Putting it into practice

Current Practice – Management Audit Tool

Please tick the most appropriate response for your institution, the more open and honest you are in your assessment the more useful this exercise will be!

1 2 3 4 5
Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
No. Question 1 2 3 4 5
1. Have the senior managers and governors in your institution made a clear commitment to ESD?          
2. Do the curriculum leads have a mandate to 'get on with it and have a go'? (ESD)          
3. Do the leaders in your institution encourage an entrepreneurial spirit?          
4. Are curriculum leads actively engaged with new thinking and innovation in the subject areas they manage?          
5. Does the institution learn from other approaches and innovation outside the institution?          
6. Does your institution actively engage in cross disciplinary discussion and projects?          
7. Are curriculum leads actively engaged with the local community? If they do already, are sustainability issues included in that engagement?          
8. Does the institution actively engage with the business community? If it does already, are sustainability issues included in that engagement?          
9. Do you encourage staff to build sustainability into personal and professional development plans?          
10. Do you provide sustainability training for staff including curriculum leads?          
11. Do you encourage less formal learning opportunities such as opportunities to share ideas and resources?          
12. Does your institution communicate to all staff its vision on embedding sustainable development into the curriculum?          
13. Do you encourage suggestions and ideas for ESD and see them as an opportunity, rather than a challenge?          
14. Do you celebrate success on embedding sustainable development in the curriculum?          
15. Do staff feel that their contributions to ESD are valued?          

Current Practice - Audit Tool

To make the introduction of ESD successful, it is important to assess current practice.

Please tick the most appropriate response for your institution, the more open and honest you are in your assessment, the more useful this exercise will be!

1 2 3 4 5
Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
No. Question 1 2 3 4 5
1. Is ESD something you consider in your teaching?          
2. Could you explain to Ofsted what the institution is doing in relation to ESD?          
3. Do you include SD as part of tutorials?          
4. Do you explore short courses you could develop with a sustainability theme?          
5. Do you speak to local business about mutually beneficial courses and activities?          
6. Do you seek to widen your local networks to bring in more funding and expertise from outside?          
7. Do you build ESD into Key skills and Skills for Life assignments          
8. Do you consider opportunities in existing projects to think about SD?          
9. Do you explore the sustainability issues in your community?          
10. How often do you speak to your Estates department about sustainability in the college?          
11. Have you identified potential learning opportunities in how the institution is managed e.g. through estates management, IT procurement, on-site restaurant/café, procurement of paper and stationery.          
12. Do you look at future plans within the institution to see if there are learning opportunities?          
13. Do you explore opportunities for cross department or cross faculty collaboration?          

Changing thinking and approach

The table below is a useful guide with key questions to ensure that lessons become more effective vehicles for sustainable development. It suggests that what is needed is not so much new curriculum or lesson content but a revised and extended approach that presents content in a changed context.

Key Question Changed Thinking
Is there a sustainable development context that I can use in this lesson? If so, does my lesson tackle the multi-dimensional nature of sustainable development? Does it tackle causes and solutions as well as symptoms of unsustainable activities e.g. waste, pollution, poverty? Think bigger picture - include the seven concepts of sustainable development or other approaches. Think causes and solutions as well as symptoms.
Is my lesson FUTURE orientated? Do learners get to consider probable and preferable futures? Think sustainability long term.
Does my lesson feature viable SOLUTIONS? Do some solutions demand less from the environment and allow access to more people? Think sufficiency, resource efficiency, waste reduction. Think alternative technology. Think alternative economies of time and social welfare. Think social and environmental justice.
What is needed to achieve sustainable solutions? Does my lesson feature opportunities for CHANGE? Think technology, beliefs and behaviour, prices, markets, laws, regulation, planning, social welfare, media, lifestyles.
Where are the most effective opportunities for change located? Is my lesson realistic about POWER and SOCIAL CHANGE STRATEGIES? Think individual, community, business, government and media at different scales (locally, nationally, regionally and globally).
Do solutions promote IDENTITY, DEMOCRACY and active and critical CITIZENSHIP? Think rights of present and future generations and the rest of nature. Think environmental citizenship. Think how education can empower people to realise their common interest in sustainable development together with more fulfilling lives and identities

Based on Webster, 2001

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