Current Issues in Education for Sustainable Development with reference to the SEEPS project

John Huckle MMU, February 7th 2004

SEEPS: time to celebrate

Whole school approaches with schools as catalysts of change Constructivist, democratic, cooperative and participatory processes Theories, models and principles sampled through case studies Innovative teaching and learning methods Values education to promote action competence Political literacy and citizenship 395 page CD . . . and more . . .

Four current issues in ESD:

1. Philosophical and theoretical diversity 2. The relevance of social theory and citizenship 3. The need for adequate models of the relationship between culture (society) and environment (nature) 4. The merits and limits of values education

A focus on projects early units

Seven units:
0 Whole school approaches and pupil participation 1 Why bother with ESD? 2 Values and attitudes 3 Cultural perspectives on ESD 4 Leading and managing change 5 Teaching through the environment 6 School self-evaluation in ESD 7 Case studies and action research

The most effective CPD integrates three areas of knowledge; theoretical, contextual and personal. In the SEEPS Project teachers are asked to engage with theories, models and principles, to examine these in a number of European case studies and to use their own personal experience to interpret this information to promote whole school development in their own school. From conference flyer

1 Philosophical and theoretical diversity

The Projects position (Extract 3.1.2)

Focus on social action acknowledging its multifaceted and multilayered nature An attempt to identify the alternative measures and viable programmes that will bring about appropriate changes of behaviour in relation to a sustainable future (the awareness/values > behaviour model has failed) Focus on the analysis of pragmatic choices at the level of affected and effective communities (local participation raises awareness of global issues) Encourage sustainable behaviour through whole school approaches that are integrated, coherent and avoid hypocrisy. Action and affection are important as well as cognition and pragmatic rationality Strip away the blindness of not knowing or not recognising using, for example, environmental audits

Value Practice what you preach

Action Surveys which lead to environmental strategies and actions for schools Expressive arts and sensory approaches to environmental teaching Sustainable action, futures perspective, damage prevention rather than damage limitation

Educate the feelings

Live more lightly on the planet

Lifelong, integrated and community Through Agenda 21, instigate based approaches that are based on local communities, integrate formal education with other agencies Hope before apathy and despair (Table 1.2.7) Local action through environmental improvement, energy efficiency and green purchasing etc . . . Individual action can make a difference.

The importance of participation

While the project advocates that the content of sustainability education should be decided locally, according to the schools context and needs, it does advocate constructivist, democratic, cooperative and participatory processes as key features of whole school approaches. SEEPS, p. 14
Participation appeals because of its transformative potential. Through the experience of active participation it is hoped citizens will become better educated about environmental problems and transformed from self regarding individuals to other regarding citizens with an appreciation of their common (environmental) interests and compassion for nonhuman nature. Bronwyn Hayward, 1996, p. 221

Locating SEEPS within the diversity of approaches

Social constructivism
Learning is an active process and not merely the absorption of information Learners minds are not empty vessels; learners have strongly held preconceptions Learning is not merely adding to existing conceptual understanding, but may involve conceptual change Knowledge is humanly constructed, not given

Social criticism
The role of structure The role of power The role of ideology The ideal of emancipation The role of critique

Social/political focus
Learning for Sustainabilty, E Janse van Rensburg & H Lotz Sisitka, Johannesburg, 2000

Individual/cultural focus

Complementary and contesting positions Social constructivism Social criticism

+s

sustainability a construction; stresses economic and sociovalues personal understandings; political dimensions; active locally relevant learning; rethinking ideological assumptions encourage relativity; perpetuates superficial deterministic; limited potential for action

-s

perspectives

Attempts to describe, explain and understand the complicated nature of individual social action and its relationship to wider social change through an examination of power, conflict and constraint are often unconvincing. Extract 3.2.1, p. 128

Different forms of ESD

ESD as environmental science and environmental management (positivism, nave environmental realism) ESD as values and behaviour change (constructivism, environmental idealism, environmental instrumentalism) ESD as socially critical education (critical theory, critical environmental realism)

2 European social theory and citizenship

The politics of sustainable development 1

The mainstream or reformist view of sustainable development is about balancing economic growth with social and environmental goals. It obscures the need to develop the economy or society within ecological limits and fosters reductionist rather than holistic or systemic thinking

The politics of sustainable development 2

The radical view of sustainable development is about generating economic welfare and social justice within ecological limits. Considerations of sufficiency and equity are paramount. It requires and fosters holistic or systemic thinking.

3. Culture and the environment

Culture in this context is taken to mean the whole complex of human activities and intellectual products of a given or self-identified commmunity . . . . Four aspects(arts, communication, institutions and technology) are illustrative of cultural aspects and commonly used in the primary curriculum. Unit 4, p. 123
An institution is a group of people who either live together or meet regularly for some purpose. The group controls the behaviour of its members through a system of organisation. . . A culture usually has several kinds of institutions. These may include familial, economic and religious institutions and voluntary organisations. Unit 4, p. 126/7

Case study 9: Transport and road safety in the local environment

(Technology/regional > European/individual and collective responsibility for sustainable actions)

^ What constitutes a responsible and

sustainable way of moving around the locality? Were we more responsible in the past? Are people more responsible elsewhere in Europe?

< Traffic management, traffic reduction,

or transport alternatives? Skills > affective domain? Cycling, walking buses, return of school catchments? Rights and responsibilities of pedestrians and motorists? Traffic law here and elsewhere in Europe?

< Why no pupils at the meeting? Level of childrens participation? What did they learn about national and European transport policy?

Unit 4 seeks to: enable teachers to understand the relationships between culture and environment enable teachers to understand how the environment is influenced by and influences culture etc

The educational problem of sustainability education

Culture is a complex framework of traditions, symbols, behaviours and understandings. This means that in understanding the relationship between culture (. . . ) and the environment (. . . ) we have to come to terms with huge variations in levels of understanding, commitments, care and response to environmental issues. In a way there are, potentially as many levels of response as there are individuals. In this problem, perhaps, lies the educational problem of sustainability education. Unit 4, Activity 4, page 130

Explaining the construction of socio-nature (people and their environment)

Representational Practices
Discursive constructions Language

Ideological Practices
Bio-physical Processes

METABOLISM (between society and nature)

Social Relations

Cultural Practices Material Practices

4 The merits and limits of values education

It is not the intention of this Unit to suggest that there is one set of values to which we should all subscribe, nor is there any suggestion that peoples values are in some way suspect or inferior and require to be improved. It is rather that there is often an inconsistency between the values we hold and the actions we take. The purpose of this Unit is essentially to consider how values can be clarified, analysed and interpreted resulting, perhaps, in some change of actions. Page 74

Appendix 2.1, page 107

Action competence model

Action Competence is achieved when an individual feels confident, knowledgeable and empowered to act effectively. To do so requires: (a) knowledge and understanding of an issue; (b) opportunities to work out ones value stance and form of commitment; (c) opportunities to clarify ones vision for the future, ones dream; (d) teachers to provide action strategies which equip the learner both with the will to act and the skills to do it effectively.
Table 2.5.2, page 103

EE has not taken a critical enough stance on the political, social and economic systems that are responsible for the environmental crisis. From seven reasons why EE has failed, Table 1.4.2

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