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Infusion of ESD - 4203b
Infusion of ESD - 4203b
www.emeraldinsight.com/1467-6370.htm
IJSHE
7,4 Addressing the challenges of
mainstreaming education for
sustainable development in
390
higher education
Lorna Down
The Institute of Education, The University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address research on major challenges faced in attempting
to mainstream education for sustainable development (ESD).
Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a project for infusing ESD in a
teachers’ college programme in Jamaica.
Findings – Challenges include colleagues’ scepticism, students’ expectations of course, content vs the
actuality of an “expanded” course with ESD input, an absence of policy, syllabus constraints, and
ways in which these were addressed.
Originality/value – In analysing the ways in which these challenges were addressed, important
principles are uncovered that can guide the introduction of ESD in higher education: how “threats” can
become opportunities, how constraints can make for creativity.
Keywords Sustainable development, Education, Higher education, Jamaica
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The general context of ESD in Jamaica
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a fairly new concept in Jamaica, like
many other parts of the world. The country has, however, since the 1970s been
pursuing the issue of environmental education and since the UN Conference in
Rio De Janeiro in 1992 has made a national effort to promote environmental education
for sustainable development. In keeping with this a national framework – the National
Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainable Development – has been
developed. It is a plan that incorporates the concept of education for sustainable
development. However, ESD has not been the focus of curriculum development in
many areas. Attempts to date have largely centred on ESD within the sciences and
social sciences in higher education. To mainstream ESD in non-science areas presents,
therefore, many challenges.
The challenges
To implement any change in a curriculum requires the direct or indirect cooperation of
International Journal of Sustainability a number of key stakeholders in that educational institution, particularly academic
in Higher Education staff and students. The challenges faced in attempting to mainstream education for
Vol. 7 No. 4, 2006
pp. 390-399 sustainable development in a teachers’ college curriculum in Jamaica were directly
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1467-6370
related to lecturers’ concept, knowledge of and attitude to the subject, students’
DOI 10.1108/14676370610702190 expectations and syllabus constraints. The recently documented Guidelines and
Recommendations for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability Challenges of
(Hopkins and McKeown, 2005) categorizes the challenges faced by teacher educators in mainstreaming
the network. These are: institutional awareness, support and resources; prioritising
sustainability in the educational community; reforming education systems and ESD
structures; establishing and sustaining partnerships. The challenges faced in the
Jamaican situation related mainly to the first and second categories. In addressing such
challenges, however, important principles that can guide the introduction of ESD in 391
higher education in general have been uncovered.
These questions are explored fully by Caribbean writers who understand that unless a
people openly recognize and acknowledge the latent violence in their society, it will
392 erupt in unimaginable ways.
The class also studied contemporary situations of violence in other literature texts.
Parallel to this was their work in “real time”. Immediate situations of violence in
society, recorded in journal entries, became another text. Lecturers encouraged
students to apply the analytical skills employed in the study of set texts to this
immediate text on violence, and as such journal entries and analyses were shared;
consequently it was discovered that violence did not just exist in the society beyond
the classroom wall but was also part of the psyche and thinking of those within the
sanitised space of a teachers’ college.
In responding to what emerged lecturers organized a conflict resolution workshop
by engaging the services of a conflict resolution practitioner. Additionally, students
engaged in visioning alternatives to violence by planning peace projects. Other
“practical” work included an open dialogue with the police in order to examine and to
begin to change the ambivalence many feel towards the police.
Introducing ESD into the introduction to computers course. This was an elective
course open to any student pursuing the primary curriculum at the teachers’ college.
The course was a basic computer course. Because it was “content-open”, it was seen
as ideal for introducing ESD. The ESD content would provide the content that the
students could use as they learnt and practised their computer skills. Using
the UNESCO online “Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future” as the base the
lecturer proceeded to integrate issues of sustainability into this course.
