Felix Spee, teacher of Sustainability and Biology at the Berlage Lyceum
‘Sustainability concerns us all’
I have been working at the Berlage Lyceum for eleven years and have been teaching Sustainability to 3 VWO and 3 HAVO students since 2022. The subject was created out of the need to prepare students for the challenges of the future. Sustainability is not a political debate: climate change is happening and already affects all our students.
Preparing for the future
My vision of education is that we should not only provide students with knowledge, but also help them develop the skills to take action themselves. The Netherlands is a generation behind in this area. Sustainability is not yet mandatory in schools, even though every company and organization must deal with it. That is why at the Berlage Lyceum we want to prepare students for their future role in a world that must function more sustainably. In the classroom, I focus on practical projects so that students learn by doing, rather than by receiving grades and exams. To achieve this, we must give students independence. This can be challenging for teachers, but it is essential in order to give students real opportunities to take initiative.
Projects and collaboration
A great example is the Sustainable Cosmetics project, in which students develop their own cosmetic line and brand. Over three weeks, they work across multiple subjects including biology, economics, chemistry, English, music, and arts and design. They design products, research the sustainability of ingredients, make the products using organic ingredients, and create a strategy for bringing them to market. Last year, students organized a catwalk to showcase sustainable clothing they had designed and made themselves. This year, I also want to take some students to the AICS Eco vision day. It is important for students to exchange ideas and learn from each other, and that is something that can happen within Esprit Scholen.