REPORT OF UNESCO EXPERT MEETING ON - APCEIU

Report Expert Meeting on Education
for Sustainable Development (ESD):
Reorienting Education to Address
Sustainability
1–3 May 2006
Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Table of Contents
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations………………………………...………….……………1
Introduction……………………………...……..……………..…………….…….……………2
Summary of Sessions………………………………...…………………..……….……………3
Experts’ papers
Redefining the General Concept of ESD on Environment and Economic by Perspectives ………….…13
by Shuichi Nakayama
Young People and the Environment ……………………………………………………………………..24
by John Fien
Environmental and Economic Perspectives of Education for Sustainable Development...........................47
by Lawrence Surendra
Sustainable Production and Consumption-Educating Future Consumers ……...………………….……56
by Zinaida Fadeeva
Education for Sustainable Development & the Weaving of a Culture of Peace: Complementarities and
Synergies …………………………………………………………………………………………….66
by Swee-Hin Toh
Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Understanding within ESD …………………………….….……81
by Joy de Leo
Re-orienting Teacher Education for Socially Sustainable Development …………………………….…88
by Chan Lean Heng,
Human Rights in Education for Sustainable Development ………………………………………….…105
by Jefferson R. Plantilla
International Network Of Institutions Of Teacher Education: Five Years Of Work On Reorienting
Teacher Education To Address Sustainability ………………….………………………………………127
by Rosalyn McKeown
Nurturing Relationships: A Pacific Perspective of Teacher Education for Peace and Sustainable
Development ……………………………………………………………………………………...….…147
by Konai H Thaman
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future: UNESCO's New Multimedia Teacher Education
Programme………………………………………………………………………………………………160
by John Fien
Evolving Environmental Education and its relation to EPD and ESD …………………………….169
by Masahisa Sato
ACCU-UNESCO Cooperation for the Asia-Pacific Regional Promotion of DESD………………..179
by Masahisa Sato
2006-2007 ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD……..............................….181
by ACCU
2006-2010 ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD……………………………..…189
by ACCU
EIU/ESD from the Perspective of Teacher Education -Reflection on Teachers Education of APCEIU and
its Lessons …………………………………………………………………………………………….194
by Sookhee Kwak
Annexes
Agenda…………………………………………………………………………………………………..225
List of participants………………………………………………………………………………………226

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
ACCU
ADB
APCEIU
APEID
APNIEVE
ASPnet
COE
DESD
ECCE
EE
EFA
EIU
ESD
FAQs
HRE
IBE
ICT
IP
MDG
MoE
MOU
NGO
RCE
SEAMEO
TEI
UNESCO
UNITWIN
UNLD
UNU
USP
WB
Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO
Asian Development Bank
Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding
Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development
Asia-Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education
UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network
Centre of Excellence
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Early childhood care and education
Environmental Education
Education for All
Education for International Understanding
Education for Sustainable Development
Frequently asked Questions
Human Rights Education
International Bureau for Education
Information and communication technology
Innovation Programme
Millennium Development Goal
Ministry of Education
Memorandum of understanding or agreement
Non-governmental organization
Regional Centre of Expertise
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization
Teacher Education Institution
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO International Network of Twinned Universities
United Nations Literacy Decade
United Nations University
University of the South Pacific
World Bank

Introduction
UNESCO held an experts’ meeting to develop strategies for addressing the goals of the Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (DESD) in the Asia and Pacific region from 1 to 3 May 2006 in Kanchanaburi,
Thailand. Reflecting the intentions of the DESD, the goals of the experts’ meeting were to:
• facilitate networking linkages, exchanges and interactions among stakeholders in ESD
• enhance the quality of teaching and learning in ESD
• assist countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals through ESD
• foster new opportunities for countries to incorporate ESD into their education reform efforts
The major task of the meeting was to develop ways of reorienting existing education in the region towards
sustainable development by analyzing and understanding the complex concepts of ESD from diverse perspectives,
seeking ways to apply ESD effectively in local education contexts, and encouraging collaborative linkages among
the many different interests and stakeholders.
