Health, wellbeing and ESD: Lessons from the health professions Stefi Barna Sustainable Healthcare Education Network Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia Trevor Thompson Sarah Walpole Izzy.
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Health, wellbeing and ESD: Lessons from the health professions Stefi Barna Sustainable Healthcare Education Network Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia Trevor Thompson Sarah Walpole Izzy Braithwaite Frances Mortimer Bristol Medical School Hull York Medical School Healthy Planet / Medsin Centre for Sustainable Healthcare 11/19/10 Health focus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXtGHxU7oYM&feature=player_embedded Security focus: https://vimeo.com/32522190 https://youtu.be/CqMaDc4G_vs •How we move •What we eat Health co-benefits • diabetes • heart disease • cancers •obesity •respiratory conditions •road injury & deaths Managing the unavoidable Avoiding the unmanageable Heat warning systems •Flood response •Floodplain clinics What is higher education for? 11/19/10 Priority Learning Objectives - Medicine 1. Describe how the environment and human health interact 2. Demonstrate the knowledge and skills to improve the environmental sustainability of health systems 3. Discuss the duty of a doctor to protect and promote health HEA 2012 Collaborative Curriculum Design: Preparing Medical Students to Lead a Sustainable Healthcare System 1. Knowledge: How the environment and human health interact • Dependence of human health on global and local ecological systems • Contribution of human activity and population size to environmental changes • Mechanisms by environmental change affects human health Disease vectors Extreme weather Food security Migration • Co-benefits: features of a health-promoting local environment and synergies between environmental sustainability and health promotion Clean air Active travel infrastructure Green spaces 2. Skills: Improve the sustainability of health systems • Definitions of environmental sustainability • Trends affecting our ability to provide healthcare into the future Demographics, technology, climate, resource availability • Measuring environmental impacts of healthcare provision • Ways to improve the environmental sustainability of health systems • Triple bottom line • Individual practice, health service policy, management, design of care systems NHS could save £1bn by adopting green strategies used in kidney units BMJ, Jan 2013 3. Values: Discuss the duty of a doctor to protect and promote health • Health impacts of environmental change are distributed unequally within and between populations • Disparity between those most responsible and those most affected by change • Personal values concerning environmental sustainability • Ethical tensions Individuals / groups; prevention / treatment; local / global; this generation / next EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY It is worth noting that the destruction of the planet is not the work of ignorant people. Rather it is largely the results of work by people with BAs, BScs, LLBs, MBAs, and PhDs … Education can equip people to be more effective vandals of the earth. If one listens carefully it may even be possible to hear the Creation groan every year in late May when another batch of smart, degreeholding, ecologically illiterate, Homo sapiens eager to succeed are launched into the biosphere. David Orr Student Interest National Union of Students / Higher Education Academy 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Agree 40% Strongly agree 30% 20% 10% 0% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 (n=5654) (n=1514) (n=4009) (n=3019) (n=5622) (n=1518) (n=3991) (n=2998) (n=5620) (n=1516) (n=3963) (n=2987) Sustainable development is something which universities should actively incorporate and promote Sustainable development is something which university courses should actively incorporate and promote Sustainable development is something which I would like to learn more about There is, at present, no country which is sustainable. This means that there is no roadmap or recipe for success; graduates will have to learn their way toward more sustainable futures. Prescott Allen 2002 Achieving sustainable development is essentially a process of learning UNESCO 2002 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 What is higher education for? The role of the university in an unsustainable world Student-Staff Collaborative Handbook ‘Getting Sustainability Into Your Degree Programme’ • 1. In what way is your discipline related to a more sustainable world? • 2. What knowledge, skills or attributes are needed to help bring it about? • 3. How can they best be acquired? Process: • Drafted by enthusiasts; developed in discussion with students • Input from other HEIs • Distribute via the National Union of Students, the HEA and Education for Sustainability networks Maths Ability to understand the concept of uncertainty Ability to formulate environmental and sustainability issues into mathematical problems and generate mathematical solutions Sustainable teaching methods: chalk and blackboards English ‘Eco-criticism’ - Relationship between cultural texts and the environment - Continuity with the traditions that challenge the values of industrial capitalism - Draws on concepts from scientific ecology to reflect on the relationship between types of knowledge normally regarded as separate - Challenges