Characteristics of ESD-Promoting Strategies in China’s Basic Education

This article describes how education for sustainable development (ESD) has been integrated into education in China over the past decade through the efforts of the secretariat of a national steering committee working with UNESCO in conjunction with the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. ESD is now part of a new national education plan in China.

The author found six principal methods that successfully promoted ESD in China: (a) Using a theoretical framework as the driving force; (b) Public educational policies made on the basis of education research; (c) Regional educational reform that meets the needs of local sustainable development; (d) Curriculum teaching methods constituted with features of ESD; (e) ESD characteristics integrated in the physical plant of the campus; and (f) Chinese–foreign exchange and cooperation in ESD at various levels.