342
O. Ahel and K. Lingenau
will be presented. Building on the case study, this chapter discusses several pertinent
conclusions and the potential of digitalization for promoting ESD.
1.1 ESD in Higher Education
In 2002, as a proposal of the Rio +10 Conference on Sustainable Development,
the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005–2014) was
proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly and overseen by UNESCO.
The goal of the decade was to “integrate the principles, values and practices that make
up sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning.” (UNESCO
2014a, p. 9). ESD requires teaching and learning approaches such as questioning of
assumptions, working in teams and imagining future scenarios to enable learners to
integrate knowledge about complex and interconnected issues like climate change,
biodiversity and poverty reduction etcetera. Overall, the DESD worked towards a
reorientation of educational systems and structures and pushed towards a reframing
of teaching and learning (UNESCO 2014a). Notable achievements of the DESD
include: (a) integration of national ESD strategies with coordinating bodies in most
member states of the UN and (b) initiation of a reorientation of education systems with
the integration of several ESD programs into curricula, especially with regard to early
childhood education, primary and secondary education and non-formal education.
However, a comprehensive integration of ESD in the educational systems could
not yet be achieved as several educational institutions and pedagogical approaches
failed to fully embrace issues of sustainable development. In the realm of higher
education, the systematical integration of ESD in curricula, research and operations
was to a large extent still lacking by the end of the DESD, even though it has become
common practice to increase awareness of ESD through one-time events, stand-alone
courses, workshops and project-based activities (UNESCO 2014a). For example, in
2009 the German UNESCO Commission revealed that at that stage only 2% of the
students in Germany had access to courses focusing on sustainable development
(Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission 2009).
While much has therefore been done to advance ESD, the progress was clearly
uneven and most member states of the UN acknowledged that more work was required
for full implementation. Due to many unattained goals, UNESCO decided to initiate
a follow-up program to promote the integration of ESD in all education systems,
namely the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The GAP offers the education
system another five years (2015–2019) to support the integration of ESD and to
accelerate up-scale and deepen the transformation of education. The GAP aims to
contribute substantially to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development through the
following two objectives:
– Reorienting education and learning so that everyone has the opportunity to acquire
the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to a
sustainable future.
O. Ahel and K. Lingenau
will be presented. Building on the case study, this chapter discusses several pertinent
conclusions and the potential of digitalization for promoting ESD.
1.1 ESD in Higher Education
In 2002, as a proposal of the Rio +10 Conference on Sustainable Development,
the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005–2014) was
proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly and overseen by UNESCO.
The goal of the decade was to “integrate the principles, values and practices that make
up sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning.” (UNESCO
2014a, p. 9). ESD requires teaching and learning approaches such as questioning of
assumptions, working in teams and imagining future scenarios to enable learners to
integrate knowledge about complex and interconnected issues like climate change,
biodiversity and poverty reduction etcetera. Overall, the DESD worked towards a
reorientation of educational systems and structures and pushed towards a reframing
of teaching and learning (UNESCO 2014a). Notable achievements of the DESD
include: (a) integration of national ESD strategies with coordinating bodies in most
member states of the UN and (b) initiation of a reorientation of education systems with
the integration of several ESD programs into curricula, especially with regard to early
childhood education, primary and secondary education and non-formal education.
However, a comprehensive integration of ESD in the educational systems could
not yet be achieved as several educational institutions and pedagogical approaches
failed to fully embrace issues of sustainable development. In the realm of higher
education, the systematical integration of ESD in curricula, research and operations
was to a large extent still lacking by the end of the DESD, even though it has become
common practice to increase awareness of ESD through one-time events, stand-alone
courses, workshops and project-based activities (UNESCO 2014a). For example, in
2009 the German UNESCO Commission revealed that at that stage only 2% of the
students in Germany had access to courses focusing on sustainable development
(Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission 2009).
While much has therefore been done to advance ESD, the progress was clearly
uneven and most member states of the UN acknowledged that more work was required
for full implementation. Due to many unattained goals, UNESCO decided to initiate
a follow-up program to promote the integration of ESD in all education systems,
namely the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The GAP offers the education
system another five years (2015–2019) to support the integration of ESD and to
accelerate up-scale and deepen the transformation of education. The GAP aims to
contribute substantially to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development through the
following two objectives:
– Reorienting education and learning so that everyone has the opportunity to acquire
the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to a
sustainable future.