Memorandum from the Centre for Alternative
Technology (CAT)
1. Has the term Education for Sustainable
Development lost its currency? Does it have any resonance with
the general public? Has the environmental message within it been
lost?
In terms of the understanding of the general
public, to some extent the phrase sustainable development (SD)
has been diluted by numerous commercially driven re-interpretations.
SD has been used in some sectors to describe conventional growth
with a bit of environmental tidying up around the edges (eg recycling
or saving energy in their offices when the major aspects of their
operations are actually increasing their output of greenhouse
gases).
However, to many, but not all, the term sustainable
development has begun to take hold and it would seem defeatist
to now abandon the term and then consume time and energy trying
to decide on another one, produce definitions and encourage people
to embrace it. It is hard to imagine that any term could be totally
free from the possibility of misinterpretation or distortion.
The term SD has had the very positive effect
of drawing into a dialogue people involved in "Environmental"
and "Development" education and that has had some very
useful outcomes, although in some cases bringing the two together
has still left a rather narrow perspective which somehow misses
the "big picture". In that situation the important environmental
message has either been lost or, it predominates to the exclusion
of poverty or international issues.
However when SD is prioritised in terms of a
global perspective on serious climate change, the almost continual
stream of accepted science reaching the headlines has significantly
re-enforced the message that business as usual cannot continue
and that "contraction and convergence" is a clear global
priority. Further resources must be made available to a public
education programme to make a clear case for the UK's 2010 and
2020 climate change targets as part of a global programme.
2. The DfES said in 2003 that the Sustainable
Development Action Plan was supposed to signal the start of a
process of change, identifying the most powerful levers—what
can be achieved immediately and what can be built upon. More than
a year on can it be said that that process of change has begun
and have there been any immediate achievements?
It seems very regrettable that the ESD Panel
is still not in place to advise the Department.
3. Government is currently reviewing the
UK Sustainable Development Strategy. What should the Strategy
include in order to significantly strengthen the role of learning
within it?
The UK SD Strategy should aim to produce future
generations of young people who have the awareness and motivation
to ask, "What is the impact of this on international poverty
and climate change and other environmental degradation?"
A key role of learning is to deliver enough knowledge to begin
to answer that question plus the skills to be able to find out
what they don't already know. We need to create citizens who:
— understand that sustainable development
is a "way of thinking";
— understand the basics of the science
of climate change;
— know about international poverty
issues;
— can relate our lifestyles to our
impact on the present and future of the planet and its people;
— feel equipped and motivated to go
on asking questions and learning about the issues and to take
action to deal with them; and
— understand the world around them
and how it is changing.
In terms of learning outcomes, the challenges
of climate change and international equity need to be prioritised
within the sustainable development agenda. The expected changes
caused directly by human activity are bad enough, but far worse
is the risk of triggering much larger positive-feedback effects,
releasing very large quantities of naturally-stored carbon. The
key message seems to be that, while the full effects will not
be manifest for many decades, perhaps even centuries, events in
the next few decades or so will determine the final outcome. This
implies that the climatic future is in the hands of the present
generation. So large technical, economic and social changes must
be initiated now, to forestall very serious consequences in the
more distant future—a political and social challenge not
to be underestimated.
To meet this challenge, there is a body of knowledge
that young people need to know and are not at present learning.
The issues relating to sustainable development should be embedded
across the curriculum in Schools, Colleges and Universities and
this does not mean a few lip-service words, which is what we generally
have at the moment. For example, 17 year olds in sixth forms now
are more confused and ignorant about climate change and the ozone
layer than they were 10 years ago and many teachers actually give
pupils inaccurate information about renewable energy.
In order to improve what is taught to students
there is a need for a comprehensive programme of education of
teachers through CPD, the teacher training institutions and the
advisory service. In the informal sector there is an equivalent
need for training for youth workers and adult educators. A set
of indicators that are clear to teachers and other education providers
would be very useful.
