Nov 19, 2020

Sustainability - Tagtiv8 Saves Teachers Time AND the Planet!

by Bryn Llewellyn

Tagtiv8 saves 3 things - teachers time, schools money AND the planet! Definitely a bold statement but bear with us. In this blog post about sustainability, Tagtiv8 founder, Bryn Llewellyn revealed that he became a teacher for ideological reasons. With a degree in Environmental Studies, he wanted to develop Environmental Education – learning:

about the environment
through the environment
for the environment

Yes, we need to Save the:

Whale!
Rainforest!
Planet!

But what else do we need to save? What do teachers have in short supply? That’s right - TIME!! During a recent twitter conversation about Playground Leaders - or Move & Learn Champions as we like to call them - a teacher stated, “It looks great. However, alongside my classroom teacher role, I don’t know if I (or any other staff) have the time to create or train a group of children.” Conversations then moved on to sustainability and the need to think about the long term trajectory.

A Default Setting for Teachers

While showcasing a PAL activity with a school in Yorkshire, the Year 4 teacher was so impressed, she said: “This is so simple - it’s such an open-ended task. I could try something like this in the classroom. All I need to do is print numbers on different colour cards and laminate them.” Maybe printing and laminating is the default setting for teachers. When it was suggested she simply use the tags in her classroom, the realisation kicked in and she began to laugh. How much time do teachers - or other adults in schools - spend logging on to a website and downloading a worksheet, before printing it then photocopying it and/or laminating? School Business Managers - you know the cost of photocopying! Don’t get us started on sticking worksheets into books in an effort to ‘provide evidence for Ofsted’. Remember, a picture speaks a thousand words...

A Simple Reset - Tagtiv8 Saves Time

As Andy Gaunt, Head Teacher at Greengates Primary Academy says in this video... “Tagtiv8 just has so many uses. You don’t realise until you open up the bag, get out the tags and suddenly you go, ‘Wow! You can do prime numbers with this, I can do times tables with this. There are endless opportunities’.” Just think - with Tagtiv8 - no more photocopying and no more laminating! What will you do with all that extra time? All those opportunities to do things that really matter...

Sustainability - Think Global - Act Local

Sustainability continues to be a key factor for Tagtiv8. How do we – as an organisation – shift thinking about environmental issues? At a global level, we are part of the wonderful HundrED community. Many of the education innovations in HundrED are looking to future-proof the planet. Want to know more about who is doing what, where and how? Simply click here. Tagtiv8 forge partnerships with like-minded people with shared core values – especially those who look towards sustainable solutions. It would be cheaper to import our materials from abroad but we continue to consider our carbon footprints. Step forward local organisations who have helped us create our new resources. To find out more, click here.

Looking Ahead

If you like what you have read and would like to find out more, we would love to hear from you. To find out more about how we can work and play together, give us a call – 020 3370 4272 – or send us an email at hello@tagtiv8.com If you are interested in awesome eco-friendly websites and resources, check out these links:

And if you would like a thought provoking video to start conversations, check out 'Birthplace' by Novo Amor. Thanks for the nudge, Phil Timms - virtual elbow bumps on their way!

Photo Credits

Thank You Scotts Park Primary School, Bromley - and Parklands Primary School, Leeds. You are both awesome!