Reorienting Formal Education towards the ESD Strategies, Pedagogy and Assessment 25-27 November 2007 Working Group Report Working Group Number: 01 Working Group Name: Reorienting Formal Education towards ESD (Strategies, Pedagogy and Assessment) Chair/s of the Working Group: The workshop had 4 sessions and one special session. Each session was chaired by relevant experts. The session-wise list of chairs is given below: 1. Session I : EE: The Journey from Tbilisi to Ahmedabad Prof. Charles Hopkins UNESCO Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education for Sustainability at York University, Canada, and United Nations University (UNU) Chair on Education for Sustainable Development. 2. Session II : ESD: Drivers of Change Dr. Heila Lotz-Sisitka Murray and Roberts Chair of Environmental Education at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa 3. Session III: Institutional Commitment for ESD Mr. R. Mehta Advisor (EE) at Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India 4. Special Session- Teaching Sustainability, Living Sustainably: The Challenges for Educators Dr. Zinaida Fadeeva
Transcript
Reorienting Formal Education towards the ESD Strategies, Pedagogy and Assessment
25-27 November 2007
Working Group Report
Working Group Number: 01
Working Group Name: Reorienting Formal Education towards ESD (Strategies, Pedagogy and Assessment)
Chair/s of the Working Group: The workshop had 4 sessions and one special session. Each session was chaired by relevant experts. The session-wise list of chairs is given below:
1. Session I : EE: The Journey from Tbilisi to Ahmedabad
Prof. Charles Hopkins UNESCO Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education for Sustainability at York University, Canada, and United Nations University (UNU) Chair on Education for Sustainable Development.
2. Session II : ESD: Drivers of Change
Dr. Heila Lotz-Sisitka Murray and Roberts Chair of Environmental Education at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
3. Session III: Institutional Commitment for ESD
Mr. R. Mehta Advisor (EE) at Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India
4. Special Session- Teaching Sustainability, Living Sustainably: The Challenges for Educators
Dr. Zinaida Fadeeva
Research Associate for the Education for Sustainable Development programme, UNU-IAS
5. Session IV- Supporting ESD in Formal School System
Ms. Akpezi Ogbuigwe Head of Environmental Education and Training, Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, UNEP, Nairobi
Mr. Mahesh Pradhan Regional Environmental Affairs Officer for UNEP-ROAP, Bangkok, Thailand
6. Session V – Finalizing Recommendations Lead Discussants/Focus Group Representatives made the final presentations of the Recommendations. The details are as follows:
1. Strategies for ESD, Mr. Cameron Ross Mackenzie, Department of Education, Training and Arts, Australia presented by the Recommendations of the group on 2. Curriculum and Pedagogy for ESD, Mr. Syd Smith 3. Assessment, Ms. Ulrika Lundquist 4. Capacity Building of Stakeholders and Networking, Mr. Shepherd Urenje, Programme Coordinator, SADC –REEP
Overall Working Group Coordination: Mamata Pandya, Programme Director, Instructional Design, CEE, Ahmedabad
Working Group Coordinator: Preeti R. Kanaujia, Programme Coordinator, CEE Northern Regional Office, Lucknow Rajeswari Namagiri, Programme Coordinator, Children’s Media Unit, Ahmedabad
Working Group Team: Parthesh Pandya, Programme Coordinator, Rural Programmes Group, CEE, Ahmedabad
Session I : EE: The Journey from Tbilisi to Ahmedabad Session II : ESD: Drivers of Change Session III : Institutional Commitment for ESD
Special Session- Teaching Sustainability, Living Sustainably: The Challenges for Educators
Monday Session IV- Supporting ESD in Formal 26 November 2007 School System
Tuesday Session V – Finalizing Recommendations 27 November 2007
Purpose and Context of Working Group Education, including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues.
(Agenda 21, Chapter 36, p. 3) Background It is now globally recognized and accepted that education and learning have created necessary and beneficial conditions for people to meet the challenges that the world is facing. Education can enable to achieve the fundamental principle in learning for sustainable through which it prepares an individual for his/her involvement, responsibility and commitment to local and global discussions on our common future.
Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 specifically discusses the importance of re-orienting education towards Sustainable Development, encompassing all streams of education, both formal and non-formal, basic education and all the key issues related to educating for sustainable human development.
The UN DESD has envisaged giving an enhanced profile to the role of education and learning for sustainable development. DESD addresses the relevance and necessity of education for sustainable development for all, whether they are within or outside of planned learning activities.
The thinking in this direction has roots in EE which gained importance since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972). Since then the scope of EE has grown with much broader educational and societal changes over these decades. It took EE around three decades to carve a niche within the mainstream education and educational policies of many countries. The important implication of EE has
well championed in bringing education in central role leading towards sustainable development.
As a result of this ESD is being accepted and taken at a faster rate even if its paradigmatic implications are yet being understood. ESD is the process of achieving human development (“the three pillars of human development” proposed by UNDP: economic growth, social development, and environmental protection) in an inclusive, equitable and secure manner. It thus includes education for poverty alleviation, human rights, gender equality, cultural diversity, international understanding, peace and many more. UNESCO proposed that the vision of education for sustainable development is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from quality education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
Education for sustainable development is education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the Earth’s natural resources. With such a mandate, education for sustainable development is not a subject to teach, but rather a perspective that cuts across many subjects. It also means that education must be of a high quality, not merely passing on knowledge but changing the way people think. It should not be an insulated activity. The principles of sustainable development must find their place in children’s schooling, higher education, non-formal education and community-based learning.
This means education will have to reorient to addresses the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems that we face in the 21st century. Pursuing sustainable development through education requires governments, policies and institutions, educators and learners to reflect critically on their own communities as enablers of the process.
What are the implications in the context of formal education system? ESD requires reexamination of educational policy, in view of a re-orientation of education from nursery school to university and continuing adult learning, in order to focus clearly on the development of the knowledge, skills, perspectives and values related to sustainability. This implies a review of existing curricula in terms of their scope, objectives and content to develop transdisciplinary understandings of social, economic, environmental and cultural sustainability.
It also requires a review of recommended and mandated approaches to teaching, learning and assessment so that lifelong learning skills are fostered. These include skills for creative and critical thinking, oral and written communication, collaboration and cooperation, conflict management, decision-making, problem-solving and planning, using appropriate ICTs, and practical citizenship. Education systems will need re-shaping so that this kind of learning is validated through the appropriate assessment systems and that teacher education prepares teachers for active/interactive learning processes, rather than a one-way transfer of knowledge.
ESD in formal education system would also focus on empowering teachers and learners with not only the desire and readiness, but also the ability to work towards realizing sustainable development. While planning for such reorientations, it needs to be realized that ESD is not just a new feature of education, but a different perspective of education. Its implementation into all programmes at all levels places considerable demands on education systems.
The fourth international conference on environment education provides an opportunity to learn from past experiences, examine strategies and the methodology and plan for future by sharing, discussing and deliberating on the following aspects:
• Action strategies for implementation of ESD in formal education system. • Perspectives and support strategies for strengthening of methods, processes and monitoring to enable ESD in formal education system. • Relevant pedagogies for reorienting the formal education towards ESD • Information and experiences in ESD in the formal education sector.
Main Issues Addressed Four key aspects that are critical to reorienting formal education to education for sustainable development occupied the central role in the discussions. The discussions enabled formulating recommendations and future guidance for formal education from the participants of this working group.
1. Strategies for ESD: this aspect focused on mainstreaming ESD in the formal education system which requires commitment from countries through appropriate policies concerning all aspects of formal education including curriculum, syllabus, textbooks, teaching learning material, time and space for ESD, qualitative teaching and learning, productive partnership with and among all key stakeholders. The discussion included focusing on pre-service professionals, and benefiting from research institutions into ESD, etc.
2. Pedagogy for ESD: This aspect focused on effective and relevant teaching learning strategies as an essential part of orienting learning for SD. Issues of designing curricula and curricular support materials to enable transaction of ESD were also part of the discussions. Issues like integration into existing school subjects (How do we integrate ESD in the traditional subjects of the formal education?), action and participation, teacher training as an essential tool in implementation of ESD, clarity on conceptual and broader framework for ESD, pedagogy improvement, holistic thinking in pedagogy for ESD, curriculum designs, distinctions in EE and ESD, partnerships for ESD, etc., formed the points of discussions.
