The main driver of transition toward sustainable development is education, which increases people’s capacities to turn their social aspirations into reality. Education not only equips students with scientific and technical knowledge, but also with the will and social support to pursue and use that knowledge. Because of this, society must be extremely concerned that most of the education provided today falls well short of what is necessary. When we say this, it represents the very cultural requirements that enable everyone to take responsibility for quality improvement.
One of society’s top concerns must be enhancing the standard and content of education as well as realigning its objectives to emphasize the significance of sustainable development. Not only do we discuss the environment, but also every aspect of life.
As a result, we must define the term “education for sustainable development.” For educators, it was a significant problem throughout the previous ten years. The definitions of sustainable development in educational contexts, how to balance peace, human rights, citizenship, social equity, ecological, and development themes in already overburdened curricula, and how to incorporate the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts into what had previously been perceived and practiced as a branch of science education are all topics that need to be addressed.
Others questioned if asking teachers to take the lead in the transition to sustainable development was too much to ask of them. Some claimed that teaching for sustainable development faced the risk of programming.
The desire of numerous, primarily environmental, NGOs to contribute to educational planning without having the necessary knowledge of how educational systems function, how educational change and innovation occur, and of pertinent curriculum development, professional development, and instructive values exacerbated these debates. Others criticized governments for not acting more swiftly, failing to realize that meaningful educational transformation takes time.
As a result, several regional, national, and worldwide initiatives have helped to clarify and broaden our understanding of what it means to educate for sustainable development. For instance, the largest umbrella organization of teachers’ unions and organisations in the world, Education International, has released a declaration and action plan to support sustainable development via education.
The necessity for an integrated strategy through which all communities and government bodies work in building a shared awareness of and commitment to policies, strategies, and educational programs for sustainable development is a common objective in all of these.
actively encouraging local community members to include education into sustainable development
In order to explore education for sustainable development, provide suitable support structures, programs, and resources, formulate appropriate policies, and finance local initiatives, several individual governments have also created committees, panels, advisory councils, and curriculum development projects.
Indeed, these organizations’ environmental education initiatives lay the foundation for education for sustainable development. Environmental education has been particularly important, along with global education, development education, peace education, civic education, human rights education, and multicultural and anti-racist education. Modern environmental education has only been around for thirty years, but during that time it has consistently worked for objectives and results that are similar to and equivalent to those inherent in the idea of sustainability.
A New Perspective on Education
These numerous projects show how the world today firmly understands that we must promote the ideals, behaviors, and lifestyles necessary for a sustainable future via education. The process of learning how to make decisions that take into account the long-term viability of the economy, environment, and social well-being of all communities is now viewed as education for sustainable development. One of the main goals of education is to develop the ability for this kind of future-focused thinking.
By addressing the complexity and interconnectedness of issues like poverty, wasteful consumption, environmental degradation, urban decay, population growth, gender inequality, health, conflict, and the violation of human rights that pose a threat to our future, this represents a new vision for education. In order to build the knowledge and skills necessary for a sustainable future as well as changes in attitudes, behavior, and lifestyles, this vision of education places an emphasis on a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach.
In order to enable everyone, young and old, to make decisions and act in culturally acceptable and locally relevant ways to remedy the issues that threaten our shared future, we must reorient education institutions, policies, and practices. Therefore, we must act locally while thinking internationally. This will enable individuals of all ages to generate and assess alternative visions for a sustainable future, as well as to realize these ideals by collaborating creatively with others.
In order to promote sustainable development through education, educators must:
• Center society’s concerns on a sustainable living ethic that is founded on the ideals of social justice, democracy, peace, and ecological integrity.
• Promote cross-disciplinary collaboration and the linkage of information and skills to produce more contextualized and integrated understandings.
• Promote lifelong learning, starting at an early age and continuing throughout one’s life, with the goal of fundamentally altering society’s moral character.
• Maximize each person’s potential throughout their life so they can attain self-fulfillment and complete self-expression while working together to create a sustainable future.
• Place a high value on aesthetics, imaginative creativity, openness to risk, adaptability, and the will to consider alternative solutions.
• Encourage the State and civil society to form new partnerships to advance democratic values and citizen emancipation.
• Encourage society to come together in a concerted effort to combat injustice, violence, and poverty.
• Promote the development of new lifestyles and ways of living by encouraging a commitment to the principles of peace.
• Identify and develop new human initiatives in the framework of regional sustainability, while also realizing your place on the planet and being conscious of your individual and collective global responsibilities.
• Foster realistic hope in which the potential for change and the genuine desire for change are complemented by a rigorous, active involvement in change at the right moment, for a sustainable future for all.
These obligations highlight the crucial function of educators as change agents. There are more than 60 million teachers in the globe, and each one of them serves as an important spokesperson for enacting the systemic and lifestyle changes that are required. However, formal education is not limited to the classroom.
In addition to the wide range of learning activities in basic and post-basic education, technical and vocational training, and tertiary education, education for sustainable development also includes non-formal and informal learning by both young people and adults within their families, workplaces, and the larger community. This means that in order to further sustainable development, everyone of us has a critical role to play as both “learners” and “teachers.”
Major Lessons
A significant task is deciding how education should support sustainable development. Countries, educational institutions, and communities may consider the following key lessons from discussion and debate on education and sustainable development over the previous ten years when deciding what educational approaches will be locally relevant and culturally appropriate.
• In order to study the economic, political, and social ramifications of sustainability, education for sustainable development must encourage students to critically reflect on their own regions of the globe, recognize aspects of their own lives that are not sustainable, and examine the contradictions between competing goals. In order to achieve common development goals, development methods tailored to the unique conditions of distinct cultures would be essential. In order to recognize and facilitate the unique and substantial contributions that indigenous cultures and minorities have made to the process of sustainable development, educational approaches must take into consideration these groups’ experiences.
• As vital as it is, the advancement of our scientific knowledge is less significant than the development of our moral sensibilities in the quest for sustainable development. Despite their undeniable usefulness, subjects that deepen our awareness of nature cannot be the only focus of education for sustainable development. A method of education that increases our commitment to other values, notably justice and fairness, and the understanding that we share a common destiny with others is necessary for success in the fight for sustainable development.
• The main driver of societal coherence and, concurrently, the most powerful force for change and transformation, are ethical ideals. Sustainability ultimately depends on behavioral and lifestyle changes, which must be driven by a change in values and entrenched in the cultural and moral principles that underpin conduct. Even the most progressive laws, the cleanest technology, and the most cutting-edge research won’t be able to move society toward the long-term objective of sustainability without this sort of transformation.
• In order to eradicate the widespread poverty that now affects 80% of the world’s population as well as the environmental degradation and other problems linked to it, changes in lifestyle will need to be accompanied by the development of an ethical awareness in which the citizens of rich countries find within their cultures the source of a new and active solidarity.
In the broadest sense, education has the ability to shape ethical beliefs. Education is also crucial for empowering people to utilize their moral principles to guide ethical decisions. Fundamental societal changes, like those necessary to advance towards sustainability, occur either as a result of individuals seeing an ethical need to change or as a result of political leaders sensing that the public would follow their example.
