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CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TO SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
CHAPTER THREE THE ROLE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Learning and Teaching Scotland define the key concepts of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as interdependence, citizenship, stewardship, needs and rights of future generations, diversity, quality of life, sustainable change, care and caution (LTS, 2002). It has roots in environmental education and development education and extends practice and teaching in these areas.
3.2 In its contribution to the National Curriculum Review (1999), the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority established the following over-arching definition of ESD:
"Education for sustainable development enables people to develop the knowledge, values and skills to participate in decisions about the way we do things individually and collectively, both locally and globally, that will improve the quality of life now without damaging the planet for the future."
3.3 Education 21 Scotland has developed the following guiding principles for ESD. An education for sustainable development initiative should:
- Be an integrative process, building connections and a coherent view of the whole
- Be an inclusive process, dependent on active participation
- Build in local and global dimensions
- Build on the knowledge and understanding underlying the principles of sustainable development and encourage explanation of how the world works through systems
- Build in decision-making and critical thinking skills
- Lead to the development of people's values and attitudes
- Lead to an increase in the number of people individually, collectively and corporately choosing to act in ways consistent with sustainable development
Source: www.sepa.org.uk
3.4 The UK Sustainable Development Education Panel's (SDEP) 1998 report recommended that ESD should be incorporated into the aims of the National Curriculum in England and Wales. The Panel recommended that:
- Schools [should] provide education for sustainable development, and be making progress at implementing policies to become sustainable institutions.
- Pupils [should] be competent to practice sustainability at the end of compulsory schooling.
- Initial and continuing school and pre-school teacher training [should] integrate education for sustainable development.
3.5 The Panel described exactly what students at different key ages should achieve as a result of ESD. For example, by the age of 16, students should:
be able to think critically, systemically and creatively about sustainable development issues, solutions and alternatives, through study of examples; understand that there are a range of possible pathways to more sustainable lifestyles and be willing participants in efforts to realise more sustainable futures through life-long learning and informed action; understand the value and use of the precautionary principle in personal, social, economic, scientific and technological decision-making in the light of uncertainty. (Ibid.)
3.6 The relative roles of government and the individual in supporting sustainable development are highlighted by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, which has recently embarked on a pertinently timed enquiry into ESD:
The Government is committed to helping us live more sustainable lifestyles. We know this makes sense - making better use of our natural resources whilst achieving social and economic progress so that we and future generations can enjoy a better quality of life. However, Government policies and strategies alone will make little impact unless we are all equipped with the skills and basic understanding to engage in change and make every day decisions in such a way that we as individuals contribute to sustainable living - in our roles as consumers, workers, parents, educators, scholars, neighbours and public representatives. We need to learn how to live differently.
(House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, 2003)
3.7 A comprehensive survey undertaken by DEFRA's Sustainable Development Education Panel revealed that sustainable development aspects influence classroom teaching in around two thirds of schools. Geography and science is predominantly used, with Personal and Social Education (PSE) also making a contribution. Environmental topics dominate the agenda, with less attention paid to economic and social aspects. A lack of classroom time and resources were identified as the major barriers to more extensive work on this area (Sustainable Development Education Panel, 2000b).
3.8 ESD is not just a school-based activity. SDEP see it having a role in further and higher education, in the workplace and in adult education/lifelong learning. When considering the influence that parents have over children's attitudes and behaviour, this view takes on greater significance.
3.9 Simply recognising sustainable development in the curriculum, regardless of how it would be interpreted, could have benefits (Scott 2001) but much more powerful would be a socially-critical approach in ESD that links to all aspects of life including long-term effects (Symons 2000):
A commitment to sustainable development would mean that the way things are done in all aspects of life, from the personal to the political, would be measured against the twin goals of improving quality of life (on an equitable basis) while not, in the long term, damaging the Earth on which all future life will depend'.
3.10 A key issue that has problematised environmental education since its early days is that of considering global and local issues. For many children, local issues, certainly those relating to mobility and transport, will be more relevant than global ones. The challenge for education is to help young people make the links between the two.
In the developed world, the environmental movement has been largely the province of the white middle classes. This may be because, by concentrating on endangered species in faraway lands and on 'invisible' problems like the destruction of the ozone layer, it has failed to connect with the concerns of people for whom the most pressing environmental issues are cold, damp housing, alienating, noisy streets; lack of access to the facilities they need; or in some cases fear of leaving their homes in case of bullying or racist attacks.
(Symons, 2000).
3.11 Environmental education (both at school, government or intermediate levels) can focus personal responsibility and changes at individual lifestyle, rather than on exploring whether the structures and systems within which people live are conducive to the changes being sought. Scott and Gough (2003) argue that this may best be done by, "challenging individuals' views of the world as a means of influencing their characteristics and hence ways of thinking and living". This approach challenges the common view of learning as a "process which acts on individual characteristics in order to change the world".
3.12 If there are legislative or institutional barriers to individual action, educational action can help to bring pressure for change. However, it is much more powerful when legislation, administration and education work together towards similar goals.
3.13 Similarly a change in structures or systems which is not supported with awareness raising may pass unnoticed. Education is needed to support the implementation of initiatives such as environmental tax incentives, for example fuel duty and vehicle excise duty differentials in the UK or Autogas+ grants for clean fuel vehicles in Scotland.
3.14 Positive educational experiences can involve students conducting short research projects on topics directly relevant to or leading to sustainability (Fettis and Ramsden 1995).
3.15 For delivery, 'affective education' can tap into different ways that students learn. For example, students could respond to environmental issues through emotional responses rather than through scientific knowledge (Gurevitz, 2000). This links with psychological attitude models of behaviour which suggest that actions can be influenced by emotional responses as much as by knowledge and skills.
3.16 Practical development of sustainable transport attitudes will therefore only thrive where children have the knowledge, motives, opportunities, and skills to build patterns of behaviour which fit with their lifestyles. International experience on the development of skills and attitudes amongst children demonstrates that children learn what they need to thrive within their environment:
For example, in a community that relies on wood for fuel, pupils may learn about sustainable harvesting, replanting and other silviculture techniques. In an area of shrinking water supply, pupils may learn to use new agricultural techniques and to plant crops that require less water. In affluent communities, pupils may be taught media literacy and awareness of the influence of advertisers in promoting a level of consumption that leads to increased resource use.
(Hopkins and McKeown, 1999)
3.17 When considering education for sustainable development, the meaning of education itself is sometimes misunderstood with frequent references to the communication and imparting of knowledge. Education is a process of individual development through life and it should be recognised that different people construe concepts such as sustainable development in different ways. Sometimes, sustainability is presented by interest groups and government in ways that suggest that the term carries unconditional, positive values and no internal conflicts.
Teachers understand that sustainable development, and even sustainability, are normative concepts representing the views of only segments of our society. And, teachers know that their job is primarily to teach students how to think, not what to think'
'if education is trying to get people to think for themselves then education "for" anything is inconsistent and should be rejected'.
(Jickling,1992, 2000)
3.18 There are generally low levels of political interest amongst and engagement by young people (Brodie, 2002). Greater levels of involvement are required to generate interest in a broader range of issues. Education is cited as key to this, especially in developing the understanding of environmental issues.
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