:::: MENU ::::
Browsing posts in: Policy Updates

CJEE Special Issue + Join us for the Research Symposium!

Environmental and Sustainability Education remains a critical challenge for faculties of education across Canada. The involvement of educators at all levels of education is imperative to help Canadians address the climate crisis and make cultural and societal shifts to more sustainable forms of living. Teacher educators are key actors in this, given their influence on the education and training of pre-service and in-service teachers.

A recent special issue of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (vol. 23, issue 1) features articles by Canadian teacher educators who are strengthening this developing field through innovative research and developing new practices. This issue was co-edited by Doug Karrow, Laura Sims and Hilary Inwood, members of EECOM’s Standing Committee on Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education.

This work will be further explored in a biennial Research Symposium on April 21, being offered on the opening day of EECOM’s upcoming conference. Please join us for the Research Symposium and conference – the first time these events have been offered online!


WEBINAR EVENT | “Shifting ESE Online in Teacher Education” – Sept. 24 @ 1:00pm (EST)

Join teacher educators from across Canada and the US to discuss how they are pivoting environmental learning in teacher education to digital formats. Learn from faculty experienced with online teaching about their preferred strategies, promising practices, and innovative ways they are engaging preservice students and inservice teachers in Environmental & Sustainability Education.

Details:
Thursday September 24, 2020 – 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 
Register in advance for this webinar using this Zoom link here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We look forward to having you join us for this free event!


Support is coming from the Deans of Education!

We’re getting support from many groups for ESE-TE; it is exciting to see this happening!  In October members of our ESE-TE Standing Committee were invited to address the fall conference of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education (ACDE).  Drs. Nicole Bell, Paul Elliott, Lucie Sauvé and Hilary Inwood spoke eloquently about the rationale for and praxis of ESE-TE in their Faculties of Education; this was supported by Dr. Nigel Roulet’s compelling talk about climate change and the important role education has to play in addressing it. Our timing was right – the Deans unanimously voted to write a new Sustainability Accord, a policy piece that will discuss the roles that Canadian Faculties of Education can (and should) play in ensuring a more equitable future for all living things on this planet.  Check into the progress of this important policy on the ACDE’s website.


Going to bat for Bats at Brock!

A Brock teacher candidate assembling a Bat House.

Brock University has been running an optional course on Outdoor and Environmental Education (OEE) over a number of years. Most recently two sections ran in the fall of 2017. The teacher candidates represented PJ, JI and IS levels as well as both programs, namely consecutive and concurrent education.

For one of the courses, lead by Professor Doug Karrow, the teacher candidates were engaged in intersectional learning on conservation, invasive species, local ecosystems, taking action and incorporated elements of design technology. They were immersed in discussions on the history and current of conservation in Environmental Education, and then introduced to the role of bats in our ecosystem in southern Ontario, as natural pest controllers and pollinators, among other things. They were then introduced to the invasive species, white-nose fungus, which has a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of many bat species. Continue Reading