OUR PLACE Western Sydney Stage 1: Sustainability Educators
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OUR PLACE
Western Sydney
Stage 1: Sustainability
Educators
Place story map: Chris Tobin, Darug Sustainability Educator, 2012.
1
OUR PLACE, WESTERN SYDNEY
STAGE 1: COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL and
SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATORS
PROJECT REPORT
March 2013
Margaret Somerville
Lin Brown
Karin Mackay
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... vi
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
What is „Our Place, Western Sydney‟? .................................................................................. 1
BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................... 1
Social/Cultural ....................................................................................................................... 2
Economic ............................................................................................................................... 2
Environmental ........................................................................................................................ 2
Educational ............................................................................................................................ 3
THE PROJECT .......................................................................................................................... 4
Aims ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Scope of the project ............................................................................................................... 4
Key questions ......................................................................................................................... 4
Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 4
Methods.................................................................................................................................. 5
Survey/invitation .................................................................................................................... 5
EDUCATORS‟ PLACE MAPS AND STORIES ....................................................................... 8
Outer Western Sydney Focus Group ...................................................................................... 8
Representative Place Story Maps......................................................................................... 10
Mid Western Sydney Focus Group ...................................................................................... 14
Representative Place Story Maps......................................................................................... 15
Inner Western Sydney Region .............................................................................................. 20
Representative Place Story Maps......................................................................................... 22
CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ............................ 26
Educators‟ statements about the challenges of their work ................................................... 28
ENABLERS OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ................................................................ 30
Strategies to engage the disengaged .................................................................................... 32
EDUCTORS‟ LEARNING AND SUPPORT NEEDS ............................................................ 35
Professional learning needs.................................................................................................. 35
Educators‟ support needs ..................................................................................................... 37
Priority needs ....................................................................................................................... 38
LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... 39
Appendix 1: List of Acronyms ............................................................................................. 40
Appendix 2: Invitation Email............................................................................................... 41
Appendix 3: Story Maps and Pedagogical Practices: The Educators‟ Discussions ............. 42
Appendix 4: Indepth Analysis of Individual Story Maps .................................................... 56
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Participants per Region ................................................................................................. 5
Table 2: Outline of Workshop Content ....................................................................................... 7
Table 3: Outer Western Sydney Educators‟ Summary ................................................................ 9
Table 4: Mid Western Sydney Educators‟ Summary ................................................................ 15
Table 5: Inner Western Sydney Educators‟ Summary ............................................................... 20
Table 6: Challenges/Barriers to Community Engagement ........................................................ 27
Table 7: Strategies to Enable Community Engagement ........................................................... 31
Table 8: Educator Professional Learning Needs ....................................................................... 36
Table 9: Educator Support Needs for Community Engagement .............................................. 37
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: „Our Place, Western Sydney‟: Relevant Local Government Areas ............................. 1
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As lead author of this report I would like to begin by acknowledging that this research was
conducted on Darug Lands, to pay my respects to elders past and present, and to
acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal people who have participated in this project.
I would like to acknowledge the twenty five community sustainability educators who
participated in this research and shared so generously of their time, commitment and passion.
If the wellbeing of the planet was in their hands the world would be a better place.
I would like to acknowledge the very close working collaboration and support from Sue
Burton, Karen Paroissien and Amy Nancarrow of the Office of Environment and Heritage
and Jen Dollin of the UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable
Development, Greater Western Sydney. Without this three way partnership the project would
not have been possible.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work of research assistants Karin Mackay
and Lin Brown. Karin has been embedded in community arts and sustainability education for
many years and had just the right approach for engaging community educators in the drawing
task that yielded such rich insights for us all. Lin applied her expertise in making sense of the
proliferation of lists and quotes to manageable and accessible tables so that the reader of this
report can gain access to the complex and multiple data the educators generated.
We hope that readers will find this report informative and engaging and that it will make a
difference.
Margaret Somerville
Professor of Education
Director, Centre for Educational Research
University of Western Sydney
v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction - What is Our Place, Western Sydney?
„Our Place, Western Sydney‟ is a collaborative project between the Centre for Educational
Research, University of Western Sydney, the UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education
for Sustainability Development, Greater Western Sydney, and the Office of Environment and
Heritage, NSW. The project was designed to find out how community sustainability educators
and community members can be assisted to achieve environmental and sustainability
outcomes in the region. It was organised in two stages. Stage 1: Community educators aimed
to investigate how community sustainability educators in the Western Sydney region are
engaging with their communities and how they can support their communities to get more
involved in looking after their local places. Stage 2 aimed to find out what local places are
important to communities in western Sydney and how to support community members to
look after their local places.
Background
„Our Place, Western Sydney‟ is developed in the context of the transition from a state-based
(governance) model to a region-based (place) model for the Office of Environment and
Heritage. For this purpose the western Sydney region is defined as comprising 8 local
government areas:- The Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Penrith, Blacktown, The Hills,
Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta.
Figure 1: „Our Place, Western Sydney‟: Relevant Local Government Areas
viThe Western Sydney region has a population of 1.2 million people and is one of the fastest
growing urban populations in Australia. The majority of Australia‟s new immigrants (60%)
settle in GWS. 35% of the total population of Greater Western Sydney were born overseas,
having migrated from over 170 countries, often as refugees, and speaking in excess of one
hundred languages. The region is home to the Indigenous Darug, Tharawal and Gandarra
peoples, and has the largest single Aboriginal community in the country with Aboriginal
people who have relocated from all over Australia.