Reorienting education to ESD necessitates the identification of the knowledge, issues, perspectives, skills and
values related to all the dimensions of sustainability not only for school-based curricula to benefit students, but
also for both pre-service and in-service teacher training. It is further recognized that with the many challenges
facing educational systems and limited resources to address them, strategies would need to be developed to reach
educators and teacher trainers, and to persuade senior educators and administrators to formulate policies enabling
the integration of ESD into curricula and teacher training programmes. This would entail the development of
guidelines for reorienting education to ESD and appropriate pedagogical approaches and resources to support
these efforts. Apart from ensuring that ESD takes account of local cultural contexts, it is also useful to identify
ESD topics that are already part of the formal education curricula to facilitate the efforts of educators from
different disciplines in examining and delivering curriculum activities that can contribute to ESD.
With this overview in mind, the specific objectives of the experts’ meeting were to:
• identify and conceptualize the content areas for ESD
• discuss the relationship of ESD with other educational initiatives such as Environmental Education (EE),
Education for International Understanding (EIU), Education for All (EFA), the United Nations Literacy
Decade (UNLD) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• recommend guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable development
• plan the organization of the APEID-APCEIU workshop on “Reorienting Teacher Education to Address
Sustainability” to be held in Penang, Malaysia in August 2006
The expected outcomes of the experts’ meeting included:
• papers presented by experts on content areas of ESD
• linkages of different education initiatives with ESD, such as UNLD, EFA and the MDGs
• recommendations and guidelines on reorienting existing education to address sustainable development
• a draft regional-level framework for medium and long-term strategy for formal and non-formal teacher
education for ESD
• a draft structure for the APEID-APCEIU consultative meeting to be held in Penang in August 2006
• a review of the role of APEID as an institutional mechanism and network for promoting the proposed
approach to ESD in the Asia and Pacific region
The three-day meeting was divided into seven sessions:
Session I: Environmental and economic perspectives of ESD
Session II: Social and cultural perspectives of ESD
Session III: Teacher education and ESD
Session IV: Discussion on the relationship of ESD with other education initiatives
Session V: Guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable development
Session VI: Cooperation with UNESCO’s partners in ESD by ACCU, APCEIU, UNU
Session VII: Planning for the APEID-APCEIU Meeting in August 2006
Papers presented for each session highlighted the state of the art on each theme, drew attention to key issues for
consideration and provided the foundation for discussion. The following sections summarize the main points
raised and discussed at the meeting, and the full papers are available in this report.
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Summary of Sessions
Session I: Environmental and economic perspectives of ESD
In his paper “Redefining the concept of ESD on environmental and economic perspectives” Shuichi Nakayama
addressed the conceptual conflicts within ESD among various stakeholders, between the socio-cultural and
environmental aspects of ESD on the one hand and the economic aspects on the other. He traced the history and
evolution of ESD from environmental education and listed the significant documents that have been developed
since the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in 1972 that have led us to this point, including the
Earth Charter, the MDGs and the World Summit for Sustainable Development. It was emphasized that the diverse
goals and conceptual conflicts around ESD need to be clarified and addressed to reorient education to ESD, a
point repeated several times during the course of the meeting. Clearly, ESD must integrate political, economic,
social, cultural and natural/environmental perspectives in a holistic and balanced way based on agreed values for
ESD to be effective.
John Fien’s findings, as presented in “Young people and the environment,” showed that two factors influence
responsible environmental behaviours: (i) intrinsic motivation and (ii) confidence in one’s own competence,
knowledge and skills to make the right choices. Therefore ESD needs to identify ways to trigger intrinsic
motivation on the one hand, and develop pedagogies that enhance action competence on the other. ESD needs to
move beyond content in curriculum reform. Likewise, to ensure second order systemic change requiring capacity
building, the focus has to shift from educating teachers only to educating leaders, planners, policy makers, union
officers, ministry officials, director generals and so on.
