Education For Sustainable Development Projects Research Articles

Developing school leading guidelines facilitating a whole school approach to education for sustainable development

This study explored the function of school leading in the implementation process of education for sustainable development (ESD) in five Swedish schools employing a whole school approach (WSA). A follow-up study design was used, in which schools that had initiated an ESD project in 2016 were subsequently visited twice for interviews with principals during the project and after it was finalized. The theory of practice architectures in combination with the concept of school improvement capacity was used as the theoretical framework in the analysis. The study showed how school leading should be about enhancing the local school’s capacity to improve. It also showed how specific practice architectures prefigured a WSA to ESD and how school leading in this context was about arranging—or orchestrating—practice architectures in ways that enabled such an approach. The issues of time and endurance were pivotal. Based on the empirical results from this study and school improvement theory, guidelines were developed that can be used to drive a WSA to ESD process forward through three different school improvement phases: initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. The limitations and suggestions for further research are also discussed.

Minding the GAP: An overview of five years of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects under the Global Action Programme (GAP) within Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on ESD

Research on Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has focused on how multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral partnerships can work to enable ESD projects, with a particular focus on how higher education institutions could effectively collaborate with community partners. However, much of this research has focused onhowpartners worked together (for example, what governance and coordination structures allowed higher education institutions to effectively collaborate with partners) without as much focus of investigation onwhatactivities RCEs were working on. While diverse and compelling research on RCEs already exists, much of this research falls into conceptual theory building or case studies of individual RCE activities. In this article, an overview and analysis of activities from RCEs around the globe is offered to provide some trend analysis for topics and modalities of ESD projects conducted during the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD which ran from 2015 to 2019. This empirical analysis can serve as record of where the Global RCE Network has been over the 5 years of the GAP, where it is now, and where it may wish to go in the future.

Integration of ESD in French primary schools: for what purpose, with what form of integration and with what content?

This article examines the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the French educational system and more especially in primary schooling. The research question concerns the purposes, the form of integration and the definition of the content of ESD. To answer these questions, I present and analyse the main features of these three questions as presented in the official texts of the Ministry of Education. I also draw on a case study focusing on the integration of ESD at primary level. Thirty-four semi-directive interviews were carried out with local ESD actors working in two communes in southern France. In this study, the interviews were subjected to thematic analysis using NVivo 12 software. The results show that, both in the official texts and in the discourse of the interviewees, the purposes of ESD tend to be civic and emancipatory. Furthermore, while the choice of content is left to the actors on the ground, the incoherence and lack of clarity of the official texts complicates their task. They thus have difficulty in setting ESD projects within an interdisciplinary approach.

Quintuple Helix Lens for Transformation: An Okayama Model of Education for Sustainable Development

What transforms society? Using the quintuple helix model (QHM) of social innovation, this study examines how the Okayama Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) project has transformed the local community and its people, and how this has led to global recognition. Okayama is known as a world leader in ESD and their unique approach is called the Okayama Model of ESD. This study further looks at the institutional configuration on the elements contributed to knowledge co-creation and how the key actors interacted to contribute to societal transformation through knowledge, social innovation, and institutional setting. The goal of this study is to outline the Okayama Model of ESD using the QHM lens constituted of five helices; education, politics, society, economy, and the natural environment. This study applies a qualitative research method, in which key actors who contribute most to the development of the Okayama Model of ESD are identified by content analysis and semi-structured interviews that are conducted using the life history method. The result shows that the firm ground of the political subsystem facilitates the interaction among the stakeholders in the three subsystems–education, social, and natural environment, which ultimately contributes to the joining of the economic subsystem and the initiation of the knowledge circulation process. Transformation necessitates a city-wide approach involving a network of multiple actors to collaborate for knowledge co-creation and circulation, and the establishment of a new social values system. The study revealed several key points of local action that accelerated the transformation process by helping in value creation, knowledge convergence, and system interaction, which was instilled early through all forms of education—multiple actors' interaction that shapes through the ESD project that stimulates the triangulation of mind, hearts, and hands. This way, the city of Okayama functions as a living laboratory for the Okayama Model of ESD. This situation naturally promotes Mode 3 of the knowledge co-creation system, and the principles of civic collaboration and citizen engagement developed through the Okayama Model of ESD have been elaborated in the prefecture-wide vision statement.

UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development Framework and the Reality of University–Community Cooperation in the Caucasus Mountain Region

The project Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caucasus Region (CaucaSusT) initiated the integration of transdisciplinary approaches into partner universities in Armenia and Georgia. The aim was to develop cooperation between academics and nonacademic stakeholders from rural communities in the Caucasus mountain region. This paper uses the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) framework for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) beyond 2019 to reflect on the CaucaSusT project process and outcomes. We carried out qualitative research based on document analysis, individual interviews, and focus group discussions with participating students, teachers, and local stakeholders. The results are presented and discussed according to their relevance to the ESD framework's 5 priority areas. We conclude that the CaucaSusT project was successful in contributing to the priority areas of education and training, educators, and youth, but it contributed less to the priority areas of policy and communities within the short project lifetime. We found the UNESCO ESD framework was a useful tool for evaluating the project. Based on our analysis, we provide recommendations for successful ESD project design and implementation in the Caucasus mountain region.

Water-Education as a Promoter of Education for Sustainable Development: Three Studies in Portuguese-Speaking African Countries

The present study is based on research in teacher self-training in Education for Sustainable Development (Leitão, 2012). Water was the motivating theme. The priority of a fair distribution of water, guaranteeing the consumption, in quality and quantity, to all mankind and living beings is urgent. To respond to water-related sustainability challenges, people worldwide need to acquire "water literacy" about various aspects of water use and management in order to ensure safer water consumption and to contribute to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Three case studies were carried out in schools in three African countries: Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. A model of skills in education for sustainable development was applied (Sleurs, 2008). From the analysis of these case studies the theoretical assumptions of research were strengthened by the effective professional practice. But, on contrary, the results that the pillars of sustainable development presented in the basic research should be reviewed, placing the political dimension as transversal, thus strengthening education for sustainable development as fundamental for critical and responsible citizens of the present and of the future. This experience paves the way for future water-education and education for sustainable development projects; such as the follow-up of these three schools. Keywords: Sustainable Development; Education for Sustainable Development; Water-education and Water Literacy; Case Study

The implementation of environmental education to promote sustainability: an overview of the processes and challenges

ABSTRACTThis paper interprets aspects of the implementation of environmental education in a Higher Education Institution, situated in a developing country, to promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The paper will allow educators to categorise the multiplicity of ESD programmes and projects in higher education institutions, determine their limitations and acceptability, and benefit from the theoretical framework of affective learning in designing new ESD interventions. The paper will also provide an overview of the processes required to establish ESD in developing and developed countries. This paper will further help universities to develop a better understanding of how integration of the three components of sustainable development – economic development, social development and environmental protection – can be incorporated in higher education. The paper explores the challenges for planning the implementation of ESD in an education faculty, outlining the potential lessons learned that could assist in improving ESD efforts in Faculties of Education.

Implementers’ Perspectives on Creating Successful Education for Sustainable Development Projects

(2018). Implementers’ Perspectives on Creating Successful Education for Sustainable Development Projects. Caribbean Quarterly: Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 167-187.

Social learning as a key factor in sustainability transitions: The case of Okayama City

The Okayama Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Project is an ongoing initiative in Okayama City, Japan, established in 2005 by the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Okayama and the Okayama Municipal Government with the aim “to create a community where people learn, think and act together towards realising a sustainable society”. With a diverse participant base of over 240 organisations – including community learning centres (kominkans), schools, universities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – this initiative has administered numerous programmes. It has engaged a large and diverse group of citizens from Okayama City in exploring sustainability issues through collective discussion, envisioning and practice with the aim of living more sustainable lives. The decade-long experience of the Okayama ESD Project has gained international attention, and the “Okayama Model” is considered an inspiring example of community-based ESD due to the positive changes it has supported. In this article, the Okayama ESD Project is presented as a case study on effective social learning for sustainability. In particular, the practical efforts made are examined to provide insights into how various elements of a social learning process were strengthened and linked to create active learning cycles among community members. In addition, the conditions for creating an effective learning community are investigated, while the practical actions taken are examined in relation to creating an effective social learning process. Finally, this article presents the important role which social learning has played in Okayama City’s transition to sustainability and identifies the key efforts made to address and link each of these elements of social learning into a dynamic cycle.