The region features rural and agricultural lands, and natural bushland, including the remnants
of the critically endangered native Cumberland Plain Bushland and World Heritage-listed
areas of the Blue Mountains. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River system is Sydney‟s primary
water source, the backbone of the region‟s agricultural and fishing industries, and a major
recreational attraction. The demand for land development is threatening natural bushlands
and the local food industry. There is an extensive body of Indigenous knowledge about the
river and its local environments that is a crucial resource for sustainability education.
Despite the fact that western Sydney‟s economy is the third largest in Australia behind the
Sydney CBD and Melbourne, the region has higher than average unemployment and lower
than average salary levels. More than half of the local government areas are rated as having
the highest levels of disadvantage on the SEIFA index of socio-economic disadvantage.
Educational outcomes are marked by the low socio-economic status of many communities in
the region. The overall high school retention rate for years 7 to 12 is the lowest in the Sydney
metropolitan area and in 2009 twice as many people in GWS aged 15 or older had not
attended school compared to the rest of Sydney and NSW. The University of Western Sydney
is the only university located in Western Sydney and it offers a range of courses and research
programs to some 36,000 students. The area is also supported by seven colleges that form the
Western Sydney Institute of Technical and Further Education (WSI TAFE). These two
institutions are the major providers of further education in the area.
Based on discussions with regional leaders and contributions from individuals on the NSW
2021 „Have your Say‟ website, the NSW Government has identified the following priorities
for the Western Sydney region:
Grow the economy of Western Sydney
Improve access to jobs and facilitate employment growth, particularly for young
people
Improve strategic planning to protect valuable agricultural land
Provide greater access to affordable housing options
Reduce travel times
Deliver appropriate services to disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our
community
Improve local natural environmental assets and the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean
River.
Within these broad priority areas a number of priority actions have been identified relating to
„Local Environment and Communities‟:
vii Manage river health
Limit the impacts of urban development on the environment
Protect wildlife
Increase green skills education and training opportunities
Improve strategic planning to protect valuable agricultural land
Community-based sustainability educators are key to achieving these sustainability outcomes
in western Sydney but we know little about their work or how to support them.
THE PROJECT
Our Place, Western Sydney Stage 1 aims to identify how to community-based
environmental and sustainability educators in the Western Sydney region are engaging with
their communities and how they can support communities to become more involved in
looking after their local environments.
Key questions
What is your role in sustainability education and who is the community you work with?
What have you found helps to engage people in your community/ies to look after their local
places?
What are some of the challenges in engaging people in your community?
What are your professional learning needs and what support do you need to facilitate
communities to look after their local places?
Methodology and methods
The project was framed within the concept of Place, as aligned with the new directions of the
Office of Environment and Heritage and the structure of RCE, Greater Western Sydney. We
used the map of the region to group the eight local government areas into three clusters
according to distance from the centre of Sydney and apparent population density. This
resulted in an Outer Western Sydney cluster (Hawkesbury-Nepean and Blue Mountains); a
Mid Western Sydney cluster (Penrith, Blacktown and the Hills); and an Inner Western Sydney
cluster (Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta). Educators were invited to attend a Focus Group in
their cluster and were subsequently linked to the Community Forum (Stage 2) held in the
same cluster. In this way the educators‟ Focus Group and Community Forum workshop
discussions were focussed on similar issues connected to the characteristics of these local
places.
The focus groups aimed to explore the nature and location of community sustainability
educators‟ work; the enablers and barriers to them engaging with their communities; and their
professional learning and support needs. Within the focus groups the research used a different
method for each of these aims. The educators were first asked to individually map their work
and their communities on A3 paper and to verbally introduce themselves using their place
story map. They then took part in a group discussion about the enablers and barriers to
engaging their communities, and finally they listed their learning and support needs in pairs.
The resulting data was analysed according to the storylines of place and identity in their place
viiistory maps; the categories and themes that emerged in the group discussion of enablers and
barriers; and the nature and frequency of their learning and support needs.
THE OUTCOMES
Educators place maps and stories
The analysis of the educator‟s 25 place story maps reveals how important it is to understand
the nature of sustainability educators‟ community engagement work. Each educator‟s unique
place story was analysed according to the two main storylines that emerged from this data,
the story of their identity and their pedagogies. Unlike educators in schools, their identities,
and the nature and places of their work, are diverse and complex. They tended to fall into
similar groups according to the place-based clusters of Outer, Mid and Inner West, and
therefore individual profiles are presented of typical and atypical place story maps for each
cluster.
Educators in the Outer cluster were well networked and focussed on experiential learning,
protection of natural eco-systems and food production networks. Educators from the Mid
West cluster were more fragmented, their focus was on engaging the disengaged and the
challenges of peri-urban development including loss of community cohesion and rural lands.
The Inner West educators on the other hand found many commonalities in issues of urban
density and urban low SES community needs, and the needs of high migrant and
multicultural communities.
