Student’s views on sustainability – A report from Students Organising for Sustainability details their 2019-20 research into Higher and Further Education student’s views on sustainability in their education settings. Only 36% of respondents say that understanding how human activity is affecting nature has been covered during their time in higher education so far, but 70% agree that “being a student at my university/college encourages me to think and act to help the environment, and other people” and 79% agree that “My university/college takes action to limit the negative impact it has on the environment and society”. You can sign up for the monthly SOS_UK mailing here, and the full range of these surveys can be found here beginning in 2010.
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Teach the Future Wales – The 2021 Senedd elections provide an opportunity for Teach the Future Wales to talk with political parties and their leaders. Responses have been received from 3 parties so far. The team also had a meeting with Tom Davies who has written a useful and detailed framework for environmental and climate education (which NAEE featured last Summer in a blog). The team has also contacted over 20 organisations to get more support for the Welsh Teach the Future Campaign. As with England (@ttf.england), an Instagram account (@ttf.Wales) has been set up.
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Ulster Wildlife Grassroots Challenge – NAEE’s most recent blog is by Dr Karen Kerr from Queen’s University Belfast. Karen teaches future science teachers and is involved in research in outdoor learning and environmental education, with a specific focus on researching with children and young people. She writes about her evaluation of the Ulster Wildlife Grassroots Challenge programme drawing on young people’s views, opinions and concerns about environmental issues and actions.
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The Green Social Prescribing Project – This is a £5.77m project to examine how to scale-up green social prescribing services in England to help improve mental health outcomes, reduce health inequalities and alleviate demand on the health and social care system in communities hardest hit by coronavirus. An invitation to tender for the project evaluation has been issued. If you want to tender, you can access documents through Bravo. Tenders are due to be returned by February 12th.
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Generation Wild Project –This is a Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust initiative that will engage 45,000 school children from disadvantaged communities, their families and teachers with nature over a three year period through visits to WWT wetland centres and follow-up activities back in the local community. The activities will go beyond those that simply engage people with nature through knowledge acquisition, and focus on those expected to foster a more meaningful and emotional connection with nature. WWT is looking for an academic partnership to examine systematically the impacts of Generation Wild and the influence of variables (including socio-economic, lived experiences) on nature connectedness, levels of care and concern for the natural world and pro-environmental behaviours. They are also open to exploring other ideas partners may like to pursue. More detail here.
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National Storytelling Week 2021 – This is organised by the Society for Storytelling and runs from 30 January to 6 February this year. It is is an opportunity to highlight environmental and sustainability issues because the stories we tell ourselves about nature and our place within it are crucial in determining our relations with the natural world. NAEE has contributed to the celebration of storytelling week by CJS.
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Solihull Borough Council – The council has a support network to empower its school to develop sustainability from whatever starting point they are at and a schools’ sustainability engagement officer based in the sustainable development team works with schools. There is also a website dedicated to sustainability resources for schools and teachers.
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The Origins of NAEE – As part of his year-long review of early environmental education in England, Bill Scott, our Chair of Trustees has written about the arguments that were made in September 1971 when the National Association first emerged. This was at the AGM of the National Rural and Environmental Studies Association which voted to emphasise the “environmental” part of its name at the expense of the “rural”, which disappeared from view although not from the work of the Association. Along with the name change there was also a shift in emphasis. Bill explores the rationale for the change drawing on the arguments made at the AGM. His article is Good grief – what a title!
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QAA guidelines on education for sustainable development in higher education – This is now out for consultation – click here – until 22nd January. Learning for Sustainability Scotland is holding a Task Group/EAUC Scotland Topic Support Network on 15th January to enable discussion and a collective response.
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Big Garden Bird Watch – RSPB says spend an hour counting the birds you see in your garden or in your local park between 29th to 31st January, then share what you saw with them. All the information you need is here.
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Global Education for Teachers – This 3-week course has been designed to help teachers increase their confidence and ability to introduce global issues into their teaching. DERC says: “Discover key issues in global citizenship education and learn how to prepare your students for the global challenges of tomorrow.”