About EfS

National Education for Sustainability Coordination and Advisory Team :


Introduction

The National Education for Sustainability team has both a national and regional focus.

There are two national co-coordinators, one currently based at UC Education Plus (University of Canterbury) in Christchurch, the other at Team Solutions (Auckland University). Currently there are 14 fulltime equivalent adviser positions spread between all the School Support Services throughout New Zealand.


The education for sustainability national coordination team's (NEFS) core task is to provide in-service teacher professional development that affects change and contributes to better learning opportunities for students. The advisory role is to respond to diverse local needs and learning opportunities by developing local and national partnerships to implement education for sustainability, which incorporates environmental education and education for sustainable development in New Zealand schools. Environmental Education (EE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Education for Sustainability (EFS) are all terms currently used to describe education related to sustainability. Definitions of the most recent key concepts EE, ESD and EFS are outlined below.


Environmental education is defined by the Ministry of Education and Ministry for the Environment as: "a multi-disciplinary approach to learning that develops the knowledge, awareness, attitudes, values and skills that will enable individuals and the community to contribute towards maintaining and improving the quality of the environment".

Education for sustainable development is defined as a process, as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs' (WCED, 1967) and implies a need for equity between generations and within generations. However the use of the word development has led to different interpretations, according to the meanings vested by specific interest groups.

Education for Sustainability (EFS) is a term that tries to capture the change process that leads to people and communities learning to live in sustainable ways. Concerns regarding biophysical, social/cultural, economic and political issues are considered together in an integrated and holistic way.

The literature identifies a content and a process aspects to EFS that combines and explores environmental, social and economic perspectives in ways that inspire innovation and motivation, and encourages people to think and act in sustainable ways.


The education process is about quality teaching and learning that adopts a critical enquiry approach to learning and places an emphasis on transformative learning that is constructive and participatory. Furthermore, it challenges "the complexity and implications of sustainability as well as the economic, political, social, cultural technological and environmental forces that foster or impede" the concept of a sustainable future (Fien and Tilbury 2002, p.10).



The term education for sustainability also seeks to move beyond competing views that promote ecological sustainability, sustainable economic growth and sustainable human development, focusing on the learning transformations needed for moving from unsustainable practices to those more likely to enable a sustainable future for all by merging these together in a interdisciplinary approach, see diagram below.

There is continued debate in New Zealand and internationally about what we call education that addresses the concepts of environment and sustainability. A compromise that has often been promoted is environmental education for sustainability EEFS. The term EEFS is a transition term often used to link environmental education with education for sustainability in some regions throughout New Zealand however, this term is also contestable.

The link between Education and Sustainability
"The volume of education continues to increase, yet so do pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still more education is to save us, it would have to be education of a different kind: an education that takes us into the depth of things." E.F. Schumacher

If learners are to have the knowledge, understanding and skills to live in a more sustainable world, then educators must address the notion of education for sustainability. While literacy and numeracy are essential skills for the future they will only continue to be so if there is a sustainable planet to live on.

Education for a sustainable future requires learners in schools, tertiary education, local government education, business education, adult education and community education programmes to look more critically at the underlying assumptions of education and the way we live our lives. It also requires curriculum designers, educational planners, and education providers (cross sectoral) to initiate the systemic change (Sterling 2001) or systems redesign (PCE 2004) required to achieve a more sustainable existence on earth for all living species.

Key concepts such as, cooperative learning, inquiry based learning, experiential learning, innovative and creative thinking, sharing ideas, reflective practice and critical thinking are all essential skills that are promoted in the current education agenda. These skills are also key words to describe the process required for systemic change (Sterling, 2001) and systems redesign (PCE office, 2004) as essential for a sustainable future.

The concepts of systemic change and systems redesign are related to the need for a shift in focus and a change in the way we currently design, organise and implement education in New Zealand. The EFS coordination team uses experiential learning, cooperative learning and inquiry based learning, with a focus on action competence, to provide useful tools for teachers to help them re-orientate and implement teaching and learning approaches that develop a more critical and action oriented approach to learning for a sustainable future.


While learning areas are important for a broad general education they are not the only way to deliver quality education. There is also a need to provide more holistic approaches to learning that place multidisciplinary learning in the foreground and the learning areas in the background. In such an approach the learning setting is based in a real life learning contexts where the key competencies, the principles and values behind the curriculum are central. In this type of learning integrated understandings across disciplines are essential for students, not only so they are more connected but also to help them make better decisions in everyday contexts. The diagram below provides another way of exploring the New Zealand Curriculum.

Education for Sustainability and New Zealand's Cultural Heritage


The national Education for Sustainability (EFS) co-ordination team has a commitment to explore and integrate New Zealand's bi-cultural heritage into education for sustainability, while acknowledging that we are living in an increasingly multi-cultural society.

The national ESF coordination team has a personal commitment to explore, integrate and foster New Zealand's multi-cultural heritage into all education for sustainability professional development activities. The national coordination training programmes addresses regional requirements for involving a Maori dimension in all regional programmes.

Key issues include:

• Identification of key strategies for Maori professional development in education for sustainability and environmental education.
• Integrating suggestions from the Maori focus group (and the new Maturanga Maori coordination team) into the national EFS coordinators' team on ways regional coordinators could assist all Maori wishing to implement/develop a stronger education for sustainability and environmental education perspective in their school programmes.

Partnerships

The national partnerships that assist and support the coordination teams work includes the Enviroschools Foundation, Maturanga Maori coordination team, NZ Association for Environmental Education and the NZ Decade for Education for Sustainable Development.

The National Education for Sustainability advisory team has a particular close working relationship with Enviroschools. In many instances advisers and EFS facilitators are working collaboratively in schools using a wide range of strategies to promote new ways of thinking about both the content and process shifts required to ensure a more sustainable future for all young New Zealanders.