The atypical place story maps reveal the importance of understanding and respecting the
diversity that exists within the field if we are to understand the work of community
sustainability educators. The place story map of a Darug educator was selected as one of two
Aboriginal participants, both in the Outer West group. His map shows concentric circles of
country with the outer circle representing the ancestors, the middle circle representing the
current generation and the inner circle representing the future generations. His map is
uniquely different to all of the rest. Eight brightly coloured circles within the outer circle
represent other organisations working for environmental sustainability, all contained within
the Aboriginal notion of Country.
The place story map of a volunteer educator was chosen as atypical in the Mid West group.
This artist-educator‟s map revealed a strong sense of personal meaning through her central
identity as educator, which connected diverse places and communities of engagement. The
place story map of a Moslem childcare centre owner/director was analysed as the atypical
map from the Inner West, although in some senses it could be said to be typical as half the
focus group were new migrants. This learning map is distinctive in it representation of three
childcare centres each under an arc of brightly coloured rainbows with sun, rain, trees, and
multiple community connections in all directions. The central image is a heart shaped of
home and family. The profiles and place story maps of these educators are represented fully
in the report and appendices.
ixChallenges and barriers
A total of 50 challenges and barriers to engaging communities were recorded across the three
focus groups. These were divided into four meta-level categories to better understand their
nature: (1) engaging different sections of the community; (2) collaborating with other
educators; (3) designing successful programs/workshops and (4) bureaucratic and work
conditions. Under (1) educators specified attitudes within particular community groups,
separation of communities from the environment and socio-economic factors as barriers. In
category (2) educators identified difficulties of engaging with teachers and schools, and
differences in educators own sustainability „journey‟. In relation to (3), designing successful
programs, credibility, information overload, problematic terms (climate change) and the
general difficulty of language and terminology were discussed. Bureaucratic concerns (4)
included over regulation for educators and community members, and lack of time and
resources for filling out complex grant applications. Quotes are provided to illustrate each of
these themes. Many of these challenges and barriers appear again in „Enabling factors‟ in
relation to potential resolutions.
Enablers of community engagement
Educators recorded a total of 76 responses when discussing successful strategies for engaging
community members in sustainability activities. These were categorised into the meta-level
categories of HOW, WHO, WHAT and WHERE to engage the community. Under HOW,
educators discussed successful workshop and program design; strategies for motivating and
engaging their communities; tailoring the approach to specific audiences in terms of
language, age and socio-economic factors; and strategies for informing the community; as
key enabling factors. Under WHO educators described the importance of getting to know
their communities and engaging networks as significant. Under WHAT they covered issues of
content appeal; and in relation to WHERE, they discussed the need to be visible in the
community. Again, each of these strategies is illustrated with key quotes from the data in the
full report.
Educator learning and support needs
The educators proposed a total of 136 learning and support needs that are analysed according
to „Professional Learning Needs‟ and „Support Needs‟. The topics proposed by the educators
in relation to their ongoing professional learning in order of the frequency were: 1)
establishing and maintaining formal and informal networks; 2) updating their knowledge and
skills in the areas of grant writing, information technology and pedagogies of engagement; 3)
participating in formal learning opportunities and 4) learning local knowledge and resource
availability. In terms of support required they listed: Additional staff (a wide range of support
staff named); information resources; money/funding; organisational support; time; support
from media for advertising; and ongoing professional development. The final focus group
was asked to prioritise their professional learning needs and came up with the following list
that is typical across the three groups if we interpret „language education‟ in the broad sense
of communication education.
x More financial resourcing - insufficient funding, money
Needing more volunteers
Language education, support to get the message across to non-English speakers
Mobilising partnerships and connections with other organisations and
Having time to access information about sustainability education programs, resources,
case studies already available through the internet (e.g. Sustainability Reading Hub)
This priority list from the educators themselves confirms findings from other research about
the community sustainability education sector (Somerville & Green, 2013). While
community sustainability initiatives are emerging worldwide as a source of innovative
responses to urgent planetary problems, the sector is the most poorly resourced and the least
understood. The location of highly innovative teaching and learning, community
sustainability education is an essential source of innovation for the formal education sector. It
is the most efficient and cost effective form of sustainability engagement in terms of the
potential of local partnerships, local networks, and the ability to mobilise committed
volunteers. The project has identified the unique place-based nature of sustainability
educators‟ work and the importance of building connections across the sector to leverage
momentum for transformational change. Educators identified the proliferation of information
on the web but welcomed the opportunity for authentic face to face connections and
information sharing as essential to their own professional development.
These research findings are limited to the perspectives of the 25 educators who participated in
the focus groups in the western Sydney region. The project is ongoing, however, in the sense
that the sustainability educators are connected to community members through the
community forums conducted in Stage 2 of the project. It is also ongoing in the sense that the
Our Place project will be extended to other regions in NSW. The findings about the work of
these community sustainability educators in each different region will add cumulative weight
to our understanding of their work in engaging their communities to look after their local
places.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Disseminate the findings of this research
Elicit feedback about the research and its findings from organisations and educators
within the region, and more broadly through face to face and online forums.
Continue to build on this knowledge through cumulatively considering the outcomes
of the research in other regions.
