A perspective on education for sustainable development: Historical development of environmental education in Indonesia

This article examines the historical development of environmental education (EE) in Indonesia with emphasis on the non-formal sector, and applies its findings to the discussion on education for sustainable development (ESD), which seldom draws on case studies from developing countries. Local socio-economic and political conditions have made EE in Indonesia similar to ‘ESD’ in terms of its topical scope involving various social issues, although whether it should be referred to as ESD remains unclear. In contrast to the existing concerns about ESD, it involves critical views on the prevailing models of (neo-liberal) economic development. This article also shows that EE, like ESD, is at risk of exploitation by vested interests.     

An analysis of New Labour’s policy on education for sustainable development with particular reference to socially critical approaches

This article links the prospects of sustainable development to democratic socialism and those forms of knowledge and learning developed by the global anti‐capitalist movement. While socially critical approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) can accommodate these forms, they are marginalised by New Labour’s policies on sustainable development and education. Contradictions between neo‐liberalism and social democracy in these policies explain why ESD has made limited progress and suggest the kinds of initiatives and ESD indicators the UK government is likely to favour. The article establishes the policy context for a second article that focuses on how the UK ESD community responded to the author’s report on possible approaches to an ESD indicator, commissioned by the Sustainable Development Commission.     

Using Educational Indicators for Policy: School Life Expectancy

This is the first in a series of articles that address the use of educational indicators to inform policy. The aim of the series is to provide an in-depth discussion of a single indicator or set of educational indicators from a data-user perspective. Each article will present the most recent cross-national comparisons and provide practical examples of interpreting an indicator for benchmarking systems, assessing policies and for measuring progress towards international development goals. They will also address the specific advantages of a particular measure, its limitations and its links to other indicators. This series focuses primarily on the interpretation and use of indicators rather than providing technical documentation about how indicators are calculated. This first article looks at a measure of the volume of educational outputs: the school life-expectancy indicator.     

Consulting the UK ESD community on an ESD indicator to recommend to Government: an insight into the micro‐politics of ESD

In 2006 the author was contracted to research possible approaches to a UK indicator of education for sustainable development (ESD). This article describes and seeks to explain the response of government advisers and influential members of the UK ESD community to the approaches he proposed. While the UK strategy for sustainable development called for a result indicator to show the impact of ESD on learners’ knowledge and awareness of sustainable development, the indicator that was recommended to government by its advisers, after consulting the ESD community, was essentially a facilitative indicator showing the percentage of schools that rated themselves good or outstanding using a self‐evaluation instrument linked to the emerging sustainable schools framework. An opportunity to monitor the impact of ESD on learners’ sustainability literacy and encourage more socially critical approaches was lost as the micro‐politics of ESD (the preferences of advisers and those consulted) failed to challenge the macro‐politics examined in the author’s earlier article.     

Globalisation and education for sustainable development: exploring the global in motion

The article explores education for sustainable development (ESD) as a policy concept in different spaces and how it is re-articulated as part of a process of globalisation. The objective is to explore empirically an alternative set of logics in order to conceive of this process of globalisation. With this objective in mind, the article investigates articulations of ESD and sustainable development in Vietnamese and Thai policy-making, and reflects upon how these articulations can be seen to relate to globalisation. In so doing, it addresses concerns about the globalising potential of ESD within the field of environmental education research, and aims to open up for an alternative understanding of the processes associated with the rearticulation of ESD in different national education policy settings. The alternative conception that is put forward promotes an understanding of these re-articulations of ESD as contingent, opening up a space for contestation and counter-hegemonic articulations.     

Interdisciplinary primary school curriculum units for sustainable development

Abstract

Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides crucial opportunities for young people to be involved in complex sustainability issues. This study contributes to existing knowledge about primary school teachers’ approaches to ESD across a range of subjects. Norwegian schools can join the Sustainable Backpack programme (SBP), which supports teachers to develop projects that promote a holistic understanding of sustainable development across school subjects. The present study set out to examines teachers’ interdisciplinary approach to ESD and the SBP teachers’ perceptions of how their curriculum units promote environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. The study is a multi-case study, with curriculum units designed for students aged 10-13?years from 14 Norwegian schools. Content analysis suggest that the units used several subjects to ESD, but the teachers could have challenged the students’ reflection to a greater extent in terms of argumentation and critical thinking. The units succeeded to some extent in pursuing a holistic approach.     

