Education and sustainable development:

My Project
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Master degree study in :

Education

for

Sustainable Development

Foreword

UNESCO has been promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) since 1992. It led the UN Decade for ESD from

2005 to 2014 and is now spearheading its follow-up, the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The momentum for ESD has never been stronger. Global issues – such as climate change – urgently require a shift in our lifestyles and a transformation of the way we think and act. To achieve this change, we need new skills, values and attitudes

that lead to more sustainable societies. Education systems must respond to this pressing need by defining relevant learning objectives and learning contents, introducing pedagogies that empower learners, and urging their institutions to include sustainability principles in their

management structures.

The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly reflects this vision of the importance of an appropriate educational response. Education is explicitly formulated as a stand-alone goal – Sustainable Development Goal 4. Numerous education- related targets and indicators are also contained within other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Education is both a goal in itself and a means for attaining all the other SDGs. It is not only an integral part of sustainable development, but also a key enabler for it. That is why education represents an essential strategy in the pursuit of the SDGs.

This publication is designed as a guide for education professionals on the use of ESD in learning for the SDGs, and consequently to contribute to achieving the SDGs. The guide identifies indicative learning objectives and suggests topics and learning activities for each SDG. It also presents implementation methods at different levels, from course design to national strategies. The guide does not aim to be prescriptive in any way, but to provide guidance and suggestions that educators can select and adapt to fit concrete learning contexts.

I am confident that this guide will help to develop sustainability competencies for all learners and empower everyone to contribute to achieving our ambitious and crucial global agenda.

Sustainable development:
Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Today’s education is crucial to the ability of present and future leaders and citizens to create solutions and find new paths to a better future.

Sustainability:

Thus, the authors consider sustainability to be a paradigm for thinking about a future in which environmental, societal, and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of development and improved quality of life.

UN Summit Conference 2015/2030:
The presidents of 150 countries have held a summit conference for sustainable development under the UN umbrella in New York on the 25th , September, 2015. It handled many aims to implement.

Plan of UN Summit Conference 2015/2030:
Overcoming poverty, hunger and diseases all over the world.

Summit Conference Reforming Aims :
1-Finding a high quality education.
2-Repairing water and sewage Facilities.
3-Finding modern safe energy supplies.
4-Finding suitable work opportunities.
5-Building a a strong infrastructure,
6-Equity between individuals and nations.
7-Finding safe housing units.
8-Finding active models for production and consumption.
9-Finding ways for facing climatic changes.
10-Protecting the sea resources efficiently.
11-The reform of wild and environmental echo-systems.
12-Establishing peaceful and opening societies.
13-The means of achieving development are hope, will, plan, youth, work and world partnership.

14-The call for stopping wars, bloodshed and dismissing peoples of their countries.

15-Reclaiming deserts to give products.

Summit conference societal aims:
1-The eradication of poverty and hunger.
2-Ensuring gender equality.
3-Protecting the earth planet from degradation.
4-Managing natural resources.
5-Ealising technological , social and economic progress.
6-Encouraging the communities of peace and justice prevail.
7-Creating communities free from fear and violence.
8-There must be a International Partnership for Sustainable Development on the basis of international solidarity.
9-Focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable with the participation of all countries.

10-Developing the role of the woman.

UN Summit Conference in 2000 :
The UN summit conference for Sustainable Development was held in 2000 under the theme of "Millennium Development Goals".

Sustainable Development Goals:

No Poverty – End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Zero Hunger – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Good Health and Well-Being – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Quality Education – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Gender Equality – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Clean Water and Sanitation – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Affordable and Clean Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy for all.

Decent Work and Economic Growth – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

10.

Reduced Inequalities – Reduce inequality within and among countries.

11.

Sustainable Cities and Communities – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

12.

Responsible Consumption and Production – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

13.

Climate Action – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

14.

Life below Water – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

15.

Life on Land – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

16.

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

17.

Partnerships for the Goals – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

The aims achieved, since 2000 :
1-It reduced the number of inhabitants who live under the low level of income.
2-It saved more of six million people infected with malaria.
3- It allowed the achievement of the global plan to reduce deaths from tuberculosis.

The problem:

The resulting gap between the content of education and societal needs inhibits our capacity to anticipate and effectively respond to social problems.

The solution:

Education is our best hope for a better future. Emergence of a new paradigm in education can radically abridge the time required for humanity to address critical issues related to economy, governance, ecology and life-style.

The tool:

Education is the best known tool for ensuring universal human rights, promoting democracy, enhancing productivity and protecting the environment. Education is the effective means for fostering the capabilities of openness, adaptability and independent thinking to enlighten our economic, political, intellectual and cultural behavior.

Role of education

Education helps to prevent disease and to use health services effectively. Education helps us to have higher wages and economic growth. Good education supports the growth of civil society, democracy, and political stability. Education builds knowledge and skills and engages learners as problem-solving participants. Education can improve agricultural productivity, enhance the status of women, reduce population growth rates, enhance environmental protection, and generally raise the standard of living

. . .

