ESF : Training Professionals in ESD

Background

With the recognition that Education is an important part of sustainable development strategies, Educators become a key professional group in facilitating Sustainable Development (SD).

Given the nature of SD, professionals involved in educating and communicating for SD processes need to:

Have a multidisciplinary perspective and understanding of SD;
Build a unique set of skills—problem solving, conflict resolution, consensus building, creative thinking, analytical abilities, information management, interpersonal skills, is another goal; bringing together stakeholders, facilitating participation, reflection, visioning, dialogue, planning, etc.
Facilitate SD processes—ensuring people's access to relevant information, enabling people participate in decision making process, build people's abilities to develop a collective vision for the future and initiate dialogues and processes that would help to realize that vision.

While the above mentioned aspects are an integral part of an educator's role, very often the people who enter into the field of ESD, are not necessarily trained in these and have to pick these up on-the-job, by trial and error, since there are few formal courses which can help them to learn these, thus the need for structured training in ESD.

It was with this background that with support from LEAD India, a workshop on ‘Training Professionals in ESD' was conducted at the international conference on Education for a Sustainable Future, 18-20 January 2005 at CEE Ahmedabad, India.

Some concerns that the workshop tried to address, included:

What are the essential knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies that an educator for SD needs
What are the criteria, features, factors that will define a good ESD training programme—training models, structure and content of the programme; the delivery mechanisms; focus on the kinds/categories of skills built, etc.
How can existing training programmes be re-oriented so as to help trainees establish the link with as well as build their capacities in working towards goals of the DESD as well as other associated plans—MDGs, EFA, etc.
Given that different professional groups will have different ESD related training needs, how can training efforts meet the needs of different professional groups—policy planners, media professionals, NGO/CBO professionals, staff of Wildlife/Forest departments, teachers, other educator groups, government officials, etc.
Based on the existing experiences, what are the learnings and constraints identified and how can this mapping help in improving efforts in training professionals in ESD—training models, content of such programmes; scope-local/regional/international/vocation or profession-wise; duration of such programmes; training techniques and methodologies used; addressing the key concern of ‘transfer of learning'; post-training support;
Identifying the immediate needs in terms of developing good training material
Suggesting innovative ways and mechanisms of effectively evaluating training programmes.
For the Decade, projecting the ESD training needs and suggesting mechanisms of meeting these needs—institutionalizing the efforts, mobilizing resources, networking and experience sharing; mechanisms for providing effective on-the-job training including the potential of ICT and distance education in particular;
Identifying efforts required for institutionalizing training—resources, efforts in establishing the training centres, mechanisms to enable training centre to update them.

The Context

‘Training' in the workshop context implied:

‘Approaches' to professional development
Focus of good training efforts should be to provide ‘Learning opportunities'
Training is not a one time ‘project', rather a ‘participatory, experiential learning process'
Training of professionals should be reflexive and applied in nature
Training is one of the many tools to achieve and effectiveness of training depends on a number of associated factors
Training cannot solve all problems

Training in ESD: The Philosophy

Training for development implies ‘training professionals and adult groups to help them strengthen their skills and understanding with regard to development choices, questions of lifestyles, decisions with regard to their resources and livelihoods etc.' This calls for ‘participatory training' which is based on the principles of adult learning.

Ideally training, per se, should shift towards life long learning—from one time event to a continuous process—not only for the learners but also for the trainer.

A way in which development training differs from training in several other disciplines is that it is not just knowledge and skill based but also has an emphasis on people's perspectives and ethics (such as multidisciplinary understanding, valuing diversity of people, of view points, of culture, of lifestyles, of choices), etc.

This makes development training as ‘learning-training exercises in sustainable development (SD) for adults'. In such training efforts, typically the strength exists within the group of learners—meeting challenges, finding answers and solutions; where learning processes are self-controlled by the group and perhaps these processes make the task of a trainer more challenging—with trainer playing the role of a facilitator.