Making sense of education ‘responsibly’: findings from a study of student teachers' understanding(s) of education,sustainable development and Education for Sustainable Development

This article discusses findings from a tri‐country study of student teachers' understandings of the purposes of education, their conceptions of sustainable development and the task of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). At its heart are case studies of 30 student teachers from Initial Teacher Education Programmes in England, Denmark and Germany (10 from each country). While they are diverse in their personal, professional and subject disciplinary backgrounds, and they work in a variety of school subject areas, all the students share the objective of becoming members of the teaching profession in the primary or lower secondary schools of their countries, and thus each one currently faces the additional challenge of understanding and responding to national, cross‐cutting policy initiatives on sustainable development and ESD. As interpretative research, the study catalogued and mapped similarities and differences in student teacher understandings, and identified those notions, thoughts and ideas that were meaningful to a beginning teacher's interpretations and sense‐making of key ESD concepts and tasks. The findings highlight the widespread importance of ‘taking responsibility’ and ‘having responsibility’ as key notions in interpreting their professional role and student learning in relation to ESD. An explorative framework developed during the data analysis suggests that in making sense of ESD, student teachers have recourse to one or more of at least four identifiable rationalities for ascribing responsibility to oneself or others, where each rationality articulates a different set of responses to questions about the prioritized locus of agency and the nature of the decision‐making process. The framework offers a critical and generative tool for stimulating debate in the field about policy and professional preparation and development and, in particular, the nature, processes and qualities of learning that are understood to ‘generate a sense of responsibility’, within the broader—and in the case of ESD—related quests of education and sustainable development.     

Searching for education for sustainable development in Vietnam

Abstract

This article discusses how the purpose of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is reflected within the perception of teachers and educational stakeholders in Vietnam and whether a difference exists between the two respondent groups’ perspectives. Biesta’s three functions of education, qualification, socialization, and subjectification, are considered to be the theoretical outline for analyzing perceptions of the respondents. The empirical material for this analysis consists of interviews in Vietnam with secondary teachers and educational stakeholders. The perspectives of the two groups regarding the purposes of ESD somewhat overlap: central interests in ESD discourse are to qualify students with knowledge, skills, and competences, and to teach them how to behave in sustainable ways. In other words, qualification and socialization, not subjectification, are major concerns of the respondents. This reflection, to some extent, reveals Vietnam’s sustainable development priorities and the role education should play.     

Globalisation and education for sustainable development: emancipation from context and meaning

This article tries to contribute to the critical debate on the ideological and globalising potential of education for sustainable development (ESD), which exists in the research field of environmental education, by highlighting potential contradictions in the argumentation for ESD’s ideological and globalising tendency. Further, the authors of this article argue for an alternative perspective on how education policy on ESD can be seen to contribute to globalisation and homogenisation by merging two conceptualisations of ‘globalisation as connection' and the role of ‘empty signifiers' in political discourse. The ambition with the merger is not to provide a universal explanation of globalisation and ideology, instead, the intention is to outline an alternative theoretical outlook that allows for an empirical study of the processes that can be seen to feed into or interrupt the preservation of hegemony in a global setting.     

Developing teacher competences for education for sustainable development through reflection: the Environment and School Initiatives approach

The introduction to this paper gives a short overview of the Environment and Schools Initiatives (ENSI) perspective on teaching competences. We argue that as change is one of the key elements of sustainable development, reflection that helps to adapt educational practice to a continuously developing world should be a starting point for every educator dealing with education for sustainable development (ESD). The ENSI perspective is that different competence lists constitute a basis for this continuous reflection. The paper gives two examples from ENSI activities in the field of developing teacher reflection regarding ESD in teacher education. For pre‐service teacher education a one‐year, action research based training course is examined. In in‐service education an analysis of a sequence of project supporting workshops is presented. The paper concludes by identifying some future steps, which are necessary if teacher competences are to be used in ESD.     

