"Nature and Us" ESD Center
Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Development
Documents concerning Education for Sustainable Development
What is Sustainable Development?
When the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) published its report in 1987, it presented a new concept - sustainable development. The concept became one of the most successful approaches to be introduced in many years. In fact, it helped to shape the international agenda and the international community's attitude towards economic, social and environmental development. The Brundtland Commission's report defined sustainable development as "development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The concept supports strong economic and social development, in particular for people with a low standard of living. At the same time it underlines the importance of protecting the natural resource base and the environment. Economic and social well-being cannot be improved with measures that destroy the environment. Intergenerational solidarity is also crucial: all development has to take into account its impact on the opportunities for future generations.
What is Education for Sustainable Development?
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) promotes sustainable thinking and acting. It enables children and adults to make decisions and at the same time understand how those decisions affect future generations and the life of others. Education for Sustainable Development allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future.
Education for Sustainable Development means including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way. Education for Sustainable Development requires far-reaching changes in the way education is often practised today. UNESCO is the lead agency for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).
This Declaration is a huge step forward. It reflects our determination
to ensure that all children, young people and adults gain the
knowledge and skills they need to live in dignity, to fulfil their potential
and contribute to their societies as responsible global citizens.
It encourages governments to provide learning opportunities through
life, so that people can continue to grow and be on the right side of
change. It affirms that education, a fundamental human right, is the
key to global peace and sustainable development.
Irina Bokova
Director-General of UNESCO
Rapid, sweeping, and long-lasting change is altering our planet’s environment in an unprecedented manner, while societies are undergoing profound shifts in their demographic makeup and social and economic fabrics. Political agreements, financial incentives or technological solutions alone do not suffice to grapple with the challenges of sustainable development. It will require a wholesale change in the way we think and the way we act – a rethink of how we relate to one another and how we interact with the ecosystems that support our lives. To create a world that is more just, peaceful and sustainable, all individuals and ocieties must be equipped and empowered by knowledge, skills and values as well as be instilled with a heightened awareness to drive such change. This is where education has a critical role to play. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is about shaping a better tomorrowfor all – and it must start today.
The education for the Environment and Sustainable Development (EESD) is
a necessity. Several European and international official texts recognize this
fact and commit member countries to take action.
We, associations and institutions involved in the EESD, find that the
commitment made by the countries are still too little visible on the ground
and we collected in this manifesto different proposals for an ambitious
EESD in Europe
http://catalonia.environmental-education.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/manifeste-EEDD-anglais.pdf
The final assessment report on the UN Decade of ESD was launched at the 2014 World Conference on ESD.
This report assesses the growth of ESD throughout the Decade and gives an updated picture of ESD at the end of the Decade. The report also features lessons learnt and draws conclusions for future actions on ESD.
As lead agency of the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014), UNESCO has tracked progress on advancing ESD practices around the world. In the course of the Decade, UNESCO has published three assessment reports
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002301/230171e.pdf
Promoting Skills for Sustainable Development
We need to put our world on a more sustainable development path. Yet reaching – and teaching – sustainability is still a paramount challenge. Without education, there can be no sustainable development. Education empowers people with the knowledge, skills and condence they need to shape a more stable and peaceful future. It is thus the key to building greener societies.
Sustainable development cannot be reached through technological solutions
or financial instruments alone. Achieving sustainable development requires
a change in the way people think and act. ESD and TVET are powerful forces
that can help people to become active and ecologically responsible citizens,
workers and consumers, able to address local and global challenges.
Competences in the Education for Sustainable Development
The UNECE Strategy for ESD makes it clear that ESD takes place in formal, non-formal and informal settings. While the document emphasizes formal education, the competences identify the knowledge and abilities of all educators, including, but not limited to, teachers. Education happens not only through formal learning and teaching, but also through facilitation and support of non-formal educators who operate in informal and social contexts. Many educators do not carry the title of “teacher”.
Makes recommendations to policymakers with respect to the development of competences across all sectors of education. These refer to professional development in education, governing and managing of institutions, curriculum development and monitoring
and assessment.
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/esd/ESD_Publications/Competences_Publication.pdf
Shaping the Education of Tomorrow
With the challenge of sustainable development as considerable as ever, recognition is growing that technological advances, legislation and policy frameworks are not enough. These need to be accompanied by changes in mind-sets, values and lifestyles, and the strengthening of people’s capacities to bring about change. A noticeable diff erence from the early DESD years is the private sector’s interest in sustainability and capacity-building for a green economy. Some respondents cautioned, however, that the P for Prosperity (or Profi t) could dominate the other two P’s of the “triple bottom line”: the P for Planet and the P for People. As the DESD goes into its fi nal phase, it will be crucial for UNESCO, its Member States and other stakeholders to ensure that promotion, supp
Building a Better Fairer World for the 21 Century
Education for Sustainable Development allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development means including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way. Education for Sustainable Development requires far-reaching changes in the way education is often practised today.
Climate Change and Lifestyles Guidebook
Climate change is happening and it needs to be dealt with now. We must be the agents of change in addressing this crisis we have created and everyone has a role to play. As a global community, the lifestyles we lead as individuals, the policies our governments implement, and the way our industries behave all have an impact on this one Earth that we all share. We can find solutions and change the way we are living. This can be done collectively, through the environmentally conscious and sustainable solutions we introduce in our homes, our workplaces, our communities, our cities and countries, but also, individually, by adopting more sustainable lifestyles.
