Missing the wood for the trees: systemic defects and the future of education for sustainable development

Abstract

The division in approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) as described by Vare and Scott is revisited. A strong bias in ESD towards personal behaviour change and aspirations to ‘making a difference’ (ESD1) is contrasted with systems level or more creative and critial approaches (ESD2). The lack of balance is further revealed when a critical eye is cast on familiar ideas such as recycling, efficiency saving (energy), ‘small steps add up’, reducing consumption, etc. Some ideas/contexts identified as central are identified as not discussed at all until very recently, e.g. the role of money created as debt. The suggestion is made that although exploring values is said to be of importance in ESD this does not extend to the underlying values represented by linear/mechanistic worldviews in contrast to a more contemporary systems worldview. The evidence is that teaching of many of the most familiar topics or themes is resolutely based on a linear worldview and thus fails badly and continually on a simple intellectual level. ESD is a prime candidate if ever there was one for what is essentially a systems perspective and an ESD which hardly touches this base is incomplete – being heavily biased towards social and environmental contexts to the downplaying of the economic – and is badly in need of review. The author%s personal journey away from ESD as commonly understood – despite 20 years of work in the arena – towards the broader discussion now described as the circular economy, is summarised.