ESD!
Working with heritage knowledge
on action learning pathways tomore healthy lifestyles withgreater food security

Rob O’Donoghue

OVERVIEW: ESD action learning pathways
in school subject teaching
Cultural history andheritage as a foundation
for situated learning (3)How are histories and heritage foundations for learning?

Working with the SDGs as a
How do the SDGs enable a grasp of complex concerns?
tool for clarifying complex
patters of risk (4)Expanding subject
pedagogy to include action
learning . (5&6)

Three action learning
exemplars of heritage-led
action learning. (7-9)
The inclusive assessmentof learning andcompetence. (10-12)

How can conventional subject teaching be expanded for ESD?

How can heritage inform food security and health innovation?

How can we best assesslearning and competence?

PAST: Forgotten Worlds of early agriculture
in East and Southern Africa

PRESENT: Sustainability and healthconcerns in colonial modernity
GlobalPartnerships
Peace &JusticeFermented grain foods

Poverty
HungerLife onLand

Health & Wellbeing

Cultured milk (curds)

Life inWater
Education

concerns

ClimateGenderProduction &Consumption
Water
CitiesEnergyInequalityDecent WorkEconomy•••••

Early-onset diabetes
Obesity and heart disease
Anaemia (iron deficiency)
Candida (Gut bacteria)
Access to food (hunger)

Food security risk

Leafy green vegetables

FUTURE: An action learning expansion of
conventional subject pedagogy
TEACH A SUBJECTLEARN CONCEPTS
FOR ACQUISITION
OF CONCEPTS TASK AND SYSTEMSTHINKING
AND SKILLS

Subject Knowledge is both
ACQUIRED from others& developed through
PARTICIPATION.
(Sfard, 1998).

ACQUISITIONASSESSMENTOF KNOWLEDGE
AND SKILLSQ2
FIND OUT
MORE

Q1
SUBJECTKNOWLEDGE
Mattersof concern

Adapted Edwards, 2014

Q4
TRY OUT &ASSESS CHANGE

Q3WORK OUTSOLUTIONSPARTICIPATION

Critical Realist Learning across PAST and PRESENTto re-imagine a sustainability FUTURE

PRESENT(Experience)

PAST(Stories)

What could be&
What should be?

What isCulturalhistoricalstory sharing
Q1&
What is not?

(Chikamori et.al, 2019)

FUTURE(Possibilities)
Q2

Q4

Q3

Design solutions withchange challenge
assessment
Q3-Q4

What

Matters ofcanbe?
concern

Q2-Q3
Depth inquiry

Q1(Schudel, 2016)

FERMENTED GRAIN FOODS (maRewu)
1 Tune-in2

How were things in the past?

How are things today?

Diabetes
ObesityCandida

4

How can we make things
more sustainable together?

3
What does this mean for us today?

Either – or,Bothor
Home-Made?
Touch the past with our memories, feel the future flying on the wings of imagination(Mhlope, 2021)

CULTURED MILK (Amasi)
1 Tune-in
How were things in the past?

How are things today?

2

Healthydigestiveflora

4 How can we make things
more sustainable together?

3
What does this mean for us today?

Shop-bought

HomeMade?
orBothTouch the past with our memories, feel the future flying on the wings of imagination(Mhlope, 2021)

GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES (imifino)
1 Tune-in2

How were things in the past?

4 How can we make things
more sustainable together?

How are things today?

Anaemia
and locally
producedfood

3
What does this mean for us today?

Wild-picked,
ShopBought,
HomeGrown
or all of theabove?
Touch the past with our memories, feel the future flying on the wings of imagination(Mhlope, 2021)

How do we assess TMESD learning withconventional assessment practices
ESD
ACQUISITION & FINDING OUT(Can report / expand / apply to find answers)

TEACH a Subject

Q1: START-UP
STORY &HERITAGE to…
REFLECTIONRAISE
QUESTIONS

Concerns

Q4: TRY-OUT MORESUSTAINABLE & JUSTALTERNATIVES &ASSESS PROGRESS

Projects, assignments/case studies

Q2: FIND-OUT
MORE THROUGH
DEPTH INQUIRY &SYSTEMS THINKINGREVIEW
CONCERNS

Q3: WORK-OUTAPPLIEDPURPOSE

WHAT CAN BE DONE
TOGETHER

Analyse, evaluate & innovate (Q1-4:15%)translation tasks, practicaltasks and activities(Can do things to answer questions)

