This document discusses education for sustainable development (ESD) as presented by UNESCO. It defines ESD as empowering citizens to enact positive environmental and social change through participatory education. ESD aims to balance environmental, societal, and economic concerns to improve quality of life for current and future generations. Key aspects of ESD include respect, critical thinking, partnership-building, and participation in decision-making. UNESCO's role in the UN Decade of ESD from 2005-2014 was to facilitate ESD efforts among stakeholders and support countries in achieving development goals through education reform.

2. UNESCO, 2005
• It has been acknowledged that there is no single route to
sustainable development. Furthermore, it is coherent that
understandings and visions for sustainability will be different for
each of us and that we will need to work together to negotiate the
process of achieving sustainability.

3. • The concept of sustainable development was popularized in 1987
with the publication of the “Brundtland Report”—the report of
the World Commission on Environment and Development.
• This landmark report highlighted the need to conceptualize
sustainable development that would “meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs”.

4. • Sustainable development is generally thought to have three
components: (1) Society, (2) Environment, and (3) Economy.
SOCIAL
Peace, Equity,
Democracy
ECONOMIC
Work, Money,
Education
ENVIRONMENT
Conservation,
Preservation,
Protection

5. • Society: understanding of social institutions and their role in change and
development as well as the democratic and participatory systems.
• Environment: awareness of the resources and fragility of the physical
environment and the effects on its human activity and decisions.
• Economy: sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and
their impact on society and on the environment, with a commitment to
assess a personal and societal levels of consumption out of concern for the
environment and social justice.
Thus, achieving sustainable development will require balancing
environmental, societal, and economic considerations in the pursuit of
development and an improve quality of life.

6. UNESCO, 2002
• Education for sustainable development is a dynamic concept that
encompasses a new vision of education to empower people to
assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. Its overall
aim is to empower citizens to act for positive environmental and
social change implying a participatory and action-oriented
approach.

7. • ESD is fundamentally about values, with respect at the centre; respect for
other, including those present and future generations, for difference and
diversity, for the environment, and for the resources of the planet that we
inhabit.
• Education enables us to understand ourselves and others, and our links
with the wider natural and social environment; and this understanding
serves as a durable basis for building respect. Along with a sense of justice,
responsibility, exploration and dialogue, ESD claims to move us to adopting
behaviors and practices that enable us to live a full life without being
deprived of basics.

8. • Education is an essential tool for achieving sustainability.
• Education at all levels can shape the world of tomorrow,
equipping individuals and societies with the skills, perspectives,
knowledge and values to live and work in a sustainable manner. It
directly affects sustainability plans in the following area:
1. Implementation
2. Decision-making
3. Quality of life

9. 1. Implementation. An educated citizenry is vital to implementing informal
and sustainable development. Nations with high illiteracy rates and unskilled
workforces have fewer development options. An educated workforce is the key
to moving beyond an extractive and agricultural economy.
2. Decision making. Good community based decisions—which will affect
social, economic, and environmental well-being—also depend on educated
citizens.
3. Quality of life. Education is also control to improving quality of life.
Education raises the economic status of families, it improves life conditions,
lowers infant mortality, and improves the educational attainment of the next
generation.

10. Skills that are essential in the development of ESD:
(Adapted from Tilbury D. And Wortman, D. 2004)
• Envisioning- being able to imagine a better future.
• Critical Thinking and Reflection- learning to question our current belief systems
and to recognize the assumptions underlying our knowledge, perspective and
opinions.
• Systematic thinking- acknowledging complexities and looking for links and
synergies when trying to find solutions to problems.
• Building Partnerships- promoting dialogue and negotiation, learning to work
together.
• Participation in decision making- empowering people.

11. How can Education for Sustainable Development improve
the quality of education?
• ESD teaches individuals how to make decisions that consider the long-
term future of the economy, ecology, and equity of all communities.
• ESD mirrors concerns for education of high quality, encouraging a holistic
interdisciplinary approach. It should be locally relevant, stimulate critical
thinking and encourage the use of problem solving techniques. In order to
create ESD programs all sectors of education community need to work
together in a cooperative manner.

12. • Quality education understands the past, is relevant to the present, and
has a view to the future. It relates to knowledge building and the skillful
application of all forms by unique individuals that function
independently and in relation to others.
• A quality education reflects the dynamic nature of culture and languages,
the value of the individual in relation to the larger context, and the
importance of living in a way that promotes equality in the present and
fosters a sustainable future.

13. UNESCO’s Role in Education for Sustainable
Development
• In December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted a resolution putting in place a United Nations
Decade for Sustainable Development (DESD) spanning
from 2005-2014. The founding value of ESD is respect:
• Respect for others;
• Respect in the present and future generations;
• Respect for the planet and what it provides to us (resources,
fauna, and flora).