In “Environmental and economic perspectives of ESD,” Lawrence Surendra continued the theme of conceptual
conflicts within ESD between the so-called hard economic perspectives and the soft environmental and sociocultural
perspectives, paralleling the divide between intrinsic, altruistic motivations and extrinsic, self-interested
ones for a commitment to ESD. These conflicts have to be reconciled, and decisions on whether to support ESD
values and approaches or to be neutral and objective have to be made. The choice to take a positivist or a
normative approach to ESD, in turn, may influence the optimistic or pessimistic outlook of young people. While
we accept current realities and devise practical strategies to deal with these realities, we also need to have hope
and optimism.
Zinaida Fadeeva linked economic growth and their impacts to population growth rates and the consequent
challenges in the production-consumption system in her paper, “Sustainable production and consumption –
educating future consumers.” She highlighted the need for sustainability at every level of the productionconsumption
chain including procurement practices. Efficient consumption that is both socially responsible and
sustainable is required, while weighing value for money and environmental considerations.
Discussion on environmental and economic perspectives of ESD
Participants agreed that it would be inappropriate to impose a specific perspective and its accompanying set of
values on others to resolve the conceptual conflicts. Rather, the various perspectives, paradigms, world views and
attendant values should be openly mapped so that understanding of differing viewpoints held by diverse
stakeholders may develop. This represents the reality of conflicting perspectives that we need to negotiate,
mediate and reconcile in our daily life.
It is equally important for understanding about the impacts and consequences of different values and perspectives
on society and the environment to develop, and to evaluate them critically against the values that we NEED to
share in order to live in a peaceful, just and sustainable world, as expressed in international agreements. This
approach would enable critical thinking around values systems and their potential consequences and responsible
choice. The emphasis should therefore not be on WHAT values to teach, but HOW values are to be drawn out in
the learner’s awareness and understanding, thereby teaching VALUES COMMITMENT and altruism at the
personal, national and global levels, in a professional and ethical manner without imposition.
A pedagogy for values commitment for ESD with the appropriate teaching-learning processes and methodologies
is needed, combined with clarification about attitudes to specific issues, accompanied by knowledge and skills
development. Such a pedagogy might also link a personal commitment to a political or collective position, for
empowered action for change.
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Engaging diverse stakeholders at both individual and institutional levels, and building consensus and commitment
required for the structural transformation involved in reorienting education for ESD are just as crucial. This
process of consensus building requires an understanding of the diverse perspectives, while allowing common
ground and shared values to emerge, so that all participants are empowered to take ownership of the process and
responsibility for the outcomes.
Commitment to a shared ESD framework would enable the pooling of existing resources to maximise impacts and
accelerate progress. This would avoid a conflicting and dualistic view of the diverse applications of ESD between
the north and south, especially if it is openly acknowledged that the context determines the emphasis.
Finally, the direction ESD takes – either for reform or for transformation – will have implications for the practical
economic realities of addressing wholesale structural change. In each context, education systems may choose to
place themselves and their own ESD objectives along a continuum from reform to transformation, against which
they may assess themselves as permitted by available resources. This would provide a useful framework for
deciding where to allocate regional resources according to greatest need.
Session II: Social and cultural perspectives of ESD
Toh Swee Hin presented a model for addressing a culture of peace within ESD, emphasizing human rights and
justice, and the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as women, children and indigenous
peoples. His paper, “Holistic understanding of a culture of peace and interdependence between culture of peace
and ESD,” highlighted the need to achieve synergies among the many initiatives associated with the various
parallel United Nations decades. The following pedagogical principles are relevant to ESD:
• Holistic understanding of inter-relationships is important across all areas of the curriculum, linking the
formal with non-formal education
• Participation in experiential learning experiences and dialogical approaches is essential
• Focus should be on values formation
• Transformative education and critical empowerment, including inspiring stories of solidarity for the
marginalized, are necessary
Joy de Leo listed some of the issues to be addressed for cultural diversity and intercultural education, outlining the
principles underpinning a socially and culturally inclusive curriculum in “Social and cultural perspectives of ESD
– cultural diversity and intercultural understanding.” She also discussed the need for the development of the
whole person, including values formation and transdisciplinary system thinking for ESD. She outlined some of
the pedagogical principles conducive to ESD, giving particular emphasis to the learning environment and role
modelling across the school community.
