Business and sustainability conference

Well its been a while - not that I haven't had thoughts, but some were beginning to feel like rants. And I think this will be one of those...

We attended a conference this week billed as 'where business and sustainability meet' and there was a learning strand including businesses working with schools. I thought this might be quite interesting for SEEd but was surprised at how little progress and thinking about sustainability there has been. I had a feeling of deja vu from the Bonn UNESCO UN Decade conference last May where there seemed to be quite a few adjectival educations who were making their existing educational approach ( content, rationale and techniques just fit with ESD). At our conference this week it was the turn of the business sector, vocational training and STEM. This got me thinking about the motivations of business to work with schools and I have identified what I think are the top 4:

1. Creating resources for schools ( motivation - branding/loyalty - excuse the cynicism but in the UK I am not sure we need more resources. The exception is if a brand is so big it can encourage the mainstreaming of ESD. In the developing world lack of resources is probably the case and it would be great if they did this there - but again not just developing a UK resource and assuming it would work in a developing country)
2. Getting staff into schools ( for their CSR - corporate social responsibility and staff engagement). Good when they have an expertise needed by the school - or can help write funding proposals!
3. Encouraging young people to consider jobs in their sector - a lot of this is the main focus of the STEM programme and the CES ( Commission for employability and skills). But this is mostly science, engineering, technology and maths. Huge assumptions are being made by people in this field that the STEM industries will get us out of the sustainability mess we are in and we just need to get creative, problem solving, team working students developed in schools to then solve the problems in industry.

I would ask 'Who says young people are not creative, problem solvers or team workers anyway?' And what else do we need to not continue with business as usual? What about the rest of their lives? Understanding the competencies needed for sustainable living and working as well as what it means to think sustainably are as yet falling on deaf ears. SD is a frame of mind as well as knowledge and skills.
4. Thinking of this as a product rather than the learning outcomes for young people will continue the approaches listed above.

So what can we do as a sector? There are of course notable exceptions. But it seems to me while the ESD agenda gets assumed and subsumed by these other agends we will continue to struggle to explain what ESD is.

I find myself feeling clearer and clearer about the pedagogies for the outcomes of resilient, confident, reflective, active sustainability citizens who have the sense of agency and self efficacy to make a difference in their own lives. And this is not just a list of what could be classified as good education - team working skills, problem solver, creative, analytical, numerate, flexible.

And it isn't just about working harder at these things or getting business involved. It has to be about developing pedagogies that are about looking forward and the learning to come, not just the learning (by others) that has already happened! Less easy to test I know!

So how do we get there? Thoughts on a postcard please! Must be easy eh? Someone must have the answer! Lets turn this grab of ESD and reinterpretation of it around, and help people work effectively as partners in it. ( last paragraph to be read as a rant if you want!)

Thoughts from conferences and seminars

Given the numbers of presentations, keynotes, panels etc I attend each year, I thought it might be useful (for me and maybe others?) to post the stimulating ideas I hear about, or people I have met. There is so much EE and ESD practice but it is hard sometimes for people to connect!
For example I went to a seminar last night at the Institute of Education about ‘Pedagogies for Development Education’ presented by Doug Bourn. It was very interesting especially as SEEd develops its own pedagogy project.

Doug presented a diagram from a German conference showing 3 overlapping circles named Self, Others and World(s). In the centre was placed Development Education. It reminded me of the huge number of times I have seen this sort of diagram - always with 3 overlapping circles. Apart from the power and seductiveness of the number 3 (where does that come from?) I also wonder about the seductiveness of this type of diagram. Maybe putting more than 2 ideas shows your inclusiveness and a move away from oppositional thinking of only having 2 things (the ‘either or’ syndrome). Or maybe we can blame it on maths teaching in the sixties and seventies on sets and Venn diagrams.

On a positive note though it is good to see holistic thinking - my worry is the tyranny of the centre overlapped spot. What to put there? Well usually its the thing you are proposing. I have yet to see anyone put their area of work or idea on the other segments. Is it about showing importance or influences?

I often wonder how I ended up giving so many speeches - never a life plan, ambition, need. However I am at times almost becoming evangelical about not using Powerpoint. Why? Well 2 reasons - both again about the tyranny of diagrams or software to control how and what you say and eventually the unintended impressions you may give.

I find bullets (and long lists of them even more so) come across as very definitive, complete, ‘here are my conclusions, ‘this is the comprehensive list’ etc. And definitely not participatory. If you are not confident as a speaker I can see how alluring this is. However when 12 presenters do this in a whole day conference I begin to feel extremely sorry for the participants! This did happen to me - I was the 12th.

There are good examples - e.g. An Inconvenient Truth was structured by experts on how to motivate, entertain and keep an audience with you as well as ensure they get the main points.
But I wonder more about the appropriate presentation techniques that model or show either the thinking about ESD or the actual practice. I have got as far as using participatory approaches, encouraging reflection and doing some critical thinking. But am wondering if this is enough? How do we show the evolving nature and learning journey we are all on with ESD?

Thoughts and suggestions on this blog would be most welcome! Name checks are guaranteed!