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S. Y. Teh and H. L. Koh
ment. To promote sustainable development goals (SDGs), UNESCO sponsors the
program of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), covering a broad range
of goals, from natural resources to poverty reduction. Recognizing that education is an indispensable prerequisite for achieving sustainable development, the
United Nations (UN) initiated the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005–2014. Concerned over the content, quality and purpose of education, DESD challenges all forms of educational provisions to adopt concept, design,
approaches and practices that foster the values of sustainable development (UNESCO
2016). DESD highlights areas of action for education and promotes integrating key
sustainable development issues into teaching and learning curriculum and pedagogy.
These key issues include climate change, poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction,
biodiversity preservation, and sustainable consumption. On climate change, education provides basic knowledge on chronic hazards such as floods, droughts, increased
temperatures, persistent epidemics and others and on how these hazards might affect
economic activities, social justice, poverty reduction and performance in schools.
ESD contributes to sustainable development by promoting personal, societal, economic, cultural and political changes via specific cognitive, socio-emotional and
behavioural outcomes that enable individuals to deal with the challenges of SDGs.
The three principle dimensions (economic viability, social justice, environmental sustainability) of sustainability are integrated with each other as they are interdependent
and mutually reinforcing. Economic growth must proceed with the environment and
ecosystems preserved, with the people’s health and education enhanced and with
equitable distribution of wealth and prosperity promoted. ESD aims to integrate
relevant skills and competences in science and technology with other knowledge,
attitudes and social-cultural beliefs to achieve a holistic theme.
In the Czech Republic, lack of meaningful and substantive public discussion
on what constitutes SDGs was identified as an obstacle to deep transformation of
the educational system and its reorientation towards ESD (Dlouha and Pospisilova
2018) and is a major hindrance to a successful implementation of SDGs worldwide.
This highlights the importance of a sustainability framework that orients scientific
and practical effort towards a negotiated vision of the future which is not a simple
extrapolation of the present state. The relevant skills and competences, rather than
pure knowledge per se, have become the priority educational goals in ESD (Jacobi
et al. 2016). The role of competences has been duly recognized in supporting and
empowering educators to fulfil their potentials and those of their students (UNECE
2011, 2016), and hence in contributing to bottom-up driven curriculum changes
towards sustainability. Discussion and debate on the ESD competences are intensely
conducted within the context of higher education in some but not all countries (Lambrechts et al. 2013; Rieckmann 2012; Wiek et al. 2011). Fine examples of good
practice in 53 higher education programs from 33 countries across Europe have been
reported in Mula et al. (2017), UE4SD (2014) and UE4SD (2015). Competence oriented approaches in teaching and learning were consequently identified as one of the
critical factors in the successful transformation towards ESD (Dlouha et al. 2017).
TheGoals.org is a joint venture between the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the International Foundation for the Young Masters
S. Y. Teh and H. L. Koh
ment. To promote sustainable development goals (SDGs), UNESCO sponsors the
program of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), covering a broad range
of goals, from natural resources to poverty reduction. Recognizing that education is an indispensable prerequisite for achieving sustainable development, the
United Nations (UN) initiated the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005–2014. Concerned over the content, quality and purpose of education, DESD challenges all forms of educational provisions to adopt concept, design,
approaches and practices that foster the values of sustainable development (UNESCO
2016). DESD highlights areas of action for education and promotes integrating key
sustainable development issues into teaching and learning curriculum and pedagogy.
These key issues include climate change, poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction,
biodiversity preservation, and sustainable consumption. On climate change, education provides basic knowledge on chronic hazards such as floods, droughts, increased
temperatures, persistent epidemics and others and on how these hazards might affect
economic activities, social justice, poverty reduction and performance in schools.
ESD contributes to sustainable development by promoting personal, societal, economic, cultural and political changes via specific cognitive, socio-emotional and
behavioural outcomes that enable individuals to deal with the challenges of SDGs.
The three principle dimensions (economic viability, social justice, environmental sustainability) of sustainability are integrated with each other as they are interdependent
and mutually reinforcing. Economic growth must proceed with the environment and
ecosystems preserved, with the people’s health and education enhanced and with
equitable distribution of wealth and prosperity promoted. ESD aims to integrate
relevant skills and competences in science and technology with other knowledge,
attitudes and social-cultural beliefs to achieve a holistic theme.
In the Czech Republic, lack of meaningful and substantive public discussion
on what constitutes SDGs was identified as an obstacle to deep transformation of
the educational system and its reorientation towards ESD (Dlouha and Pospisilova
2018) and is a major hindrance to a successful implementation of SDGs worldwide.
This highlights the importance of a sustainability framework that orients scientific
and practical effort towards a negotiated vision of the future which is not a simple
extrapolation of the present state. The relevant skills and competences, rather than
pure knowledge per se, have become the priority educational goals in ESD (Jacobi
et al. 2016). The role of competences has been duly recognized in supporting and
empowering educators to fulfil their potentials and those of their students (UNECE
2011, 2016), and hence in contributing to bottom-up driven curriculum changes
towards sustainability. Discussion and debate on the ESD competences are intensely
conducted within the context of higher education in some but not all countries (Lambrechts et al. 2013; Rieckmann 2012; Wiek et al. 2011). Fine examples of good
practice in 53 higher education programs from 33 countries across Europe have been
reported in Mula et al. (2017), UE4SD (2014) and UE4SD (2015). Competence oriented approaches in teaching and learning were consequently identified as one of the
critical factors in the successful transformation towards ESD (Dlouha et al. 2017).
TheGoals.org is a joint venture between the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the International Foundation for the Young Masters