APPENDIX 12
Memorandum from the Development Education
Association (DEA)
1. CONTEXT AND
BACKGROUND
The term "education for sustainable development"
(ESD) has over the past decade become increasingly recognised
as an important component of the educational agenda in the UK
and internationally. Its roots lie in the Brundtland Report and
Agenda 21 and the 1992 Rio Summit.
Within the UK, a number of initiatives were
developed in the 1990s, most notably the creation of a forum on
"education for sustainability" by the leading environmental
and development education NGOs. Also WWF, Oxfam, RSPB and a number
of other environment and development focused organisations began
to re-orient their programmes within the framework of education
for sustainable development. During this period a ground breaking
Masters course on this subject began at South Bank University
which has continued to be one of the leaders in providing further
learning on sustainable development education.
Therefore by the time the Sustainable Development
Education Panel was formed in 1998 there was already a body of
good practice and expertise within the sector.
A feature of the progress within England since
1997 has been the increased co-ordination and collaboration between
education policy-makers, Panel members and the leading NGOs on
developing programmes around education for sustainable development.
The Council for Environmental Education (CEE) and the Development
Education Association (DEA), for example, are currently working
on a joint project on "Sustainable Development Youth Work."
The commitment of the Labour government since
1997 to sustainable development has been important within the
educational context; it has brought legitimacy to the agenda.
From the DEA's perspective , there has been a noticeable increase
in resources, projects and programmes by its members on the theme
of sustainable development education. There are now a number of
joint initiatives at a local, regional and national level between
development and environment focused NGOs.
These initiatives were helped by the inclusion
of sustainable development within the curriculum review 2000,
with the support given by DEFRA through its Environmental Action
Fund to a number of projects and the opportunities created by
the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002.
The Stakeholder Forum, formerly UNED-UK, has
also played a major role in linking initiatives in the UK with
the developments at an international level through the organisation
of a number of seminars, conferences and briefings to interested
parties.
However, this increased co-ordination and coherence
is yet to be translated into educational policy at either national
or local government level. There is still a tendency by policy-makers
in education to reduce sustainable development to the environment,
despite efforts by DEFRA and DFID at the WSSD. A lack of understanding
of what ESD is all about is still a major problem within many
sectors of education. At the delivery end of education, there
are an increasing number of champions and supporters of sustainable
development in the classroom and the community but unless their
work is recognised as being of central importance, it is difficult
for them and others to develop this area of educational practice.
2. DEVELOPMENT
EDUCATION AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
EDUCATION
Members of the DEA have always seen themselves
as contributing to education for sustainable development. The
DEA's current mission statement includes the clause:
"to promote the principles of development
education and sustainable development such that they are central
across all sectors of education" .
Within the membership of the Association, there
are a wide range of programme and projects being developed on
sustainable development. Current planned publications by members
include:
| ActionAid | "Ethiopia Food Security"
|
| CAFOD | "Trade Justice"
|
| CAFOD | Transport and Sustainable Development
|
| Christian Aid | Global Learner
|
| DEP Manchester | Sus.Cit.—pack on sustainable development
|
| Fairtrade Foundation | Fair Trade in Action
|
| Global Education—Milton Keynes | Commonwealth Common Waste
|
| Liverpool World Centre | Up Your Globalised Street
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| Oxfam | Milking It—Global Citizenship Resource
|
| Association for Science Education | Genetics Around The World
|
| DEC Birmingham | Food, Farming and Interdependence
|
| Worldaware | Whose Right to Water?
|
| |
3. THE ACHIEVEMENTS
OF THE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
EDUCATION PANEL
Although a number of the developments which have taken place
would have happened regardless of the existence of the Panel,
there is no doubt that it has played a major contribution to raising
the profile of ESD and encouraging key stakeholders in education
to take on the agenda.
First and foremost, the Panel, by its definition of ESD to
include the interrelationship of environment-economy-society has
played a major role in promoting a view of the term and subject
area as being much more than being about the environment. The
implications of this can be seen most noticeably within the schools
sector with the QCA website on ESD and the work being developed
by OFSTED.
The progress in further education with the engagement of
the Learning and Skills Council and the Learning and Skills Development
Agency has also been important. The pilot projects on sustainable
development are a welcome initiative.
There has also been progress in the area of informal learning
and initiatives with key professions. The Panel's role has been
key here. It has enabled links to be developed between key NGOs
and the professional bodies and has raised the profile of ESD.
However, much of the work of the Panel has gone unnoticed.
Panel annual reports and publications have not been given the
coverage one would normally expect from a government body. The
comparison with citizenship in its coverage and support demonstrates
that the Panel's work has not had champions of sufficient seniority
and influence within education.
