Abstract
As the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) draws to a close, it seemed appropriate for JESD to call on experts in the field to sketch likely and desirable scenarios for the future of education for sustainable development (ESD), based on the highpoints of the past 10 years. We are pleased to present in the first of our two-part special edition that commemorates the UNDESD, a collection of opinion essays from global ESD experts in addition to our usual selection of peer-reviewed research papers and resources.
In his article, Stephen Sterling discusses the grim likelihood of a future we ‘deserve’ but do not want, if policymakers continue to ignore the role of education. It is somewhat ironic that such an urgent plea for the recognition of the role of education still needs to be made at the end of an entire decade that sought to highlight it. Sterling also concurs with other ESD experts in his observation that education is yet to be seen as the most powerful agent of sustainability.
Charles Hopkins is of the view that the Decade has been successful in the critical task of engaging the attention of governments and policymakers and setting the stage for prioritizing sustainability education for global citizenry alongside quality education.
Frans Lenglet makes a forceful argument for driving ESD out of its circle of believers into other fields and disciplines to carry out the mandate of change for sustainability, while Rosalyn McKeown is concerned about the need to ensure that teachers continue to be supported in their efforts to embed and develop ESD into curricula.
The role of the global action plan in carrying forward the accomplishments of the Decade is discussed in some detail by Jim Taylor. Taylor highlights the need to step back from causal fear-based approaches that have dominated environment and sustainability education primarily because the environmental movement owes its historical origins to the acknowledgement of environmental crises.
The dilemma facing educators who must deal with the undeniable linearity and issues of power implicit in changing behaviour towards sustainability is understandable. De Andrade and others thoughtfully analyze the colonizing implications of education where value judgements are often both implicit and unavoidable. They argue that environment and sustainability education needs pedagogies that are based on dialogue and mutual learning rather than the linearity of thought colonization implicit in teaching.
Ultimately, however, the success of ESD remains entirely dependent on how well concepts are translated into learning opportunities through practical sustainability education. The danger of leaving ESD confined to the realm of policy, capacity building and academic debate looms large even as we stand at the end of the Decade. We need to focus on developing learning opportunities through structured and collaborative educational projects that link people and organizations towards sustainability goals at local and global levels. The global action plan, with its emphasis on advancing policy, whole institutional approaches, capacity building, empowering youth and community-based programmes, is poised to take us forward on our common journey towards sustainability.