Conference Agenda

The project sought to address the problem that technological innovation can bring about greater levels of sustainability only when all citizens are able to engage with the technology (Bhamra, Lilley and Tang, 2011; Lockton, Harrison and Stanton, 2008). It sought to enhance public understanding of the concept of sustainability, and practical steps to achieving this, by people who are commonly excluded from public education initiatives. To this end, a five-day STEM summer scheme on the theme of sustainability was planned, held in two non-formal learning venues. The project was designed to meet the following objectives for young people with Additional Support Needs (ASN) living in an area of an area of deprivation in the west of Scotland:

• To enhance participants’ awareness of what is meant by sustainability at a local, national, and international level
• To introduce participants to different aspects of sustainable technologies, through interaction with scientists and technologists
• To give participants hands on experience of strategies that will bring them and their community closer to sustainability

Academics working in relevant area of STEM were invited to devise and run a 90-minute workshop showing how their research was enhancing sustainability for the young people. Discussions about the workshops and the form the scheme would take were fostered by three workshops led an external partner who specialises in promoting inter-disciplinary conversations. All invited workshop leaders had been identified through the university’s ‘STEM Equals’ initiative which sought to promote applications for Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (ESPRC) funding from under-represented groups. Through participating in the project, they were offered the chance to provide evidence of addressing the EPSRC’s mission and so enhanced their ability to position themselves favourably for future bids.

The project was conceptualised as critical pedagogy, in which social justice and democracy are integral to the teaching and evaluation (Breuing, 2011). The underpinning model for the scheme was transformational learning theory’, which posits that changes in thinking, beliefs and behaviours can be wrought only when prior assumptions are challenged (Meziro, 2000). Such shifts, although qualitatively different for the young people and the academics, were being sought in both workshop leaders and workshop participants. The framework is commonly associated with attempts to build capacity, but this project was unusual in explicitly seeking to achieve capacity building in the academics and young people through mutual interactions. It also drew on the ideas of Fricker (2007) and took active steps, through recruitments processes and practical organisation, to guard against epistemic injustice for either workshop leaders or young people. This notion considers those whose perspectives are not incorporated into knowledge creation, either because they are excluded from the process, for examples by assumptions of what they can achieve, or because they cannot understand or be understood by those creating the knowledge. This required scrutiny of all aspects of the scheme, for example, travel arrangements of participants to and from the site, availability of suitable clothing for the outdoor environment as well as catering arrangements and support for communication. Drawing on a raft of professional knowledge about effective ways to teach and assess young people with ASN, workshop leaders were given guidance on how to communicate their research in a way that would be accessible to their audience. In addition, other people with relevant expertise, including outdoor activity staff, a storyteller and a professional photographer were employed.