Transformative Learning and Pedagogical Approaches in Education for Sustainable Development: Are Initial Teacher Education Programmes in England and Turkey Ready for Creating Agents of Change for Sustainability?

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a feature of academic and policy debates within initial teacher education around the world. A theme within these debates is the extent to which ESD is more than just a body of knowledge, and if it suggests different pedagogical approaches which may be prevalent in most countries. Another feature of these debates is whether ESD can be seen as suggesting a transformative approach as opposed to a transmissive approach. As a qualitative study, using examples from research and evidence gathered in England and Turkey through document analysis, this article identifies both the opportunities and challenges for teacher education courses using ESD as a means for promoting a distinctive pedagogical approach and whether they can be seen as posing transformative learning

Returned Volunteers and Engagement with Development: Final Report for VSO Longitudinal study

The Development Education Research Centre of the Institute of Education was commissioned by VSO to undertake a longitudinal study of how returned volunteers (RVs) take forward their enthusiasms, skills, passions and learning from their placement once back in the UK or Ireland. Following an initial baseline study with 49 Returned Volunteers (RVs) in May 2009 via a questionnaire, 21 RVs were each interviewed three times between July 2009 and April 2010. In addition, the research team conducted a series of discussions over the course of the research with staff from VSO in order to compare data gathered with other known evidence. The main themes from these interviews are given below and compared with other existing published research on international volunteers

From internationalization to global citizenship: Dialogues in international higher education

As we consider assessment and, by implication, graduation, the question of what sort of graduate we are sending out into the world arises. A university education is not simply more stuff than A-level: it is, we hope, part of the transformation of a student into the adult they were always capable of being, realizing their potential. But as our opening chapter argued, there has to be a selection process for what is going to be emphasized: just being knowledgeable is a recipe for narrowness, and for our new graduate to be wrong-footed by a world that is far more complex than their university life prepared them for. Universities were ‘global’ long before almost any other ventures, with international collaboration on research going back centuries; our students come from all over the world, and our graduates go just about everywhere. We would be irresponsible not to consider how best to prepare them for that fact, but it is not straightforward – there are competing versions of what it is to be a ‘global citizen’, as this chapter explores

Primary education for global learning and sustainability

This is one of a series of research reports commissioned by the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT), a notfor-profit company established in December 2012 with the aim of consolidating and building on the evidence, findings and principles of the Cambridge Primary Review. Cambridge Primary Review Trust is supported by Pearson Education, based at the University of York and chaired by Professor Robin Alexander. A briefing which summarises key issues from this report is also available. The report and briefing may be downloaded from the Trust’s website: www.cprtrust.org.uk. The website also provides information and other reports in this series, and about the many publications of the Cambridge Primary Review

Student Volunteering and Global Citizenship at UCL

This paper is based on a small study of UCL student volunteers doing placements through the Volunteering Services Unit (VSU) in 2016. The research aimed to identify the extent to which UCL students who engage in volunteering activities through UCL see a connection between their experience and UCL’s mission of equipping graduates to be ‘global citizens’. We were interested in how students understand the concept of global citizenship, how aware there were of this agenda at UCL, and to what extent their understandings aligned with UCL goals. We were also keen to explore whether students made links between volunteering and global citizenship, as well as how their volunteering and ideas about global citizenship related to their degree

Tumour associated vasculature-on-a-chip for the evaluation of microbubble-mediated delivery of targeted liposomes

