Educating for sustainable healthcare - SEDA funded project

Over the next 8 months, the SHE Network is running a free programme to support six "beacon" medical schools to develop and implement teaching and learning related to the Education for Sustainable Healthcare learning objectives. The programme is funded by SEDA and forms part of a small research project. The outcomes of the project and research will be published through SEDA and will be submitted to a peer–reviewed journal. 

The aims of the project are to:·        

• Facilitate schools to develop and implement new teaching about environmental sustainability         
• Record and share good practice in implementation of such teaching        
• Evaluate effectiveness of pedagogies used through student and educator feedback
• Recommend effective approaches to the development and implementation of education for medical students about environmental sustainability, and inform further research on this topic

A medical school team should involve a minimum of one educator and one student, and may include up to four members. The team must be able to receive, read and discuss materials during July or August, attend a one-day seminar in September and commit to follow up work at the medical school at least during the 2015/16 academic year.

The project is focused around a one-day face-to-face seminar in September which will provide discussion of different pedagogies, discussion of political and practical challenges, opportunity to develop and trial new materials and space for teams to plan their strategy for the following months.

After the seminar, teams will be invited to attend quarterly teleconferences with the project group and engage with the SHE network. One representative per school will be asked to take part in two follow-up telephone interviews (at three and six months). The teams are asked to commit to implement and evaluate at least two new teaching items.