Education for Sustainable Development
Education for sustainable development is about facing up to the challenges of climate change. It supports the development of more sustainable communities, workplaces and individual behaviour.
ESD projects in the Transformation Fund offered a range of learning activities related to environmental awareness, knowledge and skills such as:
- growing and cooking food - Growing Places
- recycling and saving energy - Climate Reach
- outdoor countryside activities for excluded groups - Peak Wise People, Wellies
- sustainable living - Greeniversity, Sustainable Somerset
The projects that made the most impact :
- had clear sustainable development aims and purposes;
- started from the situations and interests of those involved;
- made learning fun and interactive; and
- offered flexible learning opportunities with no pressure to sign up to a series of classes or undergo testing.
People changed their behaviour: " I turn off my plugs and lights and everything now. Doing the smaller things soon becomes a habit. Now I want to learn more and I want to do more and get a job." Jenny - resident in a homeless hostel. (Climate Reach)
New spaces were opened up for learning, including National Parks, urban parks, school grounds, allotments and farms. Land was transformed into community growing spaces which will remain available for local communities.
ESD has multiple outcomes for individuals and communities. It can bring:
- improvements to individual health and well-being ;
- increased understanding of sustainability leading to lifestyle changes; and
- a range of environmental, social and economic benefits to communities.
However ESD is still very underdeveloped in adult and community learning. Many learning providers are unaware of ESD or do not have the knowledge and confidence to develop this area. Other organisations working on different aspects of sustainability may not know how to engage effectively with different groups of learners. Developing this area of learning will require creative partnerships, supported by joint planning, information exchange and staff development.
Climate change may be the greatest challenge facing our society. It is not simply an environmental question, but has implications for social justice and cohesion, democratic participation and economic prosperity. If society is to move towards a more sustainable future, we will need to find new and different ways of doing things and education has a vital role to play in this. Sustainable development has been rising up the education agenda in recent years, and has a high profile in the new Common Inspection Framework.
Our Findings
Web Links
NIACE's Sustainable Development Policy
NIACE's information on supporting and developing the lifelong learning sector to strengthen its contribution to sustainable development policy and practice.
Implementing Education for Sustainable Development
A NIACE web page about Education for Sustainable Development with to a Learning and Skills Council (LSC) report on the subject.
Sustainable Development good practice
An website on the Learning and Skills Council's Excellence Gateway portal with information and tools to help you implement Sustainable Development, with special reference to the Common Inspection Framework.
Guidance on facilitating informal adult learning
A free practical guidance document on facilitating informal adult learning, including links to resources to support education for sustainable development.
