August 2012

  • Play England sponsors dirt and grazed knees

    I have come across Play England rather late in life.  Its purpose is to ensure that children and young people in England have the space and opportunity to play freely as part of their daily lives, at school and other services,...

  • Write out a hundred times: "I must remember to include pupils and community ..."

    The latest edition of the SEEd E-Newsletter contains this statement from an experienced ESD primary school teacher in relation to what she took away from SEEd's 2012 sustainable schools conference ... “To go back and remember to include pupils and...

  • Education on the path to sustainability – how shall we know?

    Here is a link to recent work carried out in Austria, Germany and Switzerland on indicators to evaluate ESD. The publication: Education on the Path to Sustainability – proposed indicator set to evaluate education for sustainable development results from the international research...

  • Greening the military, sustainable warfare, and other paradoxes

    The BBC had a programme the other week, 'Greening the Military', which looked at how British (and other) armed forces are increasingly having to take account of the environmental impact of their activities.  This is part of the BBC's blurb for...

  • Mr Gove fails to make new friends

    It is reported that the Secretary of State for Education (for England), Michael Gove, is exempting further categories of taxpayer-funded schools from having to employ teachers with formal qualified teacher status (QTS).  The  Guardian reports the DfE as saying: "Independent...

  • Tbilisi+35

    I see that the government of Georgia is organizing an inter-governmental conference on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development.  This is scheduled for 6 – 7 September 2012 in, where else, Tbilisi, and will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the eponymous...

  • Defra has another go at indicators

    Defra is reviewing the UK's sustainable development indicator set, and is seeking views on its proposals.  It says this ... The Government has committed to measure and report our progress through a new set of sustainable development indicators.  The intention...

  • Olympics, the curriculum and sustainability

    I have been following the Olympics rather more than I thought I should – mostly mediated by the BBC, but including a trip to see volleyball for real (accompanying rather bemused grandchildren).  I've been enjoying the drama without getting too...

  • Teaching and learning strategies – and ESD

    This is part of a message sent by UCU about the publication of the 2012 Green League Table ... "We are particularly concerned about the slow pace of change on education for sustainable development.  Only a third of institutions have...

  • Unapproved strawberry jam alert

    In a press release dated 30th July 2012, the Office for Strictures and Control on Food and Fodder ( Ofscoff ) [1] ordered the confiscation of strawberry jam recently and illicitly produced by unqualified persons at an unregistered site somewhere...