{"id":4807,"date":"2013-10-14T09:41:25","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T08:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=4807"},"modified":"2013-10-14T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T08:41:25","slug":"just-minding-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2013\/10\/14\/just-minding-the-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Just minding the GAP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Later this month, UNESCO\u2019s governing bodies will consider a\u00a0draft<\/a> of a\u00a0Global Action Programme<\/em> [GAP] on ESD with a view to forwarding it to the UN General Assembly in 2014. \u00a0The plan is that the GAP will replace the Decade, and will run, initially at any rate, for 5 years. \u00a0UNESCO says that its draft takes into account the lessons learnt and experiences of the Decade \u2013 from past monitoring and evaluation reports, inputs from the regional consultations\u00a0and\u00a0expert groups, and global debates on a post-2015 development agenda. \u00a0The plan is that the GAP will provide the framework for post-2014 ESD activity. \u00a0I have read it \u2013 every last word.<\/p>\n

The title takes up 4 lines and sets the tone and style for what follows:<\/p>\n

PROPOSAL FOR A GLOBAL ACTION PROGRAMME ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS FOLLOW-UP TO THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (DESD) AFTER 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought the paper reasonably began well (allowing for the usual numbing UN-speak) \u2013 mind you, the first page is just a bit of history, so no challenge there.\u00a0 The bottom of page 1 takes us to the goal and objectives of the Global Action Programme:<\/p>\n

Goal ...<\/p>\n

To generate and scale-up action in all levels and areas of education and learning in order to accelerate progress towards sustainable development<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Objectives ...<\/p>\n

(a) To reorient education and learning so that everyone has the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable development; and<\/span><\/p>\n

(b) To strengthen education and learning in all agendas, programmes and activities that promote sustainable development.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My first thoughts, in some rough order, were:<\/p>\n

1. to think that this is a sensible turn from a UNESCO perspective that builds on the Decade and which might just bring sustainable development and ESD closer together.\u00a0 That is, might make ESD more about sustainable development than it usually is.<\/p>\n

2. to note the emphasis on education (and learning), not ESD, which I took to be a positive sign.<\/p>\n

3. to wonder whether the goal was really a goal, as it seems more like an objective \u2013 one whose English is awful.\u00a0 The only goal here seems to be \u201cto accelerate progress\u201d.\u00a0 Umm.<\/p>\n

4. to worry that the twin emphasis on \u201ceducation and learning\u201d (which occurs throughout) is artificial.\u00a0 I fear UNESCO sees these as much the same thing whereas the relationship is subtle.\u00a0 I wondered, for example, what \u201cgenerate and scale-up \u2026 learning\u201d can mean. \u00a0I fear that UNESCO thinks that learning can be influenced as readily as teaching can \u2013 not that teaching is actually all that amenable to change, otherwise the Decade would have been more successful.<\/p>\n

5. to sigh (again) at the certainties of it all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Page 2 brings us to the Priority Action Areas [PAA].\u00a0 Had I been concerned that ESD had been abandoned as an idea, I\u2019d be reassured by what follows, as the 5 PAAs are \u201ckey leverage points to advance the ESD agenda.\u201d\u00a0 These are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Policy support<\/span>: Integrate ESD into international and national policies in education and sustainable development.<\/li>\n
  2. Whole-institution approaches<\/span>: Promote whole-institution approaches to ESD at all levels and in all settings.<\/li>\n
  3. Educators<\/span>: Strengthen the capacity of educators, trainers and other change agents to become learning facilitators for ESD.<\/li>\n
  4. Youth<\/span>: Support youth in their role as change agents for sustainable development through ESD.<\/li>\n
  5. Local communities<\/span>: Accelerate the search for sustainable development solutions at the local level through ESD.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I should confess that I\u2019ve never understood what the \u201cESD agenda\u201d is, thinking that ESD was a process, and that the point was to change educational policy \/ practice \u2013 as the goal \/ objectives suggest.\u00a0 Not so, it seems; wrong again!\u00a0 The PAAs reify ESD as something substantive to be integrated and promoted.<\/p>\n

    And so it goes on for 6 pages though there is considerable repetition. \u00a0The GAP is clearly aimed at \u201cthe ESD community\u201d, rather than the 90+% who are just getting on with things in education as usual. \u00a0The worry has to be that those who know little about ESD, and care less, will carry on regardless. \u00a0This seems a lost opportunity.<\/p>\n

    NB, as a metaphor, 'GAP' doesn't seem all that helpful, as GAPs are things that you \"bridge\", \"narrow\", and \"mind\" (especially on train stations). \u00a0They are not things you wholeheartedly embrace or leap into. \u00a0Having said all this, I expect the GAP to be widely welcomed within 'the ESD community'. \u00a0It is Hobson's Choice, after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Later this month, UNESCO\u2019s governing bodies will consider a\u00a0draft of a\u00a0Global Action Programme [GAP] on ESD with a view to forwarding it to the UN General Assembly in 2014. \u00a0The plan is that the GAP will replace the Decade, and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}