Lycée Edouard Herriot

1. Lycée Edouard Herriot Voiron - France

2. The school and its environment The Lycée Edouard Herriot is located in a wonderful park planted with trees on the heights of the city of Voiron in Isère.The school welcomes 1500 students or so who are taken care of by 200 people among whom 120 teachers. The school boasts a European Section, optional subjects (Drama, History of the Arts…) and an active sports association. It offers many high-quality subjects preparing the students to general and vocational A Levels (= Baccalauréats généraux and technologiques) and to 2 vocational training certificates (BTS = Brevet de Technicien Supérieur taken after the age of18, after the Baccalauréat)

3. The Project at School • Acknowledgement : within our school there are many different clubs but none is about sustainable development ; this theme is dealt with by some teachers during their lessons but there is no real coordination in any way. • Objective : to create a group dynamics and to arouse people’s interest among teachers on the one hand, among students on the other hand.

4. The process • 1st year : the process consists in introducing students and teachers as citizens to an eco approach and to lay the foundations of a pluridisciplinary work around the problemetics raised by sustainable development. How ? • By creating a pedagogical think tank about how to teach sustainable development (by reconsidering our teaching methods concerning sustainable development) • By going through the whole school curriculum and considering it all through sustainable development • By carrying out (in a very concrete way) an ecocitizen project at school so as to sensitize as many students as possible and so as to perpetuate the process • By sharing experiences with an Italian school and a school from Burkina-Faso

5. The process • 2nde year : • It also consists in bearing in mind previous actions and creating a sustainable development club on a voluntary basis so as to organize ecocitizen actions at school. • The process consists in going deeper into the pluridisciplinary work started the previous year and thus widening our pedagogical experimentations by including several forms in ‘seconde’ (first year in a lycée)

6. Staff involved • Members of the school administration technicians and ancillary staff • 1st year : one first form with a European–based curriculum and teachers • Ms ASTA, Italian • Ms BARET, History-Geography / Civics • Ms FAURE, French • Mr GEORGE, Economics • Mr GLANE, Biology • Mr JACQUOT, Physics-Chemistry • Ms PICQ, English • 2nd year : two first forms and teachers : • Ms BARET, History-Geography / Civics • Ms CHABERT, Physics-Chemistry • Ms FAURE, French • Ms HUMEAU, Mathemetics • Mr JACQUOT, Physics-Chemistry • Mr MARIN, Economics • Ms MITTELBRONN, Biology • Ms PICQ, English

7. Numerous achievements,… • Interdisciplinary objectives have been worked out such as: • Using the theme ‘sustainable development’ as a guideline / a link / between our subjects to bring meaning, unity, coherence to our teachings in the students’eyes. • Setting a common curriculum concerning knowledge, know-how and well-being to enhance the learning of our students, to make our expectations clear for them and to gain time during our lessons taking into account what the students studied in other subjects • Sharpening our students’critical mind (a sound mind in a healthy body), avoiding all kinds of gloom–mongering while reasonning , re-introducing doubt when thinking and analyzing even in sciences. • Making the students more inquisitive, self-sufficient and responsible to develop their action in their daily life’s behaviour (think global, act local / think worlwide, act localwise) • Making our teachings more concrete, real, by choosing examples or exercises taken in our students’ local environment (Voiron, la Communauté d’Agglomération du Pays Voironnais, le Parc Naturel Régional de Chartreuse…) • Involving parents in the school life and the theme ‘sustainable development’, asking them to intervene or offering them to participate in some activities organized inside or outside school.

8. …varied achievements,… • Numerous outside contributors • The Association « Artisans du Monde » came to speak about fair trade and what is at stake. • Sisaliao Svengsuksa, a fair–rice producer in Laos. • Amadou Diallo , President of a Malian GNO advocating the development of a milk local-based network (path) • Pierre Aldebert, CNRS • Jean-Marc Tacnet, CEMAGREF • Patricia Servage, from the CAPV Public Transport Services. • Numerous field trips and activities • School trip in the Isère Valley • School trip in Chartreuse (Regional Natural Park) • School trip and exchange with an Italian School including a day outing in the Abruzzes National Park

9. …but 2 main achievements : FIRST YEAR A fair trade school meal at school SECOND YEAR Birth of a Sustainable Development Club at school

10. Assessment • Positive points : • The birth of a true dynamic current among teachers : a strong team was born, composed of teachers eager to work, think together, to develop pedagogical experimentations so as to find other methods of teaching sustainable development. • Another successful achievement : the students have become aware of the problem and so interested in the themes that many of them have decided to use those themes as topics of their TPE (a kind of personal work and report). • The parternships thus created and the European exchanges have proved very rich and worthwhile.

11. Assessment • Negative points : • Cumbersome red tape / bureaucracy has hindered the smooth unfolding of the project. • The constraints of the school curriculum and schedule have curbed our ambitions . • Unfortunately, the national events that have recently taken place, have prevented us from carrying out our projects as planned.

12. Future prospects • A new project in 2008-2009 : « 1,2,3...SUN » based on the theme : renewable energies • … and of course keeping on thinking about what we did previously… • … as well as being able to say : « the Sustainable Development Club is well and alive in our Lycée Edouard Herriot, Voiron » !

13. Many thanks to our regional sponsors