Thus the trainer's challenge is to break down the ‘power gradient' between the learner and the trainer and design programmes on the notion that trainer has as much to gain from the training as the learner. Some more challenging tasks for a trainer in such programmes include:

How to value experience of the learners?

How to support adult trainees well and sustain their interest?

How to measure the impacts?

Participatory training: Key Approaches

Can one actually transfer knowledge? Is knowledge some set of content in a bottle which can be emptied into people? What implications do these ideas/questions have for professional development? These were some of the concerns that participants in this workshop discussed.

Since adults learn in a way different from a child, there arises a need to provide adult, professional learners with a lot more options, choices, and spaces and styles of learning. This calls for more ‘flexible approaches' in ESD training for professional development, as compared to some of the other training opportunities, like training in focused disciplines such as remote sensing, proposal writing, etc. Such approaches can help in dealing with ‘Diversity'—diversity of learners, their preferences and priorities, and the diversity of issues that are being discussed as part of SD processes.

Thus approaches that make training processes more flexible, adaptive, responsive and applicable are important. Inquiry based approaches; practice based approaches, critical approaches, community based approaches, and collaborative approaches can help in making the training process a process of self-discovery and self analysis. When used appropriately, such approaches can help in taking advantage of the richness of the heterogeneous group in deriving collective learnings at the same time also help in providing space for individual learning. Bringing in ‘cognitive conflicts' could help in making learners feel more interested and can help in making the training more reflexive and applied in its orientation.

In most of the countries represented in the workshop, the quality of education itself is perhaps a big concern. In many cases students who walk in with a ‘school leaving certificate, can barely read and write. Since basic literacy skills are so crucial to efforts in SD, such factors must also be considered while designing training programmes for different professional groups and the learners should be able to relate to the kind of approaches used.

Participatory Training: Design and Content

Given the variety, comprehensiveness and multi-disciplinarity that a trainer needs to deal with as a part of an ESD training programme, it is a daunting task for a single individual or institution to design a more or less perfect training in ESD for a particular professional group. Designing such programmes would require partnerships and collaborations of various types – experience sharing, resource exchange, exchange of expertise, sharing of training material, etc.

During discussions on design and content of training programmes, most participants were of the opinion that a good ESD training programme must be generated with and by the group of learners. The training design must emerge out of their experiences, concerns and needs. Such processes do take a longer time but they help make the training a more meaningful and effective process. Thus there is a need for change in approaches to curriculum development.

Trying to bring in a lot more participation in development of the programme, from the initial stages itself helps.

Also there were concerned about many professionals who were actually working on very complex issues and concerns—health, gender equity, access to basic amenities, rights dealing with education, information, etc.—most of the time treated the issue rather simplistically, dealing only with the superficial parts of the problems and concerns. Such challenges can be overcome only by careful planning and designing of ESD training programmes. Bringing in training elements that would force participants to probe more into such SD issues and deepen their existing understanding of such issues are important.

Training programmes designed in such a way are extremely meaningful, but a trainer designing such programmes would need to be prepared to be more open, flexible, and responsive. This can be done by using a variety of strategic elements in the training design and content—providing open ended solutions, facilitating more and more peer learning, giving a variety of experiential learning opportunities to the participants, sharing real-life examples etc. This will also help participants contextualize learnings to their work requirements better.

Participatory Training: Evaluation

There are several challenges of evaluating training efforts which are self-controlled, full of variety, flexible, adaptive and responsive. Such features of ESD training make the assessment and evaluation of what one is trying to achieve very challenging, because the learnings here do not remain limited to transfer of knowledge.

With the reflexive component of training, the evaluation and assessment of what one is trying to achieve becomes challenging, as the learnings do not just remain limited to transfer of knowledge. In such programmes where a trainer is dealing not only with knowledge but also with unawareness (an inevitable part of an open, participatory, reflexive training programme), the role of trainer as evaluator becomes very challenging.

