DRAFT: EfS Framework Appendix – V1 30th November 2009. Comments welcome: aryan@glos.ac.uk
APPENDIX: EFS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
This Appendix contains guidance on the ways that EfS (Education for Sustainability) can relate to
Social Science subjects, which at UoG includes UG and PG provision in Geography; Community
Engagement and Governance; Sociology; Criminology; Psychology; Criminological Psychology;
Forensic Psychology; Business Psychology; Occupational Psychology; and Counselling.
This Appendix includes:
1. orientation statement about the ways that EfS can be conceived in relation to the
priorities and concerns of Social Science disciplines;
2. connections with the subject benchmarks for Social Sciences and the skills and
competencies advocated for EfS;
3. indicative learning aims and outcomes that can be adapted and applied in designing
existing and future programmes and modules in these subject areas.
You can also refer to Section 5 of this EfS Framework for further discussion about the pedagogic
approaches prioritised in EfS and the generic skills EfS seeks to cultivate. Section 5 also contains
guidance on thematic points of focus (‘content’ or ‘topics’) across subject areas that are well
suited to analysis in terms of sustainability.
For tips about good practice for sustainability in the practical aspects of delivering teaching and
learning activities, e.g. in organising tutorials and field trips, see the following collection of
factsheets on ‘How to Make Your Teaching More Sustainable’:
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/esd/howto.aspx.
1. ORIENTATION STATEMENT:
EfS is a critical educational movement geared to the exploration of cultural practices, using the
contested concept of ‘sustainability’, with a view to supporting effective human development
and social innovation. The potential for connectivity between the Social Sciences and EfS is
therefore considerable. The role of Social Science disciplines in nurturing students’ abilities to
critique and challenge social dynamics aligns closely with the aims of EfS, particularly in the
analysis of power, discourse and ideology across different societies and groups.
The capacity to think systemically about the dynamics and functions of diverse societies, and to
explore questions about sustainability in relation to different contexts and practices, is key to
EfS and its socially critical orientation. Exploration of issues such as community cohesion and
resilience, crime and conflict, lifestyles and consumption habits, citizenship and representation
are central to the concerns of EfS. Social Science disciplines are of value in their consideration of
the interconnections of micro, meso and macro levels of analysis when exploring ‘unsustainable’
cultural practices and proposing more effective solutions.
The theme of globalisation has formed one substantial prompt for the social-scientific analysis
of various questions of human and ecological sustainability, using the analytical matrix of globallocal processes. Such analytical vehicles have enabled the social sciences to engage, often
DRAFT: EfS Framework Appendix – V1 30th November 2009. Comments welcome: aryan@glos.ac.uk
explicitly, with culturally relative uses of concepts such as ‘development’, ‘progress’ and
‘nature’, and to address minority interests and plural dimensions of culture. In Geography,
Psychology, and Youth and Community Work, QAA benchmark statements specifically refer to
the engagement with development and sustainability issues (see further Section 2 below).
A number of concerns and priorities for the Social Sciences connect with EfS, for example:
 analysis and critique across diverse societies and groups of the nature and impact of
globally-dispersed cultural practices and forms of technological and political power;
 critical exploration, through ‘environmental social science’ and the field of ‘new social
movements’, of the emergence of the ‘sustainable development’ agenda;
 evaluation of urban and rural development in terms of the impact of transport, leisure,
recreation, resource use and waste, and the impacts on communities and ecosystems;
 public perceptions of ‘risk’ and ‘resilience’ and the impact of present forms of life and
consumption for community stability and human health and wellbeing;
 comparative understanding of the contexts in which conflicting cultural values and and
political interests have played out regarding questions of ‘sustainability;
 critiques of scientific development in the sociology of science, and reflection upon the
ethics and foundations of technological innovation across different social settings.
Social science graduates bring their enhanced critical capability and cultural sensitivity into
many different spheres of public life. Their potential contribution to collective efforts to devise
and develop more sustainable cultural practices is therefore considerable and it is this potential
that EfS seeks to harness, often drawing on the radical pedagogic traditions that underpin the
social scientific endeavour. Therefore EfS, as applied within the social-scientific context, seeks to
draw students into dialogue with explicit and implicit sustainability discourses and practices, and
to engage them in refining their personal and professional positions on sustainability questions.
2. SUBJECT BENCHMARK CONNECTIONS:
The expectations and characteristics of Social Science disciplines are expressed in the QAA
subject benchmarks1, which include introductory statements that connect with EfS as follows:
Criminology 2007: (hereafter CRIM 2007)
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critical appreciation of the personal, local, national and international contexts for crime,
victimisation, and official responses to deviance (CRIM 2007 2.6);
policy and ‘applied’ orientation due to close connections with the criminal justice
professions and ethical debates on security and human rights (CRIM 2007 3.5);
attention to the need for engagement with conflicting views and on controversial public
issues, taking diverse views into account in formulating approaches (CRIM 2007 6.2);
Geography 2007: (hereafter GEOG 2007)
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http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/honours/
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the primacy of localised, inter-disciplinary and specific study of complex and reciprocal
relationships between human societies and the physical earth (GEOG 2007 1.1);
engaging a range of forms of knowledge to understand development and sustainability
issues, including experiential, observational and spatial learning (GEOG 2007 2.2/3.8);
the role of geographers in the wider community and in policy-making, bringing to bear
the integrated, inter-disciplinary and global focus of the subject (GEOG 2007 3.2).
