{"id":7341,"date":"2018-10-30T07:42:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T07:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7341"},"modified":"2018-10-30T07:42:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T07:42:27","slug":"ee-perspectives-from-policy-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2018\/10\/30\/ee-perspectives-from-policy-3\/","title":{"rendered":"EE \u2013 perspectives from policy 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here's my final comment (for now) on the\u00a0new research on EE in secondary schools from King's College:<em> Understanding Environmental Education in Secondary Schools \u2013\u00a0<\/em>Report 1:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kcl.ac.uk%2Fsspp%2Fdepartments%2Feducation%2Fresearch%2Fresearch-centres%2Fcrestem%2Fresearch%2Fcurrent-projects%2Fenvironmentalreport2-2018-forweb.pdf&amp;data=01%7C01%7C%7Cc617594df9d846604bb008d62f4fb025%7C8370cf1416f34c16b83c724071654356%7C0&amp;sdata=PxqyoJ0TinvOYPqp%2Bp%2FK6RcAudjsB%2B9TsftsBI41jnI%3D&amp;reserved=0\">The Policy Perspective<\/a>\u00a0It relates to the discussion section of the report.<\/p>\n<p>There's much to agree with and appreciate here. \u00a0I have been surprised at the revelation of just how much your choice of exam board matters at 16 in determining whether or not you will receive much by way of an environmental education.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion focuses on two key questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why should the government be more active in shaping\u00a0environmental education in secondary schools?<\/li>\n<li>What should be included in an environmental\u00a0education?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In response to the first, the authors are clear:<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>Human activity is ecologically unsustainable,\u00a0and the loss of biodiversity, climate change and air and\u00a0water pollution are worsening and leading to worldwide\u00a0inequalities. It is incumbent upon a government to ensure\u00a0that all people collectively understand how to repair\u00a0our planet.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Nicely put. \u00a0There's then a cheeky section saying that \"<em>it might be suggested that a\u00a0government would be wise to additionally care about\u00a0environmental education for more instrumental reasons<\/em>.\" \u00a0Think PISA and the green economy. \u00a0Quite so.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the second, I was pleased to see the following:<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>Whilst \u2018field work\u2019 is listed\u00a0in geography and science schemes of work, it is not\u00a0always evident that this activity has much to-do with\u00a0the environment per se, rather a technical skill required\u00a0for an exam. Although these differences are at times\u00a0subtle, if students are to learn about their environment,\u00a0in their evironment and engender a sense of ownership\u00a0for their environment, such learning aims will need to be\u00a0made explicit<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<p>Indeed they do, and this chimes with points I've already made about outdoor learning.<\/p>\n<p>What follows this is harder to go along with. \u00a0The report says:<\/p>\n<p>\"...\u00a0<em>for a democratic\u00a0education young people require access to multiple\u00a0viewpoints and a range of perspectives. \u00a0Predicted outcomes\u00a0and possible interventions concerning environmental\u00a0improvements need to be shared and challenged. \u00a0There\u00a0is a need, as citizens, to understand that there are no\u00a0environmental fixes and that all solutions have social,\u00a0political, environmental impacts. \u00a0However, as Stevenson\u00a0(2007, p.143) cautions, exposing students to multiple\u00a0perspectives will not be enough, rather \u2018students also need to\u00a0be competent to implement or act on their choice, otherwise\u00a0they will not consider themselves capable of rectifying\u00a0environmental injustices, and therefore will not experience\u00a0an authentic choice on these issues<\/em>\u2019.\"<\/p>\n<p>Well! \u00a0Up to a point, Lord Copper. \u00a0I think it will be a brave headteacher who goes along with Stevenson's <em>impossibilist<\/em> demands in their pure form. \u00a0But that this shows up the false dichotomy at the heart of this\u00a0<em>conservative (boo) \/ radical (<\/em><i>huzzah) <\/i>split as there's a ying 'n' yang to it. \u00a0To understand all these multiple perspectives you need a bit of knowledge \u2013 conservative though it might be.<\/p>\n<p>My conclusion is that, overall, I'd have thought that an open-minded ESD1 \/ ESD2 framing would have served the argument better.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Finally, that brings us back to the recommendations:<\/p>\n<p>1.In lieu of varied weakly framed references, <strong>a coherent national policy which sets out a vision\u00a0for environmental education in secondary schools should be established.<\/strong> The policy would\u00a0shape future National Curriculum reforms and national assessments.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 By whom? \u00a0Not DfE, that's for sure. \u00a0What a pity there isn't a <em>Council for Environmental Education<\/em> with the ear of government.<\/p>\n<p>2.The <strong>national policy should recognize the multiple dimensions of environmental education<\/strong>\u00a0(eg about, in and for the environment) and ensure that all dimensions are given equal footing\u00a0throughout a student\u2019s school career.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 much better, surely, to focus on outcomes: what every environmentally-educated 16 year old should know, understand and be able to do.<\/p>\n<p>3. Young people should be given the opportunity to think broadly about local and global\u00a0environmental issues and encouraged to develop a sense of ownership and agency. In other\u00a0words, <strong>students should receive a democratic pluralistic education about the environment\u00a0whereby they have the capabilities and resolve to mitigate environmental inequalities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 working with others ...<\/p>\n<p>.....................................................<\/p>\n<p>That's it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here's my final comment (for now) on the\u00a0new research on EE in secondary schools from King's College: Understanding Environmental Education in Secondary Schools \u2013\u00a0Report 1:\u00a0The Policy Perspective\u00a0It relates to the discussion section of the report. There's much to agree with...<\/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-7341","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\/7341","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=7341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}