This calls for a different set of assessment and evaluation tools. These tools need to have more focus on facilitating learning rather than grading it; commenting and questioning learners, rather than giving them marks; working with learners and accepting innovative solutions derived by them, rather than seeking the same standard solution by all learners to a single problem. Such evaluation and assessment principles are so different from the traditionally dominant practices of assessment, that often it becomes difficult for the trainer to convince institutional authorities, to the extent that sometimes certification of such innovative training efforts are also questioned.

Such changes would be possible when not only the training community but also the professional groups (being trained) accept the more open and flexible system of training, learning and its assessment.

Defining a good ESD training programme

1. The content of a good ESD training programme should:

a.      Have social, economic and ecological elements

b.      Be based on realities such as livelihoods, common property resources, etc.

c.      Be locally relevant

d.      Value participants' wisdom and knowledge

e.      Help in generating action programmes to address local issues

f.        Help view local initiatives in the global contexts

g.      Have an advocacy component

2. A good ESD training programme must be oriented to:

a.      Cater to the needs of participants and associated community

b.      Advance knowledge of participatory skills

c.      Provide opportunities for attitudinal changes

d.      Value based components

e.      Encourage independent and critical thinking

f.        Challenge knowledge and value systems

g.      Respect diverse experiences

h.      Acknowledge ‘Unlearning' as a part of learning

3. The methodologies in a good ESD training programme should:

a.      Include a variety of activities for different perceptions

b.      Have examples of practical cases—success and failure stories

c.      Be able to magnify an issue—study it in depth and seek solutions

d.      Promote Local action programmes

e.      Focus of ‘learning' rather than ‘training'

f.        Be appropriate to the idiom of the learner group

4. The management of a good ESD training programme should:

a.      Have strong facilitation to balance views and deal with controversies if any

b.      Have well defined objectives and evaluation techniques

c.      Help in sustainable resource management

d.       Be geared to ensure ‘continuity' of the training process

Recommendations made by the Working Groups

1. Assessing training needs and key actions for different professional groups

The DIIS for the UN DESD mentions training in education for SD as one of the key strategies for realizing the goals of DESD. Further it mentions the success/extent of capacity building for ESD at various levels as one of the indicators for success of the decade.

Given that, besides educators and communicators, a number of other professional groups (policy planners, lawyers, media groups, teachers and educators, development professionals, etc.) also have a significant role to play in the decade, this Working Group (WG) identified the key professional groups (and associated needs/focus of the training efforts) with the premise that training them in ESD on a priority basis could have a good impact on DESD. The report submitted by WG 1 is:

Since, basic requirements for SD and ESD

Free access to information
Transparency
Good governance,

the priority professional groups for ESD training include:

Policy & decision makers
Judiciary system
Implementers (non-government, civil society, corporate sector)

Focus/need of ESD training

The training efforts should help in professional development of the above mentioned priority groups. The training opportunities should help them understand the concept of education for sustainable development, so that the professionals will think and act differently, adopt intersectoral, holistic, and participatory approaches to planning, policy making and evaluation. This would be one of the key factors in the process of striving for sustainable development.

Change factors

Training is only one of the tools that can help in achieving sustainable development. Some other tools that can help in complementing the training efforts include:

Partnerships, collaborations including ‘exposure and exchange visits' of professional groups
Awards, something like a “Nobel Prize” to politician or leader working for sustainable development
Government reorganization and reform

2. Re-orienting training towards ESD

In the world of work, a number of professional development programmes already exist—lawyers, doctors, teachers, decision makers, administrative cadres, industrial associations, scientists, etc. all have existing systems to provide training support for continuous professional development for their staff. These opportunities exist in a variety of form, an induction course or a refresher training programme, etc.

Recognizing that appropriate re-orientation (to include the essence of education and communication for SD in them) of such programmes will not only help bridge the big gap between the need for professional training in ESD and its availability, but also make ESD training efforts more meaningful (by making the effort well integrated and contextualized into the specific needs of the respective professional groups).

