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Welcome to the Higher Education Academy's
Bi-Monthly e-Newsletter
Volume 3, Issue 1 (September 2009)
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
ENGLAND
· HEFCE: Consultation on a Carbon Reduction Target and Strategy
SCOTLAND
· HE Academy Scotland
· Scottish Funding Council ESD Conference
WALES
· ESDGC in Wales
· Welsh Assembly Government:: Climate Change Consultation
SUBJECT CENTRE SPOTLIGHT
· Psychology Network
PROJECT UPDATE
· The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy
EVENT REPORTS
· Transformational Learning Conference
· Transition Universities Development Day
OTHER
· The Professionals’ Dilemma? Sustainable Development, Ethics and Professional Practice
MAJOR EVENTS IN THE SECTOR
· ESD: Graduates as Global Citizens
· All Our Futures 2: Getting Real – Investing in Our Future – By Design
REMINDERS
· Sustainability in Higher Education Developers Network
· ESD Networks and Regional Networking Days
CONTACT AND FEEDBACK
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EDITORIAL
New Format
You may notice a difference with this latest e-Newsletter. We no longer include short items, as we have begun sending out a weekly e-Bulletin which contains events, resources, and news items with links for further information. The e-Newsletter is now used for longer features, editorials and case studies, or to publicise major events or resources in the sector. As always, we will highlight HE Academy work in ESD as projects become ready for dissemination.
Joining the Team
As mentioned in the previous e-Newsletter, we are welcoming two members to the ESD Team this academic year, Alastair Robertson and Laila Burton:
Originally an academic research scientist, Alastair joined the HE Academy as Senior Adviser for Scotland in 2005 and in August 2009 he became Head of Policy and Partnerships, Scotland at the Academy. His brief is to act as the principal conduit for all aspects of the Academy’s work in Scotland and to ensure that Academy work and support is appropriately delivered in Scotland and is integrated into the Academy’s core mission and plans. He also has a UK-wide remit for supporting the co-ordination of the Academy’s work on Education for Sustainable Development, particularly in terms of policy development and institutional support. He has a keen personal interest in sustainability issues and, outside of work, participates in a range of outdoor sports.
Laila is a Programme Coordinator at the HE Academy with responsibility for supporting the Employability and Employee Learning programme, and other projects including Education for Sustainable Development. She joined one of the Academy’s predecessor organisations, the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Generic Centre as a Project Officer in 2004, and over the past five years has supported a range of projects within the Academy. Prior to joining the LTSN, Laila trained as a primary school teacher before going on to work in further and higher education administration. When not working, she is kept busy by her four-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son, and enjoys making jewellery.
The Future
As well as enjoying a well-earned rest on our holidays, we have also been developing our plans for the new academic year. We now have a programme of activity in place and will be letting you know over the next few months what we will be doing. As we mentioned in the last e-Newsletter, the HE Academy has committed to engage ESD at all levels of activity and through all its thematic and Subject Centre teams. As this will be a significant amount of work, we will make sure that you know what is coming up, and report on what has been going on. It is an interesting and exciting time to be involved in ESD and we look forward to engaging with as many people as possible over the coming year.
We hope you have a productive autumn!
The HE Academy ESD Project Team
Simon Smith, Stephen Sterling, Heather Luna (formerly Witham), Alastair Robertson and Laila Burton
HEFCE: CONSULTATION ON A CARBON REDUCTION TARGET AND STRATEGY
A joint consultation between HEFCE, Universities UK and GuildHE on developing a carbon reduction target and strategy for higher education in England is being published today. The consultation asks for views on proposed sector-level targets for the reduction of carbon emissions and a proposed strategy for achieving these targets. Read the consultation:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2009/carbon.htm
Two carbon reduction strategy consultation seminars are being held:
3 September in London
7 September in Manchester
Register: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/events/2009/carbon/
The deadline for responses is Friday 16 October 2009.
Editors: Colleagues may wish to respond from the viewpoint of curriculum. Paragraph 42 mentions carbon reduction in teaching and Paragraph 61 a repository for advice and good practice, which would “be concerned with all aspects of sustainable development, not just carbon management…”. Additionally, a link between estates and curriculum may be highlighted as an important aspect of any carbon reduction strategy.