Student teachers' learning about subject matter and pedagogy in education for sustainable development

This article reports on an investigation of student teachers’ learning about education for sustainable development (ESD). Phenomenographic data were collected using open proformas and interviews from student geography teachers taking the University of Oxford Post‐Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in 2003–2004. The data analysis focuses on what the cohort of student teachers perceived as their learning about ESD and the sources that contribute to it. Extracts from the data illustrate their conceptions of subject matter, regarding the relevance of sustainable development for school students, its complex and contested meanings, and the challenges it presents for learning and learners. Data on conceptions of pedagogy illustrate their depth of learning about the relationship between ESD subject matter and approaches and strategies in teaching and learning, and features of pedagogy that illustrate interactive teaching strategies. Various school and university‐based sources were identified by the student teachers as leading to specific aspects of learning about ESD, although many of the accounts illustrate a combination of sources. Implications of the findings for teacher education and research in ESD are also discussed.     

Education for sustainable development in initial teacher training: issues for interdisciplinary collaboration

This article considers interdisciplinary approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) in initial teacher training (ITT) partnerships in the light of recent national policy initiatives. In identifying challenges for interdisciplinary innovation, it brings to bear research evidence from three sources: questionnaires sent to ITT partnership schools; questionnaire surveys of geography and science graduate student teachers; and questionnaire surveys of their school mentors. Key findings are that: schools are not yet well developed as sites for student teacher learning in the domain; student teachers generally have greater understanding of sustainable development than their mentors; geography mentors perceive themselves to be better prepared for mentoring in this area than their science counterparts (who feel ill‐prepared); for both students and mentors, there are significant gaps in understanding of ESD compared with representations found in the literature. Some implications and possible ways forward for interdisciplinary ESD in teacher education partnerships are discussed.     

Economic dimensions of sustainable development, the fight against poverty and educational responses

The arguments in the article are based on the ongoing discourse in the academic community and among stakeholders, which has contributed to the articulation of the concepts and premises of sustainable development and the role of learning modalities, technologies and networks. The article draws on this discourse to explore the economic aspects of sustainable development, focusing on pervasive poverty, and the implications for educational actions. The concepts and underlying premises of education for sustainable development (ESD) are discussed. The article presents the key elements of an integrated approach to fighting poverty in the context of sustainable development. The role of learning and education in this integrated approach is outlined, framing the educational elements within the perspective of lifelong learning.     

Education for sustainable development and the secondary curriculum in English schools: rhetoric or reality?

Can education for sustainable development (ESD) policies help to create a more sustainable society? In the article I argue that contemporary secondary school curriculum policies relating to ESD are rhetorical devices that will achieve little towards resolving global problems. I suggest that the conceptualization of SD is itself fundamentally flawed and inevitably restricts the scope of possible policy solutions. I analyse three ESD curriculum policy texts to reveal their concealments, silences and blocks to enquiry, demonstrating how their rhetorical forms make them readily assimilable into dominant economic discourse. I then introduce a recent UK Government Report explaining the failure in implementing ESD policies in the school curriculum and I expose how this analysis is a further demonstration of the problems in the prevailing policy perspective. In conclusion, I propose a new direction for progress in curriculum policy regarding sustainability.     

Chemistry Teaching for the Future: A model for secondary chemistry education for sustainable development

For more than 40 years, the international community has acknowledged the role education might play in environmental awareness and conservation. The last major initiative came when the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). In the final year of the decade, teachers still struggle to realise education for sustainable development (ESD). One of the challenges teachers face with respect to ESD is the inclusion of even more content into an already overloaded curriculum. In response, it has been suggested that ESD should be introduced as an integrated perspective across the content of all existing subjects. This paper offers a model for how ESD can be realised in chemistry education. The model has been developed to support chemistry teachers in their educational planning and consists of 5 categories: chemical content knowledge, chemistry in context, the distinctiveness and methodological character of chemistry, ESD competences and lived ESD. The ESD model is illustrated through 5 ellipses, visualising the hierarchy of the categories, as they exist in different levels. All 5 ESD categories need to be considered in a holistic ESD approach.     

