{"id":8606,"date":"2024-07-01T09:01:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T09:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=8606"},"modified":"2024-07-01T09:01:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T09:01:24","slug":"the-education-system-and-social-norms-and-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2024\/07\/01\/the-education-system-and-social-norms-and-values\/","title":{"rendered":"The Education System and Social Norms and Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the most recent SEEd Newsletter<\/a> (essential reading), Ann Finlayson writes:<\/p>\n

\"I recently came across an amazing diagram on LinkedIn (Katherine Hayhoe<\/a>, Climate Scientist,\u00a0What can we do about climate change?<\/a>) which was a version of a theory of change and different timelines for systems changes for the Earth\u2019s climate systems. It is fascinating. \u00a0The resulting debate in the post comments was also interesting, with people feeling their bit wasn\u2019t being given enough prominence, or needing more evidence.<\/p>\n

Although it looks like education is slow to he\"\"<\/a>lp stabilize the climate system, its role in information feedback is important and current. We need accurate, up-to-date information, but we also need to help all learners learn how to participate and actively contribute to a more stable climate. Also, the values and norms that education can change in society may be slow but can be faster when you think about the specific people who can influence and change systems such as the financial markets and the decarbonisation of our current energy systems. So, education is critical and crucial and not just education about<\/strong> sustainability (environmental, societal and economic) but also education for<\/strong> sustainability that changes mindsets, enables agency and builds skills.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The diagram in question (clearer in the original) shows what are termed social tipping elements (STEs) and associated social tipping interventions (STIs) with the potential to drive rapid decarbonization in the World\u2013Earth system. \u00a0The processes they represent unfold across levels of social structure on widely different timescales \u2013 very slow to very rapid \u2013 such as the fast dynamics of market exchanges and resource allocation on sub-annual timescales to the slow decades- to centurys-scale changes on the level of customs, values, and social norms. \u00a0STE5 \u2013 the Education System is positioned across the slow (10 to 30 years) and very slow (>30 years) timescales, which seems right, although I'd have nudged it farther up the diagram. \u00a0Climate education is cited as a social tipping intervention \u2013 the only one within the Education System box.<\/p>\n

This is the sort of diagram that quite properly gets arguments going about what the STEs and STIs are, where they are positioned, and what feeds into what (ie, where the arrows go). \u00a0There are two arrows leading from the Education System STE5 box. \u00a0One leads to STE4 \u2013 Norms and Values System, and the other to STE6 \u2013 Information Feedbacks.<\/p>\n

The diagram reminds me of the management organogram of a local school that I once saw. \u00a0In this all arrows led from the headteacher to other people and groups, but none came back to her (which explained a lot). \u00a0In this diagram here, there is no arrow from STE4 \u2013 Norms and Values System \u2013 to STE5 \u2013 the Education System (ie, schools). \u00a0And yet, in reality, societal norms and values impinge on schools much faster than the education system (schools) influences societal norms and values. \u00a0This has always been so and is a key reason why schools tend to be such (small c) conservative places and why climate education, environmental education (etc) are so hard to establish. \u00a0Whether anything can be done about this is a moot point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the most recent SEEd Newsletter (essential reading), Ann Finlayson writes: \"I recently came across an amazing diagram on LinkedIn (Katherine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist,\u00a0What can we do about climate change?) which was a version of a theory of change 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":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","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\/8606","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=8606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}