Whole-institution Approach in Education for Sustainable Development: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Education is an important mechanism of sustainable development implementation. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the priorities of international organizations (UN, UNESCO, and other), and national governments from the beginning of the 1990s. Experience generated over three decades of implementation of ESD, as well as theoretical studies show that a whole-institution approach is required for effective furthering of ESD. Withing this approach the priorities shift from including ESD issues into a few selected subjects or events to applying ESD as a foundation for the entire functioning of an educational institution (including management and budget, education, professional development, campus design, resource use, community relations etc). The research presented in the article has been completed using systemic, problematic, and comparative approaches. Ecological systems theory and educational design are suggested as theoretical and methodological foundations for the whole institution approach. They point at the need to take into consideration child’s natural and socio-cultural environment in designing education systems. The article considers practical cases (for example, international “Eco-schools” network, Anglo-American school and other) which can be replicated in and by other organizations.