3. Assessment: The aspect focused on the importance of planned assessment, what needs to be assessed instead of what is easy to assess, evaluation methods, characteristics and problems of the assessment (quick and narrow nature of the evaluation being a major problem), assessment criteria, study materials
evaluation, information management as a essential tool for the assessment criteria were formed the main discussions.
4. Capacity building of Stakeholders and networking: The focus here was on enhancing capacities of all sectors and stakeholders, strategies and methodologies to translate the understanding of ESD into action at all levels. Issues like overcoming barriers or changing mindsets of people to embrace SD, changing lifestyle patterns, conservation of natural resources and heritage, need for guiding documents like International Implementation Scheme for DESD prepared by UN, capacity building mechanisms through support from Government Institutions, NGO’s and other institutions, importance of networking were discussed.
Each aspect was discussed in great detail in 4 sessions headed by Chairs/ Lead discussants with experience and expertise in the respective field.
Report on Working Sessions Proceedings:
Day-1 (25 November 2007) The day 1 had three sessions and one special session. The details, themes, discussions etc. are as follows:
1. Session I : EE: The Journey from Tbilisi to Ahmedabad
Ms. Mamata Pandya, CEE, Ahmedabad, India welcomed the panel and the participants to the Conference, to CEE and to the Formal Education Working Group. The session was chaired by Prof. Charles Hopkins who gave an overview and background of the origins and evolution of EE since Tbilisi and also spoke about the key milestones in this process. He made the following observations: • The ideas of EE were suppressed during the early 60’s and a similar response is
arising currently during the implementation of ESD in formal education systems. • Regional initiatives should be integrated for ESD. ESD is the hardware for quality
education. • Teaching is equally important but much thought needs to go to engage people in
the discourse of ESD. • People are not comfortable with the addition of ‘sustainability’ in education
because of its complex nature. • ESD in the West is considered as a quality education unlike in Asian and African
countries.
1.1 Panelist 1: Mr. Michael Atchia (Former Chief and Programme Director, UNEP) shared his experiences on the International Environment Education Programme (IEEP) of UNESCO-UNEP which he coordinated from 1986-1996. IEEP laid the foundation for introducing EE in many countries. He also spoke about International Congress on Environmental Education and Training, held at
Moscow ten years after Tbilisi Conference in 1987. The points he made during his talk are:
• Environmental management emerged as an independent discipline after Moscow Conference.
• Implementation of EE at all levels of the school system in all countries. • He emphasized on youth participation and the need of flexibility in the
implementation of EE. • He also emphasized the importance of aspects like ‘carrying capacity’, socio
political and economic imperatives and spiritual imperative in Sustainable Development Education (SDE).
1.2 Panelist 2: Mr. Michael Scoullas (Chairman, Mediterranean Information Office for the Environment, Culture & Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE). He highlighted the thinking and deliberations that went into organizing the interregional workshop on ‘Reorienting Environmental Education for Sustainable Development’ (Athens, 1995) and the International Conference on ‘Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability’ (Thessaloniki, 1997) held 20 years after Tbilisi Conference. He mentioned that: • The period 60’s and 70’s provided a good opportunity to introduce
‘Development’ into education. • EE had roots in all philosophical backgrounds. And due to EE’s interdisciplinary
nature, its evolution is a matter of dispute. • Society and government are super-structures over EE. • Analyzing the governmental process, he suggested that to change the
environment; we need to change in the structures of education, economy, and technology which form the basis of SD. The question in the debate is how we can enter into ESD without intervening too much in the existing policies of countries.
• ESD requires total commitment of teachers.
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1.3 Panelist 3: Shephard Urenje (Programme Coordinator, SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme) talked about the World Environment Education Congresses and in particular the learnings and understandings from the
th WEEC held in Durban in July this year. He said that: • In the case of Developing countries education cannot merely be for sustainable
development without linking it to food security, peace and economics. • Importance of action projects, student empowerment, capacity building, and
voluntary education as an essential tool for ESD. • In today’s era when all the developing countries are dependent upon the
ecological environment or natural resources we have to look into the holistic background of environmental education for the sake of the environment.