The target audiences for the Education for Sustainable Development Sourcebook
are primary and secondary teachers and mid-level decision-makers, who have responsibility for primary and secondary education. Another primary audience is teacher educators who work with pre-service and in-service primary and secondary school teachers.
The purpose of the publication is to describe ways in which education for sustainable development (ESD) can be integrated into primary and secondary schooling. This
collection of briefs is designed to complement other ESD materials published by UNESCO. The topics for the briefs were selected in consultation with UNESCO Field Offices and
Institutes. The briefs for primary and secondary teachers are specifically written for professional educators who work in formal education settings. The briefs for teachers as well as those for decision-makers address “gaps” in the UNESCO ESD literature.
The Multiple-Perspective Tool can be used as a pathway to:
• learn about sustainability issues from multiple bodies of knowledge,
• identify and understand personal and others' perspectives, and
• apply decision-making processes to complex issuesthat affect personal, community,
and global well-being. Complex issues related to water sustainability entail geographic, political, scientific, cultural, economic and social factors. By its very nature, teaching for water sustainability requires that multiple perspectives be applied when searching for solu tions or good practices in water management. Individual students who have experienced a multiple -perspective approach have more opportunities to establish a sense of place, both in their local and global communities. Through local action and understanding the perspectives of others, students can better know themselves.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/732unesco.pdf
Education for Sustainable Development Lens: A Policy and Practice Review Tool
An ESD ‘Lens’ metaphor is used in this document to guide an educational review process. It encourages ‘looking again with new eyes’ – in this case looking with ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ eyes. It helps to see things differently. There are many different kinds of lenses that guide different ways of looking and seeing. Think, for example, of the lenses in spectacles: they help focus, to see clearly, or to see things at a distance. The lens in a camera helps to ‘capture the moment’, while the lens of a microscope helps to capture detail. In this document, Education for Sustainable Development is viewed as a ‘lens’ through which national policy can be reviewed. ESD can also be used as a lens for reviewing learning outcomes and for reviewing practice. Cultures shape how and what we see, and thus how an ESD Lens review will unfold.
Education for Sustainable Development Good Practices in Early Childhood
To support the growing interest in early childhood issues and ESD, UNESCO is publishing this volume containing 12 examples of programmes addressing ESD in early childhood settings and practices.
These good practices and shared experiences, which were provided by a range of different stakeholders, are concrete examples of successful implementation of ESD in different fields
and sectors, from the political to the school level, and including formal , non-formal and informal learning situations
Empowering Educators for a Sustainable Future
"Empowering educators for a sustainable future: Tools for policy and practice workshops on competences in education for sustainable development" aims at enabling policymakers and ESD practitioners to explore how educator competences can be developed. It takes the idea of organizing a two-day international workshop on educator competences as its framework, and provides support on how to organize and run such an event. However,
it is envisaged that the ideas which underpin the approach described here would be equally relevant and useful for those who are organizing a workshop at the national, local or even institutional level
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/esd/Images/Empowering_Educators_for_a_Sustainable_Future.pdf
Climate Change Starter's Guidebook
While education is vital for strengthening adaptation capacities, these are also needed to equip education systems and infrastructure to prepare for climate change. Entire school communities – including local education authorities, administrative staff, teachers and parents – must be prepared to ensure a climate-safe school environment. Furthermore,
the capacity of education systems to respond to new migration streams caused by climate change – or to the requirement of new skills due to a changing environment – should
be considered in the development of education strategies for adaptation to climate change.
The UNECE Strategy for ESD is a policy tool that helps the countries of the region to introduce and promote ESD in national formal, non-formal and informal education in their respective countries. It aims at developing policy, regulatory and operational frameworks to support ESD, equipping educators with the necessary competences, ensuring that adequate tools and materials for ESD are accessible, promoting research on and development of ESD, and strengthening regional cooperation on ESD.
To facilitate and evaluate the Strategy’s implementation and raise awareness at the national level, as well as share experience within the region, the member States agreed to periodically assess the implementation process based on a unified reporting format and a clear set of indicators. This periodic assessment provides information about countries’ performance in implementing ESD and about the economic, environmental, and social impacts of ESD.
Indicators of Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies
Indicators perform many functions. They can lead to better decisions and more effective actions by simplifying, clarifying and making aggregated information available to policy makers. They can help incorporate physical and social science knowledge into decision-making, and they can help measure and calibrate progress toward sustainable development goals. They can provide an early warning to prevent economic, social and environmental setbacks. They are also useful tools to communicate ideas, thoughts and values
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/guidelines.pdf
Bonn Declaration
Despite unprecedented economic growth in the 20th century, persistent poverty and inequality still affect too many people, especially those who are most vulnerable. Conflicts continue to draw attention to the need for building a culture of peace. The global financial and economic crises highlights the risks of unsustainable economic development models and practices based on short-term gains. The food crisis and world hunger are an increasingly serious issue. Unsustainable production and consumption patterns are creating ecological impacts that compromise the options of current and future generations and the sustainability of life on Earth, as climate change is showing.