Transcript Education for Sustainable Development Links with teacher

Roundtable on Development
Education
8th. October 2014
National Strategy on Education
for Sustainable Development –
relevance to Dev Ed and Youth
Development of ESD strategy
• First National Strategy on Education for Sustainable
Development, 2014-2020 published in July 2014 (DES website).
• Arises from commitments in the following:
– Our Sustainable Future - A Framework for Sustainable
Development in Ireland (D/ECLG, 2012).
– UN Decade for ESD, 2005 to 2014 commits every MS to
develop and implement a National Strategy.
• Development of ESD strategy informed by
– a public consultation process (autumn 2013)
– A focussed roundtable session in November 2013
– Findings from relevant research and international strategies
– previous work that was undertaken in this area by the DES,
supported by ECO-UNESCO, in 2007.
Main challenges identified
• No funding
• No clear home within DES and involves stakeholders outside DES remit
• Definitional challenges:
– extent of ‘ESD’ issues: climate change; disaster risk reduction; biodiversity;
poverty reduction; food prices; child labour; labelling of food products;
citizenship; peace; environmental protection; biological and landscape
diversity; ethics; responsibility in local and global contexts; democracy and
governance; justice; security; human rights; health; gender equity; cultural
diversity; production and consumption patterns; corporate responsibility;
natural resource management; environmental degradation; urban decay;
population growth; social exclusion; water security; migration; and debt.
– Overlap between Sustainable Development and ESD
– ESD vs Development Education (DE) and Environmental Education (EE).
• Leadership and coordination
• Data collection and baseline measurement
• Not reflected in curriculum; or very ad hoc
• Lack of professional development and training
Definition and objective of ESD
Definition (UNECE): “ESD develops and strengthens the capacity of
individuals, groups, communities, organizations and countries to make
judgements and choices in favour of sustainable development. It can
promote a shift in people’s mindsets and in so doing enable them to
make our world safer, healthier and more prosperous, thereby
improving the quality of life. ESD can provide critical reflection and
greater awareness and empowerment so that new visions and
concepts can be explored and new methods and tools developed”.
Objective of National Strategy on ESD: “aims to ensure that education
contributes to sustainable development by equipping learners with the
relevant knowledge (the ‘what’), the key dispositions and skills (the
‘how’) and the values (the ‘why’) that will motivate and empower
them throughout their lives to become informed active citizens who
take action for a more sustainable future”.
8 priority action areas
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Leadership and coordination
Data collection and baseline measurement
Curriculum at pre-school, primary and post primary.
Professional development
Further Education and Training
Higher Education and Research
Promoting participation by young people.
Sustainability in action
Recommendations (44) are made in relation to each
priority action area.
• Pragmatic rather than aspirational
Overview of recommendations
• Coordination and leadership: ESD Advisory Group, and ESD web
‘portal’ where resources and best practice can be shared.
• Data collation and measurement: Across schools, FET, Higher Ed,
and the Youth and Community sectors.
• Curriculum: Builds on developments at pre-school, Junior Cycle and
Senior Cycle.
• Prof Development: strengthen the integration of ESD into CPD; and
ensure that future CPD in ESD is informed by the needs of teachers.
• Further Education and Training: endorses the existing DES
commitments in Action Plan on Jobs etc
• Higher Education and Research: more ESD specific programmes and
research, and greater integration of ESD principles into existing
programmes, where appropriate.
• Promoting participation by young people
• Sustainability in action: Infrastructure; energy usage; green schools
Similarities between ESD and DE
• Both seek to mobilise all aspects of ‘education’ both
formal and non-formal
• Both interdisciplinary
• Both use a variety of pedagogical techniques that
promote active and participatory learning
• Both emphasise social justice and equity
• Both promote empowerment, participation and
citizenship
• Both seek to be an agent for positive change
• Both locally relevant while also linking the local to the
national and international
• In all of this, both face many of the same challenges
(funding, coordination, data, curriculum, training)
DE and Youth in ESD strategy
• Youth identified as key ‘change agents’ for sustainable
development – specific section in ESD strategy.
• Youth sector already contributing to ESD in at least two ways.
– developing young people’s self-esteem and selfconfidence, building their capacity to make informed
decisions, helping them to develop social awareness and a
sense of social solidarity, and enhancing their role as active
citizens.
– Specific programmes e.g. One World Week, ECO-UNESCO’s
Green Pathways programme, the Young Environmentalist
Awards, and the ‘Youth for Sustainable Development Global Youth Leaders for Change’ programme.
• Number of specific recommendations in ESD strategy relevant
to DE / Youth
Specific recommendations
• Rec 1: ESD advisory group. 13 members include NYCI, Irish Aid,
DICE, ECO-UNESCO, WWGS
• Rec 2: DES to be represented on key DE structures e.g. WWGS
Network, Irish Aid grants committee. Opportunities for
advancing ESD should seek to build synergies with DE where
appropriate.
• Rec 3: DES to provide a specific ESD portal.
• Rec 9: NCCA to support schools, NGOs, and other stakeholders
who wish to develop Junior Cycle short courses or Transition
Units on issues relevant to ESD through templates, guidelines etc
• Rec 10: ‘Politics and Society’ to be introduced at LC
• Rec 29: DES (supported by DCYA) to consult children / youth on
ESD, before 2017. It will be used as an evidence base to inform
the development of future policy in this area.
Recommendations contd
• Rec 30: DCYA to conduct a survey of youth programmes that
relate to ESD and DE, and report the results to the ESD Advisory
Group in 2015. To include recommendations for strengthening
the role of young people as change agents for sustainable
development.
• Rec 31: DCYA to reflect the importance of ESD in the new Youth
Strategy, as well as in the new Early Years Strategy.
• Rec 34: HEIs to continue to form closer links with schools, the
Youth sector, and communities in relation to sustainable
development in order to exchange ideas and best practice and in
particular to facilitate wider access to the specialist expertise
and knowledge on sustainability that is available in third level
institutions.
Next steps
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Implement recommendations in ESD strategy
First meeting of advisory group on 29 October
ESD annual forum
Mid term review 2017
Relying on number of stakeholders for
cooperation and support