First, a confession, or at least a gesture of self-awareness (one of Warwick’s Core Skills). I am a critic. I probably mean that in any definition you care to choose. I am ready with an assessment and an opinion on most things, and I am prone to expressing disagreement and disapproval, but above all I am an advocate of objective analysis and evaluation in order to form a judgement (this is our definition of Critical Thinking, by the way). I may even meet T.S. Eliot’s expectation that “a critic must have a very highly developed sense of fact”, if anyone can agree on what a fact is anymore.
I question things, and I believe it’s something we need to do much more of as a culture. So, when it comes to the global climate and ecological crises we face, I am prone to strong opinions, but I try to make sure I am informed. When it comes to the structural socio-economic inequalities that maintain both our current destructive path and pervade many of the conservatively pitched mainstream political and economic solutions, I am deeply concerned that the short-term benefits to a few of maintaining the status quo will undermine the collective commitment to change of the current generation of young people, including our students. It might be enough to make many of them (and me) despair. So, how could we support our students to understand the scale of the problem, and to feel confident that they can develop the skills to contribute to finding meaningful solutions?
I am a Core Skills Developer working on the Warwick Award and Core Skills Framework at the University of Warwick. One of the University’s 12 Core Skills is Sustainability, chosen to keep us in step with wider trends in UK higher education, and following the declaration of a Climate Emergency at Warwick. The Warwick Award is a skills development and recognition programme for all taught students at the University, encouraging students to reflect on all their experiences and the skills they learned and applied. I’m responsible for Sustainability as a Core Skill, and that immediately presented me with a problem. How would we define it (there are lots of ideas and interpretations out there), and especially as a skill or set of skills? It isn’t one; a skill is an ability to do something. It had to be about perspective. Still, we were prepared to give it a try.
