The Arbor School has welcomed Professor Geoffrey Beattie and Dr Laura McGuire, professors from the UK-based Edge Hill University, who chose The Arbor School over other top ecological schools due to its commitment to delivering a curriculum focused on sustainability and eco-literacy. During their visit, Professor Beattie and Dr McGuire will conduct innovative and significant cross-cultural research on sustainability and will present the psychology of climate change in a special presentation. A large group of parents, who themselves said they were stepping up and taking steps to change environmental behaviours, were present at a presentation by the professors.
Professor Beattie is an internationally acclaimed psychologist, author and broadcaster. He is a Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University and, in recent years, a Master’s supervisor in the Sustainability Leadership Programme at the University of Cambridge.
During their visit, Professor Beattie and Dr McGuire will conduct innovative and significant cross-cultural research on sustainability and will present the psychology of climate change in a special presentation
Dr Laura McGuire works as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology. She currently sits on the steering group committee for the new UN Interdisciplinary and Intergovernmental Panel of Behaviour Change for Sustainable Development (IPBC) and for the first report for this committee she will be leading the chapter ‘Education for Sustainable Development’.
The professors conducted an implicit-association test (IAT) which is a state-of-the-art event that has never been conducted before and will place the Arbor Year 6 to Year 9 pupils at the forefront of science. The results will eventually be compared to ten primary schools in the UK.
Brett Girven, Principal at The Arbor School, said: “Professor Beatty and Dr Maguire have brought a level of academic expertise that we could only dream to achieve in a school setting. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity to uncover the implicit attitudes of our children towards pro-environmental behaviours, as opposed to the usual surface-level self-reported attitudes. I am incredibly optimistic that this will help us to gain a measure of our impact as a school, and to continue to improve what we do here at Arbor.”