Towards a Theory-Based Framework for Assessing the Mainstreaming of Education for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Teacher Education Institutions in Botswana

This article presents the development of a theory-based framework for exploring the ways in which different teacher education institutions in Botswana have worked towards the infusion of education for sustainable development (ESD) in the curriculum and the practice of pre-service teacher education. The framework combines a theory of change, a theory of education for sustainable human development and a theory of transformative learning. The objective of this paper is to understand how this theoretical framework can help the analysis and understanding of critical features of ESD pedagogy and projects. The research results obtained in the framework’s application highlight key elements enabling the successful implementation of ESD in two specific teacher education institutions, namely: the educators’ capacity to foster transformational pedagogies in the classroom, their capacity to strategically plan and implement their change projects, and the wider institutional and administrative context.

실천공동체의 관점에서 바라본 학교 ESD 프로젝트 참여 교사들의 경험에 관한 연구

Abstract The purpose of this study is to look at the elementary school teachers’ practical experiences of change and knowledges in promotion of Education for Sustainable Development(ESD) process with Community of Practice(CoP) of teachers and Biographical Approach. ESD project of ‘S’ elementary school was started by Principal’s recognition of further and that was practiced with a common theme over the course through various experiences in educational field with teachers’ involvement and finally came to the changes in teachers’ personal life and lifelong cognition. Through Community of Practice teachers could look the concept of ESD to a wide field of view and tried various activities in the classroom with students and also, as a further, were able to equip new professional competency with skills. Through the process of learning and experience teachers accepted the ESD philosophy as the engine of life and experienced that their long-term recognition was extended to the whole personal life and the global community.Key words : Teachers’ experiences, Education for Sustainable Development, ESD, Community of Practice, CoPCorresponding author : 051-510-2632, crosskh@hanmail.net

An Exploration of Patterns in the Practice of Education for Sustainable Development in China: Experience and Reflection

China began to promote the project on Education for Environment Population and Sustainable Development (EPD) in 1998 and obtained significant gains. After that, in response to the global-scale implementation of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), China, on the basis of a local concept interpretation of education for sustainable development (ESD), as well as its specific national condition, continually explored education practice models for more than ten years. The main features of ESD innovative practice in China are as follows: exploring and forming an ESD development model based on the Chinese native experiences, creating an organization mechanism for the continuous improvement of ESD projects, and building a school curriculum system with the concept of ESD. However, ESD in China has many problems such as funding deficiency, lack of teacher training, and other support system issues.

‘Our common world’ belongs to ‘Us’: constructions of otherness in education for sustainable development

The aim of this article is to analyse how good intentions in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discursively construct and maintain differences between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’. The empirical material consists of textbooks about sustainable development used in Swedish schools. An analysis of how ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are constructed and maintained is done with help from critical race theory, whiteness studies and Popkewitz’ notion of double gestures, exclusion through intentions of inclusion. The analysis departs from five dichotomies: tradition/civilisation, dirtiness/purity, chaos/order, ignorance/morality and helped/helping. We consider these dichotomies as cogwheels operating in an ‘Otherness machinery’. Through this machinery, ‘We’ are constructed as knowing, altruistic, conscious and good. The Other is simultaneously constructed as ‘uncivilised’ or as a ‘bad’ Other in need of higher moral standards. With help from these two Others, ‘Swedish exceptionalism’ is formed. The ESD project could then be understood as a colonial and excluding project, and we ask how it is possible to avoid that ‘our common world’ only belong to ‘Us’?

Teachers’ reflections on an education for sustainable development project

Sustainable development includes controversial values and complex issues such as energy consumption contra natural resources. This paper discusses a school project involving teachers from pre-schools to upper secondary schools in Sweden. The project aimed to support the teaching of energy issues and more generally sustainable development. During the first year of the project, teachers attended a university course as part-time students. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of an education for sustainable development (ESD) school project from the teacher's point of view. The research question is as follows: How do teachers constitute meaning in an ESD project? Through focus group interviews, I found three themes that illuminate the meaning of the project: awareness, confirmation, and collaboration. This study opened up two horizons: the meaning of ESD and the meaning of prerequisites for successful teaching. According to the results of this study, the relationship between social and ecological issues needs local relevance and people need an opportunity to debate the controversial issues.