Findings
The concept of and attitude towards ESD by staff
One of the challenges faced in introducing ESD was how to get the staff involved in
reorienting their course/programme to address sustainability. As both Calder and
Clugston (2006) have pointed out innovations will not move into the mainstream until
critical stakeholders demand it. The short-term objective was to introduce the theme of
sustainability into two specific courses but our long-term aim was to have all staff at
the college reorient their own courses to address that issue. To share plans for
introducing ESD in the curriculum with colleagues was a necessary first step. Their
cooperation and receptivity to the concept of sustainability, of a futures-oriented
curriculum, would be invaluable. As Malhadas (2003) explains:
The priority is to motivate the educators to understand, to accept and to insert the sustainable
development concepts and strategies in their teaching programs . . . if they really trust that
sustainability is a solution for ecological, economical and social problems, they will succeed in
stimulating the students to adopt these new concepts and behavior, and together they will
build a sustainable future.
To begin, dialogue on the concept of ESD was initiated. Responses varied from interest
to scepticism. These included the valid questioning of how “new” the concept was as
some colleagues argued that it was not anything different from what they were doing. Challenges of
Colleagues outside the department referred to the tautology of the term “sustainable mainstreaming
development”; others saw it as the latest “northern” agenda.
Significantly, Miller (2005) in his address at the recent Regional Conference on ESD
Education for Sustainable Development in Jamaica attempted to locate ESD in a
Caribbean socio-historical context as he strongly interrogated the term “sustainable
development” and urged that we “Caribbeanize” the concept by including issues of 393
power and self-identity. The contestation of the term was also a feature of the focus
group discussion (at the same conference) by teacher educators who raised issues such
as “whose development”, and “the meaning of development”.
The initial response was to dismiss such scepticism, to treat it as unnecessary, and
to see such colleagues as focusing on the inessential and not on the bigger picture, but
there was also some recognition of the legitimacy of the question, the necessary
academic challenge to any agenda that is held up as the way forward.
To address this challenge, the project staff conducted further research on the subject
on ESD. They realized that in order to address that scepticism they had to research
how having sustainability as a major focus in their courses would make a difference
and a valuable difference. McKeown’s (2002) acknowledgement that teachers and
trainers will question the concept as there is a lack of clarity regarding ESD goals was
useful. Her elaboration on the fact that “talented educators” already teach strands
which could be expanded to include other concepts of sustainable development led
them to examine the courses from that perspective. They were also mindful of Palmer’s
(1998, p. 3) comments about reinventing the wheel as she explains in her work on
environmental education:
On my travels around the world I have many times encountered the frustration of discovering
dedicated groups of people spending a great deal of time devising aims, objectives and
guidelines for environmental education. Worthy as the outcomes of their strenuous efforts
may be, they often do little more than replicate the products of previous workshops,
conferences and publications.
What they found what was that strands were already included in courses but that
teaching strands of sustainability, though valuable, was a fragmented approach,
whereas the concept of ESD offers a holistic, inter-disciplinary approach to learning,
and because ESD makes explicit the goal of transforming the environmental, social and
economical aspects of our society to sustainable levels, it offered a new/a different
approach to teaching.
What eventually became clear as they engaged in researching the issue of
sustainability was the need for a paradigm shift in education. A shift that Sterling (2001)
describes as he speaks of the need for a transformative level of learning – learning that
helps us to see things differently, to have a deep awareness of alternative worldviews
and ways of doing things so that we achieve a breakthrough in the sustainability crisis
facing our world. Being involved with transformation is being involved with process for
changing our world.
Moreover, Sterling’s (2001, p. 22) definition as “a change of educational culture
which both develops and embodies the theory and practice of sustainability in a way
which is critically aware” clarified the direction in which change for a sustainable
curriculum should go. And McKeown’s (2002) insistence that ESD should be locally
IJSHE relevant and culturally appropriate suggested the space in which each country can
7,4 locate its own interpretation of a curriculum that aims to transform its society.
The research motivated the project staff to continue with their work on integrating a
sustainability focus in their courses. They believed also that the concrete results of
their work would best address the response of other staff.
Yet on reflection it is clear that the project staff could also have engaged more in
394 dialogue with their colleagues which would have likely allowed for more clarity and
understanding of their goals. Malhadas (2003) brings to our attention the matter of
improved communication, of a particular dialogue and diplomacy. What she refers to
as the needed tools for promoting friendly cooperation, joyful complicity and sharing of
good practices. Malhadas’ idea too about sharing of primary documents on ESD, such
as Agenda 21 in a seminar approach, was an action that they could also have
employed. That would not only have been invaluable in providing needed information
but would also have been a great motivator in helping lecturers to see the global extent
of the work. Hopkins et al. (1996) had also earlier made the point that educators will
know or feel comfortable discussing at least one aspect of ESD from the many chapters
addressed in Agenda 21 and the other emerging issues. He further pointed out that
their becoming involved and taking action would follow once they became more
comfortable and certain with the material.
