1. Education for Sustainable Development: Vivian Neal, MET, PEng Comparing Institutional Initiatives

2. In this session we will consider… sustainable development and education for sustainable development initiatives at several universities some ideas to help identify which initiatives could be more successful

3. Learning Outcome You will be able to identify potential initiatives that could move ESD forward in meaningful and enduring ways at your institution.

4. Sustainable Development meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.* balancing environmental, social and economic factors *Brundtland, G., Our Common Future, 1987

5. Education for Sustainable Development education that helps people understand the issues involved in planetary sustainability relevant to the learner and their immediate surroundings interdisciplinary, multi-methodological

6. Education for Sustainable Development experiential, participatory and collaborative holistic, values-driven concerned with the development of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviors

7. The ESD Challenge “The real need is to change from transmissive towards transformative learning, but this in turn requires a transformed educational paradigm.” “The mainstream emphasis on cognitive learning, with a little ‘values education’ thrown in, is simply insufficient to meet the challenge.” Sterling, S., 2001 & 2011

8. What kinds of initiatives create cultural change? 4C model of ESD * *Centre for Sustainable Futures, 2008

9. Examples of ESD Initiatives Systematic and Faculty Champions Simon Fraser University, Canada Sustainability Office University of Plymouth, UK, Centre for Sustainable Futures Tuft University, USA Environmental Literacy Institute Emory University, USA Piedmont Project University of Gloucestershire, UK Sustainability Office and Greener by Degrees

10. ESD Initiatives: Systematic Approaches Simon Fraser University Sustainability Office with highest level support also partnering with external bodies to produce cultural change University of Gloucestershire Sustainability Office – support for faculty in specific units partnering with regional, national and international standards bodies

11. ESD Initiatives: Faculty Champions – formal University of Plymouth, Centre for Sustainable Futures national level funding for a four year Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Education for Sustainable Development faculty time, various disciplines focus on research and disseminating into practice within UoP and across the UK now one faculty, and one part-time support person

12. ESD Initiatives: Faculty Champions - informal Tuft University* Environmental Literacy Institute – workshop Emory University* Piedmont Project – workshop University of Gloucestershire Greener by Degrees – workshop and publication *Barlett P. & Rappaport, A., 2009

13. Share: In triads, each describe one initiative at your institution Is the approach: systematic, faculty champion or other? formal, informal or other? What institutional characteristics have influenced the success of the initiative?

14. Cultural Change 4Cs – curriculum, campus, community, culture engage faculty using the same experiential methods (to change attitudes, values and behaviors) that have the potential for transformative learning communities of practice (Wenger et al., 2002)

15. Some Thoughts each institution, department, discipline or faculty member works in a unique way multiple and flexible approaches to supporting ESD maybe not all cultural barriers can be overcome

16. References Barlett, P. & Rappaport, A. (2009) Long term impacts of faculty development programs: The experience of Teli and Piedmont, College Teaching, 5(2) 73- 82 Spr 2009. Brundtland, G., (1987) Our common future: Report on the world commission on environment and development, UN. Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) (2008) Sustainability policy (http//www.csf.plymouth.ac.uk/?p=policy, accessed Sept 2012) Sterling, S. (2012) The future fit framework: An introductory guide to teaching and learning for sustainability in HE, York UK:HEA Sterling, S. (2011) Transformative learning and sustainability: sketching the conceptual ground, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 5 17-33, 2011 Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice, Boston MA:Harvard Business School Press

17. Questions? Vivian Neal, MET, PEng vneal@sfu.ca