June 2009

  • The UN ESD Decade – half way there

    For three days at the end of March, 900+ people assembled in Bonn for the mid-Decade review.  This brief comment is partial - in at least two senses. 1. EFA and ESD If you log onto the UNESCO Education homepage you will see that UNESCO's top priority is “Education...

  • Stanley Fish and the line of virtue

    Last November, the THE's Devil's Advocate column focused on Stanley Fish, the Milton scholar.  I was reminded of the piece as I sat in the back of a primary school classroom the other day watching what was going on.  In...

  • People & Planet – 2009

    I see that the University has slipped (again) in the Green League table – 56th this time – only getting a 2:2. What's worse, we're not only behind the usual stalwarts at Gloucestershire and Plymouth, but also trailing in the...

  • There is a TIDE in the affairs of men ...

    Another engaging meeting with TIDE in Birmingham on Thursday: What on earth are we thinking?  This drew a large audience from schools, local authorities, NGOs, government offices, community and religious groups, FE and HE, and museums from across the west...

  • Forthcoming talks and presentations

    Monday 15th June; 1930            Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution The Idea of a Sustainable School: dreams, hopes and realities   Thursday 18th June                     TIDE...

  • Talking with Architects

    The government has a hugely ambitious goal that every school will be a 'sustainable school' by 2020, and it encourages institutions to address sustainability across all aspects of school life through: [i] what (and how) students are taught; [ii] how...

  • GOSW-funded sustainable schools training programme

    The University of Bath's Centre for Research in Education and the Environment [CREE] has now completed its external evaluation report of the GOSW-funded sustainable schools training programme which had been carried out by a consortium of local authorities and third...

  • Learning for Sustainability from the pupils’ perspective

    The recent publication from WWF: Learning for Sustainability from the pupils’ perspective reports on Chris Gayford's 3-year research with 15 schools, and raises significant issues about the skills that young people might develop and sets out ideas on the progression of...

  • Judging the Effectiveness of a Sustainable School: a brief exploration of issues

    This essay explores a central question for all those involved in ESD: What are you really most interested in, educational or social outcomes—what learners learn, or what they do? The paper argues that it is an issue that needs to...

  • South west Learning for Sustainability Coalition

    The South west Learning for Sustainability Coalition celebrated its first formal AGM (at the end of May) as a community interest company (6611726).  The Coalition is an informal network of organisations and individuals who are concerned that all our learning supports...