Conclusion
This paper has sought to address challenges to mainstreaming ESD in the curriculum that
are related to staff, student, syllabuses, policy and support. The discussion reveals that in
order to involve a wide cross section of staff in an institution and to create a demand for
change will necessitate an on-going and open dialogue with them. It will mean a sharing of
the work being done in the area of sustainability at both the local and international level.
It will also mean an invitation to participate in transdisciplinary work that increases
knowledge and provides insights into meeting the critical needs of a society. Staff will
become involved as well when they see the concrete results of courses/programmes
focusing on sustainable development and will be motivated to pay more attention to the
subject when they see its acceptance at the regional and international level.
To ensure student support for the programme, it is necessary to bring them on
board very early. Attention has to be paid to what students have signed up for and that
has to remain primary. An infused ESD curriculum must maintain its focus on the
course objectives so that the demands of sustainability issues do not displace those of
the selected course.
Lecturers also need to use “natural” entry points to the introduction of the concept of
sustainability, that is, areas of the subject that can dovetail easily with reflection on
and learning about sustainability. Sustainable development issues have also to be
made relevant to students’ needs and interests, especially as suggested by their course
choice. Infusion of SD for the literature course, unlike that of the computer course, fitted
more “naturally” with the existing course objectives and content. One of the major
objectives of the course was that of reading literature as a way of understanding
society. A sustainability focus enhanced the course. So students learnt how to make
sense of the violence in their society and were given the “opportunity” to confront and
to change that situation. It was an education that truly attempted to address critical
social and economic issues and was, therefore, extremely meaningful for the students.
The paper also showed the importance of moving from practice in a special Challenges of
programme to policy for an institution. It revealed how the regional and international
community as well as local changes, such as curriculum reform, can enable the creation
mainstreaming
of an ESD policy for teachers’ colleges. It indicated, too, how support for local initiatives ESD
can emerge through regional and international partnerships and exchange of ideas.
Finally, what clearly emerged is that to meet successfully the challenges to
mainstreaming ESD, lecturers have to conceptualise it in ways that are relevant and 399
appropriate to the local context. It is about working collaboratively with major
stakeholders in the system so that the main objective of education becomes that of
producing students who are actively engaged in addressing and intervening in the
crises in their society and in the world.
References
Bogdan, R. and Biklen, S.K. (2003), Qualitative Research for Education, An Introduction to
Theories and Methods, Pearson, Boston, MA.
Calder, W. and Clugston, R. (2006), “Progress toward sustainability in higher education”, ELR
News and Analysis, available at: www.eli.org (accessed January).
Down, L. (2003), “Infusing key issues of sustainability in the teaching of literature”, Institute of
Education Annual, Vol. 4, pp. 90-104.
Hopkins, C. and McKeown, R. (2005) Draft Report – Guidelines and Recommendations for
Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability.
Hopkins, C., Damlamian, J. and Lopez Ospina, G. (1996), Nature and Resources, Vol. 32 No. 3,
pp. 2-11.
McKeown, R. (2002), Education for a Sustainable Development Toolkit, available at:
www.esdtoolkit.org
Malhadas, Z. (2003), “Contributing to education for a sustainable future through the curriculum,
by innovative methods of education and other means”, paper presented at the
International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future, Charles University,
Karolinum, Prague, Czech Republic, 10-11 September.
Miller, E. (2005), Address on October 20, 2005 at the Caribbean Regional Conference on Education
for Sustainable Development – New Approaches for the Future, in Kingston, Jamaica.
Palmer, J. (1998), Environmental Education in the 21st Century, Routledge, London.
Sterling, S. (2001), Sustainable Education Re-visioning Learning and Change, Green Books, Totnes.
Further reading
Jickling, B. (1992), “Why I don’t want my children educated for sustainable development”,
Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 5-8.
Scott, W. and Gough, S. (2003), Sustainable Development and Learning Framing the Issues,
Routledge, London.