Education promotes critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions collaboratively. Critical thinking helps people learn to examine economic, environmental, social and cultural structures in the context of sustainable development. Education for sustainability is the practice of learning how to achieve global and local sustainable communities.

Education........................................

is based on the principles and values that underlie sustainable development.
deals with the environment, society, culture and economy.
uses critical thinking techniques and skills.
promotes lifelong learning.
is based on local needs, perceptions and conditions.
engages formal, non-formal and informal education.
accommodates the concept of sustainability.
addresses global issues and local priorities.
builds decision-making, social tolerance, environmental stewardship, an adaptable workforce, and a good quality of life.

Education about & for ESD:
   An important distinction is the difference between education about sustainable development and education for sustainable development. The first is an awareness lesson or theoretical discussion. The second is the use of education as a tool to achieve sustainability. Education for sustainable development calls for giving people knowledge and skills for lifelong learning to help them find new solutions to their environmental, economic, and social issues.

Education affects sustainability:

Applicability:
    An educated citizenry is vital to implementing informed and sustainable development. In fact, a national sustainability plan can be enhanced or limited by the level of education attained by the nation's citizens. Nations with high illiteracy rates and unskilled workforces have fewer development options.

Making decisions:
   Good community-based decisions - which will affect social, economic, and environmental well-being - also depend on educated citizens. Development options, especially "greener" development options, expand as education increases.For example, a community with an abundance of skilled labor and technically trained people can persuade a corporation to locate a new information-technology and software-development facility nearby. Citizens can also act to protect their communities by analyzing reports and data that address community issues and helping shape a community response.

Education and quality life:
   Education raises the economic status of families; it improves life conditions, lowers infant mortality, and improves the educational attainment of the next generation, thereby raising the next generation's chances for economic and social well-being. Improved education holds both individual and national implications.

Learning objectives for teachers to promote ESD

Know about sustainable development, the different SDGs and the related topics and challenges.

Understand the discourse on and the practice of ESD in its local, national and global context.

Develop their own integrative view of the issues and challenges of sustainable development by taking into account the social, ecological, economic and cultural dimensions from the perspective of the principles and values of sustainable development, including that of intergenerational and global justice.

Take disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives on issues of global change and their local manifestations .

Reflect on the concept of sustainable development, the challenges in achieving the SGDs, the importance of their own field of expertise for achieving the SDGs and their own role in this process .

Reflect on the relationship of formal, non-formal and. Informal learning for sustainable development, and apply this knowledge in their own professional work.

Understand how cultural diversity, gender equality, social justice, environmental protection and personal development are integral elements of ESD and how to make them a part of educational processes.

Practice an action-oriented transformative pedagogy that engages learners in participative, systemic, creative and innovative thinking and acting processes in the context of local communities and learners’ daily lives.

Act as a change agent in a process of organizational learning that advances their school towards sustainable development.

Identify local learning opportunities related to sustainable development and build cooperative relationships.

Evaluate and assess the learners’ development of cross-cutting sustainability competencies and specific sustainability-related learning outcomes.

Inclusive Growth

Inclusive growth is economic growth that creates opportunity for all segments of the population and distributes the dividends of increased prosperity, both in monetary and non-monetary terms, fairly across society.

In many countries, people have not seen their incomes rise for years. The gap between rich and poor has widened, with those at the top capturing the ‘lion’s share’ of growth. Rising inequality in earnings and in wealth is a major concern, but money is just one aspect of people’s well-being. In just about every area, whether it be education, life expectancy, or employment prospects, success is determined by socio-economic status, wealth and assets, sex, age or the places where people live. The OECD approach to inclusive growth is multidimensional, going beyond income, and that the proceeds of economic growth must be shared.

Our Approach to Inclusive Growth

The OECD’s Inclusive Growth Framework includes a measure of “multidimensional living standards” designed to track societal welfare, and analyse the extent to which growth - in a given country and over a given period - translates into improvements across the range of outcomes that matter most for people’s lives.

It includes an income dimension, measured as average household real disposable income adjusted for inequality between the income of the average household and that of a household at a different decile (e.g. median or bottom 10%). It also includes the non-income dimensions of health and unemployment, chosen based on empirical work on the most significant determinants of subjective well-being.Recent data indicates that losses in living standards related to longevity and unemployment in the OECD equate to as much as 29% of household average income.

Methodological work is ongoing to refine the multidimensional livings standards measure, incorporating other non-income dimensions that matter for well-being, such as health inequality and education. Work is also underway to extend the analysis beyond the OECD to include emerging and middle-income countries, and to test the robustness of the Framework. The policy mapping work will pursue the analysis of the main drivers of the key dimensions – based on a production function approach – and the identification of robust empirical relationships.

View other resources:

1-Teacher's Toolbox
2-Physical activity in class.

3-Learner-centered Teaching.

4-Metaphors in EFL Classroo

5-Story Jokes for real communication

6-Characteristics of a good teacher.
7-Writing for the Reader: A problem- solution approach.

8-Film Circles: Scaffolding Speaking For EFL Students.
9-Rediscovering Curiosity, Imagination, and Humor in Learning.

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