In “Socially sustainable human development, addressing issues of social injustice, poverty and inequality,” Chan
Lean Heng defined socially sustainable human development in terms of quality of life, enabling the full and
equitable development of the human potential. She discussed the need for a transformative and empowering
pedagogy, and for mainstreaming key social justice issues, in particular the needs of the marginalized. Examples
may be found in the approaches taken to address gender inequalities and for the empowerment of women.
Approaches for strategic advocacy to gain support for ESD, and to create ethical partnerships and alliances were
also outlined.
Jeff Plantilla noted in his paper “Human rights in ESD” that human rights education (HRE) takes various forms
in schools, e.g. civic education and moral studies, legal education and religious education, values education and
peace education. However, the full meaning of HRE may still be missing and an understanding of human rights is
not always achieved. Curriculum development, teacher training and material development are often carried out by
NGOs. The main HRE issues include inadequate financial support; a need to harmonize, update and broaden the
different policies; more involvement of NGOs; a lack of linkages between the programmes; a need for more
materials; a need for sustainable implementation structure and for better coordination. The outcomes of a survey
conducted in four countries highlighted the need for clarification on what human rights means and the gap
between knowledge of human rights and human rights practice. An integrated approach to HRE is recommended.
Discussion on social and cultural perspectives of ESD
Given the lack of knowledge in EE and HRE, effective integration of such knowledge within the ESD framework
is essential. Nonetheless, there is a danger that the significance of EE and HRE may become lost if they are
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integrated into an already crowded curriculum. Clearly, transformation, and not integration, would be a better
approach.
Educational change is the responsibility of the school, while social change is the responsibility of educated or
informed individuals, societies and governments. The role of ESD is to be a vehicle for change in society.
Therefore, ESD has to impart knowledge, values and skills for learners to make informed decisions and to take
responsible actions.
NGOs, other professionals and religious leaders may play a role in ESD. Training for teachers, including preservice
and in-service teacher education, is needed to provide information on how to benefit from the experience
of experts and other institutions. School principals, policy makers and education leaders also need to be reached,
in both a bottom-up and top-down approach. Similarly, in communicating with the media, politicians,
professionals, businesses and society at large, a clear focus about the scope of the tasks would be most helpful.
The ESD strategy should seek to reach school-based educators and to prepare them to adapt ESD in ways that are
appropriate in their own social and cultural contexts.
The lessons learned from the HRE global action plan may be useful for ESD. Nonetheless, since HRE
accommodates different notions of identity and relationship, it is often perceived to be individualistic and
inappropriate in indigenous and collectivist societies. Strategies to address collective rights in ways that are that
are culturally appropriate are critical. Thus, a needs-based approach to ESD that addresses the requirements of
marginalized groups and differential, power relationships is recommended.
APEID has to develop a strategic plan to implement ESD systematically, encouraging collaboration that builds on
existing initiatives, synergies and complementarities of the efforts from a range of partners throughout the region.
Session III: Teacher education and ESD
Rosalyn McKeown outlined the consultative process for the development of the “International network of
teacher-education institutions” in the Asia and Pacific region. A survey was conducted and guidelines developed
for reorienting teacher education to address sustainability. Since ESD cannot be imported from another cultural,
economic or geographical region, a one-size-fits-all model would not work. The design criteria for ESD and the
guidelines are therefore based on local needs, and accommodate the evolving nature of the concept of
sustainability. While understanding of the four thrusts of ESD is shared, the guidelines for teacher education must
be tailored for each institution and must reflect the national and local sustainability goals. The lessons learned
from the project include the need to use the vocabulary of the audience, linking their strengths and passions to
sustainability, and to present ESD as a solution to an existing educational issue. Teacher education should be
revised to include ESD, working with the ministries of education (MoEs) to make ESD a mandatory part of
elementary and secondary education at national and provincial levels.
