APPENDIX 16
Memorandum from Envision
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?
The term sustainable development has little
resonance with the general public. This does not necessarily mean
that there is not a general understanding of the underlying concepts—eg
the need to conserve natural resources and for long-term policy
making. However, when compared with short-term needs (eg low fuel
taxes), the public rarely prioritise longer term sustainability
issues. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is vital here
in fostering a general public not only aware of the issues but
more importantly keen to place value upon them, making it easier
for decision-makers to integrate sustainable development into
policy making. The key here is not redefining the term ESD, but
instead understanding what it needs to incorporate. (See answer
to question 6 for an expansion of this point).
Using the term "Environmental Education"
Reducing the term "education for sustainable
development" to "environmental education" would
miss the point. It would be fair to say that sustainable development
as a concept is often corrupted in corporate spheres for the sake
of marketing, but this is less of an issue in education. If ESD
was changed to "environmental education", would it exclude
issues like Fairtrade and poverty? ESD represents a learning opportunity
because of its complexity. It is a complex issue but it's a complex
world out there and the more this is understood by the general
public, the easier it will be to negotiate the minefield of local
and global sustainability politics. For younger students (eg primary
school) there is definitely a case for reducing the issues to
"environmental" and "social" but for secondary
school students (particularly older ones) this would be missing
an opportunity.
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?
At present, DfES seems to be focused almost
uniquely on "what can be achieved immediately", ie "greening
the educational sector" through procurement and environmental
management systems. Addressing the longer term educational issues
such as the "value-action" gap needs much more attention.
In the DfES Action Plan, Charles Clarke stated "our aim is
to enable all citizens to exercise informed and responsible choices".
This is an important aim but DfES needs to understand the commitment
that must be associated with it.
For the general public to make choices based
on sustainable development concerns requires both an understanding
of the issues and the motivation to engage with them personally.
Methods aimed at addressing this last aspect are almost completely
lacking in the Action Plan at present. (See answer to question
4 for an analysis of how to address "motivation").
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?
Government needs to recognise the difficulty
of longer term policy making based on sustainability concerns,
with respect to a general public often more likely to vote for
short-term concerns when they clash with longer-term sustainability
priorities (eg building roads v. longer term sustainable transport
policy). The strategy must recognise the importance of "learning"
in this regard—to both develop a greater understanding of
the dilemmas associated with sustainable development (eg utilising
the precautionary principle and polluter pays model), and of fostering
"motivation" in the general public (addressing the value-action
gap).
Tackling "motivation" and consequently
the "value-action gap" will be a long-term undertaking
but the strategy must not shy away from this commitment. Moving
towards a sustainable society requires and informed and motivated
general public, willing and able to make choices in line with
sustainability concerns. The strategy must also recognise the
futility of large-scale public awareness campaigns on broad sustainability
issues in fostering this understanding and personal motivation,
and instead focus on creating opportunities for individuals to
"experience" sustainable development first hand by making
a positive difference. The role of "learning" in creating
these opportunities, particularly for young people, is crucial.
(See answer to question 6. for more detail on methods of creating
these opportunities).
With regard to the sustainable development indicators,
the government should develop more "positive" indicators,
to encourage sustainable activity. With respect to the education
sector this could include indicators such as:
— Schools which have effectively integrated
sustainable development into the curriculum.
— Schools involving students in experiential
sustainable development activities.
Both could be OFSTED monitored
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?
Building on the argument put forward in question
1—that the important issue is not redefining ESD but understanding
what aspects it needs to incorporate—the White Paper must
include the importance of fostering both "awareness"
and "motivation" as mutually-supportive aspects of ESD:
Awareness—This involves developing an
understanding of the complex issues surrounding sustainable development.
In the formal education sector (as recognised in the last EAC
enquiry) this is most effectively tackled by effectively integrating
sustainable development across the curriculum. The importance
of this issue has been recognised even though it is not always
ideally implemented. (See answer to question 5).
