Education and Sustainability
 

There are different conceptions of education in relation to sustainability. Some forms emphasise learning to change individual behaiour to reach the SDGs, others are more orintated to orgainisng for systemic change to bring about a deep sustainability.

 

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):

Education for sustainable development is discribed as a process which empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. Glossary | UNESCO UIS Metadata 4.7.4 and PDF Metadata 4.7.4

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(ESD) sees education as the key to unlocking progress in all the global development goals. It teaches individuals to make informed decisions and take action, both individually and collectively, to change society and protect the planet. It equips people of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values, and ability to tackle issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, overuse of resources, and inequality that impact the well-being of people and the planet. https://www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/education/need-know 

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Education for Sustainability (EFS):
 

Action orientated education to bring about sustainability, rather than being education about sustainability (Government of Ireland, 2022a)

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Critisms of ESD include; orietatation to economic growth and shallow applications of the SDG's, for example, greening the economy without addressing social inequality; placing a burden of responsibility on individuals to change their behaviours, such as, buying green products which are beyond thier income capcaity (e.g retrofitting homes, investing in solar panels) while the fundamental neoliberal-capitalist economic structures which drive poverty and large-scale production practices which lead to environmental degradation remain unchanged. 

 

Deep education for sustainability

In this Hedge Space research, the emphasis was on group-based education which leads to organising for political action to bring about structural systemic change on social-environmental justice issues. It engages with the sustainability agenda from that emancipatory political stance, a deep view of sustainability, and maps the praxis workshop to the SDGs through that lens. This aims to build community capacity to engage with the sustainability agenda to further their own agenda (e.g. get funding, build partnerships) and be able to recognise when sustainability is being co-opted to the neoliberal agenda;

 

e.g. greening the economy within a business-as-usual context, inserting sustainability education into the existing education system, based on individual learning to service the green economy, rather than promoting collaborative learning for political and economic change.​ 

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Other forms of education related to social justice, climate justice and sustainability include global education, citizen education and development education