Develop professional learning modules through the UWS Education Knowledge
Network (EKN) that can be accredited into a Master of Education.
Establish and maintain regular network meetings across the region through the
Education for Sustainability strand of the UN RCE Greater Western Sydney.
Provide local and regional professional learning to enhance access to available
resources.
xiIntroduction
INTRODUCTION
What is ‘Our Place, Western Sydney’?
„Our Place, Western Sydney‟ is a collaborative project between the Office of Environment
and Heritage, the Centre for Educational Research, University of Western Sydney, and the
United Nations Regional Centre for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development,
Greater Western Sydney (RCE, GWS). The project is organised in two stages, Stage 1:
Community educators and Stage 2: Community members. Stage 1 of the project aims to
identify how community-based environmental and sustainability educators in the Western
Sydney region are engaging with their communities and how they can support their
communities to get more involved in looking after their local environments. Stage 2 aims to
find out what local places are important to community members and how to support them to
look after their local places. Community educators participating in Stage 1 are connected with
community members participating in Stage 2 through the research process.
BACKGROUND
„Our Place, Western Sydney‟ is developed in the context of the transition from a state-based
(governance) model to a region-based (place) model for the Office of Environment and
Heritage. For this purpose the western Sydney region is defined as comprising 8 local
government areas:- The Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Penrith, Blacktown, The Hills,
Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta.
Figure 1: „Our Place, Western Sydney‟: Relevant Local Government Areas
1Introduction
The Western Sydney region has a population of 1.2 million people and is one of the fastest
growing urban populations in Australia. While there are marked local differences across the
region, the following summarises the broad cultural, environmental, economic and
educational characteristics identified by the UN RCE Greater Western Sydney and the Centre
for Educational Research.
Social/Cultural
The population of the Region is culturally diverse as the majority of Australia‟s new
immigrants (60%) settle in GWS. 35% of the total population of Greater Western Sydney
were born overseas, having migrated from over 170 countries, and speaking in excess of one
hundred languages. Over the past decade 50% of the total immigration came from Iraq and
Sudan, often as refugees escaping the trauma of war torn countries. In addition to the high
cultural diversity resulting from incoming migration, GWS is home to the Indigenous Darug,
Tharawal and Gandarra peoples, and has the largest single Aboriginal community in the
country with Aboriginal people who have relocated from all over Australia.
Economic
Despite the fact that GWS‟s economy is the third largest in Australia behind the Sydney CBD
and Melbourne, the region has higher than average unemployment and lower than average
salary levels. GWS also has high levels of mortgage and rental stress. Seven of the ten local
government areas rated as having the highest levels of disadvantage on the SEIFA index, are
in the GWS region; that is half of the total number of local government areas rated as having
high levels of disadvantage. The SEIFA index is derived from such signifiers of disadvantage
such as low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment, and jobs in relatively
unskilled occupations.
Environmental
The region is subject to the impacts of human induced climate change and the sustainability
imperatives of transitioning to a low carbon economy, developing sustainable housing and
transport, ensuring agricultural sustainability and food security and conserving biodiversity
and river health. The region features rural and agricultural lands, and natural bushland,
including the remnants of the critically endangered native Cumberland Plain Bushland and
World Heritage-listed areas of the Blue Mountains. In particular, the Hawkesbury-Nepean
River system is Sydney‟s primary water source, the backbone of the region‟s agricultural and
fishing industries and a major recreational attraction. The demand for land development is
threatening not only the natural bushland but also the local food industry. There is an
extensive body of Indigenous knowledge about the river and its local environments that is a
crucial resource for sustainability education.
2Introduction
Educational
Educational outcomes are marked by the low socio-economic status of many communities in
the region. The overall high school retention rate for years 7 to 12 is the lowest in the Sydney
metropolitan area (69.5% compared to 95.2% in Northern Sydney). In 2009 twice as many
people in GWS aged 15 or older had not attended school compared to the rest of Sydney and
NSW. The high cultural diversity of the region, especially waves of incoming migration
produces pressure on early childhood, schools and adult education provision in terms of
language and basic social integration skills. The challenges facing students with refugee
backgrounds are especially acute. UWS is the only university located in Western Sydney and
it offers a range of courses and research programs to some 36,000 students. The area is also
supported by seven colleges that form the Western Sydney Institute of Technical and Further
Education (WSI TAFE). These two institutions are the major providers of further education in
the area.
Based on discussions with regional leaders and contributions from individuals on the NSW
2021 „Have your Say‟ website, the NSW Government has identified the following priorities
for the Western Sydney region:
Grow the economy of Western Sydney
Improve access to jobs and facilitate employment growth, particularly for young
people
Improve strategic planning to protect valuable agricultural land
Provide greater access to affordable housing options
Reduce travel times
Deliver appropriate services to disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our
community
Improve local natural environmental assets and the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean
River.
Within these broad priority areas a number of priority actions have been identified relating to
„Local Environment and Communities‟:
Manage river health
Limit the impacts of urban development on the environment
Protect wildlife
Increase green skills education and training opportunities
Improve strategic planning to protect valuable agricultural land
The involvement of the community is crucial in achieving these goals and the work of
community based environmental and sustainability educators is the means by which
communities can be supported. This collaborative project between the Centre for Educational
Research, the UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainability Development
and the Office of Environment and Heritage is designed to find out how community
educators and community members can be assisted to achieve these environmental and
sustainability outcomes.
