Mentoring local government in education for sustainability
Mentoring is increasingly being recognised as a useful tool to support the shift towards learning for sustainability.
ARIES was funded by the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to undertake a mentoring program with selected local governments across Australia to build their capacity to use education and learning-based strategies for change towards sustainability.
The project was designed to examine whether mentoring and facilitation is an effective method for local governments to:
- develop understanding and skills in Education for Sustainability
- develop their capacity to use these skills to improve the effectiveness of their own projects
- generate long-term organisational change for sustainability within their councils.
The following design features contributed to the success of the project:
- Local government staff were able to consider how education and learning can assist in the planning and implementation of sustainability policies and programs.
- The project used a mixture of group mentoring seminars and individual council workplace mentoring.
- Workplace action plans were developed.
- Prior support for the project was gained from council management.
- Journals were used as tools for critical reflection.
Download a copy of the full report (PDF <1 MB)).
Online handbook
In addition to improving practice in Education for Sustainability in the participating local governments, the project also developed an online handbook comprising a set of resources for local governments encompassing learning-based strategies for change and community engagement processes.
You can access the online handbook here.
Delgado L, Cerone F and Tilbury D (2007) 'Mentoring Local Government in Education for Sustainability'. A report prepared by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. ISBN: 978 1 74138 246 4