ABSTRACT
There has been a push for the development of strategic community partnerships which allow for a unified vision and purpose in promoting Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) in local communities. This has resulted in a number of partnerships which have been created to link community organisations, and their access to resources and spaces, with educational settings. These partnerships promote the creation of place-based learning opportunities, allowing learners to make meaningful connections between ESE and their local community and environments. This chapter explores how this project developed key community partnerships with two sustainability-focused organisations that played an important supportive role in responding to the early career teachers’ stories in this study. The advice of the community partners centre on the need to take small yet intentional agentic steps towards implementing ESE in their educational settings, knowing how to ‘play the game,’ and empowering learners to drive change. This chapter argues that partnerships with local community organisations play an important role in not only promoting ESE in our local communities but empowering teachers and learners.
