Education for sustainable development
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Introduction
In 2005 the United Nations launched the 'Decade of Education for Sustainable Development' (2005-2014). This was recently updated for the second half of the period and can be found at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/. The original document stated:
'The overall goal of the DESD is to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This educational effort will encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations'.
The initiative has encouraged individuals and organisations across the globe, involved in both formal and informal educational contexts, to reflect upon and to begin to implement appropriate mechanisms for integrating the topic of 'sustainable development' into their teaching and learning strategies. Since 2005, the Hiegher Education Academy's Subject Centres have been carrying out initial explorations on the theme of 'Education for Sustainable Development' with respect to the current state of the various disciplines in terms of teaching activity and research.
One aim of this work is to contribute towards enabling graduates to become 'sustainability literate' as both an employability skill but also from the recognition that individuals need to take responsibility for living their lives more 'sustainably'.
What is 'Education for sustainable development'?
The exact definition of sustainable development has been, and continues to be, widely discussed. A report written by Bruntland in 1987 provided a definition that is still widely used today:
'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.
From the Higher Education Academy
The Higher Education Academy has information, resources, links and news in this area.
The Higher Education Academy ESD report for Senior Managers in higher education (downloads as PDF). The purpose of this report is to inform senior managers in higher education institutions about progress being made in embedding sustainable development into learning and teaching across the sector. It summarises the outcomes of the first year of a programme of support for such activity undertaken by the Academy's Subject Centres.
From other subject centres
ESCalate, the Education Subject Centre has developed some helpful resources which may be of particular use in our subject areas for general use by the HE sector. ESCalate has also included a useful article in its newsletter.
Other Subject Centres with information on ESD on their websites include:
- GEES
- Centre for Bioscience (and their 'How to Sheets')
- Built Environment
- Economics
- Engineering
- English
- Hospitality Leisure and Tourism
- Information and Computer Sciences
- Psychology (opens as pdf)
Please note some of the above sites have been archived and are no longer updating information.
Alternate definitions
UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-214) http://www.unesco.org/en/esd/
(Department of) Business, Innovation and Skills
World Bank: What is Sustainable Development?
The 2010 People and Planet Green League (opens as PDF) ranks UK Universities against a set of sustainable development criterion. The Times Higher Education (THE) article Colour of Money includes discussions about the rankings.
Related ItemsThe Events, Fundops and Resources listed below have recently been tagged as relating to 'Education for sustainable development'. |
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Further reading