a common attitude among students that literature exists to provide an escape from serious problems, and that preferences are personal The ‘Other’ Translation studies: Exposure to multiple cultures; critical reflection on cultural variation to understand differences in meaning, mentality and worldview adopted by different cultural groups The study of English will not provide students with detailed knowledge and skills for sustainable living. On the other hand, the study of science alone will not equip students to challenge and change culture in the way that sustainable development requires. Business and Management ‘Business and economic activities may be the most important drivers of environmental degradation’ ‘Although an understanding of sustainability requires some new curricular material, it is primarily a perspective through which to approach existing topics such as economic inequalities and business leadership’ Describe how the environment and businesses interact at different levels; Discuss how the role of for-profit organisations can converge with the agenda for sustainability Demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to improve the environmental sustainability of businesses. UN Principles Responsible Management Education; UN Global Compact Economics ‘Public Economics’ and ‘Environmental Economics’ consider the best way to (re-) design incentives to increase living standards within environmental constraints vs We should simply expose students to a plurality of economic models… Occupational Therapy • Humans are ‘occupational beings’ in everyday activities Midwifery • Midwives are involved with increasing the population of the world • Growing healthcare complexity / waste • Health co-benefits of a low carbon society • Growing role in promoting healthy lifestyles - should include environment Social Work Social work addresses the multiple, complex transactions between people and their environments. Int’l Federation of Social Workers 2014) Like ESD, social work is an interrelated system of values, theory and practice; social workers are change agents in society and in the lives of the individuals, families and communities they serve Now: Marketisation of specific social care provisions to tightlydefined groups of ‘service users’ rather than participative community social work to identify communities’ priorities The educator is able to help students… use the natural, social and built environment as a context for learning build on existing knowledge and experience identify problems and reflect critically on assumptions think creatively about the future and explore alternative pathways communicate about risk and appropriate action in situations of uncertainty work across dilemmas, differences and conflicts to effect change critically assess processes of change connect to their local and global spheres of influence The educator as facilitator and participant Wellbeing, Economy, Environment • What is an economic system for? – – – – Quality of life Effects on wellbeing and on environment, positive and negative How to maximise both? Tradeoffs? Now and in future? Tradeoffs? • What is wellbeing? Operational measurements… – ONS: How satisfied? How happy/anxious? How worthwhile – US (Gallup) - $75,000 FUTURE SKILLS INITIATIVE Employability for a Sustainable World Stefi Barna Lecturer in Global Public Health University of East Anglia QAA - Questions educators may ask themselves Debating sustainability / sustainable development Engaging students How can I help students develop interdisciplinary thinking and encourage them to take a holistic approach? How does education for sustainable development relate to my discipline? To what extent am I already covering sustainable development issues and how can I make those features more explicit? What types of case studies exist within, or are applicable to, my discipline? Where knowledge is contested, or values are involved, what position will I take in a presentation or discussion? Should I state my views at the outset? How will I handle the provisional and ever changing nature of knowledge about sustainable development? If many of my students perceive sustainable development as solely or primarily an environmental issue, how can I ensure they understand the balance between society, economy and environment? The words 'sustainability' and 'sustainable development' do not resonate with the vocabulary commonly used in my discipline. What alternative words and concepts could I use? What vocabulary might need to be shared in order for us to engage in multidisciplinary discussion? How can I make best use of students' prior learning about sustainable development to enhance the curriculum? How can I encourage students to understand a range of cultural perspectives on problems relating to sustainable development? How can I involve students in the development of the education process? The learning environment How can I provide authentic learning opportunities, enabling students to relate their knowledge and skills to reallife problems, locally and globally? How do I create a learning environment in which the personal views of individual students about sustainable development can be safely shared and evaluated? To what extent is cultural diversity reflected in the student body? How can I adapt for similarities and differences? Are there ways in which it would be appropriate for me / my students to evaluate sustainability within the institution?