Sustainable Gardening across the Curriculum: Making it Happen

Abstract

In this chapter we describe some of the reported benefits of food growing at school, linking food growing to the purposes and content of the Australian and New Zealand Curriculums. We also provide examples of ways in which classroom teachers can use the garden as a teaching resource not only in a cross-curricular way but also in a manner that explores the Australian Curriculum conceptualisation of 'sustainability', the New Zealand curriculum principle of 'future focus', and the value of 'ecological sustainability'. Beyond the scope of this chapter is information about how to grow food plants, how to organise the development and use of the food garden as a shared school resource, and how to link the garden to kitchen activities. These latter aspects are well explained in a number of practically oriented resources that include the 'Kitchen Garden' website (State of New South Wales, 2012), the 'Campaign for School Gardening' (Royal Horticultural Society, 2008a), 'Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation' (Gamson-Danks, 2010) and 'Kids Grow: Munch and Crunch Garden' (Woodrow & Tyas Tunggal, 2011).