While a tad aspirational, it would be great to see how much paper-based content a school really needs. Obviously, subjects like Visual Arts couldn’t happen without paper but almost every other subject could limit itself a lot, certainly in terms of curriculum content. Is there really any need for textbooks at all when we can show anything we want on a projected screen?
I’m not sure how we would work around copybooks or worksheets but there are ways to limit their use. I remember I worked in a school that charged 7c per photocopying page in black and white. I decided simply to save money in my classroom budget not to use the photocopier unless it was absolutely essential. I was surprised by how easy it was.
Having said that, I did use copybooks and blank sheets of paper so I’m not sure if I saved the planet as such but it certainly made me think.
While it’s probably unrealistic that we would lose all paper from schools, we certainly can make an effort to use a lot less.
