European Panel on Sustainable Development Seminar in Brussels 2004-09-20 Learning for sustainable development

Seminar in Brussels 2004-09-20

European Panel on Sustainable Development

Learning for sustainable development

www.miljo.chalmers.seGMV – Centre for Environment and Sustainability

Chalmers and Göteborg University Cooperation via GMV - Environmental aspects and sustainable

development

about 50,000 students2,500 faculty and PhD students3,000 staff

10,600 students1,600 faculty and PhD students 800 staff




Knowledge and learning for a sustainable society,

Göteborg, Sweden, 12-14 June, 2001

• Vice chancellors/Presidents: – Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, via

our joint Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV), offer to become a scientific centre and hub in a network of highly competitive and knowledgeable European universities, where we will engage those committed to work within the area of Sustainable Development.

– The hub could act as an independent scientific body to which a proposed measure within the EU is referred for consideration, investigations, evaluations and research.

– It could also arrange conferences within themes related to conclusions from European Summits.



EPSD• Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology

together with Lund University and researchers from other European Universities and Research institutes established a European Panel for Sustainable Development, EPSD

• The Centre for Environment and Sustainability in Göteborg, GMV, is the lead organisation.

• The aim of EPSD is to strengthen the role of the research community in the development of the European strategy for sustainable development.



Knowledge and learning for a sustainable society,

Göteborg, Sweden, 12-14 June, 2001

• “There is urgent need for a new type of learning” (Roland Scholz, ETH, Zürich)

• “All for one, but none for all. Universities need drastic reorganisation to cooperate in addressing global problems”. (Sheldon Rothblatt, Berkeley, California, in Times Higher Education in 2001).

Restructuring of universities• Integration between disciplines and knowledge

areas. - Problems of sustainability are most often of a trans

disciplinary nature and need the coordination and cooperation between specialists from different areas.

• Integration between education and research. - A new way of looking at knowledge formation. - We

need to shorten the lead times between education and research.

Restructuring of universities

• Integration between generations from the small children to the grown ups. - We need to prepare not only for today's problems

but also for tomorrow's.

• Integration between academia and society. - Knowledge is formed both within and outside

universities. Knowledge needs to be founded and understood in reality.

www.miljo.chalmers.se

Learning to change our worldInternational Consultation on Education for Sustainable

Development. Göteborg, Sweden, 4-7 May 2004

Education is the key to accomplishing the changes required for sustainable development.



Learning to change our worldInternational consultation on

education for sustainable developmentGöteborg, Sweden, 4-7 may 2004

• The Swedish prime minister Göran Persson took the initiative (Johannesburg conference)

• More than 350 delegates from 73 countries


Learning to change our worldInternational Consultation on Education for Sustainable

Development. Göteborg, Sweden, 4-7 May 2004

• There is a lack of common understanding of ”learning for sustainable development” and ”sustainable development” at all levels.

• The organisation of knowledge into disciplines or scientific areas constitutes a significant and serious obstacle to under-standing sustainable development.

• Values and attitudes have to be addressed



Citations from the consultation

• “Education for sustainable development is about shaping people’s minds”.

• “An educated population can put pressure on government and industry to deliver”

• “We have all the knowledge we need to change the world, but it is not enough”

• “Too much is not enough”.

• “Being more – not having more”.


Possibilities for sustainable development

The good and productive dialogue – academia, politicians, others


Initiative• The Rectors/Presidents of Göteborg University (Gunnar

Svedberg) and Chalmers University of Technology (Jan-Eric Sundgren) promised to host another conference on learning for sustainable development in three years


• SOU 2004:104

SOU 2004:104 deals with both formal education on all levels as well as informal learning

The judgements and suggestions of the committee


”.. Education for sustainable development should aim for giving the learners both ability and desire to act for a sustainable development both locally and globally.”