Curriculum analysis and education for sustainable development in Iceland

The article explores how the Icelandic public school curriculum for early childhood, compulsory and upper secondary school deals with education for sustainable development. As the curriculum does not often mention the term sustainability, a key with which to investigate signs of education for sustainable development in the three curricula was created. The key encourages a holistic view of sustainable development, where economic, environmental and social factors are not treated as separate entities. It was designed to reflect the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) with research on environmental education and education for sustainable development in mind. The key has seven characteristics: values, opinions and emotions about nature and environment; knowledge contributing to a sensible use of nature; welfare and public health; democracy, participation, and action competence; equality and multicultural issues; global awareness; and finally, economic development and future prospects. Using the key, a variety of signs and indicators that provide a space for teachers and schools to deal with issues of sustainable development were identified.     

研究生培养质量自我评价指标的初步构建

研究生培养质量评价体系主要是由外部评价体系和内部评价体系构成。目前我国外部的质量评价体系已初步建立,微观的自我约束体系还没真正建立起来,而评价指标是评价功能得以正向发挥的关键因素,由此,本论文试图在调查的基础上,运用主因素分析法初步构建研究生培养质量自我评价指标,以达到保证和提高研究生培养质量的目的。     

From environment to sustainable development: China’s strategies for ESD in basic education

This paper intends to provide an overview of the reorientation of education in China in the period 1998–2009 with regard to development issues. During this time, the focus has shifted gradually from the environment and health to education for sustainable development. The article centres on highlighting the main interventions and strategies adopted by China’s schools to make this reorientation possible, including: the introduction of new visions of sustainable development and project planning; the establishment of organisational mechanisms and capacity-building measures for their implementation in the field; the integration of ESD into teaching and learning processes; the maintenance of an action-research mechanism for innovations; and the sharing of lessons with both the national and the international community in order to make the implementation of ESD more effective.     

Managing the GAP between rich and poor? Biopolitics and (ab)normalized inequality in South African education for sustainable development

Abstract

The extreme inequality in South African education is well-documented by researchers. There is also a rich literature concerned with education for sustainable development (ESD) in the country. The relationship between these two phenomena has, however, been sparsely investigated. Drawing on biopolitical theory and fieldwork conducted in South Africa, this paper queries how ESD programmes handle the lifestyle gap that separates rich and poor populations. The article demonstrates how ESD, through ostensible sensitivity to local ‘realities’, is adjusted to comply with different socio-economic living conditions, and how different roles are assigned to rich and poor in the quest for sustainable development. This differentiation, it is argued, can be understood biopolitically. The paper further argues that the differentiation between populations in rich and poor settings implies a depoliticized notion of local ‘realities’ as something isolated and given, rather than relational and produced. While the overall findings suggest that ESD unfolds through a regime of practice wherein inequality has become effectively normalized, the paper also points to rare disruptive moments where the normal is rendered abnormal. Ultimately it is argued that the South African case is a useful entry-point for discussing generic problems of globally implementing ESD in an enormously unequal world.     

How education for sustainable development is implemented in Germany: Looking through the lens of educational governance theory

The United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aimed to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning around the world. The authors of this article address the implementation process of ESD in Germany during the UN Decade (2005–2014). By undertaking a meta-analysis of the findings of four related sub-studies they carried out during a three-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the authors contribute to the understanding of the process of transferring the concept of ESD within a multi-level education system. They investigated this process at two levels – the federal state (a sub-national entity in Germany) and the communal level. Drawing on educational governance theory, the authors unveil principles, norms, rules and procedures in the coordination of action within constellations of heterogeneous actors contributing to the implementation of ESD in their social entities. The outcome of the meta-analysis describes an emerging governance regime in ESD, taking into consideration the following features impacting the coordination of action being carried out by the actors involved: (1) the understanding of the normative concept of ESD as content of negotiation; (2) the perceived opportunity for actors to gain and increase appreciation within the field of ESD as an incentive for and driver of engagement; and (3) the dynamic quality of the set-up, rules and principles of the coordination of action, which renders these subject to situative changes. In the final part of the paper, the findings are discussed from the perspectives of the theory of transfer and the current empirical basis of ESD policy and governance.