Prof. Hopkins as a panelist highlighted the concerns and aspirations of the EE fraternity that had to be reflected in the Tbilisi Declaration, Chapter 36 of Agenda 21, and the ECO-ED Conference at Toronto. He also discussed briefly about UNESCO's Transdisciplinary Project, Educating for a Sustainable Future to which he is an Advisor.
2. Session II: ESD: Drivers of Change The session was chaired by Dr. Heila Lotz-Sisitka. She said that the focus of the session would be on why and how we need to do education differently to achieve the goals of ESD. She mentioned: • If ESD is taught as Education ‘about’ SD by the educators, then it can have a
negative impact on youth/ learners. Therefore ESD should be taught as Education ‘for’ SD to have more involvement, ownership and positive attitude.
• The importance of the paradigm of education in ESD. • The essential drivers of change like different pedagogies, study materials and
training in the education system that can effectively be ESD.
The other panelists shared their thoughts during the session.
2.1 Panelist 1: Mr. Carl Lindberg (Special representative on ESD, the Swedish National Commission). He mentioned: • The democratic idea of participation as a most important aspect in the ESD. ‘If
you cannot involve all then you can forget the rest’. • He emphasized on action competency in students and the need of rules and
regulations in curriculum for ESD. • The most important aspect of ESD and i.e. ‘teach students to think critically’.
2.2 Panelist 2: Mr. Kartikeya V. Sarabhai (Director, CEE) mentioned: • Alienation from reality is a consequence of our defective education system • The importance of the flexibility in education and necessity of fundamental
challenges for sustainability. • Policy enforcement, technology, financial mechanisms as the essential drivers of
changes that lead to the ESD etc. • Teacher should be a facilitator along with learner. • The avoidance of blind race for Development on the cost of environment.
2.3 Panelist 3: Prof. Moacir Gadotti (Professor, University of Sao Paulo) said that: • Sustainability is the powerful concept to renew our thoughts, aspects and
strategies. Main focus of the decade should be to introduce sustainability for all systems. It should be the biggest focus of the decade.
• ESD a powerful tool to change system. One approach is ecological approach (ecosystem, nature conservation). Second approach is social and political approach directly related to social aspects of life.
• Pedagogy is important for reorienting the formal education. • “Link to Pedagogy” and “Link to Strategy” as an essential tool for the drivers of
changes. • DESD is important opportunity to renew formal education and introduce more
sustainability in life and education. • ESD is a powerful tool to change the school system. Linkages should be
developed between the concepts of ESD and Education for All (EFA).
3. Session III: Institutional Commitment for ESD The session was chaired by Mr. R. Mehta (Advisor (EE) MoEF). The focus of the session was on the operationalization of ESD, taking stock of learnings from initiatives already in place, and requirements for the future. He emphasized that session would look into experiences of initiatives of UN bodies, governments, civil society and NGO engagement for ESD. He elaborated upon:
• The various initiatives taken by the various bodies associated with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and by MoEF itself towards EE at levels of schooling.
• The importance of teachers training for successful implementation of ESD in school systems.
• Importance of collaborating with the Business Schools for implementation of ESD.
The other panelists shared their thoughts during the session.
3.1 Panelist 1: Mr. Mahesh Pradhan (Regional Environmental Affairs Officer, UNEP) gave background of UNEP and various initiatives taken by the UNEP towards the ESD which included the following;
• The UNEP works for Environmental Impact and recently launched Geo-4 (Global environmental report volume 4) which promotes environmental research and learning for sustainable development.
• UNEP is now partnering with various universities around the world working in the field of sustainable development to infuse environment at the higher level.
3.2 Panelist 2: Ms. Cheryl Charles (Co-chair, ESD working Group, IUCN) shared IUCN’s experience and mentioned:
• The essentiality of formal setting in the formal education system. • The need of implementation of ESD in the Formal Education System as well as in
the Non Formal Education System. • The fundamental aspect of ESD i.e. the requirement of exposure to outdoor
learning by the students.