Understand and apply (Q2-3:45%)
tests& exams

key words & concepts(Can ask and answer questions)

Know and remember (Q1-2:40%)

PARTICIPATION & WORKING OUTHow do we work with competence assessment
for ESD in subject teaching
Cultural and personal competences develop with heritage and life
experience as the knowledge, dispositions and aesthetics enabling us to:• Know things in relation to a context and concerns with (Q1)
• Developing Know-how to resolve concerns and (Q2 & Q3)• Be able to develop more sustainable ways of being together (Q2-4)
Acquisition

ESD Competences:a) Systems thinkingb) Anticipationc) Normatived) Strategice) Collaborationf) Critical thinkingg) Self awarenessh) Problem solving(UNESCO, 2017 – p.10).

Knowing

Q1
What can be known& understood
together as we

Criticalsystems
modelling(a;f;h)Matters ofconcern

Q4

Try-out andassess moresustainableways of being?

Reflexive
modes ofaction(b;c;d;e;g)Q2
Understand andapply concepts,
critically evaluate
concerns anddeliberate betterways of doing
things together?

Being able to …
Participation

Q3

KnowhowAssessing significant learning actions together
Is the learner able tocritique, evaluate, review,formulate and generate
new ideas andsuggestions for change?

Can the learner reflect ona situation and show
empathy and compassion
for self, community andother life forms ?

Is the learner able toshow care andconcern for others
and surroundings

Can the learner identify, critique,understand and describe a matter ofconcern using systems thinking within-depth understanding?
Can the learner analyse,interpret and apply
knowledge to solve
problems in relation to SD
matters of concern in aparticular context?

SIGNIFICANTLEARNING
Can the learner describe, synthesise and aligndifferent types of knowledge(s), values and skills inorder to contribute to problem solving and change
processes?

Q1

Q2

Q4

Q3

References:
Arend, B. (2013) Beyond Bloom: Expanding our Ideas about Learning Objectives. Brigham Young University.
https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/beyond-bloom-expanding-our-ideas-about-learning-objectives
Fink, L.D. (2003) Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College
Courses, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chikamori, K., Tanimura, C. & Ueno, M. (2019). Transformational model of education for sustainabledevelopment (TMESD) as a learning process of socialization. Journal of Critical Realism, 18(4), 420–436.
https://doi.org/10.1080/147674 30.2019.1667090
Edwards, A. (2014) Designing Tasks which Engage Learners with Knowledge, in I. Thompson (Ed) Task Design,
Subject Pedagogy and Student Engagement. London: Routledge
O’Donoghue, R. and Sandoval Rivera,(2020) Hand-Print CARE: Clarifying the inclusion of intergenerational
knowledge in school curriculum settings as plural knowledge environments.
O’Donoghue, R.B., Kibuka-Sebitosi, E., Tshiningayamwe, S. and Palmer, C. (2019). Navigating non-sense byexemplifying situated life experience and intergenerational heritage knowledge in Education for Sustainable
Development learning spaces. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education | Vol.35 (2019) ISSN 24115959 | DOI 10.4314/sajee.v35i1.8
O’Donoghue, R.B. Taylor, R.J. and Venter, V. (2018) How are Learning and Training Environments Transformingwith ESD? In Education on the Move. Paris, UNESCO.
Schudel, I. (2017). Modelling Dialectical Processes in Environmental Learning: An Elaboration of Roy Bhaskar’s
Ontoaxiological Chain. Journal of Critical Realism, 16 (2) 163-183
Shumba, O., Mandikonza, C., Lotz-Sisitka, H.B. (2020). Advancing assessment thinking in ESD with a focus on
significant learning in ESD processes. Chapter XXX. In Schudel, I., Songqwaru, Z., Tshinganyamwe, S., LotzSisitka (Eds).