APPENDIX 38
Memorandum from Ms Anona Sheridan
I am responding to this as an individual teacher
who was very actively engaged in educating for sustainability
in an inner city primary school in London for almost 13 years.
My experience also extends to the non-formal sector and working
with a local borough council in a voluntary capacity. Over the
past two years, as a supply teacher and part-time support teacher
I have been in a number of schools and have formed impressions
of their involvement in ESD. I am also vice chair of the National
Association for Environmental Education (NAEE).
1. Has the term Education for Sustainable
Development lost its currency?
Many teachers (including NQTs), Heads, Deputy
Heads and non-teaching staff have little idea of what ESD is;
most have not even heard of the term. They are aware of Environmental
Education, which they understand to mean both nature study and
activities such as recycling. Only staff involved in Environmental
Education/Development Education/Citizenship seems to have heard
of it. So I would conclude that the term Education for Sustainable
Development never gained any general acceptance within schools.
Does it have any resonance with the general
public? My perception is that people are aware of environmental
issues including recycling and climate change but have very little
idea of how their individual actions CAN make a difference. They
have not heard of the term "Education for Sustainable Development".
They DO have a general understanding of the term "Environmental
Education".
Has the environmental message within it been
lost? The environmental message within this term was a non-starter
in many schools and among the general public. A number of London
local authorities have been working hard to promote the environmental
messages borough-wide, generally with a focus on recycling, community
participation, working with schools, but all of this makes very
few ripples in terms of overall attitude and/or lifestyle changes.
2. 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?
— Have a clear definition of sustainable
development education and the role of Environmental Education,
Development Education, Citizenship Education and PSHE within that
strategy.
— Consider a whole range of active
learning approaches for educators to use, using the senses (also
consider Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences"), to make
learning about the importance of sustainable action both fun and
meaningful.
— Consider a role for underachieving
or under-motivated pupils and those with English as an additional
language, to tap into their skills (eg gardening for food, renewable
technology etc).
— Provide support for school linking
between inner city and rural schools, between UK schools and schools
in less developed countries.
— Encourage local councils and LEAs
to create posts for sustainability education officers and advisers,
working with local traders, the general public and schools. In
schools, provide INSET for ALL staff, assemblies, workshops with
pupils, work with school councils; find ways of getting parents
involved, particularly at secondary school level.
— Through the local education authorities
and teachers' professional development centres, provide specific
training for Head teachers and other senior management, to show
how ESD can be embedded in school life and in the curriculum.
Enable schools that are already inclined towards ESD work to develop
creative approaches to ESD in their curriculum work and the school
community.
— The Strategy should include a clear
message that social and environmental sustainability goes beyond
recycling or school grounds development. It should consider the
need for prudent use of natural resources.
— Provide resource lists for the public
including books, journals and specific journal articles, websites.
For schools, particularly in Key Stages 1 and 2, there are excellent
fiction books that convey sustainability messages.
— For schools, the Strategy should
link to a QCA/ DfES website with interactive pages which children
can access as part of their curriculum work.
3. Does the 14-19 Working Group's report,
"14-19 Curriculum and Qualifications Reform", go far
enough?
I have no specific comment, as I am not involved
with any 14-19 curriculum.
4. DfES recognises 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?
From personal observations in primary education,
I would say that schools where at least two members of staff (including
one Senior Manager) believe strongly in the importance of educating
for sustainability, then ESD will have a place within the school
curriculum, regardless of the DfES and its agencies. But in other
schools I see little real evidence of ESD in the curriculum. In
my view there has been little improvement in these areas. Some
schools are involved with the Healthy Schools initiative, some
are doing great things through their school councils, some are
involved with the Eco-Schools scheme, the London Schools Environmental
Awards, and various other projects, but very few of these schools
are working on fully embedding ESD across the school curriculum.
In some schools where there is some good work, senior management
or the school governing body may not value this. Most teachers
have no idea of the ESD website for the national curriculum. Several
Heads and Deputies have told me they have never heard of ESD!!
5. 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?
I am unable to comment on this.
6. 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?
This question refers to "environmental
education" rather than ESD: presumably it intends to include
educating for sustainability?
Local councils in London are making efforts
through publicity to increase domestic and business recycling
rates but not all schools are taking on this message. Some London
councils are also working on social justice issues (eg Fair Trade),
on transport (with active support from London's Mayor and the
GLA). Yes, the message is getting across to the general public,
but too slowly.
There needs to be stronger evidence of linked
thinking with DfES, DEFRA and other Government departments showing
that they are working together to consider the many terminologies
currently used to imply education for sustainability, and to have
some kind of consensus on methods which support best practice
in educating for sustainability.
7. Are there sufficient resources available
to deliver the government's commitment to education for sustainable
development?
NGOs have worked hard to produce some very good
resources for schools in Environmental Education, Development
Education, Education for Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship,
and Citizenship. There are too many resources, many competing,
and subject to schools having the finances to purchase them and
the motivation to use them. There needs to be greater collaboration
and more widespread use of these resources. There needs to be
training for teaching and non-teaching staff in the most effective
methods of using these resources.
FINAL THOUGHTS
1. Many people are becoming concerned at
the increased rate of environmental degradation in all its forms,
so it is imperative to:
— Address the training of educators
and reach out to more teachers.
— Provide input at teacher training
level.
— Deal with the tensions between teaching
about sustainability and the way we teach it, by considering project-based
approaches and integrating multiple intelligences.
— Provide appropriate financial and
learning resources.
— Bring ESD into mainstream thinking
by changing its title to something more meaningful.
November 2004
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