August 2024, Michiel van Harskamp, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
The first few months of the IMP>ACT project are behind us and we have set the stage so we can start with developing the IMP>ACT assessment framework. One of the main things the consortium did during the first half of 2024 was to start at the beginning. We spoke with 30 potential future users of the IMP>ACT assessment framework, across all of Europe. What kind of role do these users see in the assessment of sustainability and climate change educational practice and policy? Which challenges do they see with assessment, and what needs do they have? And what could the IMP>ACT assessment framework bring them?
We ensured the group of consulted users covered a wide range of possible backgrounds. We spoke with NGOs, who carried out their educational activities and were interested in their effectiveness, and we interviewed governmental bodies taking care of sustainability education on a national level, for instance, because they are responsible for the national curriculum. Users represented formal education, for example by offering educational materials to schools to use within the school setting, or informal education, among which were educational centres for outdoor education. Finally, some users provided support for others while carrying out assessment, whilst others performed or wanted to perform assessment themselves.
Our conversations with these different potential users brought us many insights in what the IMP>ACT assessment framework could or should look like. We discussed the central concept of action competence and action orientation, and explored what peripheral concepts might be important to include. Different goals of using the framework that stakeholders foresaw include monitoring, evaluation, quality development, accreditation or certification, and accountability. Some challenges that stakeholders mentioned for assessment of sustainability and climate change education include a lack of competence or capacity within their organisation and a lack of examples of assessment in policy and practice.
With the stakeholder consultations now behind us, we can move on to developing the first version of the assessment framework. Insights from our conversations with stakeholders help us to make the framework broadly applicable in many educational contexts. We will test the first version of the framework across a wide range of interventions in the first half of 2025. During the years that follow, the framework will be adapted and tested in several case studies.
Would you like to share any ideas or comments about the assessment of sustainability and climate change education? Feel free to reach out to us through the form on the website.