SCOTLAND
The HE Academy has committed funds to ensure that networking and development activities continue through the 2009-2010 academic year, building on investigations completed in 2008 across the HE and FE sectors. The next event in the ESD Scotland Seminar Series, which is open to participants from all institutions and disciplines, will focus on interdisciplinary teaching and research development in sustainability. Plans are also under way to expand the support offered to institutions to develop organization-wide strategies and approaches, building on the event organized at the University of the Highlands and Islands in December 2008. Colin Brooks and Alex Ryan will lead this strand of activity and dates and outputs will be announced in future e-Newsletters. For further inquiries, please contact Katie Urquhart: [log in to unmask]
SCOTTISH FUNDING COUNCIL ESD CONFERENCE
Plans are taking shape for a sector-wide ESD conference, sponsored by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in collaboration with the HE Academy, Scotland’s Colleges, and the EAUC. The aim is to showcase achievements and stimulate further development in ESD across HE and FE in Scotland, with workshops and activities focused in a wide range of areas, from organizational strategy and curriculum development, to student engagement and campus-based learning. This event is planned for autumn 2009 and will be open to a wide audience, including senior managers, students, estates and academic staff. On behalf of the HE Academy ESD Project, Stephen Sterling will lead a workshop on institutional development and Alex Ryan will report on sector-wide progress in HE institutions. Contact: David Beards, Senior Policy Officer, SFC, [log in to unmask]
WALES
The Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) Welsh Institutional Network held a conference at Glyndwr University on 9 July 2009. The conference included discussion on the recent curriculum analysis that used the STAUNCH methodology (details of the analysis have been presented in an earlier e-Newsletter). Professor Howard Colley (Higher Education Academy) presented a nation-wide view on the analysis, which is to be published as a report by the Academy in August. Dr Jane Claricoates (Swansea University) and Mr Derek Jones (Glyndwr University) gave institutional perspectives on the analysis. In open discussion, delegates noted a need for further guidance on ESDGC to raise awareness of staff in institutions and to assist them to identify SD and GC elements ‘hidden’ in the curriculum. It was also agreed that senior management involvement and leadership was vital and that a first step was to have ESDGC recognised within institutional Learning and Teaching Strategies.
A number of delegates also spoke about the link between internationalisation of the curriculum and global citizenship, and there was a feeling that GC would assume increasing importance. Patricia Ambrose and Aiofi Ni Luanaigh (SQW Consulting) presented the findings of the SQW analysis of good practice.
A major recommendation from this study was for institutions to consider base-lining their ESDGC activity. Delegates recognised the value of this and thought important there was a common approach and understanding to base-lining. It was felt that much of the data needed for base-lining was already available in the STAUNCH analysis, RAE returns and institutional environmental management systems. On the latter, Dr Einir Young (Bangor University) gave a presentation about environmental management systems.
In other matters, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) is currently refreshing its policy on SD and GC under the title One Wales: One Planet. This also includes updating the ESDGC action plan for higher education. Members of the ESDGC Welsh Institutional Network are working with Dr Claire Fowler, the Assembly Government champion for ESDGC, to refresh the action plan.
Following a period of consultation and support from the WAG, a preparation team, led by Swansea University and the University of Wales – Newport, has made an application for Wales to receive UN recognition as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in ESDGC. A response to the application is expected before the end of 2009 and, if successful, Swansea University will take on the Secretariat role for the Wales RCE
WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE CONSULTATION
Earlier this year, the WAG consulted on the first stage of its Climate Change Strategy. Now there is a Programme of Action, which sets out the proposals for new policies and programmes to help tackle climate change in transport, business, the public sector, agriculture/land use, waste and in the home. It also details proposals for developing an adaptation framework for Wales. The deadline for responses is: 2 October 2009.
http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/environmentandcountryside/climatechangeaction/
SUBJECT CENTRE SPOTLIGHT
PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK
The Psychology Network of the HE Academy has agreed to provide Departmental Teaching Enhancement Scheme funding to Aston University to undertake the project, “Embedding ESD into the Psychology Curriculum.” Led by Richard Cooke and Peter Reddy, this project aims to embed ESD into the Psychology degree programme at Aston University. The project will organize a workshop to share best practice in the delivery of ESD within the psychology curriculum and discuss ways to implement these suggestions. Following the workshop, meeting with staff will be organized to discuss how to incorporate ESD into their teaching. The success of this approach will be evaluated via a survey of staff and students. The project will deliver (i) a report of the workshop discussion, made available online, (ii) an abstract submission for the 2010 PLAT conference and (iii) a paper for submission to an academic journal.
PROJECT UPDATE
THE HANDBOOK OF SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY
The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: Skills for a Changing World was published in paperback on 3 August 2009. The book arose from a larger project, Soundings in Sustainability Literacy, which was funded by the HE Academy ESD Project and coordinated by the EAUC in partnership with a number of other organisations. In this ground-breaking book, leading sustainability educators are joined by literary critics, permaculturalists, ecologists, artists, journalists, engineers, mathematicians and philosophers in a deep reflection on the skills people need to survive and thrive in the challenging conditions of the 21st century. Responding to the threats of climate change, peak oil, resource depletion, economic uncertainty and energy insecurity demands the utmost in creativity, ingenuity and new ways of thinking in order to reinvent both self and society. The book covers a wide range of skills and attributes from technology appraisal to ecological intelligence, and includes active learning exercises to help develop those skills. The book is available for purchase, or chapters may be downloaded from the dedicated website: http://www.sustainability-literacy.org From this site, you may also preview the multimedia version of the book, which includes additional chapters and interviews with the authors, and is currently under construction. We will announce the official launch in our e-Bulletin.
