My learning journey throughout GSE827 has been varied, fun and (at times) challenging. I have gained a greater understanding of the importance of engagement as an integral part of moving towards sustainability.
I think that, given the disparate nature of international interpretations of what sustainability is, participation and capacity building, especially around critical thinking skills, is the only way we can avoid being bogged down in debates over definitions and move towards meaningful action. It's been noted (ARIES 2005) that sustainability is not a precise state or process, its an "ongoing learning process" which involves us all in creating shared visions, actions and challenging current assumptions, and I would agree with this idea.
The most exciting part of this learning journey for me has been meeting my many classmates and learning about their various interpretations of sustainability, especially the international students in the class (particularly during our envisioning exercise). Despite having sometimes disparate visions of sustainability, we all worked together really well and, I think, demonstrated the way that bringing people of different backgrounds and knowledge together can really create something that’s more than the sum of its parts.
Showing posts with label master post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label master post. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Framework for Education for Sustainable Development
As part of our reflection surrounding Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD), we were required to design a framework for planning and evaluating EfSD programmes. The framework I have developed is set out below. It is the result of the conclusions I have come to regarding EfSD while doing the GSE827 course and keeping this journal.
I have kept this framework fairly high level as I wish it to be situationally flexible and to incorporate a large number of different types of programs. This is because I've learnt through our classwork that EfSD can cover a large range of types of engagement processes, from simple information that enables change (e.g.workshops, leaflets, media) to participatory projects (e.g. action research, partnerships, futuresearch conferences) (ARIES 2005).
EfSD should also be largely about giving people skills to bring about sustainability, rather than providing a rigid set of outcomes or goals that people need to learn (ARIES 2005, ARIES 2009, Ferdig 2007). It is for that reason that I have also approached this framework as more of an engagement framework that comprises education, participation and partnerships, rather than a pure education framework (although for ease of classification, I will continue referring to it as an EfSD framework) (ARIES 2005).
I have kept this framework fairly high level as I wish it to be situationally flexible and to incorporate a large number of different types of programs. This is because I've learnt through our classwork that EfSD can cover a large range of types of engagement processes, from simple information that enables change (e.g.workshops, leaflets, media) to participatory projects (e.g. action research, partnerships, futuresearch conferences) (ARIES 2005).
EfSD should also be largely about giving people skills to bring about sustainability, rather than providing a rigid set of outcomes or goals that people need to learn (ARIES 2005, ARIES 2009, Ferdig 2007). It is for that reason that I have also approached this framework as more of an engagement framework that comprises education, participation and partnerships, rather than a pure education framework (although for ease of classification, I will continue referring to it as an EfSD framework) (ARIES 2005).
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Education for sustainable development
What is education?
Education can be formal (schools, universities, training courses and colleges); informal (friends, museums, zoos, family, councils, media, advertising etc); or non-formal (on-the-job training, apprenticeships, internships etc).
Education encompasses life-long learning. Environmental education used to be focused on individuals and their behaviours, but now encompasses empowering individuals to envision systems/structural changes and gives them the skills to effect these. EfSD is more about expanding perspectives, and building critical skills, rather than providing information on specifics (ARIES 2006, ARIES 2009,GSE827 2010).
"Education for sustainable development is an emerging but dynamic concept that encompasses a new vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future" UNESCO 2002 From Rio to Johannesburg p5
What can education achieve?
Through our class, I've learnt that there are two types of education - one that supports the status-quo, and one that helps empower people to bring about the changes they seek in the world (GSE827 2010). I come from a family of academics, and have always believed in education as one of the both powerful and benign: as the great leveller, in fact. But these classes have taught me that education must be carefully planned so as to not be counterproductive and a tool of indoctrination.
Education can be formal (schools, universities, training courses and colleges); informal (friends, museums, zoos, family, councils, media, advertising etc); or non-formal (on-the-job training, apprenticeships, internships etc).
Education encompasses life-long learning. Environmental education used to be focused on individuals and their behaviours, but now encompasses empowering individuals to envision systems/structural changes and gives them the skills to effect these. EfSD is more about expanding perspectives, and building critical skills, rather than providing information on specifics (ARIES 2006, ARIES 2009,GSE827 2010).
"Education for sustainable development is an emerging but dynamic concept that encompasses a new vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future" UNESCO 2002 From Rio to Johannesburg p5
What can education achieve?
Through our class, I've learnt that there are two types of education - one that supports the status-quo, and one that helps empower people to bring about the changes they seek in the world (GSE827 2010). I come from a family of academics, and have always believed in education as one of the both powerful and benign: as the great leveller, in fact. But these classes have taught me that education must be carefully planned so as to not be counterproductive and a tool of indoctrination.
The IUCN Engaging People in Sustainability report (Tilbury & Wortman, 2004) highlights that EfSD, given the ill-defined nature of sustainable development as a concept, "seeks a tranformative role for education, in which people are engaged in a new way of seeing, thinking, learning and working" - that is, that EfSD is more about empowering people with the capacity to critically explore their behaviours and their environment, rather than with providing them a new paradigm.
EfSD helps build "capacity in individuals and organisations for transformational change" by "emphasising creative, critical and innovative approaches" (ARIES 2009).
Monday, August 9, 2010
Introduction!
Welcome to my personal learning and reflection journal for GSE827 Education for Sustainable Development at Macquarie University.
This journal will document my reflective thinking about Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) and map my journey in developing a framework for designing and evaluating EfSD programs.
I will reflect on issues and questions at the core of EfSD, such as:
The reflections in this blog may seems disjointed, or jumbled up: I don't believe that any learning journey is linear or a smooth process, and I'll note ideas and resources as they arrive during this learning process. I'll try and make some sense out of them through master (such as this one) and conclusions posts and the labels to the right and at the bottom of every post, which will help clump together like thoughts and issues. For example, all posts containing teaching resources may be accessed by clicking the teaching resource tag in the labels section.
I have developed a framework for designing and evaluating EfSD which brings together my conceptions of what EfSD is and how a successful EfSD programme should be developed and implemented (it may be found here). References used in the development of this journal can be found here.
This journal will document my reflective thinking about Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) and map my journey in developing a framework for designing and evaluating EfSD programs.
I will reflect on issues and questions at the core of EfSD, such as:
- interpretations of sustainability and sustainable development;
- different models of educational practice;
- conceptions and frameworks of EfSD;
- desired outcomes for EfSD.
The reflections in this blog may seems disjointed, or jumbled up: I don't believe that any learning journey is linear or a smooth process, and I'll note ideas and resources as they arrive during this learning process. I'll try and make some sense out of them through master (such as this one) and conclusions posts and the labels to the right and at the bottom of every post, which will help clump together like thoughts and issues. For example, all posts containing teaching resources may be accessed by clicking the teaching resource tag in the labels section.
I have developed a framework for designing and evaluating EfSD which brings together my conceptions of what EfSD is and how a successful EfSD programme should be developed and implemented (it may be found here). References used in the development of this journal can be found here.
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