Measuring What Matters?

Measuring what matters? Exploring the use of values-based indicators in assessing Education for Sustainability Ashley Jay Brockwell Thesis committee Promotor Prof. Dr A.E.J. (Arjen) Wals Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability Wageningen University & Research Co-promotors Dr P. (Peter) Tamas, Biometris, Wageningen University & Research Prof. Dr M.K. (Marie) Harder, Professor of Sustainable Waste Management, University of Brighton, UK Other members Prof. Dr Arnold K. Bregt, Wageningen Univerity Dr. Jonas Lysgard, Aarhus University, Denmark Prof. Dr Maik Adomssent, Leuphana University, Germany Prof. Dr Frank P.C.M. de Jong, Open University, The Netherlands This research was conducted under the auspices of Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS). 2 Measuring what matters? Exploring the use of values-based indicators in assessing Education for Sustainability Ashley Jay Brockwell Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr A.P.J. Mol, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Tuesday 28 May 2019 at 1100 in the Aula. 3 Ashley Jay Brockwell Measuring what matters? Exploring the use of values-based indicators in assessing Education for Sustainability 243 Pages PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2019) With references, with summary in English ISBN: 978-94-6343-956-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18174/476056 4 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Marie Harder, founder and head of the Values and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Brighton and China Thousand Talents Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai, without whom this endeavour would never have been started. Marie, I’m enormously grateful to you, not only for believing in me and encouraging me to embark on a PhD, but also for your tireless energy and enthusiasm in leading the group in co-designing the overarching ESDinds and ‘Starting from Values’ projects, and the smaller research studies within it that provided the basis for these and other published works. This PhD has been a long and sometimes frustrating journey, and it’s entirely thanks to you that I was able to persevere with it after the initial disappointments, enrol as an external candidate at Wageningen with you as a co- promotor, and finally – after more than seven years - see it through to completion. Huge thanks are also due to my promotor Arjen Wals and co-promotor Peter Tamás for your tireless support – not only academic, but also practical, logistical and emotional. Thank you both for putting up with my succession of personal and professional crises, gently nudging me back to the thesis work every time I drifted away, helping me get over my inferiority complex and impostor syndrome, guiding me to the greatly-appreciated financial support from Wageningen University and Research at a critical time, and providing valuable guidance on the content, structure and tone of the introduction and discussion chapters. On that note, I am also grateful to the administrators at Wageningen School of Social Sciences for facilitating the enrolment process, especially in relation to my name change, and the stipend payment. I greatly appreciate the help provided by Erwin Hellegering with cover design and printing of the thesis. Much of the research included in this thesis built on the earlier efforts of other researchers who designed and conducted field work, and created resource materials, during the ESDinds project. I would like to say a special thank you to my former colleagues in the Values and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Brighton - Elona Hoover, Firooz Firoozmand, Ismael Velasco, Tiina Jaatinen and Lee Stapleton – for your friendship, support and encouragement, as well as for the wonderful exchange of ideas and insights that helped to enrich and enhance these publications (and the many others that we created together). Prior to my involvement, the ESDinds project as we know it would never have existed without Dimity Podger, Poppy Villiers- Stuart, Arthur Dahl and the four partner civil society organizations: the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), Earth Charter International (ECI), ebbf and People’s Theater. The ESDinds project (ESDinds: The Development of Indicators and Assessment Tools for Civil Society Organizations Promoting Education for Sustainable Development, Grant Agreement No. 212237) was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme, FP7/2007-2013. 5 The PERL (Partnership for Education and Research about Responsible Living) project – funded through the ERASMUS scheme – provided an opportunity for me to test out the values-based indicators in a school context and to present my work at UNESCO in Paris, for which I am very grateful. I would particularly like to thank Arthur Dahl, Victoria Thoresen, Onno Vinkhuyzen, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Marilyn Mehlmann for facilitating my access to the PERL project and other related opportunities, including publication in the book Responsible Living. The ‘Starting from Values: Evaluating Intangible Legacies’ project, which built on much of the work described here, was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The cartoon in Figure 4.1 was created using Microsoft Office royalty-free clip art images (‘Screen Beans’ series), for which I am grateful, and modified using Microsoft Paint version 6.1 together with freehand drawing. I would like to thank Katerina Alexiou and Theo Zamenopoulos at The Open University, Paula Graham at Fossbox, Suzie Leighton at The Culture Capital Exchange, Nick and Ali Alp at the New Forest Small School, Mohamed Farah at Hodan and Helen Drewery at KCC for your belief and investment in my work – you all helped me pay the bills while getting this thesis finalised! There are many other teachers, colleagues and friends who have helped me to grow as a researcher and as a human being, throughout my life. I’m grateful for all your kind words, wisdom and patience. In particular, I would like to thank my very first employer and mentor, Gerry Bodeker at the University of Oxford. Thank you for seeing my potential, introducing me to the wonderful field of integrative medicine that has been such a significant part of my life, and helping me to publish my very first journal article. Very special thanks also to Roma ‘Pinksy’ Bhattacharjea for your deep and unfailing soul friendship through the past twenty years: we’ve both travelled a long, long way since the days of your own PhD! And more recently, thank you to Andi, Max and Grecia at Chrysalis, Jani, Devin, Alex and all my friends in online support groups (especially The Gathering Space) for helping me navigate the challenges of transitioning, and to everyone who’s made the effort to get my name and pronouns right. It might seem trivial, but it’s made a huge difference to my mental health, self-esteem and energy levels. Anyone who knows me will know all too well that I have a tendency to ramble on. I could carry on thanking people for several more pages, but I suppose at some point, I need to call a halt to the acknowledgements section and get on with the actual thesis. But I’d like to say the biggest ‘thank you’ of all to the people closest to me: my parents Sue and Peter Burford, my daughters Lucia and Zanna, and my beloved wife Kay. Thank you all for being there for me in good times and bad, and for supporting me, inspiring me, cheering me up, and reminding me on so many occasions about the things that matter most of all. 6 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 18 1.1. Key concepts and theories .................................................................................................... 19 1.1.1. To ‘values-based indicators’…and beyond .................................................................... 24 1.2. Scientific Contribution: Addressing the ‘Values Problem’ ......................................................... 28 1.3. Societal Contribution: How Can We Measure What Different People Treasure? ..................... 31 1.3.1. From ‘MDGs’ to ‘SDGs’: a global paradigm shift? ............................................................... 33 1.3.2. The central importance of education in the SDG framework ............................................. 37 1.4. Methodological Perspective and Methods ................................................................................ 40 1.4.1. Principles of Research through Design ............................................................................... 40 1.4.2. Wider Methodological Perspective..................................................................................... 45 1.4.3. Specific Research Questions and Methods ......................................................................... 47 Chapter 2. The organisational impacts of ‘values-based’ evaluation: preliminary findings from eight organisations ............................................................................................................................... 53 2.1. Introduction: Values, ethics and sustainability in organisations ............................................... 53 2.1.1. Paradigms in Business Ethics Research ............................................................................... 55 2.1.2. Purpose, Paradigm and Context of

Load more