For educators Ryan Barfoot and Karin Westland, the move is a step in the right direction. This summer Sustainability Toolbox partnered with Metro Vancouver’s Youth 4 Action to offer students a chance to learn about and discuss sustainability issues. Barfoot and Westland took the program, which is offered through School District 47’s Outdoor and Ecological Learning Department, to the Lower Mainland and they hope that the ministry of education was paying attention.
Metro Vancouver, also known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District, incorporates 11 school districts in the Lower Mainland, and had previously been offering a program that focused on youth leadership. According to Barfoot the two fit together seamlessly.
“It seemed like a great fit to dovetail the work they did with Youth 4 Action with Sustainability Toolbox,” he said. “The new program would give kids high school credit for the good work that they were passionate about.”
The program is designed for grade 10 and 11 student leaders who are interested in learning more about “influencing sustainability in their schools and school communities through action, collaboration and leadership.” The program takes place over 10 days in August and gives a group of 22 students activities, like hiking and canoeing, to help develop their outdoor knowledge and leadership skills. After the “boot camp” portion of the program is complete, students use their skills on projects in their communities and give a culminating presentation in December. Students then receive high school graduation credits.
Last August was the first time in the history of the four-year-old program that it has been offered outside Powell River. Barfoot and Westland travelled to Vancouver to deliver the program. In the past, students from Vancouver Island would travel to Powell River to do the program and then return to their schools to work on their projects. It was difficult for Barfoot and Westland to go to each school for follow-up. One of the benefits about the partnership with Youth 4 Action, said Westland, is that participants have more support from local teachers who are also involved.
Barfoot thinks the partnership gives the toolbox program more stability and support. “We see it as a bit of a stepping stone,” he said. “We see it as more robust to meet the capacity to go provincial. This is one step in that direction.”
Westland believes the program fits well into current provincial educational strategies of encouraging students to learn through engaging them with inquiry-based cooperative learning projects.
“We see in our own local community focus on food security and local agriculture,” said Westland. “It’s fundamentally about engaging with what communities and learners are passionate about.”
While they both agree that traditional subjects like math, science and English are important for students to learn, they note that these subjects happen in the context of clean water and air.
“This is education for the real world,” said Barfoot. “This is contemporary education that matters and is applicable to a healthy future.”
