The report of the Hefce project Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability: Strategic Approaches to Quality Enhancement has emerged. Judging by the mail message announcing this, its writers are pleased with it. It will, of course, be a "great success" and make a "vital contribution". That much is clear. After all, if you prise over £200k out of Hefce, involve HEA and QAA senior management in what you do, and have a clutch of VCs and a DBE on your advisory group, then no one can afford for this to be seen as anything else.
The language of the announcement is not inviting, however. Take this ...
"The QAA has played a critical role in the project, helping to shape the project outcomes at sector level and taking specific actions to progress the agenda. ... This level of interest in the initiative has signalled that there is now support at senior level for ESD to move into mainstream education discussion in HE, and in relation to the increasingly diverse range of HE providers."
No Plain English Award this year, I fear.
And ...
"This participatory approach should help to progress the broader agenda and the systemic change impulse of ESD, to generate multi-level supports for further institutional change and curriculum innovation."
Just forgetting "help to progress ... the agenda" for a moment, had I written "the systemic change impulse of ESD", I'd have reported myself to Pseud's Corner at once.
And as for this ...
"We hope that colleagues will engage positively with the ripples that have been initiated by the HEFCE LGM project over the next 12 months and would value feedback on the online Guide."
... its shockingly mis-related clause would surely have been marked down even at the de-based GCSE.
Given that most academics in the UK don't know much (if anything) about ESD, and actually care less, I'd have expected greater clarity about how messages were expressed. There will be more on all this once I pluck up the courage to read on ...
This is the announcement:
This HEFCE LGM funded project which sought to introduce ESD concerns into education quality agendas has now concluded, and we would like to share the key outcomes with you.
1. Online Guide to Quality and Education for Sustainability in HE:
We are pleased to announce that the core output, the online Guide to Quality and Education for Sustainability in HE, is now live at:http://efsandquality.glos.ac.uk/. The Guide contains video clips, insights, tips and adaptable tools for institutions to take and use, to help in the development of strategic approaches to EfS as a cross-cutting curriculum enhancement agenda. The Guide combines lessons from the five institutional pilot projects with a sector-wide view of how ESD connects with quality assurance and enhancement in HE. It draws on the perspective gained from key partner agencies in the project, such as QAA and HEA, as well as the project’s expert advisers and critical friends. The aim in creating this resource was to share practice and insights from this initiative about how to bring ESD to life in systemic ways within loosely-coupled, complex HE institutions, including consideration of some of the academic and leadership issues involved.
2. QAA actions and the UK Quality Code for HE:
The QAA has played a critical role in the project, helping to shape the project outcomes at sector level and taking specific actions to progress the agenda. These actions emerged through the involvement of the QAA and collaborative work with its Research, Development and Partnerships Unit. This level of interest in the initiative has signalled that there is now support at senior level for ESD to move into mainstream education discussion in HE, and in relation to the increasingly diverse range of HE providers.
QAA has taken two significant steps to advance thinking around ESD in relation to its own work, which also provide platforms and legitimisation for broader engagement:
i) Including ESD in the UK Quality Code for HE, which gives ESD its first point of entry into mainstream quality assurance frameworks at sector level. This positions ESD in the strategic approach to learning and teaching that is expected of all institutions and underpins the sector’s approach to institutional review to ensure the quality of academic programmes.
ii) Commissioning the development of a QAA stakeholder-led guidance briefing on ESD, which will support and extend the inclusion of ESD in the UK Quality Code for HE. This document will be an important tool to improve sector-wide understanding and engagement around ESD, addressing key issues of definition, purpose and reach for a range of staff. The potential users of this national guidance include future subject benchmarking committees, professional bodies, external examiners, directors of learning and teaching, and collaborative partners.
3. Inter-agency collaboration on ESD:
Through the project work at sector level, connections have been forged with key forums and agencies connected with the curriculum, leadership, student perspectives and professional practice. Several actions will follow, to take the next steps in engaging relevant stakeholders with ESD in relation to their core areas of work and to ensure that the project legacy continues.
These national agencies and funding councils plan to engage collaboratively on ESD to continue this line of work, with the intention to hold a sector-wide event in 2013. This participatory approach should help to progress the broader agenda and the systemic change impulse of ESD, to generate multi-level supports for further institutional change and curriculum innovation.
We hope that colleagues will engage positively with the ripples that have been initiated by the HEFCE LGM project over the next 12 months and would value feedback on the online Guide.
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