ESD and transformative learning in RCEs

Rob O’Donoghue Rhodes University and Makana RCE

How is transformative learning central to Education for Sustainability (ESD)?

Education for “Sustain-ability”

The ability to learn to sustain ourselves without compromising the futures of people and planet

Society * Economy * Environment * Culture & a whole school-in-community approach

Transformative learning

Wals notes that transformative learning implies change that can be: • a practical, an intellectual and a political process of re-orientation, • a personal and a community process of change, • an educative opening up of new insights and social innovation (Wals, 2013) Within the socio-cultural tradition, Stetsenko (2008) argues for an expansive move from a relational to a transformative stance, noting

that:

…communities belong together and co-evolve with all other communities on the global scale, sharing one common fate and history

. (Stetsenko, 2008:490)

How are RCEs transforming modern education to enable transformative learning?

• • • • ESD for transformative learning in RCEs implies: Communication that fosters awareness and change Personal empowerment experiences. Practical learning-to-change in a local context.

Community research and activism for change in an area.

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY

COMMUNICATION INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCE COMMUNITY CHANGE PRACTICES

LOCAL RCE CONTEXT

ESD: What is in the mix for mediating transformative learning in RCEs?

• • •

COMMUNICATION

Get the message across (Target groups) Advocacy, buy-in and networked learning e-learning (Wiki and MOOCs) • • •

INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCE

Empowerment (valued beings, knowing and doings) Agency (Anticipatory competence and strategic thinking) Practical competence (problem solving & action-taking) • • •

COMMUNITY LEARNING AND SOCIAL INNOVATION

Capability approach (transfer factors and expansive learning) Community of Practice (practice architecture) Complex constellations of risk (Systems thinking)

Three Lenses for learning in ESD

Integrative

and widening (holistic) perspective on: •not only the ecological and the environmental, but also the socio-economic and the ethical, •not only the present but also the past and the future, •not only the local but also the regional and the global, •not only the human world but also the non human world

Critical

envisaging of alternatives to: •continuous economic growth and consumerism •associated lifestyles •sources of information and claims made, etc.

Transformative

engagement around: •alternative lifestyles (e.g. ‘ voluntary simplicity ’ ), •values and systems that break from existing ones that are inherently unsustainable •beyond data, information, knowledge and understanding (Wals, 2013)

Integrative, critical envisioning and transformative dimensions in ESD competences

(UNECE, 2011)

Source: George Siemens, 2008

Transformative competence in a process model for learning in complex RCE constellations

Competences for transformative learning Interpersonal engagement, processes problem solving

and

action taking

develop with: • •

Systems thinking

for appreciating complex constellations of risk and for shaping

Anticipatory

competence to imagine future conditions that might enable a

Research with problem solving Systems thinking

and modeling

Interpersonal

engagement and communication

Anticipatory

tracing and imagining • •

Normative

competence of reflexive re-imagining with

Strategic

competence to initiative and sustain change

Strategic

initiatives and change practices

Socio-cultural context Normative

reflexivity and re-imagining

(Adapted Wiek, 2012)

Heritage practices (What was done and known in the past) Modern Expert Culture (What is now known about things) B ‘Bring out’ Heritage practices and knowledge

Looking back Looking across

‘Bring about’ LEARNING & SOCIAL INNOVATION

A

Livelihood Contexts of doing, knowing and being

Looking about

C ‘Bring in’ Societal explanatory knowledge

A capabilities approach to

social innovation

(Personal, social and environmental conversion factors)

Developing competence in co-engaged learning practices How does ESD include socio-cultural practices and competence development?

Individual competence Interpersonal Anticipatory Systems thinking

Non-intervention futures Intervention Complex problem constellation in the situation and history point

Strategic

Sustainability visions Sustainability visions

Normative Socio-cultural Practice

(Adapted from Wiek etal. 2011)

Reduce resource use Restore habitats & ecosystem services W

aste

W

ater Biodiversity

A

griculture

Constellations of Modern livelihood systems and practices history Strategic intervention H

ealth

E

nergy

Enhance equity and quality of life Adapting to and mitigating climate change

Evaluating

sustainable livelihood practices and interventions

(Access and equity with better consumption and stewardship Practices)

Learning and social innovation: Classroom

• • •

Video start-up with Mother Tongue enquiry and reporting

IK- Today is a heritage practices video series that has been effective as a start-up activity for exploring how things have changed. Here, knowledge practices are represented in Mother Tongue by one member of a group, with translation and verification by others in contexts of sharing knowledge practices. This form of knowledge sharing is both fun an effective for uncovering change and much of the depth of practical and ecological wisdom in heritage practices.

Materials

Video, readings and case stories including photographs and artifacts for practical work.

Learning and social innovation: Community activists Discussion and exploratory work on heritage and change choice practice

• • • Photo narratives are a useful starting point for change-choice practice approaches.

Here, the emphasis is on learning by doing and re-imagining social innovations that reduce impact and are better aligned to natural systems whilst meeting social needs.

Picture narrative and practice approaches shift the concern for awareness creation to the production of situated competence with the capability to produce change in context.

Materials

Materials on trial by Water Dignity are bucket filters, ‘tippy-tap’ hand washers and testing kits.

Learning and social innovation: Change Practices Training

• • •

Water: Professional development training of community learning facilitators

Through research on rural community learning (Piri, 2010 and Rivers 2013), materials to enable water conservation and food production were developed and pilot tested A training manual was then developed through a course to train community facilitatory to enable co engaged learning to conserve water and produce food locally. A review of the curriculum of agricultural colleges is being undertaken and a co-engaged project to improve support for small-scale agriculture and extension is being developed.

