Wednesday 9 July 2014

Ireland's National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development, 2014-2020

The Minister for Education and Skills, RuairĂ­ Quinn, T.D., today published the “National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development, 2014-2020”, Ireland’s first such strategy.

Education for sustainable development fosters and strengthens the capacity of individuals to make judgments and choices in favor of sustainable development.

The Strategy aims to ensure that learners are equipped with the relevant knowledge, and the key dispositions, skills and values to motivate and empower them to become informed citizens acting for a more sustainable future.

Eight ‘priority action areas’ have been identified. They include leadership and coordination, data collection and baseline measurement, and promoting participation by young people in decisions that affect them.

Each of the eight priority areas has a series of recommendations. These recommendations encompass all areas of the education system, from pre-school through to further and higher education, as well as non-formal and community education, and the Youth sector.

The ESD plan promotes greater participation by children and young people in decisions that affect them within the education sector, principally through student councils. This is in keeping with the Minister’s drive to ensure the voice of students is included in education. The establishment of more student councils at primary level will be encouraged, and the existing student council model at post primary level will be reviewed.

Welcoming the Strategy, Minister Quinn highlighted the importance of the Department of Education and Skills promoting sustainability in its own practice, “As an architect, I am delighted that the Department has won awards for sustainable design in our school building projects.

“This National ESD Strategy commits the Department to continue to build infrastructure that is cutting edge in terms of sustainability, as well as seeking to reduce its own energy usage and that of other institutions within the education sector.”

“I would like to extend my appreciation to those who generously contributed their time and expertise. In implementing the ESD Strategy, the Department will be seeking to work closely with you in this important area.”

An ESD Advisory Group is to be established, representing stakeholders, and chaired by a DES official, for exchanging best practice, building partnerships and mobilising stakeholders.

The publication of the National Strategy for ESD fulfils Ireland’s commitments under the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It is also one of the commitments in Our Sustainable Future, the National Strategy on Sustainable Development, which was published by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government in 2012.


Eight priority action areas:

1. Leadership and coordination

2. Data collection and baseline measurement

3. Curriculum at pre-school, primary and post-primary

4. Professional development

5. Further education and training

6. Higher education and research

7. Promoting participation by young people

8. Sustainability in action

The report is available at http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/National-Strategy-on-Education-for-Sustainable-Development-in-Ireland-2014-2020.pdf
- See more at: http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2014-Press-Releases/PR14-07-04.html#sthash.Ci9YjTNd.dpuf

Friday 24 January 2014

Do we know what we are doing? New online text and some other things!

Do we know what we are doing?  Reflections on learning, knowledge, economics, community and
sustainability.


 Rolf Jucker has just published what he terms "his farewell text on ESD" text online. I an impressed by the depth and breadth of his thinking. Do have a look.      http://rolfjucker.net/


Abstract: The discourse of education for sustainability has been severely limited by the fact that it
largely refuses to acknowledge important insights from other fields of learning and
knowledge. A denial to engage with central insights with regard to how the world and more
specifically how human interaction with the human and non-human world work means that
it has been to a large extent a self-centred discourse. It is tangled up in reflections on
education without contextualising this in the real world. My main point is that not just
education in general, but also so-called education for sustainable development (ESD) needs
to perform a radical paradigm shift and become communal learning in real-time in a real
place. And this necessitates a willingness to face some tough questions on the prevailing
denial.  (Berne, 2014)


Se-ed are continuing to do great things and are running a series of webinars at around £10 a throw.
http://se-ed.co.uk/edu/

Ellen McArthur is busy at Davos and Unilever have just joined her Circular Economy group. Also The Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation has just published the 3rd chapter of their work to try and mainstream Circular Economy thinking and turn it into practice.
 http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/project-mainstream

"Following the release of Towards the Circular Economy vol.3, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announces Project Mainstream, a collaborative project which could help businesses to shift towards a circular economy and as a result save US$ 500 million in materials and prevent 100 million tonnes of waste globally."

Saw a 3D printer at work yesterday. Hard to believe what I was seeing and touching.Imagine wanting a part for a machine and living far away from the parts dept. A local 3D printer could be the solution. Find and download the software and away you go.
Here's a tale for you! In 1971 in Mwinilunga, NW province of Zambia, near the source of the great Zambezi river, we were working in a secondary school of 800+ students and  100+ staff when the town water-pump broke. We, well mainly my colleague Steve Bodsworth, kept the school and hospital going for 3 months until the parts arrived. Households had to survive on two buckets of water a day. Luckily we had just installed two 2000 gallon tanks on the school farm. These were uprooted and one placed near the school kitchens and the other by the hospital. Then making one out of two very old 250cc Villiers water-pumps useable, borrowing a 500 gallon water-bowser, putting onto a "donated" gov't trailer hauled by a borrowed land-rover, Steve filled up the two tanks nearly every day for months taking water from the river Lunga. The pupils washed in the river and kept a look-out for crocs!