In “Towards peace and sustainable development through teacher education: some examples from Oceania,”
Konai Thaman addressed the geographical, cultural and linguistic challenges in addressing ESD in the Pacific
and the role of the UNESCO Chair at University of the South Pacific (USP) in promoting culturally inclusive
curriculum development and teacher education, encouraging learning from indigenous education and capacity
building for indigenous scholars and researchers. Since the three aspects of ESD – economy, environment and
social – are not separated in indigenous epistemology, it is necessary to constantly translate the concepts into the
vernacular. In the Oceania, sustainable development is about cultural survival and continuity based on ongoing
strengthening and nurturing of interpersonal and inter-group relationships. Cultural perceptions of peace and
sustainable development are important for teacher education. Educating for peace and sustainable development is
about strengthening teachers and teacher educators’ capacity to contextualize their work by raising their
awareness of Pacific cultural values and knowledge systems.
The lessons learned from three key projects in ESD in the Asia and Pacific region were outlined in John Fien’s
“A tale of three projects: success and failure in professional development in teacher education for ESD.” He
measured success by whether or not projects continue and may therefore be considered sustainable:
• Teaching for a sustainable world includes a list of topics that teacher educators may adapt and change.
The online version can be easily updated and adapted to the cultural context.
• Learning for a sustainable environment is a professional development guide and resource for teacher
educators. A process is needed to assist teacher educators in developing their pedagogical methods to
train teachers beyond just helping the students pass their exams.
• Teaching and learning for a sustainable future is a multimedia teacher education programme which
facilitates self-learning and aims to model what can be done in the classroom. The programme has not
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een successful in all contexts as thorough follow-up is needed with the teacher educators and teachers
using it.
An important lesson learned is that sufficient time must be set aside for the process. Regular meetings,
communications and follow-up are needed to develop professional relationships. An operational action research
network is an essential tool in achieving these goals.
Discussion on teacher education and ESD
Professional development alone is not enough to reorient education towards ESD. Teacher certification may need
to include mandatory ESD competence in some countries. Capacity building and change need to occur
methodologically across the system for real benefits to occur, including tailored provisions for indigenous
teachers and researchers.
Indigenous educators can draw attention to the different perspectives on ESD. The capacity of indigenous
educators and researchers as bridge makers and interpreters of ESD concepts has to be enhanced. The
revitalization of indigenous culture, languages and knowledge systems is a vital part of ESD, acknowledging
diverse ways of knowing, doing and being.
While there is a need for universally shared values as a foundation for ESD and the avoidance of relativity in the
values debate, this should not however undermine the role of cultural values. ESD has the potential to enable us to
transcend culturally-bound values and perspectives, to transform education and to take transdisciplinary
approaches to education.
APEID should revitalize and mobilize its action research networks, and develop ESD hubs, focal points,
lighthouses of innovation and national and regional consortia with stable, ongoing follow-up and support
mechanisms, so that the networks will be sustained. It may be useful to link with other UNESCO networks (e.g.
ASPnet) and communities of practice to ensure that ESD teachers and teacher educators have access to support.
Resource persons can also support teachers through the use of ICTs to answer their questions or create a
clearinghouse of resources, while avoiding recipe-style options. For those without access to ICTs, other
communication options can be made available (e.g. radio). Such support should enable teachers to also develop
their own resources, pedagogies and processes by means of a checklist of questions and principles, so that
ownership and empowerment occur.
Indicators and criteria of success are needed at all levels (i.e. school, society, country) as a basis for evaluating
effectiveness. Transformation is not easy, therefore; barriers, supporters and facilitators of change should be
identified to facilitate the process.
Session IV: The relationship between ESD and other education initiatives
Both ESD and the four pillars of learning, as outlined in the Delors report – learning to know, learning to do,
learning to be and learning to live together – are concerned with the development of knowledge, skills, values and
attitudes. Learning to live together – between faiths and cultures – is an essential part of ESD, and ESD offers the
possibility of serving as a larger framework for all values-related education, a point emphasized by Sheldon
Shaeffer in “Beyond “Learning to live together”: the key to education for sustainable development.” ESD adds a
‘fifth’ pillar – learning to transform society and change the world, i.e. to work toward a non-discriminatory
society, acting to achieve social solidarity and to live sustainably.