The vascular system is the primary route for the delivery of therapeutic drugs throughout the body and is an important barrier at the region of disease interest, such as a solid tumour. The development of complex 3D tumour cultures has progressed significantly in recent years however, the generation of perfusable vascularised tumour models still presents many challenges. This study presents a microfluidic-based vasculature system that can be induced to display properties of tumour-associated blood vessels without direct incorporation of tumour cells. Conditioning healthy endothelial–fibroblast cell vasculature co-cultures with media taken from tumour cell cultures was found to result in the formation of disorganised, tortuous networks which display characteristics consistent with those of tumour-associated vasculature. Integrin αvβ3, a cell adhesion receptor associated with angiogenesis, was found to be upregulated in vasculature co-cultures conditioned with tumour cell media (TCM) – consistent with the reported αvβ3 expression pattern in angiogenic tumour vasculature in vivo. Increased accumulation of liposomes (LSs) conjugated to antibodies against αvβ3 was observed in TCM networks compared to non-conditioned networks, indicating αvβ3 may be a potential target for the delivery of drugs specifically to tumour vasculature. Furthermore, the use of microbubbles (MBs) and ultrasound (US) to further enhance the delivery of LSs to TCM-conditioned vasculature was investigated. Quantification of fluorescent LS accumulation post-perfusion of the vascular network showed 3-fold increased accumulation with the use of MBs and US, suggesting that targeted LS delivery could be further improved with the use of locally administered MBs and US

High-throughput microfluidics for evaluating microbubble enhanced delivery of cancer therapeutics in spheroid cultures

Drug penetration into solid tumours remains a major challenge in the effective treatment of cancer. Microbubble (MB) mediated sonoporation offers a potential solution to this by enhancing the uptake of drugs into cells. Additionally, in using an ultrasound (US) trigger, drug delivery can be localised to the tumour, thus reducing the off-site toxicity associated with systemic delivery. The majority of in vitro studies involving the observation of MB-enhanced drug efficacy have been conducted on 2D monolayer cell cultures, which are known to be poor models for in vivo tumours. 3D spheroid cultures allow for the production of multicellular cultures complete with extracellular matrix (ECM) components. These cultures effectively recreate many of the physiological features of the tumour microenvironment and have been shown to be far superior to previous 2D monolayer models. However, spheroids are typically handled in well-plates in which the fluid environment is static, limiting the physiological relevance of the model. The combination of 3D cultures and microfluidics would allow for the production of a dynamic system in which spheroids are subjected to in vivo like fluid flow and shear stressesThis study presents a microfluidic device containing an array of spheroid traps, into which multiple pre-grown colorectal cancer (CRC) spheroids were loaded. Reservoirs interfaced with the chip use hydrostatic pressure to passively drive flow through the system and subject spheroids to capillary like flow velocities. The use of reservoirs also enabled multiple chips to be run in parallel, allowing for the screening of multiple therapeutic treatments (n = 690 total spheroids analysed). This microfluidic platform was used to investigate MB enhanced drug delivery and showed that co-delivery of 3 μM doxorubicin (DOX) + MB + US reduced spheroid viability to 48 ± 2%, compared to 75 ± 5% observed with 3 μM DOX alone. Delivery of drug loaded MBs (DLMBs), in which DOX-loaded liposomes (DOX-LS) were conjugated to MBs, reduced spheroid viability to 62 ± 3%, a decrease compared to the 75 ± 3% viability observed with DOX-LS in the absence of MBs + US

Can agricultural cultivation methods influence the healthfulness of crops for foods

The aim of the current study was to investigate if there are any health effects of long-term consumption of organically grown crops using a rat model. Crops were retrieved over two years from along-term field trial at three different locations in Denmark, using three different cultivation systems(OA, organic based on livestock manure; OB, organic based on green manure; and C, conventional with mineral fertilizers and pesticides)with two field replicates. The cultivation system had an impact on the nutritional quality, affecting γ-tocopherol, some amino acids, and fatty acid composition. Additionally, the nutritional quality was affected by harvest year and location. However, harvest year and location rather than cultivation system affected the measured health biomarkers. In conclusion, the differences in dietary treatments composed of ingredients from different cultivation systems did not lead to significant differences in the measured health biomarkers, except for a significant difference in plasma IgGl evels

