The Flagship Effect – Sustainable School Projects as the Education Tool for Sustainability

In the past ten years, many exemplar projects are completed in China to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience of Sustainability. Many of these projects are landmark buildings, because they can attract more public attentions; then, raise more awareness of sustainable development. However, school projects are rarely mentioned in the news and annual inspirational project lists. The fundamental point of this paper is to challenge the common concept in China that school buildings are only used exclusively by children in formal education. According to the paper’s review of the school schemes in England and Wales, not only the inspirational sustainable schools created the opportunities and responsibilities to accelerate positive changes, but also they developed a vision of an asset that supports lifelong learning and sustainable lifestyles for the whole community. In this paper, the definition of a ‘sustainable school’ is summarised by comparing the statements and concepts in England and Wales. Moreover, the wide range of benefits gained by project stakeholders and communities are also demonstrated through case studies. In the end, the paper concludes the lessons and innovations which can be learnt by Chinese school projects. The illustrations provided by this paper do not aim to solve all the issues of promoting a sustainable school in China, but to open people’s minds to the impacts of their actions, and to help build the knowledge and cooperative framework to promote public sustainable projects.