The Partnership for Education and Research about Responsible Living
PERL is a partnership of educators and researchers from over 120 institutions in more than 50 countries–working to empower citizens to live responsible and sustainable lifestyles.
PERL aims to advance education for responsible living by focusing on consumer citizenship, education for sustainable consumption, social innovation and sustainable lifestyles.
PERL partners undertake research and debate, and develop teaching methods and materials.
PERL is working with a number of organisations and through a number of processes. A range of organisations also fund and support PERL–just look at the logos (and click on them)!
Are there fundamental changes in society which sustainable lifestyles are dependent upon and which are not included in the present discourse? To what extent must reflection, moderation and sufficiency be incorporated in our daily lives? And how critical should we be to the existing economic system driving production and consumption? These and other relevant issues were focused on at the PERL collective working meeting in Marseille in March 2013. David Selby of Sustainability Frontiers provided valuable insights to the meeting.
PERL partners are focusing on helping individuals and educators increase their awareness, learn new skills, share insights and cultivate partnerships. This is being done by 15 international workgroups collaborating during the coming three years. They will create and test learning methods and materials, contribute to curriculum improvement, hold student contests, research attitude and behaviour change, share best practices and do much more. For details see the PERL work plan.
The Global SCP Clearinghouse is a one-stop hub bringing together the SCP community worldwide as well as offering harmonized information and a knowledge platform that will lead to more innovation and cooperation towards SCP implementation.
The PERL2 application to the E.U. Directorate for Education and Culture Erasmus Network Program for a new three year period has been approved!! The competition was high, the success rate for this year 31%.
The Rio+20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development reconfirmed the urgent need to eradicate poverty and accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns, but failed to reach agreement on many other aspects of “the future we want”.
A new PERL booklet, “Learning to Transform Oneself and Society", focuses on education for sustainable consumption and is the second in a series which provides an overview of policies and practices from countries around the globe. The booklet presents pedagogical insights from the core curriculum: “Here and Now! Education for Sustainable Consumption” and concrete references to relevant examples.
A new financial literacy toolkit focusing on personal finance management was launched at the PERL conference in March 2012. This toolkit is the third in the Active Methodology Images and Objects series and aims at helping learners gain knowledge about personal finance and terms related to this theme, as well as helping them apply this understanding in an integrated manner in their daily lives. The toolkit provides an original card game which can be used as a part of the learning process.
This project has been carried out with the support of the European Community in the framework of the Erasmus Programme. The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Community, nor does it involve any responsibility on the part of the European Community.
