Task Group 8 Meeting, 3 May 2008 Tallinn, Estonia

CCN Task Group 8

Meeting 4 May 2008, Tallinn

DRAFT AGENDA

Minutes  Minutes of last meeting  Matters arising

ESD Seminars  Iceland – Lifeskills Teachers (Report from Steinunn)  Round Table discussion on Local TV, Iceland (Report from Steinunn)  Task Group members own countries – events / plans for ESD Seminars (ALL task group members report)

ESD Resources  Publication of ‘Images and Objects’ Active Methodology Toolkit (Report from Miriam)  Brainstorm / planning additional resources for the CCN website to support the toolkit (Facilitated by Lone)

Sharing Good Practice  Workshops on 2 x Active Methodologies (Facilitated by Peter & Gregor)  Fieldtrip (Facilitated by Miriam & Mella)

Future Work of the Task Group  Planning for 2009 (Facilitated by Miriam)

‘Learning Centres’ Conference Workshop Tallinn 5/6 May  Final preparations (Facilitated by Miriam & Mella)

‘ESD Seminar’ 7 May Tallinn  Final preparations (Facilitated by Leena G & Hindrek)

1 CCN Task Group 8

4 May 2008 – Tallinn, Estonia

Minutes of Meetings

Attended by:

Name Country Email 1 Miriam O’Donoghue (Leader) Ireland [email protected] [email protected] 2 Mella Cusack (Secretary) Ireland [email protected] [email protected] 3 Gregor Torkar Slovenia [email protected] [email protected] 4 Leena Graeffe Finland [email protected] [email protected] 5 Leena Lahti Finland [email protected] 6 Peter Gnielczyk Germany [email protected] 7 Steinunn Anna Gunnlaugsdottir Iceland [email protected] 8 Ana Christina Figueira Portugal [email protected] 9 Lone Singstad Pålshaugen Norway [email protected] 10 Hindrek Lootus Estonia [email protected] 11 Marino Melissano Italy [email protected] 12 Mari Sager Norway [email protected] 13 Nuno Melo Portugal [email protected] 14 Victor Nogueira Portugal [email protected]

Apologies:

1 Sjofn Gudmundsdćttir Iceland [email protected] 2 Biserka Veleva Bulgaria [email protected] 3 Nadia Boyadjieva Bulgaria [email protected] 4 Conor Harrison Ireland [email protected] 5 Karen Mugliett Malta [email protected] [email protected] 6 Fernanda Santos Portugal [email protected]

2 Minutes of last meeting Agreed

Matters arising from minutes (Athens) Query about when we will meet next as a task group. Miriam O Donoghue (Ireland) explained that in 2009 the usual January task group meetings will not take place. Instead it is most likely that the May conference will be brought forward to March so this will be the next opportunity for the task group to meet.

New member to Task Group 8 We were joined by Victor Nogueira from the Portuguese Consumer Organisation. We welcomed him to the task group and introductions were made.

Introducing copies of the ESD Active Methodology ‘Images and Objects’ Toolkit to Task Group 8 members. Miriam distributed hard copies of the Toolkit to task group members and thanked everyone for their contributions. Everyone agreed that they were delighted with the toolkit and very proud of the work achieved. The challenge now is to disseminate the toolkit. Miriam spoke of her meeting with the CCN executive yesterday (3 May) and how she had described the challenge she had set for the task group to get the toolkit onto 100 websites by the end of the year. She asked that all task group members contact relevant people that they know and ask if a PDF version of the toolkit could be put onto their websites. She also emphasised the importance of keeping her informed about which websites the toolkit was being put up on so that she could keep an up to date list of them

Miriam reported that the toolkit is already on 8 websites in 5 countries: Ireland http://cspe.slss.ie www.ubuntu.ie Australia http://www.vhetta.com.au/events/#World%20Home%20Economics%20Day Portugal www.eselx.ipl.pt Slovenia http://www.pef.uni-lj.si/ http://www.naravnadediscina.org http://www.notranjski-park.si Iceland http://www.flif.ki.is/

3 In additional some very nice feedback has been received about the toolkit (Appendix 1) Launch of ESD Active Methodology ‘Images and Objects’ Toolkit Miriam explained that the launch of the toolkit was being brought forward to Monday morning (5th May) at the end of the 9.00-10.00 session at the conference. A copy of the toolkit will be distributed to everyone at the conference. 5,000 copies of the toolkit have been printed. 1,000 of these will be distributed in Ireland where every second level school will receive one copy by post. The remainder will be available from CCN.

