Givers are happier: relational thinking and education for sustainability : implications for

student experience in HE

Jim Longhurst, Billy Clayton, Georgina Gough, Kate Miller, Fiona Hyland, Ash Tierney, Hannah Tweddell, Amy Walsh, Chris Willmore

Chris WillmoreProfessor of Sustainability and Law, University of Bristol

Bristol Green Capital 2015 – how does it show it has succeeded? Metrics about carbon footprint?

Recycling? Fairtrade purchasing? What about attitudes and values?

How do we show our sustainability inputs

are making a difference to values? setting life norms not short term

practices?2

How do you measure success in sustainability work?

Positiv

e Gree

ns

Waste W

atche

rs

Conce

rned C

onsum

ers

Sideli

ne Su

pporte

rs

Cauti

ous P

articip

ants

Stalle

d Star

ters

Honest

ly Dise

ngage

d0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%DEFRA Segmentation Survey

of University of Bristol Students

2010 2013 2015

Attitude and conduct studies

So what has your project achieved? Traditional outcome measures of success are financial, or

physical environment tangibles. The relationships forged are perceived as outputs, not

outcomes. Relational Thinking suggests we need to see engagement as

outcome. The creation of relationships is not merely a means to an end.

The evidence is that it is central to adaptive capacity, resilience, wellbeing, belonging and responsibility.

Answer: Engagement is an outcome3 May 2023

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RT as an evidence based approach Theory - Me or we? Inserting we into modernity Quantative research evidence :

those who engage are happier and more resilient

the more remote decision makers are from others, the less they feel responsible for them.

Objectivity methods for measuring connectivity/ analysing drivers e.g Relational

Proximity Framework

See Zischka (2013)

Schluter (2016) – SDGs and Relational Thinking Relationalthinking.net

Schluter M and Lee D, The R Factor

3 May 2023

5

Challenge: mobilise 10%

of the population

Dual aim: impact on the city and impact on our students and our students

Bristol city: 450,000 population and

1.5m catchment City of radical, innovation Vision of inclusive,

sustainable city European Green Capital

2015 Students 10% population

How? Bristol European Green Capital 2015 as catalyst Unique university partnership 

Within: whole institution approach Between: all Universities and Student Unions

together Bristol Green Partnership: >850 organisations City Council and Mayor Funded by Higher Education Funding Council for

England Strategic Catalyst Fund as test bed

100,000 hours of student action for sustainability

NOT just this year, but every year

Large and small scale, individual, and collective

Over 220 Public, private sector, voluntary groups, NGOS, communities

Volunteering, internships, placements, and projects for sustainability

Students engaged in 100,000 hours of city community activity

The Bees and Hive

• Holistic -total picture

• Light tough management

• Accepting failure as natural

• Surface & share

Enabling students and community to

see Hive as well as Bees

Not hard edged- inclusive Easier for new ideas

Individual and collectiveCurricular, extra curricular & institutional

Enables different community & institutional mappingsSeeing the role of the individual within

What have students

been doing?

• Cash: raising £300k for local charities through recycling

• Education: delivering workshops to schools• Conservation: Designing Wildlife Corridors• Modern Day Slavery • NGO Business planning • Knitaversity• Greening Business : waste and energy audits

and green business plans

Online brokerage platform

“Front of house” for local organisations to engage with students

Maintained in partnership between Universities

Case Studies to inspire

The Change Makers New permanent award created to

celebrate and reward students efforts

Two public award ceremonies a year – over 700 a year – civic and university leaders – presented by civic leaders.

Traditional Outcomes…

>2500 students >140,000 hours >£1 million value Changing student

understanding of what it means to live in a city

Changing our city

It made me feel I

belonged

What’s the point of being

in Bristol if you don’t join

in?

It gave me the

belief to move

to Bristol: I now

sell three times

as many bikes

It has been fantastic to work with the University as well; lots of people in this area don’t go on to University or have any connections. It has really changed our perceptions

We felt they really got to understand our business and

produced a brilliant business plan that is really going to help us going forward

External Evaluation Carried out by NUS – using the Responsible Futures Methodology

What surprised them most through the evaluation was “the overwhelmingly positive feedback from both students and external community partners. It was really pleasing to see how useful the students felt, and how much community partners valued their impact and would recommend working with Bristol students to other organisations”.

“the effective networking opportunities and opportunities to share academic and on the ground experiences of sustainability within the city e.g. links with BGCP.”

“The level and quality of student engagement over the past year is absolutely incredible and offers an incredible platform upon which to continue to strive towards creating graduates who are ready to tackle the world’s greatest sustainability challenges – during their degree and when they graduate.”

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Students see RELATIONSHIPS as key

Why I joined Sustainability

experience Free ice cream Sounded fun Low

risk/commitment Sample and choice

What I got from it It make me feel I

belonged Experienced places

/people I wouldn’t have Skills of working with

different people Gave me a richer

understanding of the UKBut remember: participation in the project is largely voluntary so those who value belonging / relationships might have disproportionately engaged

Student perceived outcomes

Richer / nuanced understanding of UK culture/society (28% international students vs baseline of 15%)

Self identification as belonging to University - feel part of the ‘community’

Stronger intercultural competencies Communication and working with different

people And incidentally a more holistic understanding of sustainability …..

Conclusions

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Research shows engagement in community correlates to wellbeing

Project evaluations tend to see engagement as output not outcome

Sustainability projects can be difficult to measure in traditional outcome terms

Students articulate relationships as key – RT offers theoretical justification

For more information please contact James,Longhurst@uwe.ac.ukChris.Willmore@bris.ac.uk

Clayton, W., Longhurst, J. and Willmore, C. (2016) Review of the contribution of Green Capital: Student Capital to Bristols year as European Green Capital. Project Report. eprints.uwe.ac.uk/28311

Clayton, W., Longhurst, J. and Willmore, C. (2016) The Bristol Method, Green Capital: Student Capital. The power of student sustainability engagement www.bristol2015.co.uk/method/european-green-capital/