Climate change, new environmental technologies, and energy and water sustainability are not only technical issues—they are cultural and political challenges that require integrated solutions and well-informed and motivated citizens. SEPN is a 6-year, $2 million dollar SSHRC Partnership Grant with $1 million in matching funds, led by Principal Investigator and SERI Director, Dr. Marcia McKenzie. SEPN is a collaborative partnership between academic research institutions and national/international organizations. Partnering and contributing organizations include the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, David Suzuki Foundation, Learning for a Sustainable Future, and Sierra Youth Coalition.

SEPN is examining existing policies, practices, and innovations in 
curriculum, research, facilities operations, governance, and community outreach. SEPN is organized into three iterative Themes and two subthemes, Subtheme A, Early Childhood Education to Grade 12 (EC-12) and Subtheme B, Post-Secondary Education (PSE):

Theme 1. Document Analysis examines existing policy to understand how current educational policy is engaging with sustainability issues as well as existing sustainability policy discourse in education across provincial Ministries of Education, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), and a range of PSE institutions

Theme 2. Community Engagement examines practices and experience of sustainability in education through community engagement across multiple sectors. Work involves (1) a national survey and (2) in-depth site analyses, both of which will offer situated community understandings of sustainability uptake in education, informing our understanding of relationships between sustainability policy and practice in the Canadian education system

Theme 3. Knowledge Mobilization mobilizes new knowledge and best practices regarding sustainability in education to impact existing policy and practice. This theme tracks organizational learning within SEPN, develops situated models of exemplary sustainability policy and practice, and mobilizes models through engagement of educational institutions and communities to impact policy and practice across the country

SEPN aims to develop models of promising policies, practices, and innovations for enabling educational change for a more sustainable future. In exploring the gap between existing policy and practice, SEPN is working to develop models to improve how environmental sustainability is taught and practiced in educational institutions within Canada and around the world. SEPN’s long-term goal is to examine and enable the evolution of sustainability in education policy and practice at the EC-12 and PSE levels in Canada. Specifically, SEPN’s intended outcomes are to:

Foster ongoing Network cooperation and organizational learning

Provide training and mentoring for students and staff

Create innovative scholarly knowledge through policy analysis

Mobilize new models and best practices for educators, decision-makers, and educational institutions

Increase knowledge of Canadian environmental issues to develop sustainable communities