Sustainable Development Education Panel
Supporting Sustainable Development through Educational Resources:
A Voluntary Code of Practice
HOW THE CODE SHOULD BE PUBLISHED AND PROMOTED
The Code and the accompanying guide to selecting educational resources should be published as soon as possible.
It is important that the Code and the accompanying guide are designed well to be visually attractive and to indicate how the different sections relate to each other. As part of the design and production process Sustainable development: a guide to selecting educational resources should be trialled with educators. This is especially important as the final version has not been trialled as final drafting took place during the summer holiday period. CEE would like to be consulted throughout the design process.
A list of those adopting the Code should be drawn up and used as part of the promotional exercise.
It would be useful if the promotional process could focus on a particular resource as a model. However this would undoubtedly invite accusations of favouritism and might be impossible to achieve since no resources have yet been produced in accordance with the Code. CEE is currently producing a directory of members' services in accordance with the Code and this could be used as a model to launch the Code.
With reference to DETR's possible intention to distribute the Code throughout UK, we feel we should point out that CEE was specifically asked to develop a code for England and therefore colleagues in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were not directly involved, though they have of course been kept informed of the process. If the Code is to be launched UK-wide, then the education for sustainable development organisations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should be involved.
The Code should be given a high profile launch, preferably with the support of the Deputy Prime Minister and/or the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. We would expect there to be media interest in the Code following the various critical reports which appeared last year.
A possible suitable venue would be the new British Library building - the BL Environmental Information Service is a CEE member organisation.
Endorsement of the Code by the Sustainable Development Education Panel and the Educational Publishers' Council (EPC) should be sought.
Free copies of the Code should be sent to all CEE and DEA members, to all who responded to the consultation and to all educational publishers via EPC.
Free copies of the guide to selecting resources should be promoted to all schools in England via CEE's EAF-funded Coordinated Information for Schools project, to youth workers via CEE's EARTHlines newsletter and through the National Youth Agency and to FE and HE establishments via the University and College Lecturers Union.
The Code and the users' guide should be made available through the Internet.
DfEE/DETR should issue a joint press release - DfEE must be seen to be involved. An advertisement should be placed in the Times Educational Supplement.
The Code will be promoted on CEE's exhibition stand at the Education Show to be held at the National Exhibition Centre in March 1999 along with the Coordinated Information for Schools project with which it has obvious close links.
USE OF THE CODE BY CONSUMERS
The accompanying guide to selecting resources (which has evolved from the 'checklist for users') will be needed to alert educators to the Code's existence. It will encourage them to look for the producer's statement and other evidence that a particular resource has been developed following the Code's principles.
There is a need for better ways for consumers to feed back their ideas and criticisms to producers of resources. The Working Group suggested that consumers could provide feedback on resources via the Internet to CEE and that this information could be incorporated into CEE's database of educational resources and made available on the Internet.
Awareness of the Code and the guide to selecting resources should be promoted through the initial training of teachers and youth workers.
Page published 21 April
1999;
Page last modified
20 August, 2002