Nº. 2023 | 2
Literacy and sustainable development
The Swiss educational landscape, like the social and cultural context it is embedded in, is experiencing important changes in connection with education for sustainable development (ESD). At post-compulsory level, for example, a new overall curriculum for grammar schools (Maturitätsschulen) is under way, and is being overseen by the EDK (Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education). In order that schools can do justice to the demands of tomorrow within the context of the social challenges of today, the new curriculum aims to integrate topical questions especially concerned with sustainable development in both specific subject disciplines and interdisciplinary settings. Curricular content is to be prescribed in all subjects for the first time, including in the official language used in lessons. More
The relationship between man and nature has long been an area of interest in literature (Buekens, 2020). By allowing us as readers to dive into both personal and fictional experiences of the environment, literature offers us the chance both to observe nature and to connect with it. Moreover, it can employ a range of channels to explore the complex nature of relationships between us and the world and thereby the multiplicity of perspectives on a single topic. In this way, literature offers interesting opportunities to draw attention to these questions in the school context from social, economic and ecological perspectives. However, this does lead to tensions, in at least the three areas discussed below.
The first area concerns literature as a discipline, specifically literary corpora. How can we establish a literary culture based on our heritage which also aligns with the largely contemporary works on this topic? Here we can see a need to link subject-specific and interdisciplinary knowledge. How can we balance these two areas of knowledge? Do we need specialised pedagogical approaches in order to work with the interdisciplinary dimensions of the curriculum without jeopardising learner acquisition of subject-specific knowledge? We must also ask ourselves what the aims are with regard to the language of delivery of the school curriculum: Is it our goal to teach a common culture and language which facilitates the education and integration of competent employees or 21st century thinking? Is it possible to reconcile these aims within a school subject ?
The second area is concerned with values. Literature is an intellectual and ethical resource which enables children, young people and even adults to establish a shared culture around questions of sustainable development, to reflect on the fundamental values of our society and to play an active role in it. But how can we go beyond an isolated discussions about aesthetics in school? How can we foster active engagement and a critical attitude towards these topics without scaring learners about ecological disaster? And lastly, how can we motivate them to think deeply about their place in the world, their relationship to living things and their dependency on others, to respect difference and variety, and to take action to solve problems?
The third area relates to the material nature of the texts themselves. Although people today do still read books, at the same time they are increasingly turning to digital media like tablets, e-books and laptops in place of print. This is a significant change concerning the material dimension of reading and writing, which has implications not just for libraries as places where books and other texts are collected and made available, but also for the work of teachers, vocational trainers and researchers. What connections are there between the growing digitisation of media and sustainable development? To what extent do we see conflicting needs emerging in education for sustainable development and digital education ?
The contributions to this issue are drawn from the areas of research, practice and their intersection. They take up the questions outlined above and address them from a range of perspectives. In doing so, they continue the exchange set in motion at the conference organised by Anne Monnier and Carole-Anne Deschoux, «Teaching literature with education for sustainable development in mind» («Enseigner la littérature dans le souci de l'éducation à la durabilité»), which took place at the University of Geneva on 15th February 2023. Several authors who have contributed to this issue also presented their work at the conference.
In their article, Marc Atallah and Christophe Ronveaux propose a theoretical framework to connect education for sustainable development (ESD) with French as a school subject by means of science fiction texts. They deem the genre of science fiction particularly suitable for ESD as its metaphorical poetics compels the reader to see the motifs it features (natural disasters, robots, and transhumanism) as fictional constructs.
Camille Roelens looks into contemporary practical, political, and moral philosophy and examines topical questions of general and vocational education in western democracies. The author argues against the widespread belief that technical and democratic hypermodernism is bringing about the demise of the book and with it the demise of literature. She concludes with a discussion on the relevance of less formal ways to educate yourself outside of educational establishments.
In his article, Felix Böhm calls for German lessons to make a genuine contribution to education for sustainable development (ESD). He begins by systematically showing how the three areas of competency in ESD can be connected with material covered in German lessons. He then demonstrates how three different media – those of the graphic novel, the rap song, and the board game – can be used to embed the topic of ESD in language and literature lessons.
The article by Ingelore Mammes und Sabrina Jaskolka sheds light on a specific aspect of education for sustainable development: Gender stereotypes in careers work with children and young people. After first laying some theoretical foundations, they present a range of picture books which seek to help readers understand that career choices should not be tied to gender and societal norms.
In their article Clara Yiting Lauer, Helen Fischer and Jakob von Au present the learning platform Planet-N. This digital tool is designed to support teachers in bridging the gap between the aim as expressed by educational policy - education for sustainable development - and implementing this idea in all school subjects. Interactive storytelling, which is intended to help students move from simply understanding to actually taking action in the area of sustainability, constitutes a central element of the platform.
Gabriela Gehr and Rolf Jucker write on learning outside («outdoor learning»). They start by highlighting on a conceptual level the enormous potential of this way of teaching for a variety of areas of education and the special role played by language in constructing mental models. A comprehensive practical teaching unit offers further detail on how learning in the area of «Nature, People and Society» is closely connected to language learning.
Pascal Boninsegni and Anne Monnier share their pedagogical thinking around the question of corpora, aims and tasks in lessons which seek to combine the study of literary texts with reflections on current ecological challenges. The two pedagogical concepts presented – journals for reading and writing, and synthesising information – show the potential children’s literature holds for developing knowledge and competencies in working with literary texts, and for promoting an education for 21st century citizens, which will help them act democratically to protect the planet.
The article by Barbara Siegrist addresses a teaching project at secondary level designed to examine rare and old manuscript versions of fables by La Fontaine which were digitised by the Bodmer Lab at the University of Geneva. Siegrist emphasises how having access to these digital texts makes it possible to make connections between literature lessons and education for sustainable development. At the same time, Siegrist also addresses the material nature of these texts.
In her article, Solène Humair presents the «tutothek» a project conducted between 2021 and 2022 by the library of Vevey in the canton of Vaud. It consisted of a sequence of ten tutorial video packages showcasing the various lifestyle changes made for ecological reasons by families from the region.
The «grainothek» is a school-based project carried out at a commercial school in the canton of Geneva. Author Alexandra Muston reports how, upon the initiative of the media centre, a partnership involving multiple players came about. The idea was to establish a «grainothek» – a kind of library collection of seeds. In the context of the project, students were encouraged to get to know the school library and its collection of books.
In the final article of this issue, Natalie Lavoie and Joane Deneault explore the use of pencil versus keyboard in texts written at primary level. Their focus is on learner motivation and the writing they produced. The authors use their findings to discuss the implications of the choice of writing implement and also their judgments on the degree of creativity to be found in the texts.
Anne Monnier and Dieter Isler
References
Buekens, S. (2020). Émergence d'une littérature environnementale. Droz.
CDIP. (2023). Actualisation du Plan d’études cadre de 1994.
https://matu2023.ch/fr/plan-d-etudes-cadre