Sustainability Officer In The Centre
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 4:12 pm
I've been "Sustainability Officer" for 5 months now, have done some awesome activities with the kids, but feel restricted by what The Bosses and Room Leaders think "sustainability" is in the room. We've looked after animals, done gardening, recycled boxes, paper and bottles into activities. I have been told to keep it simple, no long term projects, because I float between all the rooms and the Room Leaders have different things going on. My activities get thrown out with the garbage because, as one of my workmates put it "we don't want more junk in the room". They won't even tell me what subjects they're doing so I can do related activities, and I don't have time to do the big projects they want me to do (on my own, too!) for the kids - transforming, painting and setting up old furniture in the outdoor area for new equipment. That's way out of my skill range as it is. I can count the number of times I've held a power drill...
The problem is, I think that sustainability should be something addressed and even enforced in all areas of the service, eg. Teaching the children turning the taps off after you go to the toilet, and turning lights off when you leave a room, not tearing a book apart when you're bored, taking care of your toys, composting all the scraps on a daily basis, putting rubbish in the bin... Sustainability isn't just sticking pictures of the kids doing random things in a book. That's not teaching sustainability, that's just attempting to get a passing grade in your assessment.
What is your view of sustainability in childcare?
The problem is, I think that sustainability should be something addressed and even enforced in all areas of the service, eg. Teaching the children turning the taps off after you go to the toilet, and turning lights off when you leave a room, not tearing a book apart when you're bored, taking care of your toys, composting all the scraps on a daily basis, putting rubbish in the bin... Sustainability isn't just sticking pictures of the kids doing random things in a book. That's not teaching sustainability, that's just attempting to get a passing grade in your assessment.
What is your view of sustainability in childcare?