It was with this background that WG 2 discussed re-orienting existing training programmes for ESD. The report of WG 2 is:

Structure and design of training

Need to incorporate greater flexibility into planning, so that the expected and unexpected can be accommodated.
Ensure transfer of learning (application) and build this into the training process itself (trainers should take responsibility for continuity and transfer of learning) not leave it to ‘chance'.
Need to move away from always conceptualizing training within institutional frameworks. New frameworks should be developed, for example, how training can be centred in community learning practices (rather than institutional traditions).
Training should not be seen as a separate component, but more part of a bigger process (need a holistic vision, and appropriate contextualization of training programmes).
Encourage standardization where necessary, but allow for flexibility to accommodate locally specific dimensions.

Content of ESD training programmes:

Need to work at enabling people to think differently i.e. develop critical thinking skills.
Focus more on information processing competence i.e. generation, access, assessment and use of information, rather than on focusing on specific content in ESD programmes.
Include multi-disciplinary perspectives.
Encourage critical thinking through exposure to multiple perspectives.
Not only focus on the 3 pillars of SD, but also emphasize equitable distribution and other social justice issues
Involve heterogeneous groups to allow for multiple perspectives to be shared and to allow people to learn from each other

New challenges and approaches:

Need to develop programmes for those who have not been exposed to training much (deprived, disadvantaged, underprivileged)
Need to develop better understandings of how communities learn, and how learning takes place in the workplace
Trainers need to ‘unlearn' some of their own assumptions and traditional practices
Need to consider the potential of multi-media approaches and other strategies to reach millions of people
Need to consider the ‘limits' of training – what can be done through training, and what is not possible through training.

Actions and priorities

Priority groups:

Programmes to strengthen community participation in local governance to serve the grassroots needs
Work with government officials working in the field
Work with top managers in government
Training of trainers
Corporate professionals and managers
Teachers

Some strategies to re-orient existing training to ESD:

Share experience of how to deepen understandings of sustainable development in training programmes (avoid superficial interpretations of sustainable development). Requires environmental / ecological literacy and an understanding of ecological systems
Prepare and share materials and information
Share experience of community learning approaches and how they can be used
Share and extend EcoSchools approaches to teachers
Document and share local indigenous knowledge in local dialects and languages
Develop our knowledge of approaches and activities to foster transfer of learning and learn how to design this into training approaches.
Ensure transformation of learning through course designs which see this component as integral to course design.
Incorporate a focus on conflict of interests into training programmes.

Final comments

Major challenges include questions such as:

Why do we wish to re-orient? What do we wish to re-orient? The key issue is not training individuals, but re-orienting institutions. Institutions are failing to address sustainable development.
How to facilitate a shift ‘from sectoral to multi-disciplinary institutions' and from ‘expert driven' to ‘participatory driven' institutions? How to ensure that training needs are dealt with at a macro level as well as at localized institutional level.
Ensure that two key levels get addressed—traditional institutional frameworks (how these are changed – there are many problems) and community level (the real institutions and local people need to be involved) Addressing issues of organizational change – at macro level and at community level.
Ensure that educational efforts are needs-based, flexible and responsive, and are designed to have a larger impact. Need to work with people in the larger group. Only through this will the concept of SD be legitimized.

3. Institutionalizing training efforts

With the background that the need for training in ESD is tremendous and that training is not an event but a process, ensuring transfer of learning and continuity of training efforts are critical for the effectiveness of training, WG 3 discussed the ways/approaches towards institutionalizing efforts in training for ESD. The report from WG 3 is given below:

Some ways of institutionalizing training include:

Establishing centres of excellence through which best practices can be promoted
Initiating mentorship programmes
Facilitating networking, especially strengthen local level NGO networks
Tapping local resources upon which ESD processes and content can be built
Advocating and lobbying for ESD or rather, marketing ESD particularly to policy makers to provide an enabling environment
Promoting effective coordination at national level
Decentralizing training to enhance the quality
Strengthening community institutions
Promoting environmental rights
Enforcing environmental laws through training in EIA, audits
Promoting corporate responsibility
Developing training tools e.g. modules, material, etc.
Providing capital—funds, and other resources from both donors and governments

The key target groups include:

Policy makers
Media
Curriculum developers
Community groups
Industrial groups
Environmental legislators or inspectors, etc.