3.3 Panelist 3: Mr. Masahisa Sato (Lecturer, Faculty of Environmental and Information Studies, Musashi Institute of Technology, Japan). He spoke briefly about ESD-J network and its initiatives in with respect to formal education system. He briefly described: • The need of Civil Capacity Development for the ESD. • The perspectives of ESD-J network which are as follows:
o Bottom up implementer o Liaison (between network system) o Cosmopolite (reviewing, sharing, adopting, learning) o Opinion leader (Advocacy, joint implementation)
3.4 Panelist 4: Mr. Shailendra Sharma (MHRD, Govt. of India, India) spoke about the involvement of MHRD in ESD and described: • The need for introducing EE at all school levels. • Some initiatives taken by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in
respect to sustainability. • Liasioning with other Ministries and Departments of the Government to make
ESD reach to rural educational institutions.
5. Special Plenary Session - Teaching Sustainability and Living Sustainably: The Challenges for Educators
Dr. Kiran Chhokar (CEE) welcomed the panelists and introduced the chair. The session was chaired by Dr. Zinaida Fadeeva, Research Associate for the Education for Sustainable Development programme, UNU-IAS. She mentioned: • Teaching sustainable consumption is about consuming less or consuming
differently. • The problems to be faced by people in the next 50 years and challenges of the
governments to cope with food and energy consumptions • Role of formal education in dealing with the aspect of sustainable consumption
The other panelists shared their thoughts;
4.1 Panelist 1: Ms. Miriam Vilela (Executive Director, The Earth Charter) explained that: • Education should not propagate self interest but co-relate with common goods. • Students should be aware of different aspects of consumerism and make them
aware of universal responsibility. They should be aware of life cycle of consumed goods which is important to modify their lifestyle.
• Education for SD can also be organized by using informal ways like media, actors, etc. (Experiential learning).
• An integrated approach should be taken to reach the objectives
4.2 Panelist 2: Ms. Isabella Marras (Programme Officer, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP) mentioned: • Method of communication specific to each target group is important to bring
change in people, which should be precise and respectful. • Link issues to aspects to which people easily relate with like health, economy,
home, etc. • Youth Xchange project is an elastic but specific project. A survey showed that
youth are Hedonistic idealists. The youth Xchange website provides a lot of case studies which can be used to helpful.
4.3 Panelist 3: Dr. Pamela J. Puntenney (Co-Chair, UN CSD Education Caucus) described:
• Environmental problems are generated from the society. We should find methods to understand linkages between human experience and human environment.
• We need to understand priorities for not doing wrong things at the wrong time. • We need to engage people into sustainability rather than just creating awareness
through dialogues
4.4 Panelist 4: Mr. Syd Smith (Manager, Environmental Education Unit, Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate, NSW, Australia) explained: • Pedagogy and ESD should relate to each other and should not create conflict. • Quality teaching implies 1. Intellectual knowledge (critical thinking) 2. Quality
learning environment (local environment) 3. Learning significance for all students (research, communication, problem solving)
• He further explained about the sustainable schools programme in NSW which was implemented initially in 180 schools which is now being implemented in all territories. The results have not been successful due to: 1. Neglecting the curriculum 2. Lack of networking among the teachers 3. Federal political intervention in social area.
Day-2 (26 November 2007) Session IV - Supporting ESD in Formal School System The session schedule included a panel discussion followed by the smaller focus group working session discussions. Participants joined the 4 focus groups based on their areas of expertise and interest. The deliberations and discussion focussed on the messages that needed to reflect in the Recommendations emerging from the Formal Education Working Group.
Working Working Session title Lead discussants and Working Session No. Session Facilitators Working Strategies for ESD Mr. Frits Hesselink, Ex-Chair, Session 1 IUCN Commission on Education
and Communication Working Session 2
Curriculum and Pedagogy for ESD
Mr. Syd Smith, Manager, Environmental Education Unit, Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate, NSW, Australia Ms. Jaishree Sharma, National Council of Educational Research and Training, India
Working Assessment Ms. Ulrika Lundquist and Ms. Session 3 Pernilla Anderson, Lundellska
Skolan, Uppsala, Sweden Working Capacity Building of Mr. Mahesh Pradhan, UNEP and Session 4 Stakeholders and Mr. Shephard Urenje (SADC
Networking REEP)
This Session was Chaired by Mr. Mahesh Pradhan during the pre-lunch session and by Ms. Akpezi Ogbuigwe (Head of Environmental Education and Training, Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, UNEP) in the post lunch session.
