Embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and SDGs values in curriculum: A comparative review on Qatar, Singapore and New Zealand

Abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) or Education for Sustainability (EfS), is a concept developed to systematically understand and change education systems promoting and galvanizing sustainability within the minds, hearts and actions of future generations. Qatar, being a small rentier country dependent on oil and gas revenues for its recent economic and social development, aims to achieve sustainable development as part of its national vision. Believing in the power of education to reverse-engineer the recurring environmental, social and economic challenges, this state has forged a partnership with the UNESCO office in Doha to adopt all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to promote for ESD across the K-12 levels and curricula. This is enshrined in the belief that such promotion would help evolve students’ higher thinking skills and mindfulness towards their surroundings. Yet, a holistic and strategic approach to integrating ESD and SDGs in the public K-12 institutions and curricula is still lacking and mostly underreported. Given this concern, the goal of this review paper is threefold. First, using a systematic quantitative literature review approach, it draws on previous studies to examine the notion of globalization in education and to investigate different curricula models from multiple countries such as Oman, UK, US, and China amongst others, focusing on two case studies: Singapore and New Zealand, from the basis of embedding sustainability values in their respective curricula. In a second step, the review provides an account on the contemporary Qatar Education System (QES) and its recent reforms as well as its attempts to integrate SDGs and ESD in K-12 curricula. Finally, after exhibiting socioeconomic similarities and the several bilateral education agreements that exist between the two aforementioned cases and the State of Qatar, a handful of potential suggestions to embed SDGs and ESD values in the existing curriculum of Qatar is provided.