Education for Sustainable Development in languages John Canning Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Languages in higher education 2010 conference: Raising the standard for languages 1-2 July 2010 etc venues, London

Policy rationale Sustainable development growing political priority nationally and internationally. –Warming of climate system unequivocal. –benefits of strong and early action will far outweigh the economic costs of not acting. Graduates will occupy future management and leadership roles and will need the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions taking account of complex social, economic and environmental issues and their interrelation. HEFCE (2009)

The greatest contribution HE can make to sustainable development is by enabling students to acquire the skills and knowledge that allow them to make a lasting difference. What they learn and what they are taught are therefore critical. (HEFCE 2009) Sustainable development is a cross disciplinary concern

Concerns and barriers Lack of expertise Relevance to languages Curriculum time (another thing to embed) Teaching values, behaviour Final assault on the last remaining freedom of universities (Knight 2005)

John Canning “Translating words into actions and action into words” Sustainability Education Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education Edited By Paula Jones, David Selby and Stephen Sterling (London: Earthscan 2010).

From Canning (2010) Key ideasExamplesReferences EcolinguisticsMetaphor Euphemisms ‘greenhouse effect’ development Stibbe Fill and Mühlhäusler Berman Translation studies Understanding of action needed between speakers of different languages Local actions, global issues. UN Common understandings McKeown and Hopkins Area StudiesCultural practices environmental politics Ideas of waste and rubbish National Parks movement (USA) Phipps Coates

Key ideasExamplesReferences English Language Teaching Environmental issues as topic for discussion Shallow environmentalism Lack of two-way dialogue Stibbe EcocriticismReading and rereading literary texts Arno Schmidt: Leviathan Brecht: Life of Galileo Arons, Garrard, Goodbody Language death Loss of ecological knowledge Australasian languages Crystal

Other possible opportunities Migration –Climate change refugees –Desertification –Raising sea level –Language impacts Environmental politics –Natural resource conflict Public understanding of science

Capel Celyn 1 August 1957: Liverpool Corporation Act –Submergence of Welsh-speaking village near Bala to supply water to Liverpool. –Reservoir completed /36 Welsh MP’s opposed the bill (one did not vote) 2005: Official apology from Liverpool City Council

Capel Celyn video ure=player_embeddedhttp:// ure=player_embedded Music: Dan y Dŵr [Beneath the waters]. Composed by Roma Ryan. Sung by Enya

Contact John Canning Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies University of Southampton Highfield Southampton SO17 1BJ