Environmental Education Partnerships in Practice
1
Environmental Education in Scotland: Partnerships in practice.
Myra Kandemiri
Paper presented at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Annual Conference
Royal George Hotel
Perth, Scotland
27-29 November, 2003
Background
As a researcher in the field of environmental education in Scotland one is often struck by the following:
Voluntary organisations including small, community based organisations, which may begin with a general community focus eventually seek greater and greater involvement with local schools.
Local authorities actively encourage their schools to collaborate with identified voluntary organisations in delivering desired programmes.
Schools welcome and may actively seek collaboration with voluntary organisations in the delivery of school programmes.
So what are the reasons behind these collaborative relationships? The way that these partnerships pervade environmental activities in all parts of Scotland, as well as the complex web of the flow of funding for such partnerships, point to an underlying national strategy. A study of the policy foundation of environmental education reveals this to be the case. The following is an account of the policy framework upon which these collaborative relationships in practice are founded.
The foundation of environmental education in Scotland’s schools
The international framework
Activities in Scotland may be seen against a backdrop of events in the UK and in Europe, all of which in turn are influenced and often guided by key international initiatives signalled by names of places – Stockholm (1972), Belgrade (1975), Tbilisi (1977), Moscow (1987) which defined sustainable development, Rio de Janeiro (1992) the first conference on the world’s environmental future to be attended by heads of state and government, and which gave the world Agenda 21 as an action plan for progress, Thessaloniki (1997), and Johannesburg (2002) where governments were called to account on their progress ten years after Rio.
Through its membership of the European Community (EC), the United Nations (UN), the commonwealth, the G7 group of major industrial nations, and many other multilateral organisations with more specific concerns, the UK, necessarily, plays a prominent role in the international framework (HMSO, 1994). The UK has, in fact, been involved in a wide range of international environmental and conservation bodies since before Earth Summit times. It has successfully pressed for a tightening of controls on CFC emissions through the Montreal Protocol on Substances which Deplete the Ozone Layer; enhanced protection for some of the world’s most vulnerable species through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES); participated in the intergovernmental negotiations aimed at producing a convention on desertificaition. The UK is also active in a number of new organisations associated with the Earth Summit process.
Within Europe, environmental policy in the UK is inextricably bound up with EC policy and much of its environmental protection legislation is developed in common with other EC member states. Examples are water and air quality, waste management, wildlife and habitat protection, dangerous substances and environmental impact assessment (EIA). The EC has a role in implementing agreements reached in the wider international fora, such as global agreements on climate change and protecting the ozone layer. Within the Community, member states have responsibility to act when this is the most effective means of achieving Community and international environmental objectives.
Bringing it home - Central Government
The response of the UK to Agenda 21’s call to national governments was presented in the publication Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy (HMSO, 1994). This document was built directly upon the UK’s environmental strategy (This Common Inheritance) which was adopted in 1990. The UK also prepared a Climate Change Programme, a Biodiversity Action Plan and a Forestry Programme, all of which were published parallel to TheUK Strategy. The UK Strategy reflects a strong belief that the pursuit of a sustainable economy involves all sectors of the community: central and local government, industry, voluntary bodies and individuals. This belief was reflected in the wide consultation with these bodies in preparing the UK Strategy.
Scotland’s response to the national call to environmental attention was the former Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Lang, MP, in 1990 setting up the Working Group on Environmental Education, which resulted in the publication Learning for Life: a National Strategy for Environmental Education in Scotland, published in 1993. In June 1995 the Scottish Office published A Scottish Strategy for Environmental Education. In this publication the Secretary of State for Scotland commends Learning for Life to all seeking a guide to his policy on environmental education, expressing explicitly his intention to adopt it as the basis for a Scottish strategy for environmental education. The publication Learning for Life remains the central reference in the planning of environmental education in Scotland today. It recognises that environmental education, as a sustained learning experience, is necessary to support policies for sustainable development and effective conservation of the environment.
Learning for Life has been the foundation on which many sectors have based their own policies for environmental education. Para 4.50 of Learning for Life states that the success of the national strategy will depend on the support of bodies with the expertise and resources to invest in it. ‘They will be primarily in government, the local authorities, the formal education system, business and industry, organisations representing rural and urban sectors, some of which will be voluntary organisations’ (pp. 80). They are not expected to work in isolation, but networking between and within sectors is a key element in the implementation strategy.
