There is nothing wrong with being critical. Asking probing questions and having salient insights are good and shows an enquiring mind. Teaching students to ask good questions is a skill and one that helps them to understand their learning.

In this light, I wonder what kind of sustainability reports have been undertaken or planned for the Building the Education Revolution (BER) of our schools across Australia. I wonder what increase there has been in the carbon footprint of schools.

There has been much talk and media attention on the actual building but not much on the sustainability and ecologically friendly processes and products used. Although there is a factsheet on the government website let’s hope the auditing is effective in highlighting good practices and not continuing the waste of funds we have seen recently.