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Home > Education for sustainable development
UNESCO’s Vision and Perspective - Updated: 26-08-2002 3:27 pm
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As the UN System’s principal organisation for Education, UNESCO will continue reinforcing its commitment to Education for All (EFA) and follow-up activities to the Dakar World Education Forum (April, 2000) through its vision of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This entails an integrated education approach to address inter-sectoral policies, strategies and programmes towards water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity (WEHAB) development.
Vision and Perspective
- Education is not only an end in itself. It is a key instrument for bringing about the changes in the knowledge, values, behaviours and lifestyles required to achieve sustainability and stability within and among countries, democracy, human security and peace.
- Education at all levels and in all its forms constitutes a vital tool for addressing virtually all global problems relevant for sustainable development, in particular poverty, HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation, peace and stability, knowledge formation and sharing, rural development and changes in production and consumption patterns.
- Education for sustainable development (ESD) implies providing the learners with the skills, perspectives, values and knowledge to live sustainably in their communities.
- ESD policies, strategies and actions must build on and be integrated into actions for the six Education for All (EFA) goals adopted at the Dakar World Education Forum in 2000 and its follow-up process.
The Six Education for All (EFA) Goals
1. Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
2. Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
3. Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes.
4. Achieve a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, as well as equitable access to basic and coninuing education for all adults.
5. Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieve gender equality by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.6. Improve every aspect of the quality of education, and ensure their excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, Numeracy, and essential life skills.
If the proposed decade of Education for Sustainable Development is approved, UNESCO suggests to:
- Pursue and implement an integrated vision of education encompassing both formal and non-formal approaches and alternative systems to reach the unreached.
- Integrate EFA goals and MDGs into national ESD policies and strategies related to the themes chosen at the Johannesburg Summit, it will also foster and expand existing partnerships.
- Pursue sustainable development through a holistic approach where ESD policies and strategies are linked to problems of poverty and development, environmental degradation and safety, fresh water, renewable energy, ecosystems and biodiversity, ethics, health and malnutrition, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, equity and social justice, population growth, urban and rural transformation, sustainable governance, and cultural diversity.
- Reinforce the role of civil society and induce the formation of international and regional alliances and networks with a broad range of partners in support of ESD programmes.
- Strengthen inter-agency collaboration with other UN programmes and agencies, especially with UNFPA, UNICEF, FAO, WHO and ILO to help build national capacities, sustain national programmes, and promote self-reliance in regard to education for sustainable development.
- Support curriculum reforms and teaching practices through ESD Teaching Learning Materials Modules, Training Kits for Youth, a booklet on the interaction between eco-regions and linguistic and cultural diversity, population maps and children’s songs, for example.
- Prepare methodological guidelines, manuals and prototypes resulting from ESD interdisciplinary research and development activities.
- Ensure the development of quantitative and qualitative ESD indicators to monitor progress.
- Use ICTs and involvement of media to raise public awareness, to create broad-based educational and learning, to promote “think-tank” activities and to foster informed ESD-relevant decision-making processes at all levels.
*Based on UNESCO’s Position Paper and Proposals “Enhancing Global Sustainability ” presented at the 3rd session of the Preparatory Committee (PREP COM III) of WSSD in New York, 25 March, 2002, pp 1-5.
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