Sustainability Education: A Classroom Guide is informed by many years of working in education especially with young children and trainee teachers and draws on extensive reading and research. Both the principal authors have a long-term interest and commitment to sustainability education and practical experience of how to bring it about. Stephen Scoffham worked for many years for a charity specializing in environmental education. Steve Rawlinson, as editor of the leading journal Primary Geography, has done much to focus attention on innovative ways to teach children about environmental issues. We have both engaged with Higher Education over prolonged periods, served as Presidents of the UK Geographical Association, and shared our hopes and enthusiasm with an entire generation of future educators. We decided to collaborate on this book because we believe it is vital to explore how to respond to the global environmental crisis and to find ways to empower students, teachers and children for their future lives
About Steve Rawlinson
I attended a small village primary school in Buckinghamshire, UK, where the daily journey to school became an adventure, and nature rambles were a regular event. Receiving an ecology book as a prize was another of the foundations that fueled my interest in the world about me. I took for granted the countryside which I spent much of my time exploring on bike and on foot, but which now I appreciate with greater understanding and humility.
A physical geographer by training, my teaching experience encompassed the primary, secondary and university sectors culminating in twenty-one years as a teacher educator. My life-long passion for being and working outdoors ensured those entering the profession were fully equipped with the skills and knowledge to safely take children outside to explore, understand and care for their world. The innumerable benefits of fieldwork have guided my approach to environmental education; the focusing of inquisitive young minds in the real world, alongside their enthusiasm and optimism, will largely determine the route to sustainability they take. I am enjoying sharing the adventure with them.
About Stephen Scoffham
My interest in the environment is difficult to pin down but was undoubtedly nurtured by opportunities to interact with my surroundings in my youth. As a child brought up in the leafy suburbs of the English Home Counties in the second half of the twentieth century, I was lucky enough to have good access to the countryside and the freedom to explore it unaccompanied. Later I travelled outside Europe, obtained a degree in philosophy, trained as a primary school teacher, and began to engage with the literature around environmental issues and global inequalities.
These different influences led to my interest in using the urban environment as a teaching resource, resulted in my first book (Scoffham 1980) and led to my future career as an atlas consultant and educational author. However, it was only when I became involved in Higher Education that I began to understand that the way we relate to ourselves is every bit as much a part of sustainability as how we connect to the world around us. This is a journey that I am still pursuing.
Building on Mission 4.7’s #WeChampion social media campaign, the “We Champion” speaker series will showcase best practices and innovative approaches to Transformative Education from across the Mission 4.7 community and beyond. The series will help further collective thinking around SDG 4 .7 implementation and gather momentum on various thematic areas pertaining to SDG 4.7.