3The Project
THE PROJECT
Our Place, Western Sydney Stage 1 aims to identify how to community-based
environmental and sustainability educators in the Western Sydney region are engaging with
their communities and how they can support communities to become more involved in
looking after their local environments.
Aims
To connect and communicate with educators from different sectors in the region to
identify their strengths, weaknesses, and useful support needs in their roles
To identify current approaches, difficulties and gaps in engaging a broad cross-section
of the local communities including CALD communities, new arrivals, businesses,
Aboriginal communities and schools
To identify locally appropriate opportunities to build networks, skills and capacity of
educators
To create a local plan or framework for supporting educators to build networks and
skills and provide resources for engaging their communities in looking after their
local environments.
Scope of the project
The definition of „educators‟ is broad. It refers to those in the region whose role includes
environmental or sustainability education and engagement. This broad range of „educators‟
could include sustainability officers from councils or businesses, education officers from
CMAs, rangers or guides, and volunteers from community organisations.
Key questions
What is your role in sustainability education and who is the community you work with?
What have you found helps to engage people in your community/ies to look after their local
places?
What are some of the challenges in engaging people in your community?
What are your professional learning needs and what support do you need to facilitate
communities to look after their local places?
Methodology
The project was framed within the concept of Place, as aligned with the new directions of the
Office of Environment and Heritage and the structure of RCE, Greater Western Sydney.
Using Place as a conceptual framework offers a common language across different
knowledge systems (such as Indigenous and western knowledge frameworks). It can provide
a link between people‟s local places and global phenomena such as climate change by
focussing on impacts in specific local places such as fire, flood and drought. People‟s
relationship to Place is a way to engage community members on an emotional and spiritual
4The Project
level as well as a more abstract governance or bureaucratic level. Place as a conceptual
framework has been central in this project.
In asking the question „How can environmental and sustainability educators engage
community members in looking after their local places?‟ it became clear that we needed to
divide the region into clusters of local government areas with similar sustainability
challenges. We used the map (see p.2) to group the eight local government areas into three
clusters according to distance from the centre of Sydney and apparent population density.
This resulted in an Outer Western Sydney cluster (Hawkesbury-Nepean and Blue Mountains);
a Mid Western Sydney cluster (Penrith, Blacktown and the Hills); and an Inner Western
Sydney cluster (Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta). Educators were invited to attend a Focus
Group in their cluster and were subsequently linked to the Community Forum held in the
same cluster. In this way the educators‟ Focus Group and Community Forum workshop
discussions were focussed on similar issues connected to the characteristics of these local
places.
Methods
Survey/invitation
The Office of Environment and Heritage distributed an invitation to environmental and
sustainability educators across the western Sydney region using established email networks
(see Appendix 1). Educators were asked to respond with an expression of interest stating their
contact details, the local government area in which their work was located and a paragraph
explaining their community engagement roles and practices. Twenty-three educators
responded online. In order to balance the numbers of participants across the three regions,
additional community educators were contacted through personal networks, resulting in the
recruitment of an additional seven participants, bringing the total expressions of interest to
thirty.
Table 1 below provides an overview of the expressions of interest by educators and actual
attendance at the Focus Group.
Table 1: Participants per Region
LGA Expressions Phone Final numbers
of interest confirmation attending
received to attend
Outer 14 11 8
Mid 15 10 8
Inner 10 8 9
All three Focus Groups were conducted within the same week to ensure cohesiveness and
consistency in the research design. Time-wise, each was scheduled to enable maximum
participation by educators employed full-time.
Each Focus Group was planned as a three-hour workshop/discussion including:
5The Project
an introductory story mapping activity
a recorded whole group discussion specifically generating data of the enablers and
barriers to their work and
a paired activity where participants compiled a list of their professional learning and
support needs.
Story map making activity
Participants were provided with a range of high quality drawing implements including
pastels, chalks, textas, and coloured pencils and an A3 sheet of paper in order for them to
create their story map. They were asked to create a visual representation of where they
worked and which community/ies they worked with. Educators spent 10-15 minutes on their
story maps. On completion they were asked to speak to their place map and explain their
representations to the others present. Each educator spoke approximately 5 minutes. The
storytelling was recorded by passing the digital recorder from person to person as a „message
stick‟.
Focus group discussion – enablers and barriers to community engagement
During the second phase of the Focus Group, the educators were asked to reflect on their own
daily practice, to share their successes but highlight the challenges and barriers they face with
their efforts to engage community members in local sustainability activities. This discussion
section was scheduled to take 30-45 minutes, recorded and transcribed verbatim utilising the
services of a professional transcription service.
Paired activity – Professional learning and support needs
The third element to the Focus Group divided the educators into pairs to discuss and list their
professional learning needs and to nominate what support they needed to enhance their
community engagement work.
An overview for participants
The Focus Group workshop format, content and the guiding questions for the session were
provided for each participant prior to commencement (Table 2).
6The Project
Table 2: Outline of Workshop Content
Part A Your Story
The location of your work
What work you do?
Who are the community/ies that you work with?
Include any special interest individuals or communities you work with.