Discussion on the relationship between ESD and other education initiatives
In a paper on the linkages among the various global initiatives in education, no mention was made of the United
Nations Decade of Human Rights Education and the United Nations Decade of Peace and Non-violence. It is
recommended that an expanded ESD linkages document be developed for the Asia and Pacific region that will
include these two initiatives.
To produce practical and strategic outcomes from this meeting, a clear strategic approach, both short-term and
long-term, for introducing ESD in the national and international education fora is needed. At the same time, the
complementarities and synergies among existing initiatives and involvement of the various partners should also be
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ecognized. This strategy should simultaneously be broad in scope for the teacher education but focused for
bilateral discussions on national capacity building and change. As a result, a regional-level framework for ESD
focusing on formal and non-formal teacher education for both the medium and longer term was developed to
address all these issues.
Regional-level framework for medium and long-term strategy for formal and non-formal
teacher education for ESD
John Fien tabled a document from the international ESD action plan, “Creating an enabling environment and
capacity building for ESD,” to be used as a starting point for the discussion on the regional framework. The
purpose of the framework is to integrate ESD themes and issues into education plans in all sectors and at all
levels. This framework would seek to reach the maximum number of learners and educators with the limited
resources available, building on existing networks and initiatives. The goal of the framework is to create
enabling environments for capacity building in the Asia and Pacific region. More specifically, the framework
would:
• recognize complementarities and similarities
• map related initiatives
• prioritize issues and concerns
• prioritize modalities
• document shared experiences and lessons learned
• create mutual learning environments
• identify the key targets at all levels, key messages, deliverer of these messages and methods of delivery
Potential tasks would include:
• Document and map innovative and effective ESD practices and initiatives to extend, spread and scale up
existing good practices with the assistance of the International Bureau for Education (IBE).
• Develop short briefing papers for MoEs and director generals, building on those already developed 1 ,
bearing in mind the various target audiences and how the message is delivered to overcome the possible
barriers and objections
• Develop an annotated list of related key resources, tools and manuals
• Identify the key audience and target groups (see below)
• Develop the processes for monitoring and evaluation and continuous quality improvement, incorporating
UNESCO’s 10 point framework for quality education
• Promote the development of consortia and support networks at the regional and international levels for
servicing and capacity building, including ASPnet, UNESCO Chairs, UNITWIN networks, research
institutes, APEID Associate Centres
• Develop processes for the sharing of experience, knowledge building and management
The target groups are:
• Senior education decision makers and planners, ministries, director generals
• Curriculum officers, syllabus and textbook writers and developers of resource materials for schools and
teacher education
• Teacher education institutes, professional development agencies, national curriculum and educational
research institutes
• Professional associations, civil society, alumni, International Network of Teacher Unions
• Donors and international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, United Nations
Country Forums, United Nations Education Sector Working Groups
The messages can be communicated through university networks, international networks, UNESCO champions
and Goodwill Ambassadors. Potential avenues for mobilizing the political will could be through meetings and
events organized by SEAMEO, Pacific ministers, Central Asian ministers, director generals, senior officers,
examination councils, teacher councils and associations, national education research institutes, regional training
centres such as Innotech and Colombo Plan Staff College, and APEID for example.
1 Build on existing briefing materials available from UNESCO (e.g. ECCE materials, HIV/AIDS) and develop
frequently asked questions (FAQs). The briefing papers should highlight existing practices in ESD and the
educational implications of ESD on policy, programmes and practices.
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The communication goals are:
• Information dissemination
• Advocacy
• Capacity building
Potential topics for the briefing papers include:
• ESD in general
• Rationale for ESD
• Implications of ESD for policy, programmes and practices
• FAQs
The briefing papers should be short, readable, thematic, audience-oriented and strategic. They should outline the
rationale for ESD and the philosophy – purpose, vision, underpinning values and principles according to United
Nations documents. Each briefing paper needs to be tailored to the specific target audience, addressing their issues
and concerns, using their language and terminology, and outlining the reasons from their perspectives be it policy,
economic, pedagogical. It should explain and interrelate all four components of ESD.