The Panelists elaborated on each of the aspects and set the tone for focus group discussions held in the session after lunch. The observations made by the panelists are as follows:
5.1 Panelist 1: Mr. Frits Hesselink (Chair of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication) briefly described: • The strategies which are essential for the reorientation of formal education
towards ESD. • The importance of paying the attention during the strategy making process by
the education experts. • Understand the work and role of teachers in the education system before
developing strategies in which their resources is utilized
5.2 Panelist 2: Mr. Syd Smith (Manager of the Environmental Education Unit within the Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate of the New South Wales(NSW) Department of Education and Training) briefly mentioned: • The need of action and participation, teacher training as essential tool in
implementation of ESD • The importance of conceptual and broader framework for ESD, pedagogy
improvement, holistic thinking in pedagogy of ESD, uniform curriculum, differentiation in EE and ESD, partnership in ESD etc.
• The three dimensions of pedagogy which are as follows: 1. Intellectual pedagogy: (deep understanding, substantial concepts, ideas)
which involves higher order thinking by students and communicate to what they learn.
2. Quality of learning environment: wherein high and explicit standards are set and provide expectations among students
3. Significance: Teach what is important to students. They should have clear ideas of what they are learning.
• ESD is not about changing the existing education system but it should be the way to utilize the existing systems
5.3 Special speaker: Prof. Jaishree Sharma (National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), India) told: • Various initiatives taken by educational bodies associated with the National
Council of Educational Research and training (NCERT) and by NCERT itself towards bringing EE to all school levels.
• Education must be of immediate need and sustainable as well as teacher oriented.
• She emphasized on to need to reduce curriculum load.
5.4 Panelist 4: Ms. Ulrika Lundquist and Ms. Pernilla Anderson mentioned these aspects of Assessment; • The characteristics and problems of the assessment (quick and narrow nature of
the evaluation as a major problem) • Assessment criteria should be defined by study materials, evaluation etc. • During assessment, more importance to be given to imagination than knowledge.
5.5 Panelist 5: Mr. Mahesh Pradhan (Regional Environmental Affairs Officer, UNEP) spoke about the scope of capacity building of key stakeholders of formal school system. He emphasized on the critical role of networking as one of strategy of ESD.
Following the panel discussion, focus group discussions were carried out in smaller groups on these four aspects-- Pedagogy, Strategies, Assessments and Capacity Building and Networking and the smaller groups came up with a set of recommendations. The recommendations were discussed by the larger group in Session V the following day.
Day-3 (27 November 2007)
6. Session V- Finalizing Recommendations During this session, recommendations that emerged from the focus group discussion son Day 2 were presented to the house by the Lead Discussant/Representative from each focus group, as follows:
1. Strategies for ESD presented by Mr. Cameron Ross Mackenzie, Department of Education, Training and Arts, Australia 2. Curriculum and Pedagogy for ESD presented by Mr. Syd Smith 3. Assessment presented by Ms. Ulrika Lundquist 4. Capacity Building of Stakeholders and Networking presented by Mr. Shepherd Urenje, Coordinator, SADC –REEP
The session was facilitated by Rajeswari Namagiri from CEE. Through further discussions in plenary mode, the comments and suggestions from participants were incorporated into the recommendations. Final Recommendations were agreed upon and endorsed by all the participants of the Working Group on Formal Education.
New Ventures: None as of now
Recommendations:
Preamble Reorientation of Formal Education towards ESD (Strategies, Pedagogy and Assessment ) Working Group discussions in the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education were held in the context of the Decade of Education of Sustainable Development
as declared by the UN and the three decade journey of EE from Tbilisi (1977) to Ahmedabad (2007).
The participants reaffirm that education in its broadest sense of imparting knowledge, skill, attitudes, values and civic participation is critical for sustainable development.
Recognize that EE has raised the consciousness of the world community towards ESD. EE, in its enhanced role needs to champion ESD and furthermore reorient itself to the challenge.
