3-5 March | DBSA | Midrand The National Environmental Skills Summit 1.

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3-5 March | DBSA | Midrand

The National Environmental Skills Summit

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Fundisa for Change Teacher Development Research Symposium

Sustainable Development And How It May Be Incorporated Into

The School CurriculumPresented by Paul Goldschagg

School of Education

University of the Witwatersrand

[email protected]

Day 3 | 5 March 2015

Purpose of this presentation today twofold:

- Review where we are at

- To challenge our progress, stimulate debate and get action

Sustainable Development And How It May Be Incorporated Into The School Curriculum

The United Nations World Commission on Environment and

Development (WCED) in its 1987 report Our Common

Future defined sustainable development as follows:

"Development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own

needs."


Two key concepts contained within it:

The concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given;The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.


Common thinking about the nature of sustainable development

(reflected, for example in the 2011 UK Government’s Sustainable

Development Commission):

“… is an approach to development that looks to balance

different, and often competing, needs against an

awareness of the environmental, social and economic

limitations we face as a society;”


Source: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/what-is-sustainable-development.html. Accessed on 23/02/2015

http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/what-is-sustainable-development.html



and

“The focus of sustainable development is far broader

than just the environment. It's also about ensuring a

strong, healthy and just society. This means meeting the

diverse needs of all people in existing and future

communities, promoting personal wellbeing, social

cohesion and inclusion, and creating equal opportunity.”


The way development is approached affects everyone. The impacts of society’s decisions have consequences for people's lives.

Poor planning of communities reduces the quality of life for the people who live in them.

Sustainable development provides an approach to making better decisions on the issues that affect people’s lives.


Recognising these fundamentals, the Curriculum and

Policy Assessment Statement (CAPS) designers

have taken on board a commitment to environmental

education with content focussing in a number of

subjects.


Environmental content knowledge is important for

processes of Education for Sustainable Development.

Environment and sustainability is in and across the

curriculum – horizontally across phases and vertically

through subject progression.

BUT…


It is fragmented in the topic-centred curriculum;

Teachers have differing understandings of sustainability

which vary by discipline.


Fundisa has attempted to address this deficiency by

producing core texts:



And subject specific topic units: for example, climate change, biodiversity, healthy living, indigenous knowledge, water etc.


These are topics to links with subjects where there is a natural expectation that sustainable development will be covered, and there is a good, natural fit.

Universities are:

- using, or making students aware of Fundisa materials;

- running or planning short courses for in-service

teachers.


But… what about appropriate materials for the other subjects?

In the Design subject, “sustainable” is mentioned 37 times – much

more often than Geography and Life Sciences, for example.

In the Economics and Management Sciences subject cluster

sustainability is important too, but in a context of sustainable

business activities with financial benefits for the company related

more to sound investments, markets, production costs etc.


Application of “sustainable” depends on the context of

the subject as well as other factors eg. School

socioeconomic status; rural or urban location etc.

Definition:

“…

pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by

using techniques that allow for continual reuse.”1


1 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sustainable

Sustainability strengths in the curriculum are currently in

Geography, Life Sciences, Life Orientation.

Going forward, we need to respond to:

- Post UN Decade of Education for Sustainable

Development.

- The coming to an end of the Millennium Development

Goals.

Acknowledge the imminent launch of Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs).


Ideas on what needs to be done:

Do Teachers have an interest in sustainability?

Link schools, families and communities through

education and outreach activities;

Emphasize experience-based and action-oriented

learning;

Address sustainability through the medium of their

subjects – not just leave it up to Geography, Biology;

How will learning about sustainability make people’s lives

better?


How can Fundisa scaffold sustainability into the other

subjects?

Children often have the knowledge – eg from Social

Science. It needs to be uncovered and connected to

other subjects.

Reform this knowledge into new insights.

Apply sustainability throughout the curriculum.


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Thank You

3-5 March | DBSA | Midrand The National Environmental Skills Summit 1.

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