14. The DESD breaks down the traditional scheme
and promotes:
• Interdisciplinary and holistic learning rather than subject based
learning.
• Values-based learning;
• Critical thinking rather than memorizing;
• Multi-method approaches: word, art, drama, debates, etc;
• Participatory decision-making; and
• Locally relevant information, rather than national.

15. The DESD aims at changing the approach to education so that it can
integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable
development. Its goals can be broken down into four key objectives:
• Facilitating, networking, and collaboration among stakeholders of ESD;
• Fostering greater quality of teaching and learning of environmental
topics;
• Supporting countries in achieving their millennium development goals
through ESD efforts, and
• Providing countries with new opportunities and tools to reform
education.

16. UNESCO’s role, including its member States, are defined by
the four major thrusts of ESD, as follows:
• Improving access to quality basic education;
• Reorienting existing educational programs;
• Developing public understanding and awareness; and proving
training.

17. There are key action themes for Education for
Sustainable Development. They are as follows:
1.Gender Equality. Where each member of society respects others
and plays a role in which they can fulfill their potential.
2.Health Promotion. Schools should act not only as centers for
academic learning, but also as supportive venues for the provision
of essential health services, in collaboration with parents and the
community.

18. 3.Environment.
Teaching society how to behave responsibility and respect the
environment lies at the core of education for sustainable
development.
4.Rural Development.
Education and training are essential in addressing rural
poverty and ensuring sustainable development in these parts of the
world.

19. 5.Cultural Diversity.
ESD aims at promoting teaching which respects indigenous and
traditional knowledge, and encourages the use of indigenous language in
education, the integration of worldviews and perspectives on sustainability
into education programs at all levels.
6.Peace and Human Security.
Peace and security are fundamental to human dignity and
development, the sustainable development of any culture is always
endangered by a situation of insecurity and conflict.

20. 7.Sustainable Development.
With responsible decision-making, however, cities also hold
promising opportunities for social and economic advancement and for
environmental improvements at local, national, and global levels.
8.Sustainable Consumption.
Our choices as consumers today will impact the way people will
live tomorrow. Sustainable consumption means consuming goods and
services without harming the environment or the society.

21. Education for Sustainable Development, therefore, is
focused on giving people knowledge and skills for lifelong
learning to help them find new solutions to their
environmental, economic, and social issues.

22. ESD as the right attitude to globalization.
• The optimist globalists see only the boon of globalizing influences in terms
of improved quality of life, higher living standards, and greater social
cohesion and understanding.
• The pessimist globalists see the dark side of globalization with dominant
First World Countries imposing their own economic and political agenda on
the world.
• The traditional globalists who would not stand and wait but take a
proactive stand.
• ESD takes the proactive stand. It seek to face the dangers of globalization and
actualize the process for creating a new world system, even as unresolved and
grave global and regional concerns loom in the world today.

23. Being an Educator for Sustainable
Development
• Environmental awareness.
This program promotes environmental education, active
approaches to teaching-learning citizenship education, research
and exchange of experience internationally.
• Competencies for the knowledge economy.
This delineates the skills of knowledge workers and specifies
conditions to be met for lifelong learning for all.

24. • Human/social capital economic growth.
This studies the specific roles of both human and social
capital in economic growth.
• Inclusive education.
This addresses the special education needs of students with
organic disabilities, learning difficulties and social disadvantages.

25. Guidelines were also set for effectively
incorporating ESD into the curricula:
• Decide the themes to ensure programs fit the environmental,
social, and economic conditions and goals of their
community/region/nation.
• Ensure educators/administrators understand the concept of
sustainability-- and are familiar with its principles; that they
distinguish between “education about sustainable development”
(cognitive theories) and ESD as “a tool to achieve more
sustainable futures.”

26. • Use the UNESCO design criteria for ESD program evaluation:
relevance and appropriateness, based on the local
needs/perceptions/conditions, lifelong endeavor, addresses
context/content/pedagogy/local priorities/global issues, deals
with the well-being of 3 realms of sustainability (environment,
ecology, and economy), not imported from another
culture/region, not “one size fits all, but created to fit
local/regional differences.

27. The guidelines set for Teachers
• Acknowledge their key role as cornerstones of effective ESD programs and
co-developers of the curricula.
• Understand the cross-cutting (mainstreaming) and multi-disciplinary nature
of ESD.
• Avoid overloading the curriculum and to solely link ESC to one or two
disciplines.
• Be open to divers learning strategies.
• Appreciate the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships-- working
together to solve a shared problems.

28. ESD teaching-learning process in the
classroom
• Values-based learning. The processes of self-reflection and critical inquiry
fosters critical thinking of one’s values and the values of others.
• Learning to transform. This involves developing a vision for ESD and
subsequent transformation-of-thinking for change.
• Whole-school approach. This is to develop an entire school culture
committed to ESD, not focusing on ESD simply within the curricula, and
• Community-based learning. The schools act as a social agent, as part of
the community and involving the community as a resource and participant
in decision-making processes.