Creating sustainable development change agents through problem‐based learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the issues involved in designing appropriate problems or scenarios suitable for sustainable development (SD) education, in the context of problem‐based learning (PBL) and experiential learning. Manchester's PBL approach to interdisciplinary Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been well reported, for example, in papers at the Educating Engineers in Sustainable Development conference in 2008. This paper poses the question: to achieve transformational education, is design of student problems for ESD itself a wicked problem? The design process that has been used to generate ESD projects for one PBL unit is reflected upon, to share good practices and highlight points of ongoing contention.Design/methodology/approachWorking from the background to the original pilot project to develop an inter‐disciplinary course to heighten student skills in sustainability and change management, the paper looks at some of the theoretical approaches taken to the design of PBL scenarios and tries to place these in the context of education for SD.FindingsThe initial project found that using inter‐disciplinary, problem‐based approaches to embedding SD in the curriculum is not only practicable but also desirable. However, the approach to design of problem scenarios has to be adjusted to the nature of the “wickedness” of sustainability issues and be appropriate to the student cohort and institution.Research limitations/implicationsThe approaches are felt to be applicable to a much wider range of situations than is demonstrated in the paper but, clearly, the findings can only be grounded on the particular situation of the project.Originality/valueThe 2006 curriculum development action research project was intended to help other institutions to replicate the process but, much of the external attention since that time has focussed, inappropriately, on simply re‐using the scenarios that were described in the initial project rather than applying the design process that has been developed in order to devise new scenarios more appropriate to another course or institution.

Building Regional Capacity for Sustainable Development through an ESD Project Inventory in RCE Saskatchewan, Canada

The Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development in Saskatchewan (RCE Saskatchewan, Canada) is part of the United Nations University RCE Initiative in support of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–14). With funding from the Government of Saskatchewan’s Go Green Fund, RCE Saskatchewan carried out research identifying education for sustainable development (ESD) projects within six priority areas for sustainability in its Canadian prairie region. This ESD capacity assessment was conducted by eight post-secondary students from late 2007 to 2009 and resulted in a searchable database and visual representation (map) of these ESD projects along with ongoing documentation of project milestones and processes. The database has become a useful tool assisting networking of Saskatchewan ESD providers, researchers and participants. This article describes the importance of the inventory in advancing the RCE, the project conception and management, the processes utilised for its successful completion (including descriptions of the technology utilised), the project findings and their implications. It concludes that for an RCE with minimal resources, an ESD project inventory employing student researchers within a higher education setting using Free/Open Source technologies is a cost-effective way of advancing the networking and capacity-building goals of an RCE.

From Harvard to Bradford - experiences of running a peer education for sustainable development project

There has been a signifi cant growth of interest and recognition in fi nding ways to bring sustainable development into the formal curriculum of UK students (Hopkinson et al., 2008, Sterling and Scott 2007, Roberts and Roberts 2007, Blewitt and Cullingford 2004). However, student learning can take place in many different settings and the ‘student experience’ comprises many diverse infl uences (refs). In this paper we provide a case study of an informal curriculum project – the Ecoversity ambassadors funded as part of a Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) Subject Centre small grant in 2006/7 and subsequently funded as one element of a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded programme known as Ecoversity StuDent (2007-2010). The paper describes the origins of the StuDent ambassador scheme, its management, emergent data related to the impact on students and the ways in which the project evolved with time.

Sustainable graduates: linking formal, informal and campus curricula to embed education for sustainable development in the student learning experience

The paper hypothesises that student learning about sustainable development (SD) might usefully be configured within a broad framework combining formal, informal and campus curriculum. Student learning about sustainable development is a form of education for sustainable development (ESD), a term which has many definitions and interpretations. In this paper we refer to both student learning about SD (referring to multiple influences, actions and levels of engagement) and ESD as an overarching formal term (in our work based upon the UNESCO framework for ESD). The term campus sustainability is used when the focus of learning and engagement is based upon or designed around campus‐focused projects and activities. We discuss why we believe our broad framework approach is useful and illustrate the practical development of some of these ideas through the early work of our institutional Ecoversity project. Our approach requires bringing together and meshing widely disparate institutional processes and drivers to support wide and multiple levels of student learning about SD. Such institution‐wide engagement requires that a number of key ‘enablers’ are developed, including: academic policy of ESD and SD; academic school engagement with ESD and SD including staff development and training; strategically focused processes and projects around the informal curriculum; and campus management practises and processes that support open and transparent decision‐making processes and treat all campus projects as educational opportunities. We describe some of the early achievements from our cross institutional ESD projects and reflect on some key learning points.