic concept by definition. We cannot be successful by focusing on the environmental dimension alone.
Tip #4: Align Your Sustainability Action Plan with EYLF 2.0, the NQAs and Your QIP
As you define the guiding principles, themes, actions and deliverables in your SAP, you will need to keep the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF 2.0), the NQAs and your Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) in mind. You would probably do that regardless of what I say here because these are your bibles, but here I said it, just in case. Your SAP will never take root unless it is closely aligned to all of those other documents I just mentioned. It needs to be an attachment to your QIP and we recommend mapping the deliverables in the SAP against the NQAs.
Tip #5: Set Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound (SMART) Goals
SMART goals aren’t smart for no reason…they make things happen!
Have you ever set a really big goal for yourself, got overwhelmed and couldn’t appreciate the progress made because you didn’t break the goal into achievable and measurable steps and ultimately gave up in despair for lack of progress? Well, I can’t count the number of times this has happened to me. As author Richard Bach says “we teach best the things we most need to learn”, right? Well, this is one of those moments! Make sure you break every action into bite size deliverables with at a minimum a timeline and person responsible. That way expectations are clear, actionable and measurable. And make sure you measure and celebrate success regularly, it is that sense of progress and success that keeps us going.
Tip #6: Make it a living, breathing document!
Hiding your SAP into a pretty folder won’t do anyone any good. Print it, share it, hang it, talk about it, share it with the children and their families, get the children’s input, decorate it, update it with your successes, review it and improve it.
Are you ready to create a Sustainability Action Plan for your centre? Make a copy of our SAP template here and subscribe to our news below to learn more about implementing Education for Sustainability at your centre.
