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“The ‘Secret Sauce’ For Us At Springdales Is The Whole Of School Approach To Climate Change And Clean Energy,” Says Dr Brian Gray, Principal | |
| Staff Writer |
As the world slowly transforms into a powerhouse of sustainable innovation, educators must play a significant role in imprinting the importance of sustainability on young minds. Teachers and Principals are expected to be not just world-aware intellectuals but lighthouses of environmental awareness, Tomorrow is Today.
The Principal of Springdales School Dubai, Dr Brian Gray has made it his personal goal to make a difference in the world through his students.
Having worked in different schools since 2015, he is aware of the challenges of the social and educational landscape and has slowly begun creating a significant change. The school that he currently leads interestingly finds a firm foundation in the more Sanskrit Vasudaiva Kutumbakam- the world is a family and keeping this in mind he has built the foundation of sustainability which is quintessential to treat the world as a family in all practicality.
From curricula to extracurricular activities, Dr Gray is working on creating a generation of young climate warriors. Read more about the Springdales School and the leadership of Dr Gray in this engaging interview exclusively on Thirty to Net Zero.
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Q: With Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH) literacy becoming a real tool for preparing all global citizens for the most pressing global challenges of today and tomorrow, how does Springdales take into account the use of technology and the principles of sustainability and carbon neutrality through both its curriculum as well as other initiatives?
A: When we were first thinking about our students’ roles as global citizens, we asked students for their opinions. We then looked for tools and key points in the curriculum that could support the student’s eagerness for environmental change. We have traditionally extracted and reinterpreted the current curriculum and then value-added through awareness strategies such as theme days, assemblies, competitions, expos and forums.
FANH literacy came along at the perfect time for us as we had been building awareness for quite a while. Like all good teaching and learning the students are now driving us into new technologies (apps etc.) and new sustainable ways of working as they are fully committed to changing the world.
Q: How did you get involved in the education sector, eventually becoming a leader in the UAE’s education system through Springdales?
A: I came to the Middle East as an experienced Australian Principal in 2015 and I have essentially worked with firstly, locally run schools in Abu Dhabi and then in the private education sector here in Dubai. I am in my third year as Principal at Springdales and I see this as my legacy school especially having guided the school through the difficult pandemic period and now into what I am sure will be a very successful period of growth for this well-established Dubai institution.
I also know that for big issues like climate change we must influence outside of Springdales and recruit other schools, other families, and other students to create a critical mass of climate warriors to support the initiatives starting here in the United Arab Emirates.
Q: Your school has been recently awarded the Global Climate Award for Green Projects and Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. Please tell us more about these projects and Springdales’ involvement. It would be great to spotlight the students as well.
A: We participated in the Take Action Global (TAG awards) whose mission is to empower one billion students to take action for a cleaner environment by the year 2030 through programs including the Climate Action Project. With a vision of climate education for all, Take Action Global combined environmental curricula with student-led projects, sharing ideas and experiences with local and global communities, education leaders, and partner organizations. Partners include the UN Foundation, NASA, WWF, Cartoon Network, LEGO Education, and the Earth shot Prize presented by the Royal Foundation. Springdales School registered for a climate action project for 2021.
The project started on September 27th and ended on November 6th, 2021. It was a six-week long program. Students explored, brainstormed, created, and solved problems and shared findings and solutions to important questions including, what is Climate Change and what would be your definition? What causes Climate Change locally? What are the effects of Climate Change locally? What are the causes and effects globally? What are potential solutions? We had live interactions with other schools too. The project allows the students to be creative, collaborate, understand empathy, think critically and take action.
We encourage pupils to learn more about climate change and to raise awareness of environmental issues. Pupils have brainstormed solutions to environmental issues and focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The school has a recycling project in which pupils bring in newspapers, plastic and cans and a cleanup programme. The project allows the students to be creative, collaborate, understand empathy, think critically and take action.
Q: How does Springdales embody Climate Change & Clean Energy and develop the student's interest in a Circular Economy, particularly in the Middle East?
A: I think the ‘secret sauce’ for us at Springdales is the whole school approach to climate change and clean energy. Any student that joins our school is immediately touched by an awareness that they have a part to play in the creation of a global sustainability solution. They know the changes that are needed and they know they have actions that they must take to reverse the damage that has been done by previous generations. This starts in pre-KG classes and remains a focus right through to Grade 12.
Entering and winning awards is a way in which we build a profile and message to others in Dubai. With the TAG award, Springdales School along with other schools nominated themselves for their climate education work and submitted their work for the year and met extensive criteria, including a school-wide commitment to climate education and student solutions.
Five schools in the UAE have won a global award for their efforts to protect the environment and tackle climate change. Springdales School Dubai is one among the five schools that have been awarded “The Climate Action Project School of Excellence”. This was announced at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland held in November 2021. The selected 250 Climate Action Project Schools of Excellence were announced on Climate Action Day, held on November 4 in 135 countries.
Q: The education industry is going through many changes to bring it firmly into the digital and start-up era. Please tell us what you feel would be the one positive change from a foundation to the middle school level that could be implemented to raise the education industry standards in the region.
A: I am not 100% sure that I agree with your premise that we are truly embarking on a significant change in education post-pandemic, and I am certain that the digital changes are not the panacea to raising educational standards. There are some great developments in educational technologies but they are in the majority still being driven by an antiquated and irrelevant system that still relies upon students’ ability to repeat information in a high-stakes testing environment at the end of the academic year and these 5 – 7 days of examination still determines the students future options.
The more effective model we have developed at Springdales is the notion of teacher excellence through observation and feedback from leaders, peers and students. Working in groups from a very early age and providing the opportunity for peer review, supportive roles, and self-reflection. Continuous assessment and target setting again provide in-time feedback for improvement for both students learning and teachers’ pedagogy and an emphasis on using technologies to access content and enhance opportunities for further feedback and conversations about performance improvement between students, teachers, and parents.
I would personally love to see the introduction of e-assessment tools that are a catalyst for deeper student reflection on the WHY of their thinking and how their thinking relates to their personal beliefs and the wider global context.
Q: Obviously, the passion must come from the top for action towards regional SDGs to be inculcated at a granular level into an organisation’s DNA. Such is the case with Springdales. It would be great to find out who or what laid an indelible mark on your mind and heart (and how.
A: I have had a long-held habit of reading about leadership and change and in 2009 I came across a book called “Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction, and Opportunity” by Mike Hulme. He uses different standpoints from science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to explain why we disagree about climate change.
He attacked climate change from a position of revising our perception of our roles and responsibilities as global citizens which resonated with what I have learned and developed as an effective way to implement sustainable change in organisational behaviour.
I found myself revisiting the opinions and strategies I formed from this reading many times over the following 13 years especially in the past decade as climate change awareness has gained more and more significance.
As I am participating in this interview I am travelling in Western Europe and seeing many smaller electric vehicles everywhere, wind turbines on the landscapes, cities with prioritized bicycle tracks, water in a glass or biodegradable containers, and groceries packed in recyclable paper bags. It is also a period of record high temperatures and wildfires, and I am watching news programs that have moved from the old debate about whether climate change is real or not, and are now dominated by damning pieces of evidence and calls for urgent action.
Change is well on the way and I know our young people are on board, the pressure on politicians to reduce emissions and meet reduced carbon targets is getting louder by the day students from Springdales will not settle for anything less than real action.