School of Education and Social Work
The themes of Education and Social work are relevant to several SDGs, especially SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing and SDG 4 Quality Education.
At present, the Education department also has modules looking specifically at reducing inequalities by increasing access to and diversity in education, as well as the role of education in international development and shaping society. Meanwhile, the Social Work department has modules that focus explicitly on health inequality, migrants and refugee wellbeing, and the effect of gender, ethnicity, culture and class on mental health.
Case study: Forest food garden elective modules
The elective modules Understanding Forest Food Gardens and Creating a Forest Food Garden are available to Second Year students across the university at present. A forest food garden is a food production system based on woodland, where edible plants are planted to mimic ecosystems and patterns found in nature. The practice recently gained attention as a solution to climate change and biodiversity loss.
Forest Food Gardens are often built cooperatively in a community, with people working together to plant the garden, providing social and community benefits as well as environmental benefits.
Students on the Forest Food Garden electives learn about the practices of food and medicine production in a woodland ecosystem, food preservation, and biodiversity. They also work together to develop ideas and plans for the development of the Forest Food Garden.
As the work needed in the garden will develop and change over time, each year’s students create work that will be passed onto the next year’s cohort to continue developing. This will create a Forest Food Garden community at Sussex over many years.