Examination of Witness (Questions 477-479)
Thursday 22 May 2003
DR ANDY
JOHNSTON
Q477 Chairman: Good morning, Dr Johnston.
You have been present for some of the previous session, so we
very much hope that you have an inkling of the direction that
our inquiry is going in. I welcome you to our Sub-Committee and
I should like to say how much we appreciate the work of Forum
for the Future, which is helping to develop the overall strategy
in terms of sustainable development and education. Is there anything
that you wish to add to the submission that you have already made
to us?
Dr Johnston: At this point, there
is nothing I wish to add, but I will re-state the key points to
help the debate move along. We are talking about a move away from
education for sustainable development towards learning for sustainable
development, the emphasis on the learning being the whole exercise;
a recognition that that requires building of capacity within all
sorts of training providers within the sector, but also within
professional associations, regulatory bodies and all sorts of
players within the education field; and that a lot of work needs
to be done on demystifying the concept of sustainable development
so that at least we can get on with doing something rather than
endlessly debating what it means.
Q478 Mr Challen: What approach is
Forum taking with higher educational institutions in regard to
the HEPS initiative?
Dr Johnston: We have a two-strand
approach: individual engagement with 18 partner universities,
where the strategy is to identify where the institution is going,
what it is trying to achieve, and how to do that in the most sustainable
way possible. Under those circumstances, we operate within the
framework of that particular institution. We also have programme-wide
initiatives where we are picking up on—what are the things
which is keeping vice-chancellors awake at night generally across
the sector, and how is it that the sustainable development agenda
can possibly help them to solve those problems on a sector-wide
basis.
Q479 Mr Challen: What priorities
does HEPS give to integrating sustainable development into the
curriculum?
Dr Johnston: That, I would say,
is the number one priority. If I was to draw a distinction between
the previous discussion and this one, it is that we do see that
there is an important role for courses, which are called sustainable
development, or their main purpose is some sort of sustainable
development—professionalisation, if you like. However, by
far and away the most important agenda is how to get the existing
professions to behave in a more sustainable way—what does
it mean for a chemist or an engineer? That is, I think, the big
agenda.
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