Assessing Butterflies in Europe. Executive summary

1. The Assessing Butterflies in Europe (ABLE) project was an EU Parliamentary Pilot project with a duration of two years (beginning of December 2019 to the end of November 2020) and received €800,000 of funding via a service contract with Directorate General Environment. 2. The mandate and rationale from the EU Parliament was: “The project aims at developing a suite of EU Lepidoptera indicators which can help improve conservation measure and assess progress in implementing EU policies and legislation such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and the EU Habitats Directive. Besides providing a highly relevant indicator for measuring progress in terms of managing and restoring Natura 2000 sites, it would also contribute to monitoring progress on Target 3 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to increase the contribution of agriculture and forestry to maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. In particular, the pilot should deliver a representative indicator to help monitor the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on grassland biodiversity. It will also provide data to produce a climate change indicator, thereby contributing to the ongoing revision of climate change adaptation strategies. Indicators will also be possible for woodland, wetland and urban habitats.” 3. The ABLE project was delivered by a consortium of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Butterfly Conservation Europe, Butterfly Conservation UK, De Vlinderstichting and HelmholtzZentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH – UFZ. Considerable in-kind contributions were provided by Butterfly Conservation partners across Europe. 4. There is mounting evidence of widespread declines in the diversity and abundance of insects across the globe. The ABLE project is particularly timely in helping to develop capacity for monitoring of insects and assessing the status of butterflies in the EU. 5. There are 482 butterfly species in Europe (451 occurring within the EU27), breeding in a wide range of habitats. Butterflies react quickly to change and are considered to be good biological indicators, especially of other insects and pollinators. Monitoring butterflies can help shed light on changes in these important groups. 6. The main aims of the ABLE project were to collate butterfly monitoring data across Europe, to facilitate the start of new schemes in the EU, and to develop indicators to help policy design and evaluation. 7. Following the mandate from the EU Parliament for this Pilot project, we make the following key recommendations: i. Use Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (eBMS) data and indicators for EU policy design; to inform resource planning, especially for Member State’s Prioritised Action Frameworks (PAFs); and to track, evaluate and adjust EU and MSs policy implementation, including the EU Green Deal, EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, to help reverse pollinator declines. ii. Use Member State and Article 17 data on butterflies to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of the EU CAP and MS’s CAP Strategic Plans; to ensure Forestry plans include more grassland refuges and herb rich rides and edges; and that urban planning and regional developments invest in pollinator habitats. Butterfly Conservation Europe 2020 \textbar ASSESSING BUTTERFLIES IN EUROPE – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 iii. Use available Butterfly Monitoring Scheme data to strengthen the quality of assessments of conservation Status of Habitats Directive listed habitats and species in meeting mandatory reporting requirements under Art 17 of the Directive iv. Invest in linking butterfly data with land use and management data, including implementation of Natura 2000 Management Plans, Land Parcel Information system and Satellite data to help evaluate conservation effectiveness v. Support additional monitoring of rare and vulnerable butterflies (including endemics and those not listed on the Habitats Directive) and designate some additional Protected Areas to sustain and enhance the quality of remaining areas that are important for these Red Listed butterflies and so prevent further extinctions vi. Invest in further capacity building and cooperation among citizen scientists, professionals, farmers and authorities to monitor and record abundance of butterflies, moths and other pollinators, including supporting coordination, training and growth of citizen science eBMS schemes (as recommended by EU Pollinator Expert Group); filling data gaps and developing tools and expertise to gather and integrate data from various sources. vii. ABLE shows that Citizen Science eBMS are cost effective, delivering very good value for money. New citizen science Butterfly Monitoring Schemes are needed in Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia. Together with further support to sustain and increase transects across most EU MSs, especially in the ten schemes newly created during the ABLE project. The ten EU27 countries where new Citizen Science butterfly monitoring schemes were begun in 2019/2020, with the support of ABLE, BCE partners and active volunteers, are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland and Portugal. Together with Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxemburg, Lithuania (currently dormant), Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, there are now 22 EU(27) Member States with butterfly monitoring schemes. With several more outside the EU, including Norway, Switzerland and the UK (which has the longest running scheme). 8. This Executive Summary accompanies detailed technical reports on the three project tasks: development of butterfly indicators, development of butterfly monitoring networks, and tools to support butterfly monitoring and analysis