BCWG - RCE Fall 2010 Newsletter
BC/North Cascades RCE Fall 2010 Newsletter
New Partnerships for Environmental Learning and Experience in B.C.
The BC/North Cascades RCE is excited to be partnering with a number of schools and organizations around the province in 2010/11 to provide train-the-trainers workshops, revise learning resources, and evaluate K-12 curriculum integration of the BC Ministry of Education’s Environmental Learning and Experience (ELE) Guide. Planned partnerships so far include the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network, North Vancouver Outdoor School, Wild BC and Bowen Island Community School.
The ELE research dissemination project is supported by funding from the Federal Government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and aims to significantly raise awareness of the ELE Guide and sustainability education among BC practioners, administrators, and policy makers. A special focus on place-based learning in the province’s main riversheds and waterways will be a highlight of the training and awareness program.
The Ministry of Education’s ELE Guide was authored by the RCE’s Dr. David Zandvliet, and the subsequent provincial Curriculum Mapping Project was led by RCE board member, Patrick Robertson. Both researchers are Faculty of Education members at Simon Fraser University. The RCE members are currently working with SFU faculties to create the Institute of Environmental Learning and Experience to house the RCE and walkingthetalk.bc.ca sustainability education network.
Upcoming ELE workshops:
October 16 on Bowen Island
RCE members will be presenting an interactive workshop on the ELE Guide at the Bowen Island Community School’s daylong Environmental Learning Teacher’s Workshop.
October 22 in Kelowna
Dr, David Zandvliet of SFU and Dr. Veronica Gaylie of UBC Okanagan will be presenting an ELE-focussed workshop on current curriculum practice for the Central Okanagan School District.
October 22-24th in Kimberley
RCE members will be presenting the ELE Guide in panels and workshops at the Get Outdoors 2010 Conference in the East Kooteney mountain town of Kimberley, hosted in partnership by the Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network and BC’s Environmental Educators PSA. See www.cbeen.org for details.
Watch for more announcements of ELE programs and workshops taking place around the province in 2010/11.
RCE Launch and Community Dialogue Review
The official launch of the BC/North Cascades RCE in May was a lively and thought-provoking event. The eclectic program featured a traditional Aboriginal welcome, a ceremonial UN signing, an impromptu choir of 150 people, stimulating dialogue, storytelling groups organized by local berries, and even a flash mob that got the whole Wosk Centre crowd dancing up a storm. The BC/North Cascades RCE was truly launched in West Coast style!
Building on the success of Walking the Talk’s 2007 and 2009 sustainability summits, the aim of the community dialogue was to help define the direction for the new RCE and identify key areas of focus for participatory and action-based research in BC. Many of the upcoming ELE project partnerships noted above grew out of the networking and brainstorming sessions that took place during our Wosk Centre dialogue last spring.
We’d like to extend our special thanks to staff and students at SFU Centre for Dialogue and the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue for all their assistance planning the event, and to SFU VP Academic and the Lis and Bruce Welch Community Fund for their financial support.
See the RCE event review (with lots of pictures!), delegate list, audience feedback and more.
What Are the UN’s Main Goals for RCEs on ESD?
People constantly ask what exactly an RCE on Education for Sustainable Development is, and what are its main goals? Here’s an abridged backgrounder from the UNU website.
Four Core Functions of RCEs on ESD:
Regional Centres for Expertise are created to bring together institutions at the regional/local level to jointly promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). RCE’s build innovative platforms to share information and experiences and to promote dialogue among regional/local stakeholders. Through partnerships, they create a local/regional knowledge base to support ESD actors, and together they promote the four main goals of ESD in a resource-effective manner.
The UN objective for the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) is:
“To empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future.
The four main goals of RCEs on ESD are to:
(1) re-orient education towards SD, covering existing programs and subjects from the point of ESD and designing an integrated SD curricula. ESD programs are tailored to address issues and local context of the community RCEs operate in;
(2) increase access to quality education that is most needed in the regional context;
(3) deliver trainers’ training programs and develop methodologies and learning materials for them; and
(4) lead advocacy and public awareness raising efforts about the importance of educators and the essential role of ESD in achieving a sustainable future. RCEs promote the long-term goals of ESD, such as environmental stewardship, social justice, and improvement of the quality of life.
For more information about RCEs, visit the United Nations University website:
New Projects in Development
In addition to developing the ELE dissemination project, RCE staff and committee members are working on several new initiatives in focus areas identified during the May dialogue at the Wosk Centre. This includes hosting more frequent dialogues and networking events, possibly in the form of regular public panels focussed on specific issues in the formal, informal, and non-formal education sectors.
We have also been reaching out to local urban planners and architects to develop research and public education initiatives focussed on sustainable urban neighbourhood design. This program aims to use the ELE framework as a guide to place-based learning in the urban environment, and will use built form, public spaces, food, energy and transportation systems to teach about sustainability and liveability in high-density pedestrian sheds.
We hope to launch these projects in 2011, so stay tuned for more news.
Green Schools Fall Newsletter:
The Ministry of Education’s October issue of the Green Schools Newsletter includes: Ministry Update, BC Green Games Year 3, Teacher Resources, Upcoming Events and more.
RCE Network and Advisory Committee Growth Continues
During our most recent quarterly RCE meeting on September 21, 2010 in Vancouver, we added several new members to our Advisory committee. We would like to welcome Rick Kool from Royal Roads University, Ken Lertzman from SFU Faculty of Environment, Joanne Day from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Theresa Southam from Southam Consulting. We look forward to working with all of you in the future!
The walkingthetalk.bc.ca network also continues to steadily grow. We have just reached 800 registered members, a nice milestone! Members can log in to post sustainability related events, announcements, news and resources. See our Events Calendar for upcoming sustainability-related events around BC.
Let’s keep the momentum going! As always, we welcome input, advice and ideas from network members.
Contact us at: walkingthetalk@gmail.com
