Can you think of any substantial social and environmental movement that didn’t have young, fearless people at the centre?
Picture You in Agriculture was created 15 years ago to provide an opportunity for young people in the agriculture sector to take a holistic approach to building an understanding of, and capacity to address the complex issues (challenges and opportunities) facing the people and the places that provide the food we eat and fibres we use
By bringing together young people from different industries and different disciplines we are able to consider scientific and academic knowledge, as well as practical, local and personal knowledge. Our programs are action-oriented, continuously evolving in the pursuit of a common purpose and we respect we are all a product of our life experiences, different value systems and social norms.
We soon recognised we couldn’t do it alone and set out to foster long term relationships between government, education, business and the community.
Working with a diverse group of curious and open-minded people, facing complex challenges, generates a supportive culture and we are finding the learning curve is very steep. Identifying opportunities for external knowledge exchange has become a priority.
Working with schools has been such a joy.
Imagine if every single student from infants to primary to secondary school to tertiary education was equipped with practical skill sets to innovate and drive social and environmental change. In a time when students are seeking careers with impact and employers are demanding core skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork, it has been highly rewarding to help teachers equip students with the changemaking skills to tackle complex social and environmental issues and future challenges not yet imagined?
Its happening in our schools across the country. Teachers are embedding resilience, creativity, empathy, curiosity, collaboration and systems-thinking into the curriculum and we are very excited to be part of the movement providing schools with access to real people who can help their students investigate real issues and share their big ideas for the bright future we are all dreaming.
Schools are engaging with their boarder communities with the flow-on effect of helping the wider community improve their understanding about our natural and social environments.
At our 2021 Kreative Koalas launch event in the Hunter last week we invited teachers and students from St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School (Kristine Jones and Kristen Raymond) at Raymond Terrace and Medowie Christian School ( Martha Atkins) to share their 2020 Kreative Koalas journey
We have discovered the Hunter is a unique environment where the Hunter Local Land Services have engaged Jane Lloyd-Jones as their school engagement officer . Jane provides the conduit between the schools and all the environmental services providers which has led to ground-breaking collaborations and great environmental outcomes in the region
Meet Jane
Meet some of the people Jane introduces to regional schools
Kristy Peters from Birdlife
Meet Jo Hathway who is a Project Officer for Schools Education with NSW Department of Industry based at Tocal College
Meet Pauline Dunne from DPIE who is the Team Leader Community Engagement on Hunter Central Coast
The Hunter is a great example of teamwork truly makes the dream work
#education #schools #socialchangemakers #environmentalchangemakers