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This chapter presented an in-depth cross-case study analysis of five English primary schools who are committed to moving towards ESD. At the beginning of the

research the cases exhibited different levels of involvement with ESD, with some cases identifying themselves as non-sustainable. However, during the research it was found that all schools recognise ESD as an improvement strategy and have shown some involvement with ESD. However there is a great variation in their understanding of ESD, depth and breadth of work that the schools do, and awareness/reflection on what is being done.

The cross-case analysis was able to identify approaches and domains within which schools explore ESD and highlighted that more sustainable schools have an

understanding and vision of ESD and their role within it. They develop sustainable development issues as part of the local context, involving a wide selection of stakeholders whilst integrating all elements of the school. Schools that are less sustainable do it to a much lesser extent, have narrow understanding of ESD and their role within it, and integrate it with only some elements of the school and fewer individuals.

One of the important attributes that has been highlighted by cross-case analysis is local context. It showed that being aware of the local context may help schools to develop ESD to a greater depth. A few of the schools that are moving towards ESD integrate sustainable development issues with a local context, making it relevant to the school and therefore engaging with it in a more meaningful way. Other schools that consider sustainable development issues, without consideration of the local context, engage with it on the periphery. Some of the issues and concepts that are addressed by the schools may also primarily derive from the schools’ context rather than being developed through it. Addressing these issues makes the school really engaged with the process, approaching it in more than one way. However, whether

also consider where within the school they are addressing it. Considering the needs and opportunities within all the aspects of the school, the school stakeholders, operations, curriculum, and school grounds, schools develop ESD in a way that is meaningful to the whole school and at a deeper level. This also allows some schools to be innovative in the definition of the problems and approaches to solving it.

The main stakeholder that the schools consider is the students. Schools that are engaged with ESD at a deeper level, see it as a strategy to develop children

holistically both at an academic level as well as their emotional well-being. Although there is no direct link between ESD and higher academic results, there is a general belief that because of ESD, children are happier, are more motivated and satisfied with learning. In addition, there is a general consensus about ESD helping children to become citizens of the future, those who understand sustainable development issues, engage in critical inquiry of those issues and have capacity to address them both on individual and group levels. Analysis shows that schools that are least engaged with ESD see its value as developing citizens of the future, mainly through developing certain behaviours and some academic knowledge and less about development of other assets.

There is also less consideration about whether ESD helps children to engage with learning or not. The latter point relates to the type of pedagogy that ESD involves. ESD embodies different types of teaching and learning styles. However, one of the pedagogies that is strongly associated with ESD is experiential learning, which is based on ‘doing’. Analysis shows, that in schools with high ESD activity, students become involved with this pedagogy through curriculum, projects, team work, operations that address sustainable development issues and have an impact on the school’s sustainable development. These schools have a view of the student as integral to school’s sustainable development and as an important aspect of moving towards sustainability. The school that is least engaged with sustainability also engages its students with experiential learning and receives the benefit of students who are engaged with their learning. However, the school does not consider

integral to its overall development. Therefore in this school, the children are not only experiencing ESD at its minimum, but they engage with experiential learning mostly through their formal curriculum.

For schools to engage students with ESD on a continuous basis, schools require an ESD ethos and ‘whole school’ support. Analysis shows that schools that have high ESD activity have spent time building and activating the support of the staff, community, and other school stakeholders. One of the important stakeholders for the school to activate is staff. In schools where pupil engagement occurs on an on- going basis, staff are activated both on personal and professional levels. In these schools, leaders recognise interest, enthusiasm, and hobbies of the staff that relate to ESD and provide opportunities for them to be explored and further developed, usually through changes in organisational structure or by initiating certain projects. These schools also activate staff at professional levels, by making ESD part of Career Professional Development (CPD), curriculum planning, performance management and/or the hiring process. In low activity schools, the staff is activated usually through personal means and at a lesser degree through professional means. In addition, in these schools only one or two individuals are activated, whereas in high ESD activity schools the activation occurs throughout the whole school. However, the difference is not only whether the latter schools do it, but also to what degree. In schools with less ESD activity, the activation is more passive. For example, staff are encouraged rather than expected to include ESD into the curriculum. There are less opportunities to be involved with ESD and sometimes there is a lack of

knowledge about personal interest and capabilities of the staff in relation to ESD altogether.

Schools also require the support of their partners to be able to move towards ESD and to have opportunities to engage students and activate staff. Analysis shows that all schools engage with partners from different sectors including the local