Sustainable Development Education Panel
Sustainable Development Education Surveys
2. The Teaching of Sustainable Development
Sustainable development issues, and in particular, environmental and social equity issues, appear to have most impact on most schools' policies. However policy statements do not necessarily indicate that the topic is covered in lessons. In this section we examine the prevalence of the four topics (environmental issues, social equity, global development and economic prosperity through the wise use of resources) in teaching, and in particular in which subjects they are featured.
2.1 Presence of the four issues in teaching
| Figure 2.1 Teach sustainable development Issues |
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Almost every school, across all levels, sectors and school size, teaches environmental issues. 100% of state schools did so. Global development is taught by eight out of ten schools, with social equity being covered by a similar number. Economic prosperity through the wise use of resources is taught by the least number of schools, around six in ten of the whole sample.
Global development is taught by the majority across all types of school, but particularly so in state secondary schools (96% of these teach the issue). 87% of all independent schools cover the topic, compared to just over three quarters of state primary schools. This pattern also exists for both social equity and economic prosperity; the large majority of independent schools teach the two issues with just over three quarters of state primaries doing so. Independent schools, may be able to offer more resources and provide a wider range of subjects thus giving them scope to teach the less mainstream issues. Over 90% of state secondary schools cover the top three issues, however only two thirds teach economic prosperity through the wise use of resources. It would seem, in general, that environmental issues are covered more than other sustainable development issues in lessons.
| Figure 2.2 Teach sustainable development issues (Links with LA) |
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Those schools which have a link with the local authority concerning sustainable development issues are more likely to teach all three less commonly taught subjects. Global development in particular is taught more widely by those which maintain a link (87% in contrast to 78% of those which don't have a link).
2.2 Teaching Environmental Issues
| Figure 2.3 Lessons in which environmental issues are covered |
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Environmental issues tend to be taught predominantly in Geography and Science lessons at both Primary and Secondary level. Secondary schools are particularly likely to use Geography time to tackle the issues, nine in ten of schools teach environmental issues in Geography. About three quarters of all schools use Science lessons to cover the issue.
Secondary schools are more likely than primary schools to use other subjects such as English, RE and the relatively recent addition to the curriculum, Personal and Social Education (PSE) and more recently Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE - both will be covered by the term PSE in this report). Environmental issues are covered in PSE by 46% of secondary schools, in contrast to just over a quarter of primary schools.
State and independent schools teach environmental issues over a similar range of subjects, however independent schools use slightly more traditional subjects and have less reliance on PSE.
| 2.4 Perspective from which Environmental Issues are covered |
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Independent schools are slightly more likely than state schools to teach environmental issues focussing on Britain only. This domestic approach applies especially to independent primary schools, where one fifth of schools focus on Britain only. However, the great majority of all schools (over nine in ten of state secondaries) have taken a global approach, either in isolation, or alongside a domestic one in approaching the teaching of this subject.
2.3 Teaching Global Development Issues
| Figure 2.5 Lessons in which global development issues are covered |
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Geography is used even more predominantly when teaching global development. Three quarters of primary schools and nine-tenths of secondary schools teach the subject in Geography time. Science is used by fewer schools in comparison to Environmental issues. However, as many primary schools as secondary schools (about one fifth of each) used PSE to cover this issue.
| Figure 2.6 Perspective from which Global Development issues are covered |
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Global development is taught in most schools from a global perspective, especially so to older children in secondary schools. 7% of state primary school do teach the subject primarily focussing on Britain but they are in the minority.
2.4 Teaching Social Equity Issues
| Figure 2.7 Lessons in which Social Equity issues are covered |
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The teaching of Social Equity demonstrates the role of PSE, especially that aimed at older pupils. Six in ten secondary schools use PSE time to teach about secondary schools as do almost half of primary schools. RE is also frequently mentioned, more so than for other issues. Almost half of secondary schools and a little over a third of secondary schools cover social equity through RE teaching. The traditional subjects such as Geography and English are also used by many schools.
2.5 Teaching Economic Prosperity through the wise use of resources
| Figure 2.8 Lessons in which economic prosperity issues are covered |
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Although there is still a reliance on Geography, this subject is covered in other more specialised subjects such as economics and business studies. 43% of secondary school cover the topic in economics and business studies compared to just 1% of primary schools. This more specialised subject is obviously generally taught to older children but provides a good background to discuss the issues raised by this topic.
2.6 Linking the aspects of Sustainable Development in teaching
The concept of sustainable development relies upon each of the separate aspects being considered together and assessing the impact each has on the others. Schools need to treat these issues as inter-related and should not only teach them as isolated topics.
| Figure 2.9 Teach lessons that link any of the sustainable development subjects |
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Encouragingly, three quarters of all schools which teach one or more of the issues do link some of them together in some way. State Secondaries are particularly likely to integrate aspects of sustainable development into teaching about others - 80% of them do so. Fewer independent schools teach the subjects linked together, especially at a secondary level. Whilst this finding is encouraging there is clearly still room for improvement. These links are not necessarily made between all aspects of sustainable development and there are a number of schools either not teaching sustainable development issues or making any links between the issues they teach.
In correspondence to a number of earlier results, those schools which have a sustainable development related link with the local authority appear to be more aware of the need to link together these topics in teaching, (83% compared to 72% of those with no link to the local authority concerning sustainable development issues).
| Figure 2.10 Lessons in which the links are discussed |
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The range of subjects used by schools to make the connection between aspects of sustainable development is similar to those used to teach separate subjects. Both primary schools and secondary schools mainly use Geography (63% and 59%) with a further three in ten primary schools using Science time. Older pupils are more likely than younger ones to be taught about these topics in PSE (used by a third of secondary schools), whereas younger children are more likely to learn about them in RE (a quarter of primary schools).
Whereas most schools teach children about these links in these four subjects, a greater proportion of primary schools use the less frequently mentioned subjects of History and English. These schools are also twice as likely to approach these connections across the whole of their curriculum. A less structured day, giving teachers flexibility in what to teach and when may provide an environment better suited to this kind of teaching, then the regimented day in a typical secondary school.
The subjects used to approach these links differs very little between state and independent schools. Both use Geography and Science predominantly, with state schools having a slightly bigger reliance on RE and PSE.
2.7 Topics covered in Lessons (Pupils)
Year 11 pupils were also asked about their experience of learning about sustainable development issues which reinforces the finding from schools. In order to aid understanding and promote accurate recall, pupils were not asked about their experience in learning about the four aspects we discussed earlier. Instead, pupils were asked if they had learnt about a number of topic areas which covered most aspects of sustainable development.
| Figure 2.11 Topics covered in lessons |
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As we saw earlier, almost all schools reported teaching its pupils about environmental issues. Results from the survey of pupils seem to support this. Nineteen out of twenty pupils recalled studying the cause and effects of pollution whilst the same proportion remembered learning about the sustainable use of natural resources, both are issues which impact on the environment. The reduction, re-use and recycling of waste was studied by 85% of pupils and the conservation of wildlife habitats by over three-quarters.
The less well -covered topics tended to be related to the social and economic elements of sustainable development. This includes such core topics as the relationship between the growth of the economy and the environment, which underline the key aspects of sustainable development. Only 56% of pupils have studied this issue at any time during their education.
Most schools claimed to have taught environmental and developmental issues from both a global and British perspective. However, whilst eight in ten school leavers have studied the issue of poverty in the developing world, only half have covered this topic in relation to Britain. This pattern is also evident when referring to the study of economic growth in the third world (71% recalled covering this) and that of growth in Britain (56% said they had studied this topic).
Page published 12 May
2000;
Page last modified
20 August, 2002