Part B Discussion
What have you found helps to engage people in your community?
What are some of the challenges to engaging people in your community?
Part C List of Needs
What are your professional learning needs?
What help do you need to engage your communities?
How can we support you in this?
Guiding Questions:
What is your role in sustainability education and who is the community you work with?
What have you found helps to engage people in your community/ies?
What are some of the challenges in engaging people in your community?
What are your professional learning needs and what supports do you need to facilitate
communities to look after their local places?
7Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
EDUCATORS’ PLACE MAPS AND STORIES
The following data generated through the educators‟ place maps and stories is presented by
Region: Outer Western Sydney Region, Mid Western Sydney Region and the Inner Western
Sydney Region. Within each of these Regions data are presented in three sub-sections. Firstly,
the Regional Overview is discussed, followed by a table summarising identity and
pedagogical information expressed by the educators in their stories and concludes with
representative story map/s accompanied by a descriptive analysis.
The full data set for all educators‟ story maps is presented in Appendix 2: Story Maps and
Pedagogical Practices: The Educators‟ Discussions and Appendix 3: Indepth Analysis of
Individual Story Maps.
Outer Western Sydney Focus Group
Regional Overview
The first focus group was held at the Hawkesbury campus of the University of Western
Sydney and included eight educators from the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury-Nepean local
government areas. Two of the educators identified as Indigenous. The overall data gathered
from this focus group reflected the outer western Sydney cluster with large areas of
wilderness and rural lands and low population density. Participants were well networked
within their specific locations with a noticeable division between the Blue Mountains and
Hawkesbury-Nepean educators. The Blue Mountains participants were more focussed on
community sustainability activities, while the Hawkesbury-Nepean interests encompassed
such things as organic food production, and harvesting and marketing. Both groups shared
similar preferences for experiential learning in outdoor places and the protection of local
wilderness sites.
The Educators
Table 3 provides a summary of the Outer Western Sydney educators.
8Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
Table 3: Outer Western Sydney Educators‟ Summary
ID Place Pedagogies Communities
O-1-1 Mt Tomah; Place Based – Community comes EarthCare; Hawkesbury, BMtns
occasionally to Botanical Gardens; workshops, communities Lithgow (power
into tours Eco-trail treasure hunt. station); Aboriginal Community-
community. Darug women.
O-1-2 Aboriginal Presenting Aboriginal idea of Visits by individuals community
Centre Echo Country as including all living members, Local councils, Special
Point things. 15min message to tourist Interest Groups (Migrants and Arts)
visitors. National Parks and Wildlife State
Officers, Educational Institutions,
UWS, Schools, Environmental
groups, Bushcare, Aboriginal
Organisation
O-2-1 Rural farms in Networking, farmers‟ markets. Rural communities; residents;
Hawkesbury Schools, Agric Ref Group HEN,
area, farmers‟ OHN. UWS.
markets.
O-2-2 UWS site Earthcare Centre as a model of UWS students; Botanical Gardens;
rented by community participation; Hawkesbury Rainforest Network,
Earthcare, networking with other HH, RCE, PDR, ATA. „A node on a
Henry organizations through partnerships. network‟.
Doubleday
Seed Savers &
Alternative
Tech.
O-2-3 Hawkesbury Bringing groups together; Redbank, Rivo Kija, BMtn, Uni Vet
area; developing packages of Sci, CSIRO, Schools, Illawarra,
Creek regen. engagement and trialling these. TAFE CLM, Plant Society, ACF-
Need more than plant identification AABR.
and bush regen.
O-3-1 Agricultural School (Terra Sancta–Sacred TAFE
education in Earth), students learn they are on
school Sacred Earth, Permaculture
principles, garden chickens.
O-4-1 Hawkesbury Hands on regen with volunteers. Bushcare groups; Hawkesbury
bushlands – community nursery, volunteers,
activities along retirees, scouts, Aboriginal group.
river system.
O-4-2 Aboriginal Project for pathways, ground work, Richmond TAFE – Cert 3
youth in bush regenertaion, culture, native Horticulture.
secondary plants.
school
ID Codes:
The ID Code for participants has three components as follows:
Letter indicates region: O = Outer; M = Mid; I = Inner;
First Number indicates occupation: 1 –Community Education Officer-Sustainability
Education Officer; 2 –Centre Coordinator; 3 –Secondary Teacher; 4 –Environmental Officers;
5 –Project Manager; 6 –Freelance Consultants; 7 –Early Childhood Centre Staff ;
Second Number indicates participants‟ consecutive number.
9Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
Representative Place Story Maps
1. Eric, Coordinator of Earthcare Centre
…we‟re not trying to be all things to all
people, but provide a place where people
can have experiential learning…but there‟s
links too…we network…I see us as a node
on a network.
Place, identity and community
Earthcare is its own little culture in that it‟s a small group, it‟s a tribal nature, it‟s Henry
Doubleday‟s Research and the Alternative Technology Association so it‟s two organisations
come together on the site and rent the land off the uni. So we connect university, UWS is
there, I think we offer a lot of benefit to UWS, mainly students but also to the staff and people
who are in there – there‟s actually 10 students over there working on gardens just, it‟s just
taken off at the moment. The other context we work in too of course, is in the Hawkesbury
area because we are local sort of thing and we‟re getting a reputation there too and a lot of
people know the centre and we‟re dealing with technological ATA issues, like solar power and
things too. But the organic growing side of things, we‟ve got a bit of bushland now too and
permaculture, so it‟s a bit of everything, and then we attract people from all over, the
Hawkesbury River is here of course too, sense of place, geographic, it‟s a major geographic
icon of the area I think.
