A public-private partnership connecting education policy with environmental and sustainability education in Galapagos

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Education for sustainability in action where it is most needed: presenting and discussing the largest teacher professional development program in Galapagos Islands

Proposal

We describe the opportunities and challenges resulting from the development and implementation of the Education for Sustainability in Galapagos (ESG), a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Education in Ecuador (MoE), Galapagos Conservancy (GC; an NGO based in the United States) and Scalesia Foundation (SF; a local NGO). We used the policy attributes theory (Porter et al., 1988) as a lens for our analysis: (1) Specificity: The extent and detail of the policy in relation to its objectives, resources provided, and degree of prescriptiveness, (2) Authority: The degree of community involvement in the design of the policy and how it has gained legitimacy and buy-in, (3) Consistency: Whether the proposed policy matches other policy initiatives or sends conflicting messages to the community, (4) Power: The reward and sanction systems put in place by the new policy, and (5) Stability: The degree of change, or not, in the policy over time.

In this empirical research, we drew on data from focus groups and interviews with teachers and other key stakeholders, we employed Systemic Functional Analysis (SFA; Fang & Schleppegrell, 2010) to investigate our participants’ perspectives. SFA allows for an analysis of how speakers discuss ideas, negotiate roles, and express meaning.

Findings:
Specificity: The ESG program has followed the guidelines established by the MoE around curricula and teachers’ participation. The MoE required all teachers to attend the workshops and provided transportation, lodging, and food for teachers. GC has given funding for the workshops. All workshops need to address the long-term conservation of the Galapagos.
Authority: GC partners conducted on-site focus groups with stakeholders to identify the educational needs in the Galapagos. Then, GC and the MoE organized a meeting to define a common vision for the ESG program. The resulting vision follows the academic guidelines of the ministry; addresses a set of evidence-based best practices; and focuses on the conservation of the archipelago.
Consistency: The ESG program has followed all policies established by the MoE. Yet, the isolation of the Galapagos has created challenges in the communication and implementation of national-level policies.
Power: The MoE grants professional development credit to teachers who attend the workshops and sanctions teachers who fail to do so. In addition, spot-observations are conducted to check the quality of the workshops.
Stability: The MoE has continued to provide its financial, logistical, and academic support for the ESG program. GC has attempted to bring the same facilitators to conduct the workshops in the various institutes.

This study provides valuable information to the education community on the development and implementation of a public-private partnership in a developing country. A key factor in the success of the ESG program has been the alignment of goals between the MoE and GC using the ministry’s educational guidelines and a common vision of the need to protect the Galapagos Islands.

Authors

• Diego X. Román, SMU

• K.C. Busch, North Carolina State University

• Amy Doherty, Galapagos Conservancy

• Heny Agredo, Dallas Independent School District

• Adrian Soria, Aves y Conservacion/BirdLife in Ecuador

• Richard Knab, Galapagos Conservancy

• Hiba Rahim, Southern Methodist University - CORE

• Harvey Luna, Southern Methodist University - CORE