Motivation—This simply translates as a
desire to engage with sustainable development issues with respect
to making a difference at a local level, and voting for sustainability
concerns at the national or global. It is generally understood
that "motivation" does not necessarily result from increased
awareness of sustainable development issues, and a lack of "motivation"
results in the "value-action gap", highlighted as one
of the key issues to tackle by numerous research papers (including
the recent "Impact of Sustainable development on Public Behaviour",
commissioned by DEFRA). Though it is one of the most important,
it is an area which is most often poorly understood and ignored
and is almost completely lacking in the DfES Action Plan (except
for a desire to foster a "value base" without any associated
actions). ESD needs to play a key role in fostering "motivation"
and there are numerous examples of good practice. (See answer
to question 6)
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?
A significant opportunity exists to link the
citizenship and ESD agendas but while this has been recognised,
it has not been exploited at present. The citizenship agenda often
struggles with areas such as community involvement, and active
citizenship which provide ideal opportunities for integrating
ESD issues in an experiential format (see answer to question 6)—either
facilitated by the school/college or by external organisations
as encouraged in the previous answer. OFSTED has already recognised
this opportunity.
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?
The most effective method of fostering "motivation"
(see answer to question 4 for definition) for sustainable development
is experiential learning, or "discovery". Motivation
is far more effectively fostered through experienced than through
"teaching" in a classroom or wider community context
and this is where "informal learning" plays a vital
and undervalued role. This is recognised by numerous local and
national groups and charities that have set up to work directly
with young people and provide them with first-hand experiences
of "sustainable development" which are able to translate
a complex term into something meaningful. For example, Envision
has grown to work with young people from 60 schools and Global
Action Plan works with around 150 schools. Both organisations
support young people to get involved in sustainability issues
on their own terms and have been highly successful at tackling
the "value-action" gap.
This is the area which Government seems to understand
the least and is probably the most important. Government needs
to work towards providing the opportunity for as many people as
possible in all sectors of society to "experience" sustainable
development in a positive and inspiring way. This "discovery"
will foster "motivation" and translate over the long-term
in a society willing to make sustainable choices on a daily basis.
Because of the nature of informal learning, large scale public
awareness campaigns will not encourage individuals to get involved.
Instead, Government needs to link with the citizenship and volunteer
agendas, and crucially to provide adequate resources for the countless
external organisations already active in this field, to develop
more opportunities for "informal learning" (ie experiential
learning) in sustainable development.
In the formal education sector schools and colleges
are rarely able to provide these opportunities for "experiential
learning" to their students because of the current burdens
of the national curriculum. The opportunities to link active ESD
and citizenship have not yet been made and integrated for all
ages (up to 19 years old). These opportunities are also usually
more effectively facilitated by external organisations (eg Envision
and Global Action Plan) who are able to establish partnerships
between schools and local groups working within this area. Until
there is more resourcing for similar external organisations, this
crucial aspect of ESD will be largely underdeveloped.
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?
The most effective methods associated with ESD
and environmental education are local opportunities for people
to get practically involved with sustainability issues. Government
seems to be going in the opposite direction however with DfES
developing a website to tackle ESD and Government removing almost
all resources for sustainability and environmental education—crucial
in enabling external organisations to provide effective informal
learning (experiential) opportunities to tackle the "value-action
gap" in society.
8. Are there sufficient resources available
to deliver the government's commitment to education for sustainable
development?
This paper argues that the most important and
presently underdeveloped aspect of ESD is encouraging the provision
of informal or experiential learning opportunities, particularly
in the formal education sector. There are numerous examples of
existing good practice such as Envision and Global Action Plan
which could easily be expanded nationally to provide young people
in schools and colleges around the country to opportunity to develop
in "awareness" and crucially "motivation"
for sustainable development.
An additional issue is that because DfES is
devolving most funding directly to schools from LEAs and LSCs,
schools understandably have the ever increasing curricular concerns
to cope with and therefore there are even fewer resources available
to fund external organisations to support schools in ESD.
The lack of sufficient resources to provide
these opportunities is probably the most important issue for Government
to address. Results on a societal level will only be seen in the
long-term but this long-term commitment lies at the heart of sustainability
and would be the most effective way Government could take the
lead in ESD.
December 2004
| 
