March 1-5
On my way from Bonn I stopped at the offices of the Dutch National Curriculum Development Foundation (SLO) to discuss the idea of them joining a network to explore the relationship between ESD and quality. The SLO team led by the exec director agreed to pursue this idea and will attend the meeting of the International Network of Teacher Education Institutions associated with my UNESCO Chair meeting in Toronto (May 16 – 20, 2012). I now have interest in constructing a research project on this the relationship between ESD and quality from China, Finland, Netherlands, Mongolia, Canada and UNESCO. The list may grow after the May meeting in Toronto.
Posted in March 2012 March 1, 2012
February 25 -29
On the 25th of February, I flew to Bonn where the German Commission for UNESCO hosted a meeting of approximately 50 ESD experts to explore what should be done to continue the work beyond 2014 which marks the end of the Decade. Twenty five of those gathered were from outside Germany and we each shared our progress to date and our hopes and ideas for post-Decade expansion. Officials from Japan who are developing the World Conference on ESD 2014 in Nagoya were present and offered both insights into the current plans and sought our advice. The group also worked on what we hope is the first of many declarations asking UNESCO, national governments and ministries to carry on the work beyond 2014.
Posted in February 2012 February 25, 2012
Feb 11 to 17, 2012
My stopover in China was hosted by the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences. This institution was established about 20 years ago to provide in-service and professional development of teachers and the education leaders of greater Beijing and beyond. They, along with the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO are also the lead institutions to implement the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in China. (more…)
Posted in February 2012 February 11, 2012
Feb 2 – 11, 2012
In the first week of February I flew to Outer Mongolia. UNESCO has granted a small sum of funds donated by Japan to run a workshop for 5 faculties of education in Outer Mongolia. I arrived a few days early to better understand the issues and how ESD was being implemented. (more…)
Posted in February 2012 February 2, 2012
The Hague, Netherlands, January 24-26, 2012
In Holland I spoke at a major conference of Faculty of Education professors on ESD. They have formed a network of about 15 faculties to embed sustainability issues into their curricula and the preparations of new teachers as well as in-service work.
Brussels, Belgium January 27 – 28, 2012
I also spent time in Brussels where I am working with a large association of European and African Development Educators DEEEP. Just as Environmental Educators and Citizenship Educators have contributed to ESD so to have the Development Educators and we have much to share and learn.
Posted in January 2012 January 24, 2012
January 22-24, 2012
From Finland I spent time in Denmark visiting both a very unique program for grade 9 and 10 students and a world famous sculptor who addresses sustainability issues.
First of all the Danish students and parents have the option of leaving home and living in a state secondary boarding school for a year. About ¾ of students do this as it is a long standing tradition. The state pays 75% of the cost and parents the other 25%. The students live in boarding schools of about 250 students and are organized in clusters or pods of 12 to 15 youth, (yes girls and boys). While the academic subjects are taught through projects as well as regular classes the focus is largely addressing the social skills of living together with others and learning to collaborate, socialize and build respect for others. (more…)
Posted in January 2012 January 22, 2012
January 17 – 21, 2012
In the middle of January I was speaking in Finland at the Regional Centre of Expertise in ESD in the city of Espoo – Finland’s second largest city. This is one of the healthiest and active RCEs that I know of. All city services are engaged as well as the schools, several businesses, their national research institute SITRA and universities. While there I had several side meetings and one in particular was with the new Director of the Finnish National Board of Education. Finland, which is one of the most admired school systems in the world due to its high PISA scores and many other factors is about to rewrite its entire curricula. They do this usually every 10 years or so and this time ESD will be even more prominent.
Posted in January 2012 January 17, 2012
January 11-13, 2012
January and February have been busy. I began by attending the Eighth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability in Vancouver where I was a key-note speaker. This was an international gathering of senior ministry, educators, academics and NGO’s. One of the highlights was the impromptu lecture by my long-time friend Dr. William Rees, who developed the concept of the ecological footprint. While I was so happy to see and talk with him Bill soberly reminded me that while the world plays at the “Green Economy” and other peripheral issues we are still at least 25% over the ecological carrying capacity of the planet and still growing. That is the real issue and no one wants to address it as it is too difficult.
Posted in January 2012 January 11, 2012
From Saskatchewan, I flew back to Miami Dade College to do a residential workshop for faculty on Globalization. It was a lovely location in Key Largo. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the College and the faculty union. This joint sponsorship was most appropriate, as an early sponsor of ESD in the 1990’s was the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Education International (EI), which is the world’s teacher federation or union. The seminar is very popular with faculty and is sold out each year. Florida has many sustainability issues but these now include issues beyond storm related disaster and water shortage being recognized. As the faculty participants come from a wide range of disciplines, it is fascinating to hear the wealth of factoids. The challenge then is for people to put together the various points of information and try to see a bigger picture. This quest of transforming data into information, and then patterns, and then knowledge, and then wisdom which can be used in informed action, is a replication of the difficult process our students individually must follow in higher education. It is even more difficult to repeat this as a society. (more…)
Posted in May 2011 June 3, 2011
"Staying with a family was so good. The discussions we had made an impact on me that I will have with me for the rest of my life. It was a fantastic but surreal feeling to sit on Emily's doorstep in the middle of an African village and discuss the teaching of Shakespear and Milton".
This was our first of hopefully several SEdA workshops in Saskatchewan. Held at Elk Lodge in the mid-north of the province near Waskesiu, it was the best ever for the attendance of Ministry folks and our largest SEdA event with over seventy people. This also marked the first time we had a team of eight senior education leaders from a region in the south west of Sweden. The Swedes also presented their work on ESD which included a presentation by the trip organizer from the Swedish Global School. In the program, he spoke of the overseas trips that are run by The Global School staff for teacher inservice. I was fortunate enough to link up with one of these trips in Uganda and saw the powerful impact of the teachers living with the Ugandans in a village for several days as part of their 3 week program. He spoke of one teacher who got to stay with a local teacher in her home and how it totally moved her. The teacher returned home and successfully ran for parliament. The teachers and their story is below. (more…)
Posted in May 2011 June 3, 2011
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