sense of place

Maitland Region Landcare and Maitland City Council have recently completed a pilot project on developing a 'sense of place'. The Hunter-Central Rivers CMA supports this unique approach to environmental education in the region.

A sense of place or a feeling of connection can be a powerful motivation for active citizenship.  It also helps give grounded and practical meaning and relevance to learning at school.

Developing a ‘sense of place’ was the undercurrent for an important environmental education (EE) pilot project in the Hunter  – Our Sense of Place: Improving environmental attitudes and behaviours. 

Initiated by Maitland Region Landcare with funding through the NSW Government’s Environmental Trust, over 850 people including students, teachers, community members, and representatives from various government and community organisations were involved in the project.

The project nurtured a sense of place through a layered approach:
-  increasing the local and regional content and context in teaching;
- exploring local places through excursions, giving students practical and grounded experiences in their home environment;
- bringing local people into the classroom to develop connections with community; and
- careful attention to students’ felt responses to places through journaling and discussion.

Monitoring results highlighted that the project was highly valued by the people involved, particularly teachers.  Students’ and teachers’ local knowledge was improved, and teachers have since integrated more local content in their teaching.  The pilot project has been the catalyst for a shift towards seeing the local area as a valuable laboratory for learning. 

A Sense of Place Final Report

The final report sets out the contributions, achievements, and challenges of the pilot project.  It has been prepared to offer guidance for those wishing to explore similar education projects in their community.  It includes a breakdown of the resources needed to plan, coordinate and implement the Sense of Place pilot project.

Downloadable file: available soon

A Sense of Place Resource Kit for Schools

This resource was the culmination of experiences, information, and feedback gathered from the pilot project.  It addressed one of the main barriers to schools’ focus on a local sense of place, namely, the lack of information on local issues, places, people, and heritage, developed specifically for school use.

Downloadable files:
Introduction (770kb)
Chapter 2: A 'Sense of Place' in Maitland (850kb)
Chapter 3: Ecosystems in Maitland (480kb)
Chapter 4: Maitland's water resources (290kb)
Chapter 5: Environmental citizenship in Maitland (390kb)
Chapter 6: Local issue investigation (280kb)
Chapter 7: Local excursions (950kb)
Chapter 8: Contacts and support options (65kb)