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Mapping the sustainable development curricula

Mapping the sustainable development curricula. Jenny Elliott Principal Lecturer in Geography School of the Environment and Technology (from August 1 st ). What am I doing here?. Chambers (1988) Pre-requisites for sustainable rural livelihoods

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Mapping the sustainable development curricula

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  1. Mapping the sustainable development curricula Jenny Elliott Principal Lecturer in Geography School of the Environment and Technology (from August 1st)

  2. What am I doing here? Chambers (1988) Pre-requisites for sustainable rural livelihoods • A learning process-approach to development planning • Peoples priorities are put first • Secure rights and gains • Sustainability through self-help • Staff calibre, commitment and continuity How to conserve resources and meet human development needs?

  3. Education about sustainable development • Ten years of Level 2 module ‘Sustainable Development’ becoming harder and harder ‘to teach’ • What things should students know about SD? • What weight should I be giving to the skills being developed through this education? • How important is the way that students are learning? • Does the module have any impact on how students engage in SD beyond the classroom?

  4. ESD: Education for Sustainable Development ‘Whether we view sustainable development as our greatest challenge or a subversive litany, every phase of our education system is being urged to declare its support for education for sustainable development’ (Vare & Scott, 2007: 1) • Educational and learning processes that lead towards the development of, • the values and awareness • the knowledge and understanding and • the skills and competencies required for achieving a more sustainable society • Addressing the sustainability agenda through the curriculum the most important contribution HEIs can make but also the least developed? (Martin & Jucker, 2005)

  5. GEES disciplines as natural home for ESD? • Society-environment interrelationships at core • Historically a place in which students become educated about the environment and develop graduate skills and competencies through the environment • But what about education for sustainable development, what does this look like and how best to advance this agenda?

  6. Embedding SD in Geography and Environmental Sciences at Brighton • 2005-06 small research grant from Subject Centre • 3 principal activities • Audit of existing curricula • Focus group work with students • Extending work with CUPP and the ‘Community and Personal Development’ module in particular

  7. The curricula audit Economic objectives Key ‘ESD terms’ Civil society Citizenship Community participation Corporate social responsibility Natural resource management Environmental conservation Environmental management Energy conservation Heritage management Ecosystem Governance Equity Social justice Impact assessment Inequality/poverty Green/greening Sustainable SD Ecological objectives Social objectives Principles of SD: Living within environmental limits Using sound science responsibly Achieving a sustainable economy Promoting good governance Ensuring healthy and just society

  8. What we were doing…

  9. Why?

  10. Broad findings • Extensive teaching related to ESD going on in the Faculty • No programmes as yet that explicitly identify ESD in course aims • Underplayed resource? • New course development? • institutional support now at ‘highest level’? • Different areas have varied emphases • Do we have the right fit for our disciplines, professions, student employment?

  11. Next steps in Geography Division • How far do we want the purpose and learning outcomes of our courses to be about preparing students for tackling sustainable development? • Time/inclination for heated debate? • Staff development needs? • Do we have a coherent and comprehensive programme for SD? • Back to the audit • Linkages between content, holistic understandings, academic rigour, progression in learning? • Which skills are learnt, where that enable students to make use of that understanding now and as graduates?

  12. What I am learning • Didactic approaches to teaching not best suited to learning about the complexities and uncertainties inherent in SD or for encouraging open-ended, reflective learning required of us all - nor will curricula change come from ‘the top’! • Back to Robert Chambers: • ‘handing over the stick’ • Participatory learning and action • Relevance to own contexts • Real difficulties of understanding and valuing other people’s knowledges and views • Choices and trade-offs required • No blueprints! Curriculum change – if it is going to happen, is going to be a learning process just like sustainable development

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