Pedagogical practices
… the globe is here too of course, and we relate to that too, the RCE. A lot of things we
identify with are global problems anyway, over population and waste and pollution and
decreasing agriculture and decreasing natural environment and all that sort of stuff too so we
obviously have that in the back of our mind. And also there‟s other direct links too like with
the Botanic Gardens in terms of plant knowledge. Within here there‟s a closer connection with
the Hawkesbury Rainforest Network which of course I‟m involved with as well too, which
focuses on people identifying their own plants in their area. The Centre itself is a bit of a
model, I actually started the Earthcare Centre with a group of likeminded people. We‟re not
trying to be all things to all people, but provide a place where people can have experiential
learning. I see ourselves as part of a node on a network.
Place map
The central image is the Earthcare centre building with stick people encircled by greenery and
bush and the initials ATA (Alternative Technology Centre) and HD (Henry Doubleday) for
key partners. Wavy concentric circles, initials, and doubled ended arrows represent multiple
two way connections with RCE (United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise in Education
for Sustainable Development), HH (Hawkesbury Harvest), HEN (Hawkesbury Environment
Network), UWS (University of Western Sydney). In the top left corner a large black smudge
with symbolic buildings is labelled „western Sydney‟ with no connection to the central image
or any other part of the story map. A bright blue river enters from the side indicating it flows
in from elsewhere and shortly below forks into two with one labelled the Hawkesbury flowing
10Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
close by the central Earthcare image and out the bottom of the A3 sheet. A small globe of the
world is connected by double ended black arrows to the central image but it is dwarfed by
vivid red angular on each side. Five of these bright red angular scribbles surround the
Earthcare central image and Eric describes them as representing „chaos‟.
It is interesting that these red symbols of chaos contain the most vibrant energy of the story
map and it is likely that the red symbolises danger. They are not connected to the black
smudge of western Sydney so they possibly also represent free floating energy that can
potentially be drawn on in relation to the Earthcare Centre.
11Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
2. Chris, Aboriginal Education Officer, Echo Point Tourist Centre
I mean social justice and the
environmental outcomes to me are the
same. We work for those. We want a
healthy community, sustainable one. I get
a chance to share with people that we
have a heritage of good custodianship of
the country.
Place, identity and community
The large circle represents country and the smaller circles represent the various groups within
country. And so I‟ve worked for country, I get a chance to deliver, have some input into
various groups that are all working for the same good cause - there‟s Bush Care, we‟ve got an
Aboriginal Organisation, National Parks, visitors to the place, special interest groups,
environment groups, local councils, State Government groups, education, all these, they‟re all
within country and they overlap at different times. What I get the chance to do sometimes is
just connect people, and it‟s all - social justice and the environmental outcomes to me are the
same, we work for those. We want a healthy community, sustainable one, I get a chance to
share with people that we have a heritage of good custodianship of country, and it‟s not the
short term aims that we often have to abide by these days. And so the outer circle actually is
the ancestors, the people gone before us, this is us here [middle circle] and then the ones that
come up behind us are the children. And these are all part of our identity and they have to be
taken into consideration and we do make decisions about country and that sort of thing.
Pedagogical practices
I get lots of opportunities to share that with people and my real theme at the moment is that
human beings can fit beautifully on this planet. Aboriginal ancestors – we‟re lucky in
Australia we‟ve got Aboriginal history that has shown us that human beings can live on the
planet without trashing the place. One of the school teachers a few years ago alerted me to the
fact that whereas my generation grew up in fear we‟re going to blow each other up with a
bomb, young people these days often think the environment‟s going to kill us, and how tragic
is that? So that‟s why the stuff that we do is got to be done with hope and purpose. I work at
the Aboriginal Centre at Echo Point. I get 15 minutes to cram in a real quick message, so it‟s
challenging but you do, even in that 10 minutes if you just present things like people haven‟t
seen it before, you see little lights go on. I say, that we human beings can live in harmony
with the environment. I love to overturn the idea that it was a primitive culture. They also
need to know that human beings lived beautifully with the other creatures, we have to work
within their rhythms and that sort of thing. It‟s a message of hope, I explain that by working at
the uni here actually, I learnt that the river‟s far cleaner than it‟s been for 30 years, which is
exciting, but it‟s still not safe to swim in anymore.
Central image, icons and connections
Chris is a Darug man from the Western Sydney area. His story map is different from all of the
others. It consists of three concentric circles outlined in thick yellow/gold. The outer circle is
labelled „Country‟ in three places. There is nothing outside Country in this story map. The two
12Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
inner circles are unlabelled but we know from Chris‟s verbal story that the outer circle
represents the ancestors (who are country), the middle circle represents the present generation,
and the inner circle represents future generations. Drawn over these three large central circles
are eight smaller concentric circles in red, pink, blue and green as if they are orbiting within
the larger circle. Each is composed of three concentric circles labelled with the names of all of
the organisations who work to care for country:- local councils; special interest groups;
visitors; National Parks and Wildlife; State Offices, educational institutions, schools, UWS
etc; Environmental groups; Bushcare and Aboriginal organisations.
