Education for Sustainable Development

1. Education for Sustainable Development Workshop provided by the GEES Subject Centre and the Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Plymouth Jennifer Blumhof (University of Hertfordshire) James Gray-Donald (University of Plymouth) University of Chester 26th January 2007

2. OUR KEY QUESTIONS • Why should Universities engage with ESD? • What can Universities do? • What are others doing? • What are you currently doing at your university? • What more could you consider doing?

3. BUT FIRST A QUICK ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE DEFINITIONAL DEBATE. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987)

4. OR…. IF YOU PREFER “The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations” (Securing the Future, 2005) Or…..A position where the earth’s resources are not used up faster than renewable substitutes are developed Or….. Sustained economic growth! (an economist’s view?)

5. WHY IS H.E. STARTING TO TAKE ESD SERIOUSLY? • Stronger media and public awareness/concern • UN Decade for ESD (2005-15) • Recognition that HE has not been doing enough • QAA Benchmarking • Growing evidence of planetary deterioration • Evidence that others in HE are doing something!

11. WHY SHOULD CHESTER ENGAGE? • Involvement with major global/national issue • Education of tomorrow’s leaders, citizens and employers/employees • Growing business interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and SD • Marketing and recruitment (student interest) • Build on existing institutional expertise • Funding Council’s expectations

12. BUT, REMEMBER THAT ESD IS CONTESTED This is how Peter Knight (VC at University of Central England) described HEFCE’s SD strategy. “It is one of the most pernicious and dangerous circulars ever to be issued. It represents the final assault on the last freedom of universities…..It is not the job of universities to promote a particular political orthodoxy”

13. WHAT CAN UNIVERSITIES DO? In addition to SD research, THE FOUR Cs? • Curriculum: Knowledge, skills and values • Community: Regional partnerships • Campus: buildings, energy, waste & Culture

14. HE has progressed more rapidly with campus and buildings than with the students’ curriculum and learning

15. ESD AND CURRICULUM DESIGN • Location in the curriculum • Knowledge for S/SD eg. Life cycle analysis, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, core concerns( climatic change, principles of equity, societal considerations, technocentric- ecocentric approaches) • Skills for sustainability literacy • Assessment • Approaches to learning and teaching for ESD eg. Interdisciplinarity, problem-based learning, motivating & • Examples of practice/what others are doing

16. LOCATION OF S/SD IN THE CURRICULUM • Subject of degree programme- undergraduate or Masters • Designated modules ( compulsory/optional) • Case studies/activities within modules • Cross curricula case studies • Built into fieldwork programme • Part of placement experience(or placement training) • Addressed through the personal development planning system (eg discussed with personal tutor bringing in values and volunteering) • Part of the employability and careers education agenda (eg organisational awareness) • Extra curricula activities/volunteering

17. SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY From: Student Force for Sustainability

18. SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY From: Student Force for Sustainability

19. SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY From: Student Force for Sustainability

20. MOTIVATION : QUOTE “ The easiest way to motivate students is to say that the work will count for x% of marks to the particular course/degree that they are doing. This always seems to work, and the higher the mark% -effort ratio, the more highly motivated they are. I see this as a growing problem in higher education, and it is something that students areconditioned to from their modular courses at school. We simply reinforce the practice at University.” lecturer - University of Southampton

21. EXAMPLES FROM ELSEWHERE • MSc in Leadership for Sustainable Development -Middlesex • A subject-based module :Sustainability policy and practice- Plymouth • Fieldwork Module- Plymouth • MSc Module Tools for Sustainable Development –CDROM and VLE-Glamorgan • Level 3 Module ‘Achieving a Sustainable Future’-interactive role play games • Level 3 Module ‘Approaches to Sustainable Development’ use of debates- Reading • What will family life look like in 2020- return to learn module- Hertfordshire • Olympics- short pbl exercise- GEES • Broadlands- transdisciplinary pbl case study Hertfordshire • Induction Exercise – 6 Environmental Issues local/global-interconnectivity Hertfordshire

22. EXAMPLES FROM ELSEWHERE • Bhopal- national/global issue ethics/2hour –in class activity Hertfordshire • Channel Tunnel/local national issue role play Hertfordshire • Fieldwork issues (sustainable skiing) • Technocentric- ecocentric continuum – classroom activity Hertfordshire • Campus projects…eg looking at water use • Volunteering/University Environmental Groups-Local community projects • Gaia Module-carbon neutral/ ‘Connecting with Hope’ tree planting exercise – Oxford Brookes • Living More Lightly Profile- Earth Education

23. ESD- APPROACHES TO LEARNING AND TEACHING? • Transmissive learning>>>Learning through discovery • Teacher-centred approach>>>Learner-centred approach • Individual learning>>>Collaborative learning • Learning dominated by theory>>>Praxis-oriented learning linking theory and practice • Focus on accumulating knowledge and a content orientation>>>Focus on self-regulative learning and a real issues orientation • Emphasis on cognitive objectives only>>>Cognitive, affective and skills-related objectives • Institutional, staff-based teaching/learning>>>Learning with and from outsiders • Low-level cognitive learning>>>High-level cognitive learning European Union Socrates Thematic Network for Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and the Environment [AFANet]

24. PROBLEM-BASED SCENARIO ‘TRIGGER’ You are a group of academic consultants invited by the Mayor of London to advise on ‘greening’ the 2012 Olympics so that they produce sustainable benefits for ‘East Enders’. You have six weeks to submit a report and this morning your group will begin to address the task. At the end of 40 minutes, and with the aid of a flip chart, your group has two minutes to give a presentation on your preliminary ideas.

25. The pbl process Offer ‘solutions’/do assignment the problem apply what you have found out brainstorming reflect refine ideas &critique resources decide what the problem/s is/are learning needs- what you need to find out Based on Charlotte Silen’s model, University of Linkoping self study

26. WHAT/HOW ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING?& WHAT NEXT? Audit & Action Plan

27. Session 6 So, in Summary • ESD may be an idea whose time has come. • There are both opportunities and obstacles • ESD poses for us all both professional and personal challenges

28. Timings • Why should Universities engage with ESD? (13.00 J G-D) • What can Universities do? What are others doing? (13.30- 14.15 curriculum design and examples JRB) 14.15-14.30 Tea • What are you currently doing at your university? What more could you consider doing? (Audit and Action Plan 14.30-15.30/16.00 JRB and J G-D)