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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 26 th January 2007. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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
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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?
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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)
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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?)
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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!
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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
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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”
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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
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HE has progressed more rapidly with campus and buildings than with the students’ curriculum and learning
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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
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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
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SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY Student Employability. Competencies
Sustainability within Competencies
Analysis Aware that SD requires a multidisciplinary approach to analysis looking at evidence from different sources over different time, space and systems
Judgement Aware that SD requires precaution where evidence is inconclusive. Able to judge the bias of information or views in relation to sustainability
Infuencing Influences others by participating as a responsible citizen as well as responsible employee
Organisational sensitivity
Sensitive to their effects on the local environment and community. Values the contribution that all employees can make to the organisation’s sustainability
Planning and organising
Plans for long-term environmental and social impacts as well as short-term financial gains
Working with others Aware that sustainability requires partnership and cooperation rather than just individual action
Commercial awareness
Aware of business and stakeholder benefits of environmental management and corporate social responsibility
From: Student Force for Sustainability
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SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY
Student Employability Competencies
Sustainability within Competencies
Organisational Understanding
Understands what makes a sustainable workstyle, and the place of sustainability in the organisation’s strategy and culture
Achievement orientation
Aware that the success or all results should include judgements on sustainability. Aware that environmental management and social responsibility are critical success factors for all performance in the workplace. Maintains and inspires an approach which considers long-term results, including their impacts, as well as short-term results
Creativity Able to generate best practice and new ideas by thinking holistically and systematically in the long-term, by linking global to local, and looking at the political, economic, social, technological and environmental barriers to change in a creative, positive way
Initiative Willing and able to have a positive, staged, solutions-based approach to sustainability
From: Student Force for Sustainability
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SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY
Student Employability
Competencies
Sustainability within Competencies
Leadership Takes responsibility for the directions and actions of a team, including stewardship, citizenship, social entrepreneurship and partnership. Aware that governance at international, national, regional and local level involves rights and responsibilities for sustainability
Lifelong learning and development
Develops the sustainability competencies of self, peers and colleagues through learning and development activities related to current and future roles
Process operation Aware that many processes are multifactorial and cyclical and can have more global reactions
Professional Expertise
Willing to network and share knowledge and ideas about sustainable development with professionals
From: Student Force for Sustainability
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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 are conditioned to from their modular courses at school. We simply reinforce the practice at University.”
lecturer - University of Southampton
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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
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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
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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]
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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.
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The pbl process
brainstorming
decide what the problem/s is/are
the problem
learning needs- what you need to find out
self study
apply what you have found out
reflect
refine ideas &critique resources
Based on Charlotte Silen’s model, University of Linkoping
Offer ‘solutions’/do assignment
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WHAT/HOW ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING?& WHAT NEXT?
Audit & Action Plan
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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
Session 6
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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)
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