About Us



SWLfSC [the Coalition] is a Community Interest Company that is a network of over 130 organisations and individuals across the South West of England. Coalition members share expertise in sustainable development, education and learning, and understand that learning, viewed broadly, is crucial to the development of a sustainable South West.

The Coalition, which was established in 2004 and has grown through the voluntary efforts of members and supportive institutions, exists to champion education for sustainable development [ESD] in the region. The glue that binds SWLfSC together is, firstly, a shared conviction that sustainable development is a priority, and that learning is the key to this; and, secondly, commonly-held values around the importance of education, the need to promote systems thinking and active citizenship, and the central importance of co-operation across interests and communities.

For further information...
It is free to join. Please email swlfsc@gmail.com to become a member.

If you would like to advertise a regional event through our network please email Paul Vare (learning4l@aol.com) and he will add it to the monthly update.

Friday 25 November 2011

First Coalition Seminar: Beyond the Key Performance Indicator - Thursday 8th December 11.00-1.00 at Bicton College, Devon

Followed by a tour of Bicton College and the construction of their new EaRTH (Environmental and Renewable Technologies Hub) and a brief coalition meeting.

Free transport available from Exeter St. David’s Station (please advise if you need a lift).

All welcome!

How do you measure learning for sustainability?
Are you data-informed or data-driven? Do the things that count get counted? Do we learn more from hitting targets or looking around (and beyond) them? And are those who decide what we measure, always best placed to do so? Sustainability is seen by many as a slippery concept while education itself is
politically fraught; so a composite concept like ESD almost defies measurement, doesn’t it? Yet a failure to provide ‘hard data’, often measured against ‘key performance indicators’ can be seen as a critical weakness, undermining our arguments in favour of learning for sustainability in policy and practice.
So our first Coalition Seminar will focus on the thorny issue of monitoring and evaluation. We’ll start with some basics but we want to build on your experience with the aim of extending our thinking about and beyond key performance indictors.

We welcome 5-10 minute contributions from you to get us started; please come with your own examples of what/how you measure and bring your questions too. If you can make a contribution or would like to discuss this ahead of the event, please contact Paul Vare at: Learning4L@aol.com 


If you intend to attend please contact Elsa Lee at swlfsc@gmail.com



Friday 11 November 2011

November 2011 update

You can access our November update here or in the archive on this page.  It is a particularly full one this time.  We hope you find it useful and informative.  Any comments and suggestions are welcomed!

Members of the Board of Directors

Paul Vare - Executive Director
Professor William Scott - Chair
Mairi Kershaw - Treasurer
Elsa Lee - Secretary
Helen Adams
Rupert Bannister
Sarah Chave
Lynn Cutler
Jo Matthews
Professor Stephen Sterling