Policy statements that guide partnerships in formal education
Every school should formulate a policy for EE taking into account the methods and approaches required to promote environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviour.
Schools should set an example of care within their community and become environmentally responsible communities within themselves, for example through carrying out audits and responding by taking appropriate action, and by including the aims of environmental education into their statement of values.
Institutional and curriculum audits for schools should be developed with as much pupil involvement as possible, and supported by appropriate staff development and guidance materials.
Schools should make external visits a priority, and should set a policy objective which ensures first hand experience is an integral and essential component of the curriculum for every pupil or student, progressing from sites close to the school or college to contrasting environments.
Local Authorities, public bodies, commercial and voluntary organisations should promote environmental education through appropriate recreation projects, strengthening of ranger and other services and related activities.
Local Authorities should consider the appointment or designation of an officer to co-ordinate and promote environmental education and training for their staff, and for the community they serve within their field of activity.
Local Authority Education Departments should carry out a review of the specific needs and opportunities for environmental education in their area, including staff development needs, teaching resources and centres, and deployment of support for staff from other departments, in order to develop appropriate policies and advice for schools.
Local Authority staff should draw on the expertise of environmental organisations for materials, curriculum development projects, and the provision of staff development in environmental education to promote environmental competence.
The secretary of state is to ensure that the corporate plans of all government agencies and Non Department Public Bodies (NDPBs) make due provision for environmental education
(Adapted from A Scottish Strategy for Environmental Education in Scotland (1995)
Local Authorities
One of the outcomes of the Rio Summit in 1992 has been the appearance in a number of countries, including the UK, of Local Agenda 21. According to UK government pronunciations, Local Agenda 21 is accepted as a key instrument for delivering more sustainable development. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in his speech to the UN General Assembly Special Session, gave all local authorities until the year 2000 to have prepared a Local Agenda 21. Local authorities are closely concerned with implementation of local programmes for sustainable development. The reasons for this include the fact that local government is the closest level of government to the community and as many as 14 chapters of Agenda 21 have been identified as relating directly to areas of management where local authorities play a primary policy or service role (Speedie, 1998).
Local governments in general fulfil a long-term environmental stewardship role in matters such as waste management as well as planning and control of development. They are in many cases significant investors in their area. They are big purchasers in terms of goods and services. They are regulators of activity in the local area, have statutory planning powers and have environmental health control. Local authorities have statutory powers relating to education. Almost as important is their employee training function as they are often a major or significant employer in their authority. They have the capacity therefore to exert considerable influence over the behaviour of their employees through training and awareness raising. This responsibility over a wide range of functions which impact the environment is one of local government’s key strengths. It enables the development of a strategic approach through its corporate services, in consultation with other organisations.
As sustainable development has become a high priority for government this has led in turn to a higher burden being placed on the education system to support this. Speedie (1998) states that for the education system to succeed where it has failed in the past, it is important to link environmental education to Local Agenda 21. The Regional Environmental Education Forums (REEFs) pointed the way towards a renewed partnership between local government, organisations concerned with environmental education and others with needs in that area. They identified potential benefits to local authorities and to environmental education. One of the benefits would be to bring environmental education into the mainstream activity, where in the past it has been marginalised, lacking time, space, resources, depending only on support from interested and committed individuals. As it was unlikely that additional resources would be available, better use had to be made of available resources. Hence the challenge for education for sustainable development was to create partnerships and find the resources to take forward environmental education.
The Government Environmental Agencies
There are a number of government agencies, also called non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) or statutory bodies which the government supports and which play key roles in the provision of environmental education in Scotland. Examples of government agencies include SportScotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful, the Scottish Tourist Board, Teaching and Learning Scotland (formally the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum - SCCC), the Scottish Arts Council (SAC), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). In general these government agencies help to provide a bridge between government policy within their particular areas of responsibility and the people affected by it, in a way that is human and personal. They have special advantages for developing holistic, systematic approaches for education, and a unique access to local knowledge, and to data unavailable to educators from anywhere else. I will discuss the work of the SNH in a little more detail to illustrate the role of such government agencies in environmental education.
