Stewards of the earth? : a study of teenagers' pro-environmental attitudes and lifestyles in Devon, UK and Malaga, Spain

Individual responses to sustainability are recognised as fundamental to progressing the sustainable development agenda. In order to raise awareness and support for sustainability, concerted programmes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have been promoted and ESD is now a core element of educational curricula in many countries, particularly in the developed world. One group of particular interest to educators and policy makers is teenagers. Their engagement with sustainability issues, both in rhetorical and participatory terms, is considered essential to both the short and long term infusion of sustainability into public consciousness. However, despite continuing endeavours to involve teenagers in the sustainability agenda, many remain apathetic despite increases in environmental awareness and literacy throughout society. This suggests there is considerable scope for more extensive analysis of the environmental attitudes and behaviour of teenagers beyond pedagogic influences. In light of this, the overall aim of the study is to explore the ways in which ESD interacts with other social influences such as families, peer groups and media, in forming young people's environmental awareness and participation in proenvironmentalb ehaviour.T eenagersw ho participatedi n the study were secondary and Further Education (FE) students from two European Union (EU) locations, Devon in the United Kingdom (UK) and Malaga in Andalusia, Spain. A cross-national approach was chosen in order to reveal salient factors influencing teenagers' relationship with sustainability in different social contexts. A range of research methods were employed including questionnaire surveys, interviews and focus groups. The findings indicate that, despite the existence of similar ESD policy commitments and conceptualu nderstandingso f sustainabilityi n the two cases tudies,s ubtle differencesi n local social processesh ad significant impactso n teenagers' participation in pro-environmental behaviours. However, common to both locations there was a need for ESD to be infused as part of a whole schools ethos and for other social contexts, particularly families, to be recognised more fully as influences on teenagers' environmental development. Furthermore, participation in proenvironmental behaviour was strongly influenced by socio-spatial location and teenagers' experienced difficulties transferring learned skills between school, home and peer sites. In many cases this lack of integration resulted in confused understandingsa nd inconsistentlyh eld values for behaviouri n different settings. From these conclusions, some practical options for greater co-ordination of sustainability strategies within schools and between schools and other social settings are suggested

Learning Development and Education for Sustainability: what are the links?

Learning Development (LD) is an emerging discipline developing a unique disciplinary identity. In common with many other new fields, it considers its position and relevance to other disciplines and bodies of thought, and in particular, educational development, applied linguistics and the sociology and philosophy of education. This paper considers one such area of debate: the link between Learning Development and Education for Sustainability (EfS). EfS is an area of pedagogic practice and a field of enquiry of considerable and growing importance in Higher Education (HE) and universities. Its underpinning systemic and epistemic philosophies suggest the need for integration across all facets of university activity, including LD. In this paper, we argue that there are identifiable links between LD and EfS that extend these philosophies, practices and fields of enquiry, characterised by the following: 1) commonalities surrounding the foci of their pedagogic practices, 2) shared methodologies for undertaking their practices, and 3) ways in which these methodologies are helping to situate both professions and disciplines within organisational contexts. The commonalities and possible distinctions between LD and EfS form a starting point for discussion, and raise the possibility that explicit identification of the links may encourage increased collaboration between the respective communities of practice, and the development of new ideas and innovative practice

Can a Low–Glycemic Index Diet Reduce the Need for Insulin in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus?: A randomized trial

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‘Left with a title but nothing else’: the challenges of embedding professional recognition schemes for teachers within higher education institutions

With increasing moves globally towards the professionalisation of teaching in Higher Education, there is growing interest in the role of accredited professional recognition schemes that provide professional development for established university teaching staff. In the UK, There are now over 120 professional recognition schemes, resulting in institutionally focused evaluation studies examining their impact. This article contributes to this emerging body of work; it draws on cross-institutional data and Foucauldian theorising to address two important questions. In what ways does engagement with an institutional professional recognition scheme impact on participants’ teaching development, and how does institutional culture influence that engagement? The data illustrate that whilst institutional culture drives engagement, it did little to promote teaching development. Across the case-study institutions, neo-liberalism agendas were apparent. Some staff felt pushed to achieve professional recognition in response to the increasing use of metrics to measure the student experience and to inform institutional standing in league tables. Whilst evidence shows the process of seeking accreditation can lead to an enhancement in teaching practices, caution must be taken to ensure that the professional development opportunities offered by accreditation schemes are fully realised

Evidencing the impact of teaching-related CPD: beyond the ‘Happy Sheets’

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International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Investigating the experiences of foundation degree students progressing to an honours degree: an integrated approach

Progression from a foundation degree to an honours degree has become an increasingly popular pathway through higher education. The route creates dual institution scenarios in which students can progress from a further education institution to a higher education institution. This paper reports on research into the academic and social integration of progression students into a higher education institution to complete their honours degree. It highlights the ways in which progression students face many first year issues whilst completing the final stage of their higher education studies and possible ways of addressing these issues. The evidence presented here suggests an explicit need to recognise not only the academic and social issues of progression, but also how these relate to the wider physical and cultural changes experienced. It also suggests that these issues are often overlooked by research which focuses almost exclusively on variables affecting the retention and attrition of traditional first year student