COFFS Harbour-based permaculture writer and former TAFE Vocational Education and Training (VET) developer Linda Woodrow has led the development of a Certificate II in Permaculture now available to Australian high schools.
Ms Woodrow has worked in the VET system as a course developer and taught urban permaculture in Havana, Cuba and in Australia.
Her book, The Permaculture Home Garden, has been in print for more than 30 years.
High schools who are interested and have a suitably qualified teacher can apply to put the Certificate II in Permaculture into their school’s curriculum.
“The really exciting part about this is that it is a pathway into all kinds of futures,” Ms Woodrow told News Of The Area.
“High school students can use this Certificate II as part of their university entrance score.
“They can progress from it to a TAFE certificate or Diploma qualification, or they can move on into trades, agriculture or conservation work.
“Permaculture is a kind of design science that can apply to a big range of fields including agriculture, architecture, town planning, energy efficiency, natural resource management, disaster resilience.
“It’s even relevant to creative arts, social science, economics and government.”
Permaculture Australia (PA), the Australian national member-based permaculture organisation, said this was a significant step.
“Permaculture is moving from the margins of education into the mainstream structures of secondary schooling,” PA said.
The Certificate II in Permaculture has been structured into four clusters, designed to scaffold student learning from Year 9 through to Year 12.
“The early part of the course focuses on maximum versatility,” Ms Woodrow said.
“It includes transferable skills like tool use, work health and safety, outdoor work-readiness, workplace communication, research skills, working in teams, and practical responsibility – the kind of skills that will be of use whichever direction these students decide to take.
“The later units move into report writing, yield calculations, analysis and decision making, readying students for higher education.”
That kind of learning helps students see that sustainability is not just a set of values or opinions, the PA says; it is a practical discipline requiring knowledge, judgement, skill, and responsibility.
The Certificate II in Permaculture can lead directly into entry-level roles such as urban food growing assistant, permaculture farm worker, community nursery worker, and school garden assistant.
By Andrea FERRARI
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