Materials

Change Practice Short Course Manual with resource documents on Rainwater harvesting and Rainwater harvesting for homes and food gardens.

Learning and social innovation: ORASECOM Project

• • •

Mini SASS for civic science water quality testing in a local context

The Orange Senqu River Basin Project (ORASECOM) developed miniSASS as a civic science process for assessing river health.

Civic groups and school science teachers are being equipped and trained to monitor the health of local rivers.

Results are uploaded onto a national database where results can be exchanged and problems and actions to improve the problem can be discussed

Materials SITE INFORMATION TABLE

River name: Site name: GPS co-ordinate Lat: Long: Site description: e.g. downstream of industry Date (dd/mm/yr): Collectors name: School/organisation: Comments/notes: e.g. weather, impacts, alien plants, level of flow etc pH: Water temp: Dissolved oxygen: Water clarity/turbidity: o 30’25” S / 30 o 45’10” E) OR as decimal degrees (e.g. 29.50694

o S/30.75277

o E). If you don’t have a GPS, register to upload your results at www.minisass.org , find your site on the map, click to upload your result and it saves the co-ordinates for you!

GROUPS

SENSITIVITY

SCORE 3 2 2 6 17 5 11 4 6

Scoring

1. On this table circle the scores sensitivity of the identified insects. 2. Add up all of the sensitivity scores.

Ecological category (Condition)

Unmodified (NATURAL condition) Largely natural/few modifications (GOOD condition) Moderately modified (FAIR condition) Largely modified (POOR condition) Seriously/critically modified (VERY POOR condition)

Is your river mostly sandy or rocky? Sandy Type Rocky Type

> 6.9 > 7.9 5.8 to 6.9 4.9 to 5.8 4.3 to 4.9 < 4.3 6.8 to 7.9 6.1 to 6.8 5.1 to 6.1 < 5.1

visit the website www.minisass.org!

Version 2.0 September 2013

quality of the water in that river. It uses the composition of macroinvertebrates (small animals) living in rivers and is based on the sensitivity of the various animals to water quality . (note: miniSASS does NOT measure the contamination of the water by bacteria and viruses and thus does not determine if the river water is fit to drink).

Equipment list

net white container / tray / ice-cream box pencil magnifying glass (optional) shoes / gumboots Hand wash / soap

How to make your own net

Take any piece of wire, for example an old clothes hanger, and bend it into the shape of a net. Then tie the netting (which can be any porous material) to the wire with a piece of string. Alternatively cut the bottom out of an ice cream container and staple netting to the bottom. Now you have a net!

Method

The best sites are those with rocks in moving water. Not all sites have rocks (

rocky type

rivers), but may be largely sandy (

sandy type

rivers). 1. Whilst holding a small net in the current,

disturb

the stones, vegetation, sand etc. with your feet or hands. 2. You can also lift stones out of the current and

pick

insects off gently with your fingers or forceps. 3. Do this for about

5 minutes

whilst ranging across the river to

different habitats

(biotopes). 4. Rinse the net and turn the contents into a plastic tray and

identify

each group using the identification guide (see insert: you could start with the dichotomous key and then use the identification guide for more 5. information).

Mark

the identified insects off on the identification guide. 6. Fill in the site information and

Add up

the sensitivity scores to determine the average score (see scoring sheet on back page). 7. Remember to

WASH

your hands when done! Krucher, T. (2012) Orange-Senqu Artery of Life. Frankfurt, Brandes & Apsel. Graham M., Dickens C. and Taylor, R.J. (2004) miniSASS — A novel technique for community participation in river health monitoring and management. African Journal of Aquatic Science

2004, 29(1): 25–35 Printed in South Africa

Some other heritage focus areas and change practices……

Transformative learning challenges in RCEs

• Local and global issues are connected • Information is everywhere, how to choose?

• Sustainability is multi-dimensional: ecological, economic, ethics, environment, etc.

• Becoming critical of consumption & consumerism • Alternatives

are

possible!

• Interviewing, presenting, reporting, listening, googeling, critiquing…

Some concluding points for discussion

• The label is less important than what is actually done on the ground • When RCE processes of ESD are challenging, good outcomes will follow even though we may not know beforehand what they might be.

• That sustainability and SD can mean so many things is a major advantage as it forces people to give it meaning themselves.

• The more the private sector becomes interested in ESD and the greening of the economy, the more alert we need to be for ‘wolf in sheep’s clothes ’

25 April 2020

Co-engaged learning and change

All rights reserved © 2013 Fundisa for Change. Do not distribute * page 20

Mapping key nexus of events for epistemological access with relevance LIVED WORLD CULTURAL CONTEXT EXPERT FIELD CULTURAL CAPITAL

Concepts, models and theory in intergenerational knowledge practice of fermenting sorghum. Abstracting theory enables the use of concepts, models and insights in context and other nexus of events Abstract modelling allow us to formulate how: •Maltase and other enzymes break down starch C 6 H 12 O 6 with yeast -> 2C 2 H 5 OH + 2CO 2 (glucose) (alcohol) (carbon dioxide) • Fermentation practice by cracking grain • smell of malting in • warm calabash with • visible bubbles as evidence of success Learning Processes

R R E (c) I R

Abstract concepts allow us to test & deduce: • Bubbles are carbon dioxide being released • Yeast (enzymes) break down starch/glucose A microscope reveals cell division of yeast

Modern context of social - ecological risk Key:

Re-describe for relevance Reconcile in context Retrodict to antecedent causes Eliminate ambiguity and risk Identify open explanations Correction as reflexive process