Sustainability and the education we need

Thoughts from Commissioner Ann Finlayson

Ann_Finlayson As an ex- secondary teacher, teacher trainer, facilitator (and even at one time, Ranger in Scotland) I have been wondering how I came to the conclusions I have come to, and the passion with which I believe we need a significantly different education system.

I realise I had some personal revelations which have informed this view.

These revelations all came about when I was shocked out of believing something or behaving in certain ways. So fundamentally they came about because of a change or challenge in my life. The most significant occurred when I trained as a Ranger with what is now Scottish Natural Heritage.

After life spent in school and university studying I realised this training course with its unusual methodology was teaching me more in 9 months that I had learned in the previous 6 years.

The second most significant event occurred when I was teaching Maths – often working with the least able students. I began to realise that building the self esteem of students could unleash unbelievable potential in students, and they began achieving more than they had ever realised they could. Finally, it became clear to me that once barriers to learning and improving self-esteem were removed progress in all areas was achieved. Feeling good about Maths led to better interpersonal relationships, better science, better communication skills and so on.

These personal experiences led me to my own life-long learning, searching for the learning theory that explained this, other good methodologies and understanding how the mind works.

Fundamentally all of this has helped me realise that we could talk about all sorts of good educational practice, but fundamentally we should take that as a given for education for sustainable development. The question we should really be asking ourselves is – what is different about the education we need to prepare Scottish students for their sustainable future?

Ultimately sustainable development is about change – because we in the UK are not living sustainably. Climate change is the first example of the consequences of living unsustainably in the developed world. Realistically, as well the problem with climate change is so big that most people realise it cannot be sorted by waiting for some great technological advance. We are storing up problems and currently experiencing climatic variations resulting from behaviours decades ago. Maybe even before the term sustainable development was coined.

So we need an education system that is not just about getting a job and living well with other people, but also about caring for the environment. It is an education about change.

What does education for change have to include. Fundamentally we need students emerging from school with the skills, knowledge and confidence to be part of this new way of living. But firstly, does anyone have all the answers? Can we just teach a subject called sustainable living? Well no we can’t - because we have to still work out how to do this. Our education system needs to prepare students for this challenge. How best do you do that? You give every student the opportunity to be part of local integrated sustainability projects, based either in their school or their community, or with an international perspective looking at the global dimension.

Secondly we have to work out how we got here. What didn’t we do enough of or consider in our own development from the Industrial Revolution? Why were we not aware of the impacts of our Western lifestyles, or not even measuring it? Well this means we need to encourage more measurement (e.g. Carbon calculators, ecological footprinting, more analysis of impacts, and more ‘Linking Thinking’ – or systems thinking). You encourage every child to reflect critically about our choices, culture, impacts and history. This is not about imparting knowledge but engaging students in constructing their own developing knowledge of sustainable development. I once taught the International Baccalaureate course – Theory of Knowledge – and saw with my own eyes how you can encourage critical thinkers.

Thirdly, despite decades focussing on individualism, we are going to need to shift to collaborative working, community building and engagement in the processes that need to enable this change. Some citizenship curricula around the world seem to cover some of this, but again there is nothing like doing it. There are great examples from the US where students were part of an initiative of using ‘The Environment as an integrating context’, or the action competencies work from Denmark show how well designed student chosen projects in their local community can build self-esteem, action competencies and a sense of team work.

Finally, sustainable development is not going to be something we leave to the experts or policy makers, or even the scientist and engineers. It is going to be something that requires us all participating. Helping students realise this is going to be essential. How to do this – again it’s not through an optional module, or an optional sustainable development course or even a small percentage of students doing an MSc, it has to be built into every subject, vocational or academic and every experience that students have throughout their education.

Fundamentally it is about participation and lifelong learning. It’s crucial therefore that at every level of educational institution real, authentic and valued participation takes place. By that I don’t mean consultation – I mean participating in decision making.

Much of what I am talking about often happens at Primary level. The challenge is how to do this High School level and beyond. Access to these experiences and education should be every student’s right, not a postcode lottery. After all we need to prepare our children for their future as well as making sure we leave one that they can live in.

I really don’t want to hear anymore grown ups saying – it’s the children's future, they will sort it out – we need to create the education system to help them develop the skills, knowledge and values to do their bit. But my goodness, at the same time we need to show them we are doing our bit as well – in school, at home, in the supermarket and in the way we run our society.