EVENT REPORTS
REFLECTIONS ON RESEARCHING TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING THROUGH ESD, INTERNATIONALISATION AND CITIZENSHIP
The idea of being on a “learning journey” was a recurring theme in this conference, held at the University of Gloucestershire on 10 June 2009. Prior to the conference, participants were invited to consider their own learning journeys and to try to identify examples of transformational (or transformative) learning that they had experienced. This was designed to help them on their learning journey through the conference, because, although the emphasis was to be on researching transformational learning, it started with an exploration of what the term might mean and how this type of learning might be recognised. Early on in the conference, Wordle (see: http://www.wordle.net) was used to capture the thoughts of participants on the words they associated with transformational learning. The outcome is pictured below. The more a word was used, the larger it appears in the compilation. Continue reading in PDF version.
On Saturday 20 June, the University of Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural College organised a meeting about the skills and knowledge which might be required for a post-peak oil scenario. This was a follow-up to the meeting held in Hereford in October 2008. Participants came from as far away as Plymouth and Liverpool. The session was facilitated by Ben Brangwyn from the Transition Network and Julie Richardson from Landscope at Dartington. The day was organised as a visioning exercise and there was a significant degree of consensus around ecology as an underpinning principle, localised facilities that may have specialist courses and a practical approach to education, particularly in respect of sustainable technologies and food production – all very different from current institutions. The discussion is continuing on a WiserEarth.org forum hosted by Ben.
This is seen as an important movement but one which is unlikely to gain much momentum without funding to coordinate it. If anyone has ideas about collaboration and how to find such funding we would be very pleased to hear from you! Please contact Glenn Strachan, University of Gloucestershire: [log in to unmask]
OTHER
THE PROFESSIONALS’ DILEMMA? SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
by Stephen and Maureen Martin
Financial services professionals are in the spotlight because of their reckless and buccaneering contribution to the global meltdown. They have been harried by the media and by select committees as well feeling the heat of the so called “court of public opinion” And yet none of their professional bodies who accredit their professional status have said a word either in their defence or indeed in condemning their breeches of professional codes of practice! Continue reading in PDF version
MAJOR EVENTS IN THE SECTOR
Education for Sustainable Development: Graduates as Global Citizens
Bournemouth
But what does an international education involve? How do we facilitate the development of ‘active global citizens’ (Lammy 2008) who also understand the need for sustainable development?
The third ‘Education for Sustainable Development: Graduates as Global Citizens’ conference addresses these overlapping but equally important themes. These are not separate issues: holistic approaches that encompass all aspects of university life are important if higher education is to contribute effectively to global sustainability.
The conference aims to bring together participants who are taking forward SD and global citizenship within the context of further/higher education. This may be through learning, teaching and assessment, student support, extracurricular activities, or initiatives that demonstrate to students and staff that universities are addressing SD. Keynote speakers include Stephen Sterling and Ann Finlayson.
For details on registration and draft programme, please visit: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/the_global_dimension/centre_for_global_perspectives/global_citizens09.html
All Our Futures 2, through future forecasting from world experts, business and design leaders, researchers, learners and teachers will address the sustainability challenges of the 21st century. Last year the title was ‘All Our Futures – education waking to threat, hope and possibility’. The title and streams for the conference were devised as broadly as possible, hoping to attract a range of papers and presentations from across the spectrum of sustainability concerns. The focus was on education; but contributions were welcome from academics in other disciplines, from business, policy-makers and creative and performing artists. Together, these presentations offered a truly inclusive investigation of the sustainability issues that concern us all.
This year the broad intention is the same; but this year the focus is on design. This conference brings together the imperatives of design, business and education: that we design a world that we can go on living in, and that we communicate to each other the values, insights, skills and technologies informing this design. The latest flyer is available at: http://csf.plymouth.ac.uk/allourfutures/newsletters/flyer2 Also, information is available from: http://csf.plymouth.ac.uk Contact: [log in to unmask] +44 (0)1752 588890
For details of all of these events, see: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/sustainability/esd_events
REMINDERSUNDER THE SAME ROOF – AN INVITATION TO JOIN US IN THE SHED: SUSTAINABLITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPERS NETWORK
As announced previously, the EAUC and the HE Academy ESD Project have joined forces in launching a new concept – the SHED network: 'Sustainability in Higher Education Developers'. Continue reading in PDF version
ESD NETWORKS AND REGIONAL NETWORKING DAYS
Do you have experience of, or are considering, incorporating ESD into your higher education work – or incorporating higher education into your ESD work? Statutory agencies, local authorities, voluntary and community organisations, and those working within higher education are all invited to join one of the networking lists we have created to allow individuals and organisations to find one another for collaboration on community and curriculum projects. Your details, including expertise and interests, are collected, collated and then sent back to other members for networking purposes. An e-mail list allows for periodical updates and extraordinary requests for partnerships. Links to the forms are in the PDF version of the e-Newsletter, along with further information.
CONTACT AND FEEDBACKLet us know:
· if you find this e-Newsletter useful (or not!)
· if you have items for our next edition (Deadline: 15 October 2009, Publication: 1 November 2009).
Contact the editor, Heather Luna, at: [log in to unmask]