Ethical Action in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)–An Analysis of Tasks from German Geography Textbooks

Abstract

The subject of geography is considered an ESD-affine subject and pursues the goal of contributing to the empowerment of students to preserve the earth. This includes creating an awareness of the planetary boundaries of the earth and reflecting on the role of human responsibility and social justice. The implementation of ESD in the subject geography takes place in the educational standards for the intermediate school leaving certificate for the subject of geography as well as in the curricula of the individual federal states. Through the integration of ESD, geography is particularly committed to addressing current and future challenges facing humanity, e.g. climate change. In order to achieve these goals, learners should be enabled to understand or recognize, evaluate and act in a sustainable way in complex systems. The German-language ESD discourse to date has often been normative, and the question of ethical action within ESD in geography lessons arises from an ethical perspective. The analysis of tasks of German textbooks are focused on ethical judgement and action. It is shown that the task formats do not sufficiently enable ethical action based on evaluation competence. At the end, conclusions are drawn for future textbook development and teacher training.