In terms of public education in the wider sense,
Organisations and individuals across the UK are poorly prepared,
as yet, to face the immediate and long-term challenge of reducing
emissions. In order to begin creating the framework for social
and political acceptance of implementing any of the four RCEP
scenarios, the UK SD Strategy must first deliver a thoroughgoing
change of outlook and culture within our society. A large-scale
"solutions driven" public education programme must be
developed which will address the following needs:
— To raise awareness of the "robust"
science behind climate change and of the very serious nature of
the threat posed both nationally and internationally by changes
to the natural carbon cycle.
— To promote awareness of the importance
of efficient use of energy and the new forms of energy generation
such as renewable energy.
— To create a low carbon vision for
the UK to 2050—highlighting the target dates by which each
of the key technologies should become economically mature.
— To engage all stakeholders in an
ongoing discussion about climate change and new energy solutions.
— To encourage and enable the "social
cohesion" required to willingly embrace such changes.
— To provide a support and education
framework to foster practical action.
— To ensure this support is made accessible
to all sectors of society.
— To create lasting links between partner
organisations and agencies to effectively bring about changes
in attitudes and behaviour in the widest possible audiences.
— To counter "denial", propagating
instead a positive vision of a low carbon future for the UK.
The constitutional obligations on the National
Assembly for Wales to implement SD have been of great assistance
to our work in Wales. What is needed next is UK Cabinet level
political support to head up a "national initiative".
The UK SD Strategy should aim to link government policy, industrial
development, academia, R&D, public education, export strategy
and the media into a single "National Prestige Programme".
People and organisations across the UK must be made aware of the
way in which their use of fossil fuels is contributing to climate
instability, then be encouraged to take responsibility for their
own reductions—and to take positive action in their homes,
schools or places of work. A key challenge in the fight against
climate change is helping people understand the specific "real-life"
practical issues around energy efficiency, low-carbon and renewable
energy technologies, showing how they play an important part in
delivering a future that is both sustainable and attractive. To
be successful such a programme must embrace both arts and sciences
through linking the following elements:
— Schools, colleges and universities.
— Arts, mass media and popular culture.
— Science and discovery centres, visitor
attractions and museums.
— Continuing professional development
programmes.
— Business incubation and development
ENABLING ACTION
Having first raised awareness and changed attitudes
to low carbon lifestyles and international equity, the programme
then feeds clients on to substantial on-going support frameworks
to enable practical action. It must do this using best practice,
challenging everyday attitudes and behaviour whilst also providing
practical ways forward.
Inspiration and information could be turned
into action through a new network of UK innovation and demonstration
centres, offering access to training, education, innovation, research
and on-going advice appropriate to each locality. These should
also link directly to the agencies offering on-going advice and
grant support to ensure this programme is an effective and potent
agent of change. The formal educational work should research and
build on work done to date to create a national resource that
will provide inspirational and informative resources for both
school-based and adult learners alike. Resources for schools would
be based around the national curriculum and would be developed
by working with teachers of differing ages and curriculum areas.
Special emphasis should be made to support both community and
corporate champions, who hold the potential to set social trends,
inspiring many others in their communities to take up the challenge.
4. Does the 14-19 Working Group's report,
"14-19 Curriculum and Qualifications Reform", go
far enough? Will ESD be adequately represented if this report
is used as the basis for the forthcoming White Paper? What must
be included in the White Paper if progress is to be made to fully
integrate ESD into all aspects of learning, formal and informal?
Whether we like it or not, examination syllabuses
are one of the key drivers which prioritise what teachers deliver
so changes in this area are crucial. The report does not go far
enough because, while it refers frequently to the needs of employers,
it makes absolutely no mention of the need to educate people for
the rapidly changing world that we have created. There are plenty
of useful things about "skills and attributes" but the
"common knowledge" in the core must include knowledge
of the science behind climate change and energy issues and the
history and present of the global relationships between rich and
poor. We are failing our young people if we do not do that, because
we are not equipping them to deal with the future problems that
we can see we will all have to face.
If the proposals take some pressure off teachers
then they may have a positive impact in allowing them the space
to incorporate SD into their teaching. The AS exams have, in some
respects, had a narrowing impact on pupils' experience of education
as the time pressures created have stopped most teachers from
being able to take pupils on field trips or just stray into interesting
discussions. If these proposals reduce some of that pressure that
will be very positive. However the proposals should also reduce
the pressure experienced by teachers at KS1-3 who have to be so
curriculum focussed that they find it difficult to incorporate
new things into what they deliver. If the syllabus has six words
out of hundreds on "environmental" issues, that's the
weight it will get in the classroom.