Recommendations on the Draft International Implementation Scheme

The Draft International Implementation Scheme (DIIS) for the UN Decade of ESD states ‘To develop strategies at every level to strengthen capacity in ESD' as one of the proposed objectives of the Decade. Further, Capacity Building and Training (section 6.4) has been mentioned as one of the six key strategies in the section on Implementation of the Decade. Also in the table on ‘Monitoring and Evaluation: Indicators and Data', ‘ESD integrated into education management training' has been mentioned as one of the potential indicators. The workshop participants were requested to go through DIIS and submit their observations, comments and suggestions on the same. They were further requested to provide very broad and generic comments on the DIIS specifically from the point of view of ‘training in ESD'. The group made the following submission:

This submission aims to provide a critical analysis on the section of the UNESCO DESD Draft Implementation Scheme that focuses on Capacity Building and Training (section 6.4) from the ESF group on ‘Training Professionals in ESD'. However, it is recognized that it is difficult, if not a little superficial, to consider only one section of this scheme in isolation of the rest of the document. Moreover, an in-depth understanding of the structure and functioning of the very complex UN system (the context in which this draft scheme exists), as well as all prior documentation which underpins the drafting of this document, are largely lacking among the members of the group. This critique therefore rests primarily on the views and experience of a group of ESD practitioners involved in training in the field. Some of the comments are broad, and affect the document as a whole, while others are specifically directed at Section 6.4 as noted above.

General comments:

Questions were raised around the origination process of the document, and there was a general sense of a ‘lack of familiarity' with the document. Within the limitations of the UN system, further guidance on how participation and ownership could be enhanced in the forthcoming decade would be appreciated.

A strong point was made about the need for ‘bottom up' approaches to policy development, and it was felt that there is a need to establish a participative orientation to development of policy and programmes. The document makes provision for regional and national interpretations and a point was made of the need to maximize these opportunities.

The document requires further conceptual clarity, particularly with regard to the distinctions and meaning of terms such as ‘capacity building'; ‘training'; ‘education'; ‘communication' and ‘awareness raising'. These concepts all carry different meanings, and should be used with care and precision. The section on ‘Capacity Building and Training' could be strengthened with this clarity and this will help to establish the significance of capacity building in response to peoples' needs.

Though in principle the document outlines the need for participation of all stakeholder groups, the strategies focus heavily on an ‘institution and teacher centred' orientation and a stronger emphasis on learning would balance this perspective. It was felt that the document should be more ‘learning centred' and less ‘education / provision / training / networking' centred.

The interlinkages between different strategies in Section 6 could be articulated to show the relationships between the different strategies (for example research and ICT are integral to all of the other strategies, but their role in the context of the other strategies is not articulated).

While a set of useful values are proposed in the document, strategies for working with values in education are not presented. For example, to avoid indoctrination of values, there is a need for deliberative approaches, where learners and educators discuss and explore and put into practice values together, as values are open to change and different interpretations. Spaces for values deliberation should be kept open in the document. A stronger rights-based focus throughout the document would strengthen current value orientations contained in the document.

The document as a whole does not reflect ‘transformative discourse'. There is a stronger need for discourses of empowerment and inclusivity. A question was raised as to how the interests of the poorest groups could be more effectively represented in the document.

