Education UNESCO Sector Publishing United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Cultural Organization EDUCATION ON THE MOVE Sustainable for in Education Development Issues and trends Bringing the latest thinking in education to education specialists worldwide Created by UNESCO, the series – Education on the Move – focuses on key trends in education today and challenges Issues and trends in Education for tomorrow. The series seeks to bring research knowledge produced by various academic disciplines and within various organizations to those who can shape educational policies and drive reforms. As such, it also intends to for Sustainable Development contribute to on-going reflections on the international educational agenda. Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is globally acknowledged as a powerful driver of change, empowering learners to take the decisions and actions needed to build a just and economically viable society respectful of both the environment and cultural diversity. This publication comes at a moment of heightened global interest in addres- sing sustainability challenges through education in order to achieve the targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. ESD is not only recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development but an integral element of all quality education. By exploring key issues related to ESD policy and practice, UNESCO aims to help accelerate the reorientation of education towards achieving a sustainable and resilient world. 9 789231 002441 www.unesco.org/publishing EDUCATION ON THE MOVE Sustainable Development Goals UNESCO Publishing United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development A. Leicht, J. Heiss and W. J. Byun (eds) UNESCO Education Sector The Global Education 2030 Agenda Education is UNESCO’s top priority because UNESCO, as the United Nations’ specialized it is a basic human right and the foundation agency for education, is entrusted to lead and on which to build peace and drive sustainable coordinate the Education 2030 Agenda, which is development. UNESCO is the United Nations’ part of a global movement to eradicate poverty specialized agency for education and the through 17 Sustainable Development Goals by Education Sector provides global and 2030. Education, essential to achieve all of these regional leadership in education, strengthens goals, has its own dedicated Goal 4, which aims to national education systems and responds “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education to contemporary global challenges through and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” education with a special focus on gender The Education 2030 Framework for Action provides equality and Africa. guidance for the implementation of this ambitious goal and commitments. Published in 2018 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France © UNESCO 2018 ISBN 978-92-3-100244-1 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Cover design: Corinne Hayworth Cover credit: © Peter Jurik / Panther Media / GraphicObsession Design and printing: UNESCO Printed in France with the generous support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT) CLD 2933.17 Foreword Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development is the fifth in UNESCO’s Education on the Move series, which reviews trends in education today and challenges for tomorrow. The series is aimed at providing policy- makers, educators and other stakeholders with state-of-the-art analyses of topical issues. As the world’s leading agency on education, UNESCO seeks to promote and stimulate this key intellectual debate on the future of education. The present volume addresses Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. ESD promotes holistic and transformational education. This type of education addresses learning content and outcomes, innovative pedagogy and ‘learning by doing’, and uses a whole-school approach to engage communities in achieving sustainable change. This publication comes at a time of heightened global interest in efforts to address sustainability challenges through education. ESD is placed at the centre of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and has been widely recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development and an integral element of quality education. It forms part of Target 4.7 of Sustainable Development Goal 4, which by 2030, seeks to ‘ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles…’ as well as cutting across all the other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNESCO is the lead agency on ESD, as recognized in the 2015 UN General Assembly Resolution 70/209. The resolution invites the Organization to continue to provide coordination for the implementation of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD in cooperation with partners, advocate for adequate resources for ESD; support Member States in building capacity, promote the sharing of knowledge and best practices; and assess progress towards the achievement of ESD. As the lead for the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), the Organization has laid the foundations for ESD implementation around the world. The extensive partnerships and networks and strong political commitments built throughout the Decade have created a broad consensus that quality education in the twenty-first century means learning how to live and work sustainably. This leadership role was also recognized in the declaration adopted in 2014 at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD at Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The Global Action Programme (GAP), the follow up to the Decade, aims to generate and scale-up ESD actions at all levels and in all areas of education, training and learning. There is also growing interest in inter-SDG collaboration with ESD. Through this publication, UNESCO aims to contribute to accelerating the reorientation of education towards achieving a sustainable and resilient world. This publication presents an overview of ESD and highlights key issues related to ESD policy and practice. Topics include key ESD competencies and themes, policy, changes in the learning environment, teacher training, youth as lead actors, scaling-up action, and the monitoring of progress towards Target 4.7. UNESCO is very grateful to the authors who contributed to this important volume. We also extend our sincere appreciation to the following peer reviewers for their kind efforts in providing invaluable insights and ideas: Daniel Abreu, Bianca Bilgram, Matthew Cocks, Brid Conneely, Bernard Combes, Sabine Detzel, Robert Didham, Zinaida Fadeeva, Charles Hopkins, Deepika Joon, Alexa Joyce, Livleen Kahlon, Kate Keough, Miki Konishi, Ragini Kumar, Taru Mehta, Martin Mickelsson, Yoko Mochizuki, Prithi Nambiar, Juan Carlos A. Sandoval Rivera, Bedoshruti Sadhukhan, Julie Saito, Daniel Schaffer, Pramod Sharma, Cara Smith, Shepherd Urenje, Wilma Van Staden, Arjen Wals, Jonathan Yee and Daniela Zallocco. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Japanese Government for providing generous financial support for this publication through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT) to UNESCO. Qian Tang, Ph.D. Assistant Director-General for Education UNESCO Table of contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................7 Alexander Leicht, Julia Heiss, Won Jung Byun Notes on contributors.........................................................................................................................17 Part I: Understanding ESD Chapter 1 From Agenda 21 to Target 4.7: the development of ESD Alexander Leicht, Bernard Combes, Won Jung Byun, Adesuwa Vanessa Agbedahin ......................................................................................................25 Chapter 2 Learning to transform the world: key competencies in ESD Marco Rieckman .................................................................................................................................39 Chapter 3 Key themes in education for sustainable development Marco Rieckman .................................................................................................................................61 Part II: Implementing ESD