Down to Earth [DtoE] is a project based on the Gower that started in 2005 and which provides education programmes supporting young people and adults from very different backgrounds. It says is a
"learner-centred approach centred developing well-being and a diverse range of accredited learning opportunities” and
"a different way of doing education and personal development/well-being – one which not only supported people who were struggling to “fit in” to mainstream education or mainstream life, but which also embraced sustainability and demonstrated that it should be at the very centre of that approach…"
It sounds and looks a good outfit, and seems to have done something useful on the ground, judging by evaluations and testimonials. It reminds me of projects you can find up and down the UK, mostly run by NGOs of one sort or another.
But is it ESD? I ask because I have read a paper (written by someone outwith the organisation) which says that Down to Earth tries to inverse the ‘normal’ way of doing ESD, and yet I can find no mention of ESD on the Down to Earth website. There's another question about whether there is a normal way of doing ESD when hardly anyone does it, but that's another matter.
It reminds me of when HMI pitched up to a school in Belfast one day and explained to the bemused staff that they’d been doing ESD for the past year or so, when they’d not heard of it before. They just thought it was education.
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