Our story

Eco-Schools is a programme of the world’s largest organisation for environmental and sustainability education: the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Eco-Schools encourages young people to actively contribute to a sustainable future. It starts in the classroom, grows into change across the whole school and ultimately extends into the local community.

Within Eco-Schools, students not only learn about sustainability, but also put it into practice. Together with teachers, school staff and the wider community, they work on solutions to current sustainability challenges. By giving students an active role in improving their living environment, they discover that their ideas and actions can really make a difference!

Eco-Schools in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, Eco-Schools is owned by IVN Natuureducatie. Coordination has been outsourced to Vereniging GDO. Vereniging GDO is a network of 90 municipalities and 140 nature and sustainability centres, working to bring nature and sustainability closer to people through education, participation and communication. GDO members have extensive experience in supporting schools with local programmes and activities, such as lessons and excursions, as well as working as educational partners or local facilitators in the field of nature and sustainability. Most Eco-Schools coordinators therefore work for a nature and sustainability centre or a regional branch of IVN Natuureducatie.

Read more about Vereniging GDO

Collaborations

Eco-Schools is one of Vereniging GDO’s initiatives to help young people prepare for the world of tomorrow. From providing educational resource kits to teacher training for sustainable education and supporting municipal policies on sustainability education, we run a range of projects to help schools address sustainability in a coherent and integrated way. We work closely with our partner SME, civil society organisations, government bodies and businesses (see also the supporters of Eco-Schools).

Vereniging GDO is an active member of the Leren voor Morgen cooperative. The aim of Leren voor Morgen is to embed sustainability in the DNA of education. This is achieved through an integrated approach: the Whole School Approach. Together with Leren voor Morgen, UNESCO Schools, Teachers for Climate and Techkwadraat, for example, we work to strengthen learning networks for sustainability coordinators.

Eco-Schools is also a recognised activity within Gezonde School under the theme Environment and Nature.