Education And Sustainability

This book will enable teachers and managers in the post-compulsory sector to consider a range of approaches to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in their practice in the post-compulsory sector. There will be the opportunity to consider key debates, useful links and suggested reading to encourage further investigation and development of practice. Fundamentally, this book aims to empower teachers to critically analyse ESD through their own subject specialisms, engage in the debate and learn with their students. Democratic and participative approaches introduced will help readers to question traditional transmissive styles of teaching and learning and move on to the radical and transformative approaches required to embrace ESD. Therefore this book, whilst including illustrative examples, will encourage the reader to look at their own subject specialisms, practice, interests and those of their students to co-construct a curriculum that embeds ESD.

'To summarise, this book has a clear academic justification and is aptly outlined with examples of creative and relevant ideas that could easily be adapted and implemented in many fields - particularly for those subject areas that were intentionally omitted. Readers can easily navigate to their field of interest and the book would be a highly recommended resource for many, including the student market, academics, practitioners, policy makers and senior managers.'Nancy El-Farargy, A Guide to Publications in the Physical Sciences

This book explores the potential of arts and cultural education to contribute to on-going efforts to promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in line with UNESCO’s conceptualizations of the field. It builds on the experiences of arts educators working to build sustainable futures and portrays new and innovative approaches. Chapters comprise case studies that combine arts, culture, sustainable thinking and practices. They also include research from historical perspectives, evaluations of public policy measures and offer theoretical approaches and methodologies. The book unfolds the possible relationships between arts and cultural education and Education for Sustainable Development.

Prioritizing Sustainability Education presents theory-to-practice essays and case studies by educators from six countries who elucidate dynamic approaches to sustainability education. Too often, students graduate with exploitative, consumer-driven orientations toward ecosystems and are unprepared to confront the urgent challenges presented by environmental degradation. Educators are prioritizing sustainability-oriented courses and programs that cultivate students’ knowledge, skills, and values and contextualize them within relational connections to local and global ecosystems. Little has yet been written, however, about the comprehensive sustainability education that educators are currently designing and implementing, often across or at the edges of disciplinary boundaries. The approaches described in this book expand beyond conventional emphases on developing students’ attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors by thinking and talking about ecosystems to additionally engaging students with ecosystems in sensory, affective, psychological, and cognitive dimensions, as well as imaginative, spiritual, or existential dimensions that guide environmental care and regeneration. This book supports educators and graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in the humanities, social sciences, environmental studies, environmental sciences, and professional programs in considering how to reorient their fields toward relational sustainability perspectives and practices.

Now with new Introduction and additional new chapter. At a time when polls suggest that a majority of young British people believe that the future will offer a worse quality of life than the present, it is becoming imperative that children are introduced to principles of sustainability through the educational system from an early age, and that these principles are regularly reinforced and built upon. The government's own Panel on Sustainable Development has called for a 'comprehensive strategy for environmental and training', and NGOs frequently point to education as a key policy instrument in the transition to sustainable development. This is the first book published in Britain to provide an overview of the theory and practice of these issues. It brings together contributions from environmental educators working in the formal and informal sectors and in continuing education, and provides perspectives on the philosophy, politics and pedagogy of education for sustainability, as well as case studies and pointers towards good practice. Part I establishes some initial perspectives on sustainability, education and the role of NGOs; the potential for education for sustainability in the formal and informal sectors is assessed in Parts II and III; Part IV discusses its development as part of the greening of business and local government; and Part V looks at the way forward.

This book provides a critique of over two decades of sustained effort to infuse educational systems with education for sustainable development. Taking to heart the idea that deconstruction is a prelude to reconstruction, this critique leads to discussions about how education can be remade, and respond to the educational imperatives of our time, particularly as they relate to ecological crises and human-nature relationships. It will be of great interest to students and researchers of sociology, education, philosophy and environmental issues.

This book was inspired by the inaugural National Roundtable on Environmental and Sustainability Education in Canadian Faculties of Education (Roundtable 2016), which took place June 14-16, 2016, at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. Roundtable 2016 brought together over seventy participants from across Canada, including educators, researchers, policy-makers, consultants, and community organizations. Over the course of three days, participants took part in keynote addresses, research colloquia, networking socials, and collaborative inquiry activities focused on Environmental Sustainability Education in Teacher Education (ESE-TE). Roundtable 2016 resulted in the publication of a National Action Plan containing action-oriented recommendations for enhancing ESE-TE, and a position statement titled “The Otonabee Declaration,” where delegates articulated their views regarding environmental degradation, the critical need for enhancing ESE-TE, and, the role educators, children, youth, educational institutions, policy makers, and Indigenous communities play in enhancing ESE-TE in Canada. This volume concludes with a discussion placing current Canadian ESE-TE theory and practice within an international context.

In a fast-changing, globalising world, the teaching and implementation of a curriculum for Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been a challenge for many teachers. Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability highlights the issues and challenges educators and academics face in implementing EfS and gives examples of what an EfS curriculum may look like and how some institutions translate the theory into practice. Organised into three parts, the volume looks at: the who (EfS for whom), the what (EfS curriculum) and the how (translating from theory to practice). The concluding chapter provides ideas and directions on where the world can proceed regarding sustainability education and how it can help in the teaching and learning of sustainability. Considering social issues such as poverty, education, health, culture and the use of natural resources, this book proposes a different path towards Education for Sustainability. Providing concrete data on the realisation of sustainable development, Issues in Teaching and Learning of Education for Sustainability will be of interest to geographers, geography educators and professionals concerned with Education for Sustainability.