Sustainable Development Education Panel
Supporting Sustainable Development through Educational Resources:
A Voluntary Code of Practice
This report is written to accompany and provide context to the Code of Practice enclosed and provides advice on how the Code should develop in the future.
During the period of development of the Code, the CEE Working Group met twice and commented on several drafts.
A key consideration of the Group has been the status of education for sustainable development (ESD) generally. The task of drawing up a Code was a difficult one given that there is no agreed definition of or framework for ESD. The development of the Code had already begun prior to the setting up of the Sustainable Development Education Panel and the Group has had to balance the desire to complete the Code with the need to take into account the work of the Panel.
The Working Group has approved the final version of the Code submitted to DETR.
STATUS OF THE CODE
In the early drafts we adopted the term 'guidelines' rather than 'code of practice', taking a lead from several other parallel documents which are very definitely 'only' guidelines and contain no mention even of how use of the guidelines should be acknowledged.
After wider consultation and further consideration, we have reverted to the term 'code of practice' as the general consensus was that CEE should take a stronger line in raising the status of the Code. It is already perceived by many as 'the CEE Code of Practice'. It is therefore important that the finished document remains closely identified with CEE for it to have credibility with the field. The endorsement of both DETR and, in particular, DfEE is perceived to be crucial to its status throughout the education sector.
In its current format, the Code is a voluntary code of practice. Organisations adopting the Code commit themselves to its ten principles and to working towards their attainment.
The Code should be seen as a dynamic, evolving document involving users and producers. The Working Group regards the Code as a first phase in an on-going process. There has been much discussion as to how valuable the Code will be without a form of 'kite-marking' and the Group identifies that this issue will have to be considered further once the Code has been introduced and the first phase of monitoring and evaluation is complete (year 2000). CEE has already been asked to 'look over' resources prior to publication, to assess whether they comply with the Code.
Teacher focus groups suggested the Code would have more status if endorsed by local authorities or incorporated into their own policy documents or guidelines. This too will be explored following the monitoring phase.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF USE OF THE CODE
The fourth draft of the Code was sent to 400 organisations and individuals involved in the production of educational resources. Respondents were in particular asked to indicate whether they or the organisation they represented would be prepared to adopt the Code. 72 responses were received and 50 (69%) respondents said their organisation would adopt the Code unconditionally. All respondents are listed in the appendix.
Even though the Code is voluntary, CEE will encourage existing member organisations to adopt the Code in relation to new resources and in the future new applicants for membership will be required to adopt it as a condition of membership.
A list of organisations who have agreed to adopt the Code should be drawn up and used as part of the promotional process.
The producer's statement, in a recognisable format, is an essential element of adoption of the Code and will be a clear signal to consumers/users that the principles of the Code have been followed. DETR and other government departments should set an example by adopting this format for their own publications in future.
Page published 21 April
1999;
Page last modified
20 August, 2002