• Explores the extent to which schools have the capacity to be the drivers of sustainable consumption production (SCP) behaviour change.
• Investigates what constitutes effective practice in linking school-based learning to behaviour changes within a community.
• Trains local authority officers, teachers, youth service workers to be Action Research Staff within a community

This research will explore the extent to which schools have the capacity to be the drivers of SCP behaviour change and the transition to sustainable communities across the UK. No other institution, common to all communities, has a similar capacity to absorb information, develop strategies for community training and information dissemination, or to implement those strategies with their student cohorts.

A central question is: what constitutes effective practice in linking school-based learning to behaviour change within communities? The answers will be drawn from the experience of NGO practitioners of Sustainability Training funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) EAF programme including:

1. Peace Child International's Be the Change Challenge! (BTCC). A peer-to-peer training programme centred on a Sustainable Lifestyle contract in which students pledge to change their own and their family's behaviour to live more sustainably. Young BTCC Ambassadors to deliver workshops and assembly presentations to introduce the importance of sustainable living and how to achieve it.
2. Action for Sustainable Living offers free home consultations, activities in schools and talks to community groups on energy efficiency, fair trade, food and recycling in Greater Manchester.
3. Envision is a network of schools in London and Birmingham that do youth-created projects that inspire and inform their communities about sustainable living.
4. Eco-Schools - a UK-wide network of schools that seek whole-school sustainability through bronze, silver and green flag awards.
5. Others.

Within the mix of approaches developed and field-tested in different institutions by these NGOs, there is a wealth of evidence and expertise that can usefully inform government policy to link the programmes of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Defra, and the Department for International Development (DfID) in a coherent Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) programme for all UK schools and communities.

The results of this action research programme will be submitted for peer review by experts and practitioners. The results will be assessed immediately and six months later to assess the longevity of impacts. 

In this project, we will train up local authority officers, teachers, youth service workers and/or non-professional community members to be the Action Research Staff in each community. As well as providing communities with new, skilled workers to assist in the development of sustainable communities, this ensures community-wide collaboration with, and ownership of, the research programme.

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