A discussion on the toolkit by task group members A discussion on the toolkit by task group members followed. The following points were made:  The toolkit provides a good template that could be applied to the writing up of other toolkits on other methodology e.g. generic information about CCN , TG8, ESD, Active methodology etc  The toolkit will be successful because it includes photos which will be very helpful for schools…very user friendly – easy to photocopy the evaluation page etc.  There is a possibility of translating the toolkit into Norwegian. Members of the task group from Norway (Lone Singstad Pålshaugen and Mari Sager) will explore the possibility.  There is also the possibility of the toolkit being translated into Icelandic and Sjofn has expressed an interest in doing this on behalf of the Life skills teachers in Iceland.  The Portuguese task group members (Ana, Victor and Nuno) are going to try to get students involved –– get it translated and then hold an event for students.  Miriam asked that she be kept informed of progress with this. Translations need to be written as word document and can then be imported into the toolkit template. This can be organised.  The Possibility of adding in some extra information or photographs specific to each country that was translating the toolkit was also explored.  At the moment it looks like there will be no money available from CCN to print translated copied of the toolkit. Miriam explained how the Curriculum Development Unit in Ireland had received money from the Irish Ministry of Education (DES) to co fund the English version of the toolkit with CCN. She explained that it is so much easier to get funding when you have a draft copy of a publication to show your Ministry. Once DES in Ireland saw an advanced draft they were willing to fund it. Miriam explained however that if its not possible to print hard copies of the toolkit that PDF versions in different languages are still very valuable and can go on the CCN website and other websites – its not a big document to download and very manageable for a teacher to print off. Miriam again emphasised the importance of keeping her and the CCN Core unit updated on any developments with the toolkit.

4 ESD Seminar Iceland Steinunn Anna Gunnlaugsdottir (Iceland) gave a report on the recent (March 2008) ESD seminar in Iceland with the Life skills teachers (Flif.) (Appendix 2) She explained how they applied for financial support from the Department of Continuing Education and Ministry of Education – 130E per participant / 650E respective – CCN paid for travel expenses of 2 task group members to help to facilitate the seminar – Victoria Thoresen also came along – Flif paid for accommodation and meals It was not obligatory for teachers to attend so some advertising was required. The seminar was held over a Friday and Saturday. There are 37 Life Skills teachers working in upper secondary schools and letters were sent to each of them and to the schools. Letters were also sent to elementary (upper) schools. Short news items were printed in main papers and also included on radio stations. Sjofn Gudmundsdćttir (Iceland) was interviewed on main radio programme and Mella Cusack (Ireland), Miriam O @Donoghue (Ireland) and Victoria Thoresen (Norway) were interviewed on a local TV station. 22 applied to attend the seminar but 18 attended – This included 14 Upper Sec; 1 Ministry of Ed; 1 National Centre of Education Materials Evaluations very positive

On 15 May Sjofn Gudmundsdćttir (Iceland) will give a presentation at the University of Iceland on the UN Decade and CCN. All of the presentations from the ESD seminar are on the Flif website so they are available to all teachers. Steinunn described this initiative as a good example of what can be achieved through combined funding However it was noted that as task group members delivering ESD seminars we should not underestimate the amount of time taken to do each of the active methodology activities when English is not participant’s first language

Task group 8 members then viewed a short clip from the 30 minute interview that Steinunn conducted with Victoria, Mella and Miriam on the local TV station on Iceland.

Other ESD seminars / events Leena Graeffe (Finland) will use the resource with foreign students and will report back Leena Lahti (Finland) has used methods with students Marino Melissano (Italy) has tried to get funding for a seminar for the autumn this year – public administration have to let him know if they accept – Mari Sager (Norway) has run similar activities with student teachers – café dialogues etc

Everyone will submit a paragraph on activities in their countries as contribution to final report

Sharing good practice Gregor Torkar (Slovenia) and Peter Gnielczyk (Germany) made presentations

1. Gregor Torkar (Slovenia) –

5 Presented activity cards – Ecological Footprint For use with small children Booklet of case studies from individuals in different countries to accompany eco footprint activity (tracking impact month-by-month)

