Browsing by Author "Hemstock, Sarah L."

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    Environmental stewardship education in Tuvalu Part 2: insights into curriculum integration and classroom realities
    (MDPI, 2025-05-01) Tinilau, Soseala S.; Hemstock, Sarah L.; Mercer, Theresa G.; Hannaford, Matthew; Kythreotis, Andrew P.
    This commentary is the second in a two-part series on Environmental Stewardship Education (ESE) in Tuvalu. While Part 1 examined the alignment between education and environmental policies, this follow-up focuses on how those policies are—or are not—translated into formal curriculum and classroom practice. Drawing on both academic research and professional experience in government, this article explores the gap in curriculum design, student engagement, and teaching strategies. It argues for the early integration of ESE in primary education, greater inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge, and participatory teaching approaches. These insights are grounded in Tuvalu’s context but offer valuable lessons for other small island developing states striving to align sustainability policy with educational delivery.
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    Environmental stewardship education in Tuvalu, Part 1: the role of policy Alignment
    (MDPI, 2025-02-01) Tinilau, Soseala S.; Hemstock, Sarah L.; Mercer, Theresa G.; Hannaford, Matthew; Kythreotis, Andrew P.
    Environmental stewardship is crucial for fostering sustainable development, particularly in vulnerable small-island developing states like Tuvalu. Government policies and frameworks play a vital role in shaping the education system, but inconsistencies in policy alignment often hamper efforts to embed Environmental Stewardship Education (ESE) into the national curriculum. We aimed to answer four questions: 1. What formal policies shape Environmental Stewardship Education (ESE) in Tuvalu? 2. Are national educational and environmental policies mutually consistent? 3. Are these national policies consistent with regional and global policies? 4. What challenges hinder the implementation of ESE in Tuvalu? These questions were addressed using a study of regional, international, and Tuvaluan online-available documentary assessments of national policies and frameworks in conjunction with those obtained from the Education Department. Our findings revealed that a combination of Tuvalu’s environmental and educational policies was instrumental in shaping ESE. Nationally, educational and environmental policies are internally inconsistent, as well as being inconsistent externally with regional and international policies. Recommendations for improving policy alignment and the sustainable integration of ESE into the curriculum are provided. The second part (Part 2) of our review covers the development and delivery of effective curricula for ESE.
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    We need collaboration and co-creation to address challenges facing coastal communities
    (Springer, 2024-05-01) Raha, Debadayita; Davies-Vollum, Katherine Sian; Hemstock, Sarah L.; Boateng, Isaac; Islam, Md Tariqul; Pierce, Charles A. E.
    Coastal communities across the globe are faced with multifaceted, interconnected challenges with competing environmental, social and economic needs. In rural coastal communities of the Global South, the challenges presented by climate change are complicated by those related to development, resource management and sustainable livelihoods. The rapid growth of such coastal communities exacerbates these challenges and reinforces the need for effective and sustainable governance. Such governance requires a move from top-down approaches to human-centred approaches. Human-centred coastal governance engages multiple stakeholders and combines multidisciplinary knowledge, participatory approaches, co-creation of solutions and multi-institutional partnerships. Here we present case studies from coastal communities in Vanuatu, Ghana and Bangladesh. These illustrate several of the complex challenges facing such communities and the collaborative and empowering strategies that have been used to meet them. Based on these case studies, we present a transdisciplinary framework to inform the co-creation of coastal management strategies that meet interconnected human and environmental needs.