A more comprehensive framework for understanding ESD is required, as the 3 pillars of SD assist with understanding SD, but not necessarily education and sustainable development (particularly since there is much discussion on the meaning of sustainable development itself). It was indicated that there is a need for a ‘common understanding' of what is meant by ESD.

The basis/ justification for making some of the recommendations proposed in the document (e.g. the use of workshops as strategy; scenario-based research etc) is not provided.

Comments relevant to Section 6.4 specifically

The following should be included:

Methods used by educators should encourage deliberation on values.
Need to include diverse strategies (need to be more specific on what ‘diverse strategies are)
Clarification of the terms ‘capacity building' and ‘training'
A stronger rights-based focus should be brought in to the section (need to clarify the key principles / dimensions of a rights-based focus)
Suggest a decentralization and democratization of planning, management and evaluation, with recognition of the role of formal structures (e.g. government in planning, management and evaluation
Training networks should be established with a longer-term objective (need to clarify the specifics of this) and should be included within the structural frameworks of particular contexts / countries.
Training programmes should be developed for specific professional groups, in ways that reach beyond awareness raising. Training should be ‘put into practice' in the context of different professions. Consider the potential of communication and information processes in the context of training and capacity building (see section 6.6)
Networking must be based on existing activities and programmes and should be aimed at strengthening these existing activities and networks. They should therefore not be set up for the sake of networking.

Suggested re-drafting of Section 6.4

6.4 Capacity building and training

In order to strengthen the implementation of ESD throughout the decade it is essential to ensure that partners and stakeholders acquire and constantly improve their capacity [removed ‘and skills]. It will be important to use (or design) capacity building and training approaches which provide the [replaced durable with relevant] relevant, practical skills. Decade partners may, in certain contexts and groupings, need to give attention [removed first] to developing participatory approaches [removed ‘of this kind]. The key areas of capacity-building and training include the following:

Communication and awareness-raising: these skills will provide the foundation for networking and establishing partnership. Effective communication will serve to share agendas among stakeholders in a manner which identifies shared elements and gives potential partners the confidence to build active cooperation. Awareness-raising among stakeholders and with the wider public must, in today's media-soaked world, be of the highest professional standards
Planning, management and evaluation: the complexity of sustainable development and ESD requires high levels of planning, management and evaluation skills to ensure clarity of purpose, focused partnerships, and assessment of effective progress. Where appropriate, planning, management and evaluation should be decentralized and democratized.
Ongoing [changed training and re-training to ‘ongoing] training of educators: in all [replaces formal and non-formal] settings, the level of knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and values of the educator will be key factors in stimulating the learners' interest in, and appreciation of, sustainable development. The attitude of, and methods employed by, the educator must encourage deliberations on values of sustainable development and reflect the highest standards of pedagogical practices;
Tools for analysis: educators, learners, policy-makers, planners and those involved in networking and partnership building all face the task of integrating multiple perspectives and dimensions of sustainable development. For this purpose, a set of analytical and critical thinking skills, and approaches must be developed and shared, leading to confidence in understanding and sharing, at various levels, human environment relationships in the context of sustainable development;
[removed instructional] Content and materials: awareness-raising, public campaigns, classroom learning and non-formal learning require suitable and relevant materials, in written, electronic and audio-visual forms. School systems as well as organizations of civil society must develop the capacity to conceive, design and produce materials which support actions, stimulate concern and offer relevant knowledge in each context Whether at school, district, national or international level, materials design workshops will serve to build this capacity and to strengthen understandings of, and participation in sustainable development;
[removed instructional] Methodologies: [changed this paragraph to be more learning centred, and less ‘instructional' centred] ESD learning processes must reflect a concern for, and commitment to the pursuit of sustainable development. Learner-centered approaches, based on collective learning should include a focus on critical assessment of problems, options and responses. Such action-oriented approaches are more challenging than traditional chalk-and-talk methods, and adequate training and instructor support will be necessary. In many contexts, this implies much higher levels of investment in training, as well as a restructuring of educational approaches and improvements in quality.