Consider the unexpected: scaling ESD as a matter of learning

Abstract

This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of 'scaling up' or 'scaling' of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how 'scaling up' ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESDactivities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specifications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of significant importance to scaling research. The research presented in this article is a response to the UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Global Action Programme (GAP) (UNESCO 2014b). The GAP acknowledges that numerous ESD-activities 1 were initiated during the UNESCO decade for ESD (2005-2014). However, the GAP also emphasizes a need to 'generate and scale-up action in all levels and areas of education and learning in order to accelerate progress towards sustainable development' (UNESCO 2014a, 2014b, 2014d). The increased interest in 'scaling' in ESD policy is one reason for why it is important to address scaling ESD-activities in ESE research. Another reason for doing so is that the UNESCO (2014c) discourse on scaling focuses primarily on 'scaling up' ESD-activities. According to educational and other research on scaling, 'scaling up' is one among many terms in a great variety of notions of scaling, i.e. of 'moving activities from a small to a larger impact' (Elmore 1996; Do 2015; Looi and Teh 2015). Some of these concepts are 'scaling up' , 'replication' , 'expanding' , 'going to scale' , 'mainstreaming' , 'rolling out' , 'growing' , 'scaling out' , 'developing'. Arguably, this is a limited understanding of what scaling ESD activities can mean. For example,

‘I think it works better if we have an example to help us’: experiences in collaboratively conceptualizing the scaling of education for sustainable development practices in South Africa

“…This section outlines the results of the PEA-analysis to enable the reader to follow the steps taken. Further analysis of the results utilising is detailed in the next section utilising the tentative conceptual framework of SEAL presented earlier in the article (Mickelsson, Kronlid, and Lotz-Sisitka 2019).…”

“…As mentioned above, for its understanding of the meaning of scaling processes, the article draws on the 2018 iteration of a tentative conceptual framework 6 , SEAL (Mickelsson, Kronlid, and Lotz-Sisitka 2019) with an approach to the scaling of ESD-activities as a transactional learning process.…”

“…In the analysis, the tentative conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning (SEAL) 5 (Mickelsson, Kronlid, and Lotz-Sisitka 2019) is used to support the PEA theoretically.…”

Researching Environmental and Sustainability Education Policy: Slumbers and Awakenings

“…To follow Lotz‐Sisitka a little further, we will also need to address another blind spot in the collection, namely, the sources and range of insights from post‐colonial and critical realist studies (Aikens et al ., 2016; Agbedahin and Lotz‐Sisitka, 2019). This helps us recognize a need to delineate ‘windows of opportunity’ for position–policy–practice configurations, such as in efforts to ‘mainstream’ or ‘scale up’ ESD (Mickelsson et al ., 2019). In the collection, we noted that all concepts potentially lose their critical and emancipating power over time as they get co‐opted and included into the dominant discourse in places where they were not ‘birthed’, or don't have a clear sense of who their progenitors were (Hardt and Negri, 2000).…”

Moving (Reflexively within) Structures. The Governance of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany

“…Education plays a pivotal role in these transformation processes as it fosters the capacity to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains [3]. While the UN Decade and the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) supported the scaling of ESD [4] in multi-faceted ways, ESD is still not implemented comprehensively in all educational areas. The scaling of ESD is realized by multi-stakeholder governance networks in polycentric systems with many centers of influence [5].…”