Education for Sustainable Development:

1. Education for Sustainable Development: Comparing Institutional Initiatives Vivian Neal, MET, PEng

2. In this session wewill consider… • sustainable development and • education for sustainable development • initiatives at several universities • some ideas to help identify which initiatives could be more successful

3. Learning Outcome • You will be able to identify potential initiatives that could move ESD forward in meaningful and enduring ways at your institution.

4. Sustainable Development • meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.* • balancing environmental, social and economic factors • *Brundtland, G., Our Common Future, 1987

5. Education for Sustainable Development • education that helps people understand the issues involved in planetary sustainability • relevant to the learner and their immediate surroundings • interdisciplinary, multi-methodological

6. Education for Sustainable Development • experiential, participatory and collaborative • holistic, values-driven • concerned with the development of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviors

7. “The real need is to change from transmissive towards transformative learning, but this in turn requires a transformed educational paradigm.” • “The mainstream emphasis on cognitive learning, with a little ‘values education’ thrown in, is simply insufficient to meet the challenge.” • Sterling, S., 2001 & 2011 The ESD Challenge

8. What kinds of initiativescreate cultural change?4C model of ESD* • *Centre for Sustainable Futures, 2008

9. Simon Fraser University, Canada • Sustainability Office • University of Plymouth, UK, • Centre for Sustainable Futures • Tuft University, USA • Environmental Literacy Institute • Emory University, USA • Piedmont Project • University of Gloucestershire, UK • Sustainability Office and Greener by Degrees Examples of ESD InitiativesSystematic and Faculty Champions

10. ESD Initiatives:Systematic Approaches • Simon Fraser University • Sustainability Office with highest level support • also partnering with external bodies to produce cultural change • University of Gloucestershire • Sustainability Office – support for faculty in specific units • partnering with regional, national and international standards bodies

11. University of Plymouth, Centre for Sustainable Futures • national level funding for a four year Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Education for Sustainable Development • faculty time, various disciplines • focus on research and disseminating into practice within UoP and across the UK • now one faculty, and one part-time support person ESD Initiatives:Faculty Champions – formal

12. ESD Initiatives:Faculty Champions - informal • Tuft University* • Environmental Literacy Institute– workshop • Emory University* • Piedmont Project – workshop • University of Gloucestershire • Greener by Degrees – workshop and publication • *Barlett P. & Rappaport, A., 2009

13. In triads, each describe one initiative at your institution • Is the approach: • systematic, faculty champion or other? • formal, informal or other? • What institutional characteristics have influenced the success of the initiative? Share:

14. Cultural Change • 4Cs – curriculum, campus, community, culture • engage faculty using the same experiential methods (to change attitudes, values and behaviors) that have the potential for transformative learning • communities of practice (Wenger et al., 2002)

15. Some Thoughts • each institution, department, discipline or faculty member works in a unique way • multiple and flexible approaches to supporting ESD • maybe not all cultural barriers can be overcome

16. Barlett, P. & Rappaport, A. (2009) Long term impacts of faculty development programs: The experience of Teli and Piedmont, College Teaching, 5(2) 73-82 Spr 2009. • Brundtland, G., (1987) Our common future: Report on the world commission on environment and development, UN. • Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) (2008) Sustainability policy (http//www.csf.plymouth.ac.uk/?p=policy, accessed Sept 2012) • Sterling, S. (2012) The future fit framework: An introductory guide to teaching and learning for sustainability in HE, York UK:HEA • Sterling, S. (2011) Transformative learning and sustainability: sketching the conceptual ground, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 5 17-33, 2011 • Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice, Boston MA:Harvard Business School Press References

17. Questions? Vivian Neal, MET, PEngvneal@sfu.ca