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FYI....
EDUCATION NEEDS 'A FUNDAMENTAL RE-THINK' TO ASSIST SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT , SAYS RESEARCHER.
Most education policymakers are unaware of the scale of change needed if
education is to help Britain become a more sustainable society,
according to a leading researcher this week.
This warning comes as the United Nations prepares to launch the Decade
of Education for Sustainable Development which aims to give an enhanced
profile to the central role of education and learning in the common
pursuit of sustainable development.
This important role for education was established at the 1992 Rio Earth
Summit, but relatively little has changed in education in Britain since
then.
Sustainability - development which meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs - continues to move up the political agenda, but there is a danger
that not enough time will be spent helping children and students become
'sustainable citizens' in an already packed curriculum.
Most schools, colleges and universities currently have little scope for
becoming more sustainable themselves, let alone helping students and
pupils develop the understanding and skills necessary for sustainable
living.
To address this, Dr Stephen Sterling from the University of Bath,
suggests that a fundamental re-orientation across education policy,
purpose and practice as a whole is needed if education is to make a real
impact on the sustainability of our society.
"The key shift required is from a limited emphasis on 'education for
jobs'
towards the broader goal of building an ecologically sustainable economy
and society," said Dr Sterling.
"The idea of 'education for sustainable development' is clearly moving
up the Government's policy agenda but most education policymakers and
practitioners remain unaware of the scale of change needed if education
is to help Britain become a more sustainable society.
"The daunting challenge of achieving a sustainable society in the coming
decades demands a wholesale and urgent reorientation of educational
vision and practice.
"There is a danger that 'education for sustainable development' becomes
little more than another curriculum box to be ticked, rather than a key
to transformation touching all aspects of educational provision.
"The key issue is how far institutions and education as a whole are able
to respond sufficiently and coherently to the wider context of the
crisis of un-sustainability and the opportunities of ecologically
sustainable development."
Dr Sterling's thesis on the problems and possibilities of sea-change in
education is published on the University's Centre for Research in
Education and the Environment website this week.
He has previously written a book on the subject, Sustainable Education
(Green Books 2001), which has been influential with policymakers and
practitioners internationally, including in the Baltic States Agenda 21
initiative, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Australia.
"Society's movement towards sustainability is a profound learning
process involving everybody engaged in education, and one we are
collectively still only in the early stages of," said Dr Sterling.
"There is a real opportunity now to develop a new holistic vision in
education, affirming its vital contribution towards a more liveable,
fairer and ecologically sustainable future.
"If we don't grasp this opportunity, education is likely to remain more
a part of the problem, rather than a part of the solution - and time is
short."
Ends
For further information and interviews, please contact Andrew McLaughlin
in the University of Bath Press Office on 01225 386 883, 07966 341 357.
Notes
The thesis
Dr Sterling's thesis, 'Whole Systems Thinking as a Basis for Paradigm
Change in Education: Explorations in the Context of Sustainability,' is
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