While the whole is embraced within country and the ancestors, the image has a mobile
dynamic quality about it akin to the symbolic images of the solar system with its orbiting
planets. The sense of the three circles spiralling inward towards future generations adds a
cyclical time dimension that is absent in other story maps. The colours are bright and hopeful
without any attempt at realism in any part of the map.
13Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
Mid Western Sydney Focus Group
Regional Overview
The second focus group was held at the Penrith campus of the University of Western Sydney
and included eight educators from the Penrith, Blacktown and the Hills local government
areas. The conversation again confirmed the use of Place as a conceptual framework and the
clustering of a distinctive mid-western Sydney group with a focus on peri-urban development,
pressure on farming lands and farming knowledge. The educators in this group predominantly
represented government and local council. The story maps produced by this group were more
dominated by text and lists and there was a marked difference between the volunteer or part
time community educators and those with a full time government role. Two educators from
Sydney Water attended this Focus Group with roles that crossed local government boundaries,
and extended beyond the western Sydney region, however, their work was located at the
interpretative centre at Warragamba Dam.
The Educators
Table 4 provides a summary of the Mid Western Sydney educators.
14Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
Table 4: Mid Western Sydney Educators‟ Summary
ID Place Pedagogies Communities
M-1-3 Behaviour change through education, Community members to
Community based reskilling community, workshops (30 attend workshops and
p.a), festivals, grants programs, external events, Coles Program.
forces for behaviour change.
M-1-4 Penrith – senior Events, workshops, blog, website, Schools, Childcare
officer (wide range of festivals, info nights and sessions; orgs, government,
activities and has 10 professional development for staff businesses, UWS, RCE.
staff to implement).
M-1-5 Visitors‟ Centre, Ed for primary and high school students Pre-, primary and
Warragamba Dam, (water cycle and water efficiency, HSC secondary schools.
Community sites. chemistry, biology), Water for Life expo,
dam visits, classroom sessions.
M-1-6 Visitors Centre, Community-based conservation (e.g. Community members.
Warragamba Dam Streamwatch), Rural Living Handbook,
Field days on farms 16 Sustainable Grazing Programs, Grants
Program, Science informs behaviour
change.
M-1-7 On-site education Programs tailored to community and Councils, Residents via
throughout service provided (face to face; ed bin pick up.
community materials, bin stickers). Agenda is
negotiable.
M-6-1 Outdoors, Council Workshop facilitator, hands on, Work with Councils
locations. experiential (less as councils
Agenda determined in the consultancy. employ their owned.
Staff).
M-6-2 Outdoors, Council Horticulture degree, workshop Councils (wants full
locations. facilitation. time work).
M-3-2 Agricultural Environmental activities – tree planting Network of schools in
education in school (council); Cumberland Region,
and community-based Agenda set by HSC + commercial operations
activities. (Cfeeds), local
community groups
(Rotary), Council.
Representative Place Story Maps
1. ‘Mary’, Education Officer, Cleanaway Waste Services
So, we‟re working with all the different
core communities in each of the different
councils and they‟re all going to vary,
looking at different areas of housing,
whether its single unit dwellings or multi-
unit dwellings, and they all have their own
specific needs for education when it comes
to using their base services correctly.
15Educators‟ Place Maps and Stories
Place, identity and community
My map shows us being in the middle, like our depot is sort of in a central location, and then
we‟re travelling out to all the different areas across Sydney metro and we‟re providing
specific services to each of those different councils and we have different contractual
requirements for each of those areas, as well. I‟m probably a little bit more concentrating
around the inner west with some of the specific projects I do, but we do also work with
Blacktown – sorry, Blacktown that was my attempt at your logo. So, we have a number of
different education programs that we need to tailor for each of our customers, depending on
the community and the services that we are providing in those areas.
Pedagogical practices
Mary‟s work involves school education programs with pre-schools, primary and secondary
schools and community workshops related to using the services correctly, to avoid
contamination. She also teaches people about farming, composting, shopping correctly, to
minimise waste. They use a combination of face to face with residents, educational materials,
and public education strategies such as stickers on bins.
Central image, icons and connections
The central image is a big blue garbage truck driving along the two black lines of road. The
garbage truck is connected by single lines to five circle hubs all around it representing the
different councils. Each circle hub is connected by lines to four further circles representing the
different entities such as schools, businesses, single resident dwellings and multiple resident
dwellings. Icons represent the dwellings and stick figure people are beside the dwellings.
Garbage bins are prominent in every location, with their three different coloured lids - yellow,
green and red. The main road is central to the place story map and leads into and out of the A3
sheet. There are many connections via the roads and these have been grouped into particular
communities. It feels as if the work of picking up refuse is never ending, symbolised in the
road that twists off into the distance. Interestingly there are no trees or bush landscapes,
gardens or yards in the image so it is very much about the built environment. There is no
connection made to where the refuse goes after it is collected and no recycle station is evident
in this place story map.
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