Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability

Theory into Practice

Chew-Hung Chang, Gillian Kidman, Andy Wi, Chew-Hung Chang, Gillian Kidman, Andy Wi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429833687
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Social Science

In a fast-changing, globalising world, the teaching and implementation of a curriculum for Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been a challenge for many teachers. Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability highlights the issues and challenges educators and academics face in implementing EfS and gives examples of what an EfS curriculum may look like and how some institutions translate the theory into practice.

Organised into three parts, the volume looks at: the who (EfS for whom), the what (EfS curriculum) and the how (translating from theory to practice). The concluding chapter provides ideas and directions on where the world can proceed regarding sustainability education and how it can help in the teaching and learning of sustainability. Considering social issues such as poverty, education, health, culture and the use of natural resources, this book proposes a different path towards Education for Sustainability.

Providing concrete data on the realisation of sustainable development, Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability will be of interest to geographers, geography educators and professionals concerned with Education for Sustainability.

1 Defining Education for Sustainability (EfS)

A theoretical framework

Gillian Kidman, Chew-Hung Chang and Andy Wi

Introduction

Over the last decade, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has been promoting Education for Sustainability (EfS) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiatives to countries at all levels of education, engaging learners with innovative content and pedagogy around themes of sustainable development (Wals, 2014, UNESCO 2012). The growing interest in sustainability has led to an increase in the movement of EfS and ESD (Lozano, Lukman, Lozano, Huisingh, & Lambrechts, 2013). In 2002, the 57th United Nations General Assembly put in place a UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, lasting from 2005 to 2014 (UNESCO, 2002). While governments, non-governmental organisations and the academic community have discoursed about the need for EfS, it would seem that there is no consensus on the definition of EfS. Similarly, the definition of ESD has also been highly debated (Chang, 2014). The definitions for both EfS and ESD mean different things to different people under different contexts and situations (Higgitt, 2006).

Merrill (2018) states that the term ‘sustainability’ refers to goals that promote environmental, economic and social well-being for current and future generations. The Cambridge dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary) states that sustainability is ‘the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time’. In environmental science, sustainability is defined as ‘the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance’ (Dictionary.com).

While there is a common understanding of the term ‘sustainability’, there is a lack of consensus on the concept of sustainable development, resulting in a wide variety of definitions and interpretations. This is especially true for the terms EfS and ESD in terms of pedagogy and educational paradigms (Merrill, 2018; Sterling 2003, 2004, 2010). In spite of the multiple interpretations, the commonly used definition from the document ‘Our Common Future’, also known as the Brundtland Report, defines sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland, 1987; Mebratu, 1998). While we recognise that sustainability and sustainable development refer to different things, we will refer to sustainability as a larger concept including sustainable development, loosely defined.

Similarly, there are also many different interpretations and definitions to EfS. It is not the purpose or intention of the authors to discuss the basis of EfS at length, but to highlight the issues faced by teachers/educators in teaching, and by students in learning about EfS. Before discussing EfS, we must first understand the ontology of EfS definitions.

The Cloud Institute defines EfS as:

a transformative learning process that equips students, teachers, schools, and informal educators with the knowledge and ways of thinking that society needs to achieve economic prosperity and responsible citizenship while restoring the health of the living systems upon which our lives depend.

(Cloud, 2004, 2010)

A quick search on the internet yielded around 30 different interpretations, philosophies and definitions from different organisations around the world regarding EfS. A word cloud (see Figure 1.1) identifies key themes across the different definitions. From the word cloud, we can see that ‘sustainable’, ‘education’, ‘needs’, ‘learning’, and ‘future’ are most commonly used.

As previously indicated, sustainability is often defined as meeting the human needs of the present and ensuring that future generations can also meet their own needs (Brundtland, 1987). This basic definition has been the foundation for many sustainability efforts that have developed around the world. From topics ranging from climate change management, disaster risk reduction, as well as cultural and economic development, sustainability encompasses a wide range of issues. While we know sustainability is important to ensure a safe and possible future generation, the question then is how do we educate people about sustainability? Sustainability cannot be achieved merely by technological solutions, political regulation or financial instruments, but requires a change in the individual’s mindset, lifestyle and action. It is believed that there should be quality education and learning for sustainable development at all levels and in all social contexts. Tan and Chang (2008) explain that education is an important process to pass on as a means of sharing knowledge, best practices and to enculturate epistemologies about what constitutes sustainable practices to our future generation. It is an educational approach that aims to develop individuals with the values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning, and to encourage changes in behaviour that allow for a more sustainable and just society for all (AESA, 2016; DESD, 2005). Over the years, the United Nations has consistently emphasised the use of education as a tool for advocating sustainable development:

Figure 1.1 Key themes/words in defining EfS.

Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environment and development issues.

(UNESCO, 1992, para. 36.3, p. 2)

Education is critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public participation in decision making. Both formal and non-formal education are indispensable to changing people’s attitudes so that they have the capacity to assess and address their sustainable development concerns.

(Agenda 21 – Rio, p. 5)

EfS is the process by which we educate individuals about the values, opportunities and choices each of us has to develop as an informed, independent, responsible and active agent of change in an effort to contribute to the future of our society and ecological systems (Sterling, 2010). It is a transformative learning process that engages and equips students, teachers, educators and learners with the knowledge, attitude, skills and values necessary to contribute and safeguard environmental, social and economic well-being, both in the present and for future generations. Engaging learners to think critically and creatively about the future can achieve this, and are the changes that are needed to improve quality of life across the globe. Similar to our treatment of sustainable development and sustainability, we will refer, for convenience, to EfS as a broader concept, including ESD, loosely defined.

Sterling (2010) posits that the nature of sustainability requires a fundamental change of epistemology and, therefore, education has to meet the accompanying challenges. This implies that changes in curricula, pedagogy, policy and institutional structures are necessary in order to achieve sustainability. While all academics, educators, researchers and policymakers agree that EfS is important and should be included in the curriculum, the question is how do we seek to structure and align our teaching practices with the behavioural and learning needs of students?

There is little guidance in the research literature on a basic framework for the implementation of effective EfS. We attempt to remedy this in the book by bringing together an overview of the issues in teaching and learning of EfS. We included contributions from teachers, educators and researchers working in a variety of education sectors and synthesise their perspectives and experiences about what is ...