Feedback from the group Leena G – foreign students are not aware of eco footprints Lone – Ministry of Ed in Norway has built www.sustain.no – part of the effort for the decade – involves school children in monitoring – have some of these types of exercises – templates for reporting back etc. Leena L – has used the eco-footprint with students Mella – development of “hand-print” initiative in India – highlights the positive impact of particular activities on the environment Peter – has footprint in Germany for English teachers – with supporting language activities

Action: First step: All to liaise via email about existing eco-footprint questionnaires and websites with related activities – Gregor to lead this initiative Gregor will keep database – use Gregor’s new email address – he will distribute to group afterwards. The possibility of writing a critique of the various questionnaires and activities was suggested.

2. Peter Gnielczyk (Germany) ESD Active Methods Workshop – SD and Debt Feedback - Discussion Is there an input on how to avoid getting into financial, personal problems etc – it is not included in this workshop but it does need to be spoken about First exercise ‘What does it take to make you happy?’ – how do you communicate sustainability with people who are not really interested – talking about things far ahead is a really good way of doing this because people can let go of the short term things and they do get to the big things and what will make them happy. Discover that people with different political stance will want the same things in the future. Mari - Being poor in contrast to being rich – it costs more to act sustainably – the right car, organic/fair trade products – interesting topic when you are teaching ESD To increase the awareness of what is possible in your life – not dependent on advertising or to consuming – about love, belonging, relationships, peace, health etc Get people to think whether consumption is going to make them happy – ask themselves why they need something. Marino - SD is lifestyle – we have to change our lifestyle Philosophy comes into it – what is the value of certain societies - what is the meaning of progress and developing new things and new ideas. Gregor - I don’t agree that rich and poor have the same obligation for sustainability. It is expensive for those who are using more energy and more resources – they should not

6 have to pay so much – it is an issue of lifestyle – the more you use the more you should have to pay – we are becoming more individualistic – we are trying with ESD to turn around and go back to better ways Mari – it is not so simple that all we need is love and we don’t need to buy this stuff – it is more complex than this Leena L – could put another column in the table for sustainability throughout our lifespan Miriam – it is a methodology that could be adapted for other areas of SD

Fieldtrip – Lights, Camera, Action (Members of task group 8 had been invited by Miriam to bring digital cameras to the session) Miriam gave a brief to the task group. She invited them to leave the building in small groups for approx. 15 minutes and take photographs of good or bad examples of Sustainable Development that could be add to the ‘images and objects’ resource. Each group was given a template to help groups write up short explanations of their images. Images taken included:

Peter and Lone Garbage bin and bus in the distance Poor people sometimes search in these bins for bottles to recycle

Steinuum, Leena G & Leena L ‘Surviving’ – weed cracks up the pavement We don’t like to see them in our garden but it always brings a smile because it is the first sign of spring Different word used in different countries Can be used in salads, soup and for wine It also helps us to survive

Victor and Ana Bins on chains or chained bins Can be used to discuss recycling – could make a short chapter on these bins – Hendrick already has one – also discussion on separating into different types of waste and at the same time to think that even a dustbin can be taken away – nothing is safe

Nuno and Mari ‘Playing with tyres’ Playgroup – kindergarten/health centre playground – tyres are recycled to use as toys – also cars What are the tyres made of? Are they child-friendly? The environment the children are playing in – roads are really close by so lots of traffic It seems that the tyres are separating the car parking area from the play area A lot of rubbish behind the building

7 The entrance has a big advertisement from a diaper company

Mella, Miriam & Gregor ‘Chatterbox’ In Tallinn it is becoming increasingly rare to see phone boxes – the phone company has announced that they will gradually be taken away.

Marino ‘ Biological waste’ but there is a lock on the bin so people can not use this – not that widespread but you can get these public biodegradable bins When you live somewhere it is possible to separate biodegradable waste you become much more conscious of throwing away food

‘Town of the future’ – road without cars ‘Better for the game or for the driver’ – tyres and playground

10,000 tonnes of garbage picked up yesterday in the national clean-up day in Tallinn

Lots of discussion from one photo – good aid for teachers who are not used to having this type of discussion

Good activity for adult learners or young people because they are creating their own resources