Agree upon that, the basic principles for ESD need to be valid, have the same meaning and learning for all countries and cultures and provide sufficient guidance for achieving effective curricular outcomes.
Reinforce that ESD is an effective way to promote quality teaching and learning and in this pursuit principles relating to pedagogy for ESD need to be flexible, not overly prescriptive, but still having relevance for all contexts.
Endorse that capacities of the stakeholders concerned with ESD should be developed in order for them to be effective to take up non-conventional and engaging ways (participatory and experiential) of teaching and learning. The capacities especially should be enhanced to integrate SD aspects into the existing curriculum and current work.
Recognize and stress that assessment is an integral part of the learning process (it is not possible to separate them from each other) and that assessment should become an essential and a continuous process of ESD so that it enables learners interacting in a social learning process to get feedback of their learning. Feedback accumulates new knowledge so that a progression can take place. Assessment strategies should include stakeholders, timeline, and responsibilities.
Thus while reorienting, EE will have to address social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects, it needs to be realized that ESD is not just a new feature of education, but a perspective which needs to be inculcated by developing appropriate strategies, espousing new pedagogies, enhancing capacities and integrating assessment, all of which give priority to expectations, roles and responsibilities of teachers and learners and all other stakeholders including parents and community in its implementation.
The Formal Education Working Group at the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education, held at Ahmedabad from 25-27 November, 2007 proposes the following recommendations to the EE and ESD fraternity.
Strategies for ESD • Formal Education systems should establish a vision for all key players for the
implementation of ESD. • Framing an agenda for implementation of ESD in schools should be linked to
quality education for all. • ESD in the formal school systems should be stakeholder focused i.e. learners,
parents, school community, education institution and private sector, etc., with
utmost importance given to teachers and learners being the facilitators and learners respectively.
• ESD should be based on experiential and participatory learning and lead to a transition from transmissive education to transformative education that includes elements of insight, reflection, learning in the outdoors, and learning through sustainability themes.
• ESD in schools should be implemented through a series of regional hubs with cluster of schools in partnerships with existing tertiary institutions, government and non-government organizations. All strategies should be based on productive partnerships with all key stakeholders.
• Schools (in particular secondary level and above) should be encouraged to integrate elements of ESD across subjects and coordinated teaching. Teaching ESD is not an ‘extra’ on top of existing curriculum. It should be integrated within and across re-orientated curriculum.
• ESD in formal school systems must take into account the experiences from existing programs like Eco Schools (Foundation for Environmental Education), Green Schools (USA, China and Sweden), Environmental Schools New Zealand), Eco-Log Schools (Austria), ESD Schools (ENSI – Environment and School Initiatives), Sustainable Schools (Australia), ECO club in India, National Green Corps (NGC) in India, and these are a few examples.
• Primary focus should be on in-service professional development for all teachers and principals. The process needs to be based on train-the-trainer concept that focuses on building capacities through teams of teachers both within schools and across clusters of schools. The aim is to create a learning community with mentors and facilitators. And, human resource and professional development should be flexible within teaching systems to facilitate learning for sustainability.
• Focus should be on pre-service professional development for all teachers. • Experiences from research institutions should be incorporated in ESD
practices.
Curriculum and Pedagogy for ESD
• Pedagogical practices leading to improved curricular outcomes should be focusing on high levels of intellectual quality, importance of the learning environment and in which learning can see the significance of learning. While these three dimensions apply to most areas of learning and curriculum they are particularly significant for ESD.
• The vision and programs developed by formal education systems should be in alignment with the principles of a sustainable society as a whole. Sustainable schools are essential for sustainable communities.
• A set of principles relating to ESD should be developed by each nation using the appropriate pedagogies. A set of minimum level of ESD benchmarks should be evolved based on global recommendations.
• Integration: (a) Teaching and learning for ESD must take an integrated approach and be sufficiently flexible to cater for the varied needs of the
learners in different cultures and nations. (b) Pedagogies employed in schools should be used as a means of integrating ESD principles across all areas of the curriculum and all aspects of school life. (c)Systems thinking and a holistic approach should be adopted to facilitate ESD.
