Overview of ESD Changemakers
ESD Changemakers works to democratise education by partnering students and staff to ensure teaching and learning is relevant to students’ priorities and the world they will be graduating into. In the 23/24 academic year, students from Open University, representing a number of disciplines, participated in year-long programme, ultimately playing a role in how their university embeds sustainability into courses.
Students worked with academic partners to explore ESD solutions to challenges they uncovered together. Some students and their academic partners were from different disciplines, creating an interdisciplinary opportunity for participants.
Groups were supported to develop knowledge and skills in ESD through a range of workshops throughout the year delivered by SOS-UK, including student leadership for climate justice and student and staff co-creation for ESD approaches. These workshops were accompanied by an informal check-in with students and a midpoint peer review of work between students and staff.
Final event
On 10th June, four groups presented their collaborative projects at a final learning and sharing event that took place at Open University’s campus in Milton Keynes and online. At the event, groups shared their processes, outcomes and reflections and with the participants from other groups, discussed next steps and legacy.
Projects included:
· Broadening access points for sustainability curricula through the Arts, in particular creative forums, skill-sharing and cultural activities
· Developing case studies which can be used in different curriculum areas helping students to look at the same issues through different lenses and disciplines
· Embedding sustainability in every module through common Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMAs) and other mandatory options
· Developing a Sustainability Committee at the Faculty of Business and Law to engage in partnerships for climate action internally and externally and influence the curriculum
Skills development
Throughout the year, students and staff were given opportunities to share their reflections and learnings. Participants used the "heads, hearts and hands model" to describe knowledge, values and practical skills needed for sustainability, and were supported throughout to reflect on how their projects might help them and wider student groups to develop the knowledge, values and skills they recognised as important.
Early on in the programme, participants were also asked to write a statement on how sustainability is relevant to them, and how they can use their role/discipline to contribute to sustainability. Later, they were supported to reflect on whether the statements remained true and any progress they’ve made on their statements.
Overall, participants noted they were able to explore how to communicate in an accessible and inclusive way and how their perspectives and ideas differ or align with others. They also noted improved skills in research, ESD literacy, self-delegation, critical analysis, problem solving and collaborating.
“I've found it really eye-opening. Prior to the programme, I (like many people) thought of sustainability as simply doing your bit to be 'green'. ESD Changemakers, however, has helped me understand that sustainability is so much more than that - it's about collective values and action, and how best to embed these values in our interactions with others. It's about making collective action accessible, not exclusive.”
While there were numerous challenges, including scheduling meetings, finding a common ground to get started, capacity and building confidence to share ideas, both students and staff demonstrated leadership, perseverance, enthusiasm, creativity and commitment.
“I think I made valuable contributions throughout the project through the ideas and resources I shared with my group. One of my most effective contributions was offering a global perspective, so that we could consider the importance of understanding that sustainability is not homogenous across cultures. Another contribution I made was through my lived experience as a disabled student, as I could provide an insight into the barriers to sustainability faced by students with different access needs.”
Going forward
Groups have shared their next steps for the projects and the University will explore how to take them forward. Open University also participates in Responsible Futures and will be supported to take projects and findings from ESD Changemakers and align them strategically with the Responsible Futures framework for whole-institution approach to embedding sustainability in learning.
