Author: Dublin City Council

Green-Schools Travel works in partnership with Dublin City Council to promote active travel to schools throughout Dublin. The ultimate aim of the Green-Schools Travel programme is to encourage students, parents and teachers to walk, cycle, scoot, Park ‘n’ Stride, use public transport or car pool instead of using the private car on the journey to school.  Ultimately it is hoped that the number of cars outside the school gates are reduced and that shorter journeys are taken in an active and sustainable way. Road safety and education are at the forefront of the Green-Schools Travel programme. Through the support of The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Travel team, together with Local Authorities, offers training and support to schools to facilitate more students walking and cycling safely to school. 

As part of the Green-Schools Travel theme students carry out ‘cycleability’ and ‘walkability’ audits together with a Green-Schools Travel Officer. These audits report extensively on how pedestrian and cycling friendly the routes to school are and aim to identify key areas for improvement. This information is invaluable to Dublin City Council and highlights infrastructural issues, as well as ITS and information issues. The process empowers young people to become involved in local governance and to make suggestions to their local authority on how their area could be improved for the benefit of the whole community.  

This process has proved hugely successful in Dublin City and has resulted in infrastructural improvements around schools such as new road markings, school warning signs, safer crossing points and new pedestrian crossings. In addition to developing walking and cycling routes to school, the improved infrastructure serves to improve connectivity between communities and neighbourhoods, encouraging healthy communities with reduced emissions from motor vehicles.

Green-Schools Travel initiatives such as the Big Travel Challenge, Scoot to School Week, Walk to School Week and Bike Week not only gets more young people actively travelling to school but has instilled whole-community behaviour change in terms of active travel.

Further Information:

An Taisce has been working on the national Green-Schools Travel programme, which focuses on promoting sustainable travel on the school run, since September 2008. The Travel theme is funded by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and supported by the National Transport Authority under Smarter Travel Schools. To date, over 1800 primary and secondary schools countrywide have taken part or are taking part in the Green-Schools Travel programme, implementing sustainable travel action plans in their schools.

Green-Schools

Green-Schools (known internationally as Eco-Schools), is an international environmental management education programme, environmental management system and award scheme that promotes and acknowledges long-term, whole-school action for the environment, and is operating in over 50 countries around the world including; almost all EU member states, Africa, South America, Oceania and Asia.  Green-Schools are an initiative of FEE (the Foundation for Environmental Education). The programme is coordinated in Ireland by An Taisce, operated in partnership with Local Authorities and is supported by the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht, National Transport Authority, NPWS, Irish Water and Trócaire.  The programme is sponsored by the Wrigley Company Limited. An Taisce’s Green-Schools Programme reached a record level during the last school year with over 94% of schools in Ireland. The Green-Schools programme is based on a seven-step environmental management system and continual improvement process which is very student led and also involves the wider community. Green-Schools is a themed programme with schools initially working on the themes of Litter and Waste and then moving onto themes such as Energy, Water and School Travel. Schools that successfully implemented the programme are awarded the Green Flag. The award must be renewed every two years.

An Taisce

An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, is an environmental charity, with a range of interests, extending from the natural heritage of land, air, water, flora and fauna, to the heritage of buildings and gardens. Through its local, national and international networks, An Taisce seeks to educate, inform and lead public opinion on the environment, and influence policy and development. Strategies to achieve these aims include awareness and education programmes. As the Irish member of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), An Taisce co-ordinates the Green-Schools programme as well as well as other environmental education programmes such as Blue Flag, Green Homes, Green Communities and National Spring Clean, in Ireland. See www.antaisce.org for further information.

For further information, please visit https://greenschoolsireland.org/news/