Psychology 2007: (hereafter PSY 2007)
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capacity for understanding complex interactions of aspects of mind, brain, behaviour
and experience and critically evaluating their ‘real life’ applications (PSY 2007 2.1);
the substantial potential influence of practising psychologists on sustainability issues,
particularly in the education, health, justice and private sectors (PSY 2007 3.2/5.6);
understanding of the varied contexts for, and external pressures on, human perception,
motivation and decision-making, at individual and group levels (PSY 2007 3.5).
Sociology 2007: (hereafter SOC 2007)
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concern to produce critical and theoretically-informed understanding of social change
and to connect this with the spheres of public life and practical ethics (SOC 2007 1.2);
understanding of social worlds and changing social contexts, to enhance the critique and
improvement of society through public media, policy and science (SOC 2007 2.2);
historical and comparative study of human societies and interactions, to gain insight
into the potential impact on future forms of life and development (SOC 2007 2.3).
Youth and Community Work 2009: (hereafter YCW 2009)
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the applied nature of the subject and its focus on addressing public policy and improving
practice at local, regional and devolved national levels (YCW 2009 1.1);
the foundational principles of equality, diversity, participation and interdependence that
are embedded within the subject area and in its overall trajectory (YCW 2009 1.6/1.7);
the explicit acknowledgement of values and ethics within the field of debate and within
the field of practice, to further aims of welfare and citizenship (YCW 2009 2.6/2.7).
These overlapping aims and the means of achieving them are further demonstrated in the list of
possible learning aims and outcomes contained in Section 3 below.
Many generic skills and attributes highlighted in Section 5 of the UoG EfS Framework document
are also found in sections of the benchmark statements dedicated to skills, teaching and
learning principles, and programme design:
Futures thinking
Critical and creative thinking
Participatory learning
Partnerships
Systemic thinking
CRIM 2007
4.1; 5.3
3.2; 4.2; 5.3
3.5; 4.2; 5.3; 6.9
6.9
3.1; 4.2; 5.3
GEOG 2007
3.2; 3.4; 3.5; 3.9
3.3; 3.4; 3.9
2.2; 5.7
PSY 2007
3.6;
2.1; 3.7; 5.4; 5.5
5.4; 5.5
1.2; 3.5; 3.9
3.2; 3.5; 4.4; 5.4
DRAFT: EfS Framework Appendix – V1 30th November 2009. Comments welcome: aryan@glos.ac.uk
Futures thinking
Critical and creative thinking
Participatory learning
Partnerships
Systemic thinking
SOC 2007
3.2
1.4; 2.2; 3.2; 4.3
4.3
1.7; 2.3; 2.4
YCW 2009
1.6; 1.9; 2.12
2.3; 2.4; 2.9; 2.12
1.6; 17; 1.8, 2.1
2.6; 2.8; 2.12
2.4; 2.5; 2.12
3. INDICATIVE LEARNING AIMS AND OUTCOMES:
The lists below suggest potential learning aims and outcomes that connect Social Science
subject areas with EfS priorities. Differentiation for programme/module level, and for skills
progression, can be framed in line with the architecture of existing programmes. Alignment
with different categories of learning outcomes, such as ‘knowledge’, ‘skills’ and ‘attitudes’, can
also be related to the approaches taken in existing provision.
Some examples of Programme or Module Aims for Social Science disciplines could include:
1) To develop critical appreciation of the ways that globalisation can impact upon local
communities and be reflected in deviance, violence and political resistance.
2) To evaluate the varied ways that sustainability questions feature in specific geographic
contexts, with integration of cultural, political and economic dimensions of analysis.
3) To assess differences in motivation and actions among individuals faced with similar
social realities and public messages about risks and prospects for humanity.
4) To develop student sensitivity to global and local contexts and influences upon their
own and others’ consumption habits, lifestyles and values.
5) To promote analysis of inter-generational responsibility and to support community
resilience in dealing with competing local interests over specific contested issues.
Some indicative Learning Outcomes for Social Science disciplines might include:
1) Analyse the ways that sustainability questions can emerge with regard to the ethical
foundations and specific functions of police and justice professions.
2) Demonstrate appreciation of the varied development needs of specific communities and
means of addressing them, technologically, politically and culturally.
3) Recognise and critically reflect upon the adaptive responses made by individuals and
groups to specific threats and impacts, and ways to best support effective adaptations.
4) Develop critical understanding of the effects of global processes on different groups,
and assess the influence of power and ideology in perpetuating or challenging them.
5) Harness effective methods of participatory engagement, analysis and communication to
provoke dialogue and change on controversial issues of local development.