The SNH was formed in April 1992 by an act of parliament. It was a merger of the Countryside Commission for Scotland (CCS) with the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland (NCCS). It inherited all the powers and responsibilities of its predecessor organisations. The SNH outlined its envisaged contribution to environmental education in Scotland in the publication SNH Environmental Education Initiative (SNH, 1995). Their approach followed the lead given in the recommendations of Learning for Life. The SNH sees as one of its contribution to environmental education nationally as
Encouraging co-operation and co-ordination among organisations providing education about the natural heritage, and between the natural heritage sector and other sectors (SNH, 1995).
In the early days after its formation the SNH realised that it needed to broaden its educational agenda beyond the narrow confines of natural heritage. It recognised working in partnership as a key guiding principle in its working and essential to achieving its environmental education objectives (Borradaille and Grant, 1998). The greatest resource of the SNH has always been its grants programme. In this way it supports other organisations or partnerships to deliver projects and products that compliment its aims. It also supports and uses training as a way to both increase and improve skills as well as promote new activity. The SNH also makes strategic partnerships with other agencies and NGOs on agreed projects and initiatives. An example is its partnership with the RSPB to run the Islay Project (Borradaille and Grant, 1998). The project worked with teachers in primary and secondary schools in Islay, providing them with greater confidence in making use of the outdoors to enrich their teaching, and enable the young people to have a better appreciation of the value of their island’s natural heritage. Although they judged this project as a success neither the SNH nor the RSPB would have had the resources to sustain such a project elsewhere, unless they could convince other partners, not least the local authorities, of its value. Thus highlighting the necessity of partnerships both to avoid duplication and to maximise use of limited financial and staff resources.
The SNH grant-aids Ranger Services that are employed by local authorities, charitable trusts and private estates that are under heavy pressure from visitors. These ranger services in Scotland make a significant contribution to the delivery of SNH’s functions for conserving, facilitating public enjoyment and fostering understanding of the natural heritage (SNH, 1997).
The Voluntary Organisations
Learning for Life sees voluntary organisations as “a mainstay of environmental education now and in the future,” who have “consistently applied pressure for the development of environmental education” and “been a source of enthusiastic and knowledgeable people” (pp. 29).
There are many Scottish voluntary organisations ranging in size from the National Trust for Scotland which in 1998 had 230.000 members, to local groups with a few dozen members. They cover an array of remits and roles. Environmental Education is the concern of two kinds of voluntary organisation – the larger general environmental bodies such as the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and WWF, and the smaller specialist organisations with education as a major part of their remit, such as SEEC and the Scottish Field Studies Association. According to Lavery (1998) these organisations, like all voluntary organisations, fall into two main types, the ‘Third Force’ consists of organisations largely funded by the government, and delivering government aims more efficiently and flexibly than government agencies can. ‘First Force’ organisations, on the other hand see themselves as agents of change, and seek that change both in government policy and society at large. Few Scottish organisations fall unequivocally in either of these categories. According to Lavery the voluntary sector could not be expected to provide environmental education in the long term to the Scottish population without significant levels of financial input from government; or become more ‘Third Force’. He admitted however that many would most likely want to remain, or become ‘First Force’. To the present day however, very little support is available to NGOs directly from government. NGO support comes mainly from individuals, private sources, such as companies, charitable organisations or grants, the lottery, and statutory sources e.g. SNH, local enterprise companies.
From being small specialist organisations in the 1970s, controlled by a dedicated membership and delivering specialist services such as securing nature reserves, or directing funds to conservation projects, many voluntary organisations have grown dramatically to have large professional staffs, large memberships and complex services, that include policy and lobbying roles (Lavery, 1998). The term NGO is useful in distinguishing these organisations from private companies, national and local government departments, and NDPBS. The dividing line between NGOs, government bodies and private companies has however become blurred, and hybrid organisations are now common. Thus from the 1990s the roles of government, NDPBs, and NGOs have converged, and, it is not always meaningful to draw a distinction between the different types; aims and roles being considered more important. Since Learning for Life NGOs have developed increasing confidence in championing environmental education. This has led to greater NGO involvement in consultation at many levels. For example, NGOs are represented in the Education for Sustainable Development Group (ESDG) and the Biodiversity Publicity, Information and Awareness Group. At international level NGOs have made input at UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) meetings, at the Rio Summit of 1992, and at the UN General Assembly Special Session in 1997.