Education for Sustainable Development

What EDUCATION?

Teachers and learners aren't two distinct groups; rather, everyone teaches and everyone learns!

Educational change is one of those processes which has a habit of resetting itself back to how things have always been done. That’s not just an Irish phenomenon. The power of the status quo has been well documented in educational reforms across the world. It’s easier to do change on paper than in real classrooms. The message from real junior cycle classrooms and those who work in them, from research and through the recent consultation is clear. It is time for real change.(Extract from: Towards A FRAMEWORK FOR JUNIOR CYCLE published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) - please see e-Publication below)

Popuar Education:

The idea of popular education (often described as "education for critical consciousness") as a teaching methodology came from a Brazilian educator and writer named Paulo Freire, who was writing in the context of literacy education for poor and politically disempowered people in his country. It's different from formal education (in schools, for example) and informal education (learning by living) in that it is a process which aims to empower people who feel marginalized socially and politically to take control of their own learning and to effect social change.

Popular Education + Development Education + Education for Sustainable Development...

The programme proposed represents an extension of key elements of the Just Forests programme successfully delivered to date plus a number of logical, creative and practical new dimensions; it builds on the experiences, successes and lessons of the past and seeks to engage with a number of key opportunities that will arise in the coming years.

...is a learning process which:

· Is inclusive and accessible to people with a variety of education levels;
· Addresses the issues people face in their communities;
· Moves people toward a place of action;
· Develops new grassroots leadership.
· Is based on the lived experience of those participating in the learning;
· Incorporates non-traditional methods of learning – such as poetry, music or visual arts 

Specifically, the programme seeks to incorporate elements of the following five key aims:

• To highlight the importance of forests (their proper management and appropriate preservation and use) as a means of alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable human development.
• To relate forests and forest products and issues to the Millennium Development Goals and to illustrate how the Goals are relevant to sustainable development and vice-versa. The objective is to clearly and unequivocally demonstrate the relevance of the forest/sustainable development debate to broader debates on human development in all it’s dimension.
• To build further on demonstrated interest in and engagement with the Just Forests agendas at a variety of levels – in schools and education generally, in public services such as libraries and community centres, in professional organisations such as the T4 Teachers Association, the Royal Irish Architects Institute etc.
• To encourage and support action for change around the sustainable development agenda – change actions that are relevant, practical, deliverable and creative.
• To show how local actions here in Ireland, such as consumerism and public procurement, can be a double-edged sword that has global consequences and may actually contribute to poverty or alleviate it.

"Every person in Ireland will have access to educational opportunities to be aware of and understand their rights and responsibilities as global citizens and their potential to effect change for a more just and equal world." White Paper on Irish Aid

What is Development Education (DE)?
Development Education (DE) is concerned with the building of knowledge and understanding, skills and capacities, and attitudes and values necessary to enable individuals to critically examine the world, its development and its interdependencies and to act, both locally and globally, to make it a more just and equitable place.

Please see Centre for Global Education- Policy & Practice- A Development Education Review

What is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)?
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a “dynamic concept that encompasses a new vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future.(Source: UNESCO, Education for Sustainability-from Rio to Johannesburg: Lessons learnt from a Decade of Commitment, 2002)

"ESD seeks to foster the values, behaviour and lifestyles for social and environmental change. In principle, DE and ESD should empower people to take action on the issue being explored."  (Regan, 1999).

What is The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014?
The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, seeks to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL)	Gandhain Perspective	...and other stuff	Move over teacher...
Introduction to Sustainability - a FREE Course!

Illustration curtesy IDEA
	SO6_-_Trees_DE_PE_NFE_-_English_Group.pdf (1.25 MB)