This means both ”what”- and ”how”- issues

SOU 2004:104



UN

• The United Nations Decade for Education Sustainable Development started in 2005


Conferences on ESD

• Knowledge and learning for a sustainable society Göteborg, Sweden, 12-14 June, 2001

• Learning to Change our WorldInternational consultation on education for sustainable developmentGöteborg, Sweden, 4-7 May 2004

• Learning for sustainable developmentGöteborg, Sweden, Autumn 2008/Spring 2009


Work-shops on ESD

o Drivers and Barriers for Implementing Learning for Sustainable Development in Higher Education7-9 december 2005. Organised by: Centre for environment and sustainability in Göteborg

o Drivers and Barriers for Learning for Sustainable Development in Pre-School, School and Teacher Education 27-29 mars 2006. Organised by: Göteborg University and City of Göteborg

o The role of early childhood education for a sustainable society2-4 april 2007. Organised by Göteborg University

o Public Learning for Sustainable Development - Laboratory for Democratic Learning.11-14 october 2007. Organised by: Göteborg Folk High School, Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, The Museum of World Culture


Whole group

Smallgroup

Smallgroup

Smallgroup

Whole group

Whole group

Theme 1

Theme 2

Theme 3

Whole group

Whole group


How can sustainable development (SD) be understood?

SD cannot be exactly defined — and it should not! It is an ever evolving concept. It can be compared with the concept of health. How are you? How are we?

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a learning process not a product!

However, the fact that the present trends are far from sustainable makes it much easier to define unsustainable trends than sustainability.


Sustainable development bring many challenges to the universities:

To developing students’ qualities to cope with uncertainty, poorly defined situations, diverging norms, values, interests and reality constructions.

To make transformative learning to take place. This means looking at sustainability issues from a range of:

• disciplinary angles, • cultural perspectives, • different time perspectives and • spatial perspectives.

To deal with attitudes and values (which are largely hidden), which have shown to be as important challenges for the university as achieving knowledge and understanding.


Transformative learning Intergeographical

shifts

Interculturalshifts

Intergenerationalshifts

Interdisciplinaryshifts


How does the traditional discipline-based structuring of knowledge and research effect the implementation of

learning for sustainable development in higher education?

• It must be hard to find something more multi- and transdisciplinary than sustainable development.

• It is also quite clear that the traditional discipline-based structuring of knowledge and research are here to stay.

• This combination constitute a major challenge for the universities when implementing learning for sustainable development in higher education.

• A common experience from proactive universities is that some kind of organisation with overview and responsibility outside and across the traditional disciplines is essential.


Separate courses and programmes or/and an integrated perspective throughout the whole education?

• The answer is simple: both are needed!

• The separate course is needed to give the basic understanding of the challenges associated with sustainable development; to deliver tools and conceptual models for dealing with dynamic and complex systems; and to attain a feeling of how things are interconnected.

• Since ESD is about continuous learning it is also essential to integrate sustainable development aspects into existing traditional courses.


What role does research for sustainable development have in the process of crossing barriers and creating drivers for

education for sustainable development at a university level?

• SD involves a profound transformation of the societal metabolism. This is all a large societal learning process.

• It is therefore difficult to separate research for SD from ESD and both are needed.

• Since the research often determines the structuring of knowledge and research are organised in traditional disciplines “drainpipes”. ESD calls for “gutters”, and therefore new structuring of knowledge. ESD also calls for dissemination of findings — re-writing.


• ESD calls for “gutters”, and therefore new structuring of knowledge (Compare traditional disciplines).

• ESD also calls for dissemination of findings and communicating for a new audience — re-writing.

• The present academic merit system is focusing on publishing in high ranking deep disciplinary journals. This trend will eventually lead to that everybody is writing for nobody (Because everybody is busy writing).


• Organise a session on “experimental university structures” with participation of NGOs and companies.

• Technical universities are often in the forefront in education for sustainable development.

• There is a need to know more about the relations between to be aware, to have knowledge and to behave in Education for Sustainable Development


Education (learning) for Sustainable Development

Information

→ Knowledge

→ Wisdom

→ Behaviour

(John Hopkins)



Welcome to the work-shop:

The role of early childhood education for a sustainable society

2-4 May 2007

Organised by: Göteborg University, GMV and City of Göteborg

Ingrid Pramling SamuelssonProfessor


Three themes

• What might early childhood education for sustainability look like

• Cultural issues related to sustainable development

• Policy and research questions related to young children´s lives and sustainable development


Conferences

• Knowledge and learning for a sustainable society Göteborg, Sweden, 12-14 June, 2001

• Learning to Change our WorldInternational consultation on education for sustainable developmentGöteborg, Sweden, 4-7 May 2004

• Learning for sustainable developmentGöteborg, Sweden, Autumn 2008/spring 2009

Documents

European Panel on Sustainable Development Seminar in Brussels 2004-09-20 Learning for sustainable development