• Relevance: ESD principles must relate to problems, issues and subject matters that are relevant to the society in question and to the global society as a whole.
• Partnerships between schools and other stakeholders should be encouraged in order that all learning happens from each other.
• Institutional support and financing for ESD initiatives should be long term.
Capacity building of Stakeholders and Networking
• A national ESD policy together with a national ESD strategy needs to be put in place in order to support institutional initiatives. Institutions should also have their own policies and strategies addressing their local context enabling ESD practitioners to implement new ideas.
• Closer cooperation between the ministries of Environment, Education and those which directly or indirectly relate to ESD objectives in order to draw upon ESD synergies.
• Governments should encourage quality teaching so that those who have been trained will sustain and nurture others
• Teachers should be able to do possible research with and other ESD practitioners so that they are able to address issues within their context. Research tool kits can be devised in order to assist teachers in carrying out investigations, coming up with findings and what to do with the findings
• Teachers and ESD practitioners need to come together into communities of practice where they are able to share success stories and deal with common challenges. They need to enhance what is working well and also address areas not working so well. Teachers also need a network where they can source continual growth and inspiration. Communities of practice can be for both institutions and for the teachers.
• Institutional managers and policy makers should be capacity built for ESD in order for them to support institutional changes through the institutional policy strategy and the staff who have gone through training. The focus should be on building the capacity of individuals in order to effect institutional change
• Partnerships should be developed between social movement and local business organizations to support ESD work
• Teachers and ESD practitioners should be given training to use existing curriculum and materials to integrate ESD into their work. ESD is integral in all subject areas and teachers need to be innovative and view their work with ESD perspective.
Assessment
• Purpose of assessment should be redefined. The priority purpose should be learner’s need to be validly and reliably assessed in a manner that is nonbiased and encompasses multiple modes of assessment.
• All stakeholders of the assessment system should agree upon the criteria and have ownership over it. Assessment system itself should be transparent.
• Ensure that the feedback from assessment of a learner’s achievements should emanate from the learner’s needs, and be communicated through a dialogue between child, parents and teacher/school.
• Develop valid and reliable methods for what is not currently assessed, and those that have to be assessed. Not all aspects of the outcomes of ESD should be assessed.
• Assessment system in itself shall be evaluated periodically, focusing on if it is valid, reliable and equal – regarding to gender, minority groups, second language learners, class or other grounds of discrimination.
• School’s performance should be measured based on the principles of ESD. • Components of assessment are interdependent and should be carefully
defined and agreed upon among all stakeholders on all levels and especially local level in relation to and reflected upon in the UNESCO definition of quality ESD (Refer UN DESD International Implementation Scheme).
• Develop ways for higher education to identify learners as an additional system to assessment.
List of Participants and Affiliations List of Participants and affiliations is attached as a separate annexure-“ICEE WG_1 Formal Education- List of Participants”
S.No. Name of the participant
Organization and country Address Contact details E-mail ID
1. A.K. Raina Dept of Education, J&K, 9419144029 [email protected] India
40. Liza Tercero International cardiff.wales.uk [email protected] Baccalaureate Organisation
41. Lyn Catherine Trescowthick School of Locked Bag 4115, Fitzroy 61 399 533282 [email protected] Carter Education, Australia Fitzroy,Victoria Australia
42.
43.
Mamata Pandya
Mandy L Heddle
Centre for Environment Education, India Center of Excellence in Science and Math
56. Nor Erawadi Haji Ministry of Education Step centre, banglow c8, 6732335963, [email protected] Ibrahim spg 125, jalan muara Brunei 6738738907
Brunei darussalam 57. Pankaj Jain ESO, India Ahmedabad, India 58. Parshuram S Nimla Shivatara International [email protected]
School, Nepal 59. Parthesh Pandya Centre for Environment Thaltej Tekra, Ahmdabad 00919825412841 [email protected]
Education, India 380 054, Gujarat, India 60. Pernilla Anderson Lundellska Skolon [email protected] 61. Philip Clarkson Faculty of Education, Locked Bag 4115 Fitzroy 61399533269 [email protected]
Australia Australia 62. Pollem Tep Directorate of School [email protected]