5. In response to our last inquiry the DfES
said they recognised that more could be done to embed ESD in the
school curriculum and that they would lead on strengthening ESD
links within geography, design and technology, science and citizenship.
Has there been any discernible improvement in these areas? Is
there evidence that this work has been taken forward by the DfES
and its agencies?
Although there has been some improvement, much
more is required. This is an extremely important area as it is
clear that putting ESD in a little box of its own in the curriculum
unrelated to other subjects is not an effective way of delivering.
Not only should SD be embedded across the curriculum, there should
be co-ordination of what is delivered in different areas. The
Action plan for Wales describes SD as a "way of thinking"
and that is what we need to create in young people and that will
not happen unless what they receive is consistent and co-ordinated.
As an example, CAT is working with the Intermediate
Technology Development Group, on projects embedding sustainable
development into Design and Technology teaching. The current project
run by CAT and ITDG (the Sustainable Design Award) is an extremely
effective example of this delivery through one subject and it
is very popular with teachers. Because of its project based approach
D&T is particularly fertile ground, but we are interested
in exploring whether we could extend this work into other curriculum
areas. The extended project work in the new 14-19 curriculum could
open up this sort of opportunity but ESD must not be thereby relegated
to a "specialisation".
6. The role of informal learning, including
youth work, work-based learning and adult and community learning,
in taking the environmental education agenda forward is key. Is
the Government doing enough in these crucial areas?
See 3 previously.
7. Is there any evidence to suggest that
the Government, through its stewardship of education, is getting
better at getting the environmental message across to the general
public? And is there any evidence to suggest that sufficient work
is being done at regional and local levels to support environmental
education?
In terms of education of the general public,
there must be a significant culture change from an approach based
on leaflets saying "are you doing your bit", to a "solutions
driven" approach based on access to practical real life working
examples of tools, technologies and lifestyles appropriate to
the locality. What is needed most urgently to enhance the work
of ESD at regional and local levels, is access to a network of
real life models, showing how genuine sustainable development
can take place. This requires "live" demonstrations
of the complex interaction between land use planning, food production,
energy, buildings, transport, waste management and all aspects
of human society, on a carbon-lean basis. For almost thirty years
now, long before the concept of sustainable development became
commonplace, such a demonstration has been taking place at various
centres in different European countries. These "Eco-sites"
have been dedicated to experimentation in sustainable ways of
living and the dissemination of their experience through active
display, education and training programmes, publications and information
services. They offer an exciting potential to create new and effective
agents of change, embedded in the local communities which can
create a bridge between EU and UK policies and practical local
action. Ecosites provide a meeting point between bottom-up and
top-down approaches of sustainable development for actors such
as investors, project leaders, politicians, financiers, entrepreneurs
and of course the public. Until recently these Centres have worked
in relative isolation, with only informal contacts between some.
Recently a formal network of Ecological Centres throughout Europe
has been established under the EU fifth framework programme with
the express purpose of collaborating to share knowledge and experience,
and thereby to greatly increase the impact of each Centre's work
in its own country and region. The "Ecosite" concept
is already proving successful in assisting a number of areas across
the EU, as well as in other countries such as India and the USA.
Through an active "cross fertilisation" of experience,
it is likely that any Ecosite could increase the impact of its
work in its own country and region. It is envisioned that Ecosite
concept will play a role in the EU's "6th Framework Programme".
8. Are there sufficient resources available
to deliver the government's commitment to education for sustainable
development?
No. There needs to be a very significant investment
in training and supporting teachers to ensure that they are equipped
with the tools and resources they require to deliver. This does
not necessarily mean multi-million pound projects to produce another
CD or website. There is, of course, a need for some new resource
production but many teachers are not yet aware of what is currently
available or they simply cannot afford to buy it. The most effective
long-term change will come from investing resources into CPD and
initial Teacher Training and ensuring that there is well informed
support available locally for teachers.
December 2004
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