Guest Lecturer - Graham Allan

Education for Sustainable Development Due to the sickness of our lecturer Andy Reynolds, we have been having many guests come and cover for him. Today, we had Graham Allan. His purpose of his lecture was to just give a little insight Education for Sustainable Development. This was the first that we had heard of this subject so it was in fact an introduction to the subject. Allan had told us how Kofi Annan, (2001) head of the United Nations says ‘"Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract – sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world's people" The reason that Allan had told us about Annan's speech is because he wanted to emphasise the topic and considering Annan is the head of the UN and a loss of ESD comes from this group. In contrast to the initial subject that Allan had been speaking about; there is a whole new approach towards the curriculum rather than being separate. There is a clear overlap with the 'citizenship' curriculum as it requires reflection on what to teach. This has been put onto place so that they can; • Establish the childs ability to think for themselves • encourage reflection, debate, and expression of oppinions • Nurturing ones learning that is of relevance to the learner's life experience Although there are more than I would say, 300 definitions of Sustainable Development, being able to come to terms with what it actually means is in fact relative. Allan quoted:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

- Brundtland, 1987.