Book Review: Education for Sustainable Development in Further Education

Edited by: Denise Summers and Roger Cutting (2016)

Education for Sustainable Development in Further Education is a book that addresses the crucial
subject of how to incorporate the pedagogy of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
into teaching and learning. Authored by fifteen educators with a wealth of experience in further
education and edited by Denise Summers and Roger Cutting (2016), who are also contributors.
The book tackles the challenges and benefits of embedding ESD into the school curriculum.
Using the first person narrative, the authors engage and provoke the reader into taking action
towards the inclusion of the principles of ESD into further education (FE).A product of a
research project implemented by a team of educators from Somerset College in the United
Kingdom, Education for Sustainable Development in Further Education was written from an
inquiry based approach to report on findings, case studies and teaching practices to influence the
reader to rethink ESD.

An account of how co-operative inquiry was used to acquire the key concepts, trans-disciplinary
skills and knowledge required to embed ESD in the Postgraduate and Certificate in Education
programmes that are studied at Plymouth University was reported. Practical classroom
experiences and challenges of how they have engaged their student teachers to embrace the
pedagogy of ESD were also shared. Contributors applied and compared different learning
theories to drive home their message of how to embed ESD in the curriculum. While the book
contains a lot of allusions and viewpoints of different theorists which may sometimes be
contradicting and seem overwhelming to the reader, the field experiences, real life examples and
anecdotal style of writing makes it engaging and easy to understand. Also noteworthy is the part
that the reader can constantly reflect on their own teaching practice through the ‘Pause for
Reflection’ boxes and thought provoking/ reflective questions posed throughout the book.

In the enlightening introductory chapter, Roger Cutting and Denise Summers engages the reader
to reflect on the paradoxical characteristics of the period of revolution while stating clearly that
we live in a world of advancing information and technology which has brought in many positives
and also caused negative impact on our environment. They suggest to the reader that ESD is
increasingly perceived as a transformative learning approach that equips students with new
knowledge and develop new methods of thinking.

Part 1- Inspiring change in the beginning, is made up of three chapters that give a background
information on the research project at Somerset College and the research approaches used to find
out how ESD can be embedded into FE curriculum. It encourages the reader to consider and
review their syllabus to see if sustainability is addressed and if not, identify and consider where
sustainability can be included.Summers and Dowling in chapter four shared their views on how
the course on Gandhi and Globalisation inspired them to explore the environmental, social,
economic, political, cultural and ethical issues behind ESD.

Part 2- Developing our practice and preparing the ground, looks at how resources can be used to
identify and explore sustainability issues. It also explores sustainable assessments and the role
they play in promoting lifelong learning. It describes three types of assessments- assessment for
learning which is formative and teacher driven, assessment as learning which is also formative
but student driven and assessment of learning which is teacher driven and is summative. This
section also looks at the teaching of values and discusses ways of approaching this sensitive
topic.

Part 3- Sowing seeds and nurturing growth, considers what can be learned from different theories
and models and the reader is encouraged to reflect on how these theories can be used to develop
their practice. It introduces the Apollonian and Dionysian approaches to teaching and challenges
the teacher to reconsider the traditional role of the teacher and embrace a balance between both
approaches. This section also explains the principles behind Innovation, Creativity and
Enterprise (ICE) and invites the reader to incorporate these.

Part 4: Respecting our roots whilst developing new branches, contains three chapters that focus
on changing values, wellbeing and student voice. The reader is asked to consider how own
values were developed from school or cultural background and also guides the reader through the
definition of health and wellbeing.

Part 5: Moving on finding new pastureslooks at how ESD can be incorporated into adult
education courses. Chapter seventeen encourages the reader to compare their practice to the
Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals and consider their students’ sustainability skills.

In an inimitable conclusion, Cuttings and Summers states that the fundamental reason for this
book is to “empower the teacher to critically analyse ESD through their own subject specialism,
engage in the debate and learn with their students”. One pertinent question to ponder on is this-
‘Are educators willing to be risk takers to try a new concept as ESD’?

By: ‘Peju Okungbowa

The International School of IITA, Nigeria