School of Education

Sustainable Designs for Living and Learning (SDLL): Embedding Multilingualism into Learning for Sustainability

SDLL is in ambitious initiative that aims to nurture sustainability and language learning in integrated ways. This 3-year research project is designed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers, local artists, teachers, Learning for Sustainability stakeholders and young learners within the context of Scottish primary schools.

In our work, we aim to:

• explore multilingualism and learning for sustainability in Scottish primary schools
• co-create an interdisciplinary permaculture-based learning framework
• conduct research that focuses on multilingual and creative practices within learning for sustainability

We draw on our research expertise in arts-based multilingual approaches, and we implement and develop these within an original framework for sustainable living: permaculture design. We are currently working on creating resources and a framework that can be implemented in primary schools in a wide range of contexts.

We follow permaculture principles to

• develop an innovative programme of shared expertise and collaborative learning that implements a “multilingualism first” approach;
• conduct collaborative longitudinal research into the development of multilingual practices informed by arts-based methods and permaculture design in three primary schools;
• implement and research the impact of such multilingual practices in at least ten other schools;
• co-create innovative resources and “multilingual living spaces” as the basis of a new Learning for Sustainability provision;

share our resources with other school communities interested in designing their own “multilingual living spaces” as a means to explore and transform their relationships with their socio-natural environments.