Why does education need a rounder sense of purpose? ft. Paul Vare

In this Talk, Paul Vare, life-long expert on sustainable education, currently researcher at the University of Gloucestershire’s School of Education, shares his views on why and how sustainability should be more embedded in education.

For Paul, education systems are geared to the economy, hence the need to adopt a systemic approach to change the way we educate people as education can’t be separated from its environment. In his view, it is pointless to think that we can ignore this economic environment and reform education without reforming the rest.

This is not to say that we are powerless to propose new educational frameworks, which is precisely what Paul and his partners did with the Erasmus+ project “ A Rounder Sense of Purpose” (RSP): a competence framework for teachers, inviting them to open their mind about what could be their role as teachers for a “rounder sense of purpose” (embracing complexity, with a systemic thinking approach, working across disciplines and with others, focusing on action-le education, etc.), rather than as “teachers for literacy and numeracy, and a bit of other subjects around the fringe”.

01:25 You've been working on trying to better embed sustainability in learning and education for most of your career. Can you briefly go back over this and tell us why and how this subject came to the forefront of your mind?

07:50 On the strength of this experience, can you tell us what you think are the main recommendations to make to decision-makers to help make education more sustainable? What is your assessment of the changes you have witnessed?

14:25 Eight years ago, you have contributed to the creation of the Rounder Sense of Purpose (RSP) project. Can you tell us more about the objectives and outcomes of such a project focusing on "green competences"?

Do you want to know more? Check A Rounder Sense of Purpose official website: aroundersenseofpurpose.eu/

Open source paper: “Devising a Competence-Based Training Program for Educators of Sustainable Development: Lessons Learned”: mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/1890

Book: “Competences in Education for Sustainable Development: Critical Perspectives”: link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91055-6

Are you interested to watch previous episodes? Check the Education for Climate Talks