Brainstorm of additional resources for the CCN website to support the toolkit . More proverbs and stories . Quotes – statements by organisations or individuals related to SD . Art – from history and current art students . Video clips . Photos – ask peoples to submit comments in relation to the image . Section on other activities and ways to use images . Some links and other websites where images can be freely downloaded . Add more photos with background – especially objects . Section for commenting on toolkit . Toolkit aimed at teachers/facilitators – on website the target could be more general – have to create suggestions – more images – interactive website – pictures with the questions, e.g. ‘What does this image mean for you?’ Possible to arrive to SD without speaking of SD directly. . Idea Bank – papers, methods etc Place where you can submit pictures so there would be a Picture Bank too – might be a problem because would need to be a webmaster. . Example pictures – comments/observations – comments would be really good for teachers/facilitators . More academic articles tied to the method – and about active methods generally - interesting to raise some controversial issues

8 . Templates – some image and comment templates . Blog – that we all have access to where we can keep each other informed of events etc? . Translation of the toolkit – different countries . Practical questions linked to all of the suggestions – who, what, when etc

Work schedule after the task group meeting “Learning Centres” Workshop on Tuesday – 6 May 2008. (Appendix 3) Task Group 8 will facilitate an active methodology workshop on the last day of the conference. Miriam & Mella will facilitate it but would encourage help and participation from other task group members.

ESD Seminar – 7 May 2008 (Appendix 4) Leena G/Leena L and Brigit have organised an ESD workshop for student teachers in the University of Tallinn. Approx 20 Bachelor students will attend. Miriam & Mella will attend and help out if needed.

Next 6-9 months Miriam outlined the possible work of the task group over the next 6-9 months. There will not be another meeting again until March – so we need some work to focus on and it makes sense to focus on what we have already started. We should try to get some abstracts for the next conference, building on the toolkit.

A poster display for the conference next year would be useful – Mella/Miriam could organise this and everyone else could input into it.

Next task group meeting Mari/Lone to do café dialogue at TG8 meeting in March 2009 – will need 2 hours Everyone gets to talk a lot in a structured way

9 APPENDIX 1

IRELAND ‘We, on the Citizenship Education Support Team, are delighted to have uploaded the resource 'Images and Objects' on our website’

‘This resource is extremely useful on a number of levels: 1) It provides clear, concise and informative information about Sustainable Development 2) As Citizenship Education in Ireland is about dealing with your community and the world we live in and the current issues it focuses attention on Sustainable Development, one of the major challenges of the 21st century 3) Our key pedagogical approach in Citizenship Education is active engagement with issues through active learning methodologies and action projects. This resource adds to the repertoire of methodologies that teachers of Citizenship Education can use’.

‘Congratulations to all involved in putting this worthwhile teaching and learning tool together’.

AUSTRALIA ‘Teachers love a ready-made resource especially one that provides such a broad perspective from countries around the globe. Being so far away in Australia, we can feel very isolated at times so online resources such as this fabulous ESD toolkit help to keep us connected and informed’.

ICELAND ‘Very practical Toolkit and it brings creativity to education in sustainable development’. ‘Makes teaching more fun’ ‘Beautiful photos’.

10 APPENDIX 2

Task Group 8 Seminar in Iceland March 28th and 29th 2008. Report. Preparation The preparation progress started in September in Athlone Ireland, when Sjöfn Guðmundsdóttir and Steinunn A. Gunnlaugsdóttir volunteered to organize a course for life-skills teachers in Iceland on „Consumer Citizenship and Sustainable Development“.

One of the aims of F-líf (Society for Life-skills Teachers in Upper Secondary Schools in Iceland) is to organize courses for its members on topics that are included in the subject life-skills. The course was organized by the board of F-líf. Back in Iceland, in October, we applied for financial support at The Department for Continuing Education (DCE) at the University of Iceland. We also had a meeting with a representative at The Ministry of Education in Iceland (MEI). We had positive responses from both organizations. The DCE agreed to support the course with Iskr. 15000 (130 Euros) for each teacher participant and MEI agreed to support the course with the amount of Iskr. 75000 (650 Euros). It was agreed to divide the costs. CCN would pay for the travelling expenses for the lecturers and F-líf would pay for all other expenses, i.e. accommodation, meals, local, papers etc. Advertisements The course was not obligatory. We needed to advertise and see how many people would sign on. Our society represents only life-skills teachers in upper secondary schools, they are in all 37 in the country. We decided to invite life-skills teachers from adolescent departments in elementary schools to participate this time, as in our opinion the subject are as relevant to these students, as those in the upper secondary school. Usually the participants in our courses are around 20. As we invited teachers from the elementary schools, which are a considerably bigger group, we expected around 50 participants on this course. In the first week of February letters that included information about the course and the lecturers and the programme were send by ordinary mail to every elementary and upper secondary school in the country. A week later, around 15th of February an e-mail,