4. ROLE OF
DEPARTMENT FOR
EDUCATION AND
SKILLS (DFES)
The Panel has had a joint secretariat through DEFRA and DfES.
But in reality it has been the environment ministry that has given
the lead. The DEA has found that DEFRA's support and role has
been of a high standard. However this has tended to give the impression
that ESD is primarily about environmental issues and not a priority
for education.
DfES has supported the QCA website work and the OFSTED inspection
within schools but there is little evidence of any major commitment
to this area in other sectors of education.
The DEA has been concerned about DfES's initiative on `Growing
Schools' which when it was launched, could have played a major
role in encouraging natural environment groups to re-think their
contribution to ESD. But in the end, in our view, it has had a
negative impact on ESD strategies within education. By giving
considerable resources and support to an area of work which, in
the end, had no explicit reference to ESD has meant that all of
the work the Panel has done in promoting the importance of the
interconnectedness of environment-economy-society could be interpreted
as being undermined by this initiative.
The Department's lack of commitment can also be demonstrated by
the lack of reference to sustainable development in any of the
major reviews of education in the last five years. The 14-19 review,
despite a major input from the Panel, makes no mention of sustainable
development. Initiatives in further and adult education, including
Success for All and The Future of Higher Education ignore ESD.
For the DEA, this weakness within the Department has had
major repercussions. Members' involvement in local, regional and
national initiatives on ESD has been more difficult because of
the perceived interpretation of the subject area from the Department.
This contrasts with the Department's work on citizenship
which has been excellent, particularly in their recognition of
the global agenda. They have involved the key stakeholders and
have been prepared to work in partnership with NGOs. For example
DfES funded "Citizenship: the Global Dimension" which
was produced by DEA, CEE, Oxfam and the British Council.
5. ROLE OF
OTHER NATIONAL
EDUCATIONAL BODIES
A major success of the Panel's work, and particularly its
schools sub group has been the nature and form of the involvement
of QCA, OFSTED and the Teacher Training Agency in ESD.
Whilst we recognise that the profile these bodies have given
to ESD has only been possible because of DfES support, the manner
and form in which these bodies have engaged the agenda is what
is noticeable.
QCA. OTSFED and TTA are basing their engagement with ESD
agendas through consultation, dialogue and partnership with the
key players in ESD. These bodies also noticeably and consciously
see ESD as the interrelationship of environment—economy—society.
They all see the global dimension as an integral feature of ESD.
All three bodies should be congratulated on their work in this
area.
There is also growing interest and engagement in these agendas
with the Learning and Skills Council and the Learning and Skills
Development Agency and there is some indication that they also
recognise the broader ESD perspective.
6. UNDERSTANDING EDUCATION
FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Education for Sustainable Development as defined by the Panel
as follows:
Education for sustainable development is about the learning
needed to maintain and improve our quality of life and the quality
of life for generations to come. It is about equipping individuals,
communities, groups, business and government to live and act sustainably;
as well as giving them an understanding of the environmental,
social and economic issues involved. It is about preparing for
the world in which we will live in the (next) new century, and
making sure that we are not wanting[4]
However, this definition is not widely understood within
the educational world, despite best endeavours of agencies like
QCA who, through the excellent ESD website, have created the opportunity
for teachers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues
and find inspiration from examples of practice across all the
relevant subjects.
It is the view of the DEA however that in all to many areas
of education, ESD is still primarily considered an environmental
issue. We believe that a major awareness raising strategy about
is ESD needs to be undertaken for policy makers within education,
starting with DfES.
The DEA also believes that DFID have a major role to play
in ESD. They are one of the main funders of ESD in practice within
government through their Development Awareness Fund. Yet they
are not seen as being integral to the debates on ESD. In our view,
any future co-ordination of a strategy for ESD must include DFID
as well as other key departments such as DCMS, DTI and the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister.
7. IMPORTANCE OF
A GOVERNMENT
STRATEGY FOR
ESD
The DEA supports the proposal from the Sustainable Development
Education Panel for a government strategy on ESD. A strategy could:
— Ensure coherence across government departments
through clear and consistent messages;
— Promote and build on the excellent work which
is currently being done by many NGOs and key educational bodies
at local, regional and national level;
— Make connections between sustainable development
and other key government initiatives in areas such as citizenship,
community cohesion, neighbourhood renewal and the global dimension.
The main focus of the strategy should be on ensuring effective
delivery for ESD that shows the interconnectedness of environment,
economy and society. with DfES playing a leading role in promoting,
facilitating and resourcing the necessary support.
February 2003
4
Sustainable Development Education Panel First Annual Report 1999,
p.4. Back
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