11 including the same information as the letters, was sent to all members of F-líf (35 individuals) and to all elementary and upper secondary schools in Iceland. We sent out short news to the media i.e. newspapers, radio-stations and TV-channels. Two of the main daily newspapers (Morgunblaðið og Fréttablaðið) revealed the article on March 16th and 18th. Radio 1 contacted Sjöfn and interviewed her live (15 min.) at lunchtime on March 17th. Local TV-channel (ÍNN) interviewed Victoria, Miriam and Mella. But that interview hasn’t been broadcasted, as there is a problem with translation. Participants. We booked a classroom in Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavik, a high school in central Reykjavik. As we didn’t know how many participants there would be, we booked two classrooms with a removable wall between them. All facilities were in the classroom, such as computer, projector, video device etc. Twenty two individuals registered on the course, 16 teachers from upper secondary schools, 4 teachers from elementary schools, one person from the Ministry of Education and one from the National Centre for Educational Materials. 18 individuals attended the course, 14 from upper secondary schools, 2 from elimentary schools and the two persons from the Ministry of Education and the National Centre for Educational Materials. The course The course was held according to the programme (se attached programme), with a twenty minutes delay at the very beginning as some of the participants had some difficulty finding parking in the neighbourhood. It was very successful and the participants expressed their satisfaction with the programme and the tasks that were introduced (see enclosed evaluation results). Discussion The board of F-líf is very satisfied with the course. It was progressive and practical. We had representatives from the Ministry of Education and from the National Centre for Educational Materials, participating on the course and they expressed their great satisfaction. We are quite confident and expect that the work will be developed further in Iceland. Already next May 15th Sjöfn Guðmundsdóttir will give a presentation at a seminar on education for sustainable development at the University of Education in Iceland on CCN and the course ,,Consumer Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development: European Network”. Sjöfn Guðmundsdóttir, Chairperson of F-líf

12 APPENDIX 3 Workshop: 1 hour +

Theme: Education for Sustainable Development in Action: The use of ‘Learning Centres’ to promote transformative learning.

Facilitated by: Miriam O’Donoghue, CDVEC Curriculum Development Unit, Ireland Mella Cusack, CDVEC Curriculum Development Unit, Ireland and members of CCN Task Group 8

The goal of CCN task group 8 is to contribute to the growth of consumer citizenship education as a relevant, interdisciplinary theme in primary and secondary school education by preparing and carrying out teacher training seminars on education for sustainable development.

Much of the work of the task group to date has focused on empowering teachers and facilitators to use innovative approaches which promote the development, active participation and agency of learners in the classroom and beyond through ‘Active Sustainability’: a range of active teaching and learning strategies and resources linked to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

This hands on workshop will give participants a taste of the work of task group 8. It will explore the design and use of learning centres as a tool to promote education for sustainable development and as a method of engaging differentiated learners.

Come to this ‘hands on’ workshop prepared to be active participants, roll up your sleeves, work in groups, use your creative skills, but above all have fun while learning.

13 APPENDIX 4 Workship with Tallinn University Students Introduction (Leena Graeffe): Who we are (CCN and our working group) Main purpose of our working group Consumer Citizenship Education Cinema Education as a tool for consumer citizenship education - a learning experiment in teacher education (short presentation; handout about 6 pages ESD - how to work with/for and among this theme

Consumer Education in teacher education and in daily life. What it is nowadays and what should it be in the future and why?(Birgitta Vilpas)

Learning centre - Poster (Leena Lahti) Leena will give students written material and instructions about working;: purpose, methods, roles, presentation, evaluation etc. The themes are: 1) The condition of the Baltic See, 2) Recyckling and Littering, 3) The Climate Changing, 4) The Tourism and Sustainable Development, 5) The Price of the Food

Active Teaching and Learning Approaches to support Education for Sustainable Education (Miriam O'Donoghue and Mella Cusack)

Evaluation and Feedback