The Draft Regional-level Framework for Medium and Long-term Strategy for ESD
Creating an enabling environment and capacity building for ESD in the
Asia and Pacific region
Mapping
Briefing papers
Clear and Practical
Capacity building
Innovative and
effective practices
Strategy document
Communication
Advocacy
Training
Resource lists
Guidelines
FAQs
The strategy document or operational plan, to be developed in consultation with stakeholders, would be a readable
public document and would include the following:
• Regional vision, philosophy and purpose for education reoriented towards ESD, building on and bringing
together existing initiatives
• Rationale and background, outlining the purpose and consultative process for the development of the
framework
• Statement of values and principles that underpin and inform ESD from key documents
• Relationship of ESD to other initiatives
• Goals and audiences (from Creating an enabling environment and capacity building for ESD)
• Expected outcomes at various levels
• Operational principles (research-based, work consultatively with partners, modelling ESD principles)
• Objectives of the action plan
There would be an internal version of the plan which would include the deliverables and milestone dates which
could be presented or summarized in a matrix as follows:
Objectives
Activities to achieve
strategies
Outcomes or
deliverables
Milestone
dates
Who
Success
Indicators
Evaluation methods
Include baseline studies
Review progress in
mapping
Identify gaps and
needed work
The document should take a problem-solving approach based on scenarios and the principles of inclusion. It
should not be prescriptive or directive, but empowering, creating ownership among stakeholders, building on and
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inging together existing initiatives. Countries could then self-assess against the framework based on realistic
and appropriate objectives and plan according to the available resources.
Session V: Guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable
development
Rosalyn Mckeown outlined the next steps in forming the international network of ESD teachers and teacher
educators. Currently, eight Asian-Pacific countries are part of the network: Australia, China, India, Republic of
Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Taiwan and Viet Nam. While a list of questions to reorient education to address
sustainability would be helpful, it should be remembered that reorientation is a process, and not a recipe, that
needs to be locally relevant.
Discussion on guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable
development
The role of APEID in coordinating networks and the associate centres in the region, holding conferences,
workshops and seminars and engaging governments at the policy level, is vital to ESD and should be included as
part of the strategy. A review of the associate centres and the strengthening of the APEID networks is needed to
accommodate a range of models for networks and support centres, hubs and centres of good practice. Consortia
and hubs may be useful intervening structures for working with a combination of competing institutions.
The focus areas for the guidelines for reorienting teacher education include:
• Curriculum – pre-service and in-service teacher education
• Implementation process and strategy
• Content for teacher training
• Pedagogy and methodologies for teacher training
• Policy
• Capacity building
• Development of materials and resources and a list of all relevant documents
• FAQs
UNESCO’s definition on quality education should also be incorporated within teacher training, and three levels
need to be developed as follows:
• Training teachers – pre-service and in-service
• Training for the teacher trainers who will then integrate ESD within the curriculum
• Training for educational administrators, policy makers and curriculum developers
Different approaches, models and modalities are needed to build capacity at local, national, regional levels. The
strategies are different when working with individual teacher education institutions, or with regional networks,
policymakers and curriculum developers at the national level. A range of approaches is needed for addressing
ESD within teacher education institutions, e.g. as an elective, a graduate specialization, PhD studies.
In addition, existing teacher education curricula for ESD content has to be reviewed to find the gaps. A template
or guide for identifying the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for ESD should be developed to assist the
institutions. The resource persons and international network may be able to assist with mentoring and support,
particularly member institutions in the Asia and Pacific region. It is recommended that we start at the pre-service
level of teacher training. Materials from previous workshops could be synthesised and used as a resource for
teacher educators.
Session VI: Cooperation with ACCU, APCEIU and UNU
Masahisa Sato introduced two ACCU programmes for ESD in his paper, “ACCU-UNESCO cooperation for the
Asia-Pacific regional promotion of DESD.” One is the Centre of Excellence Programme (COE) and the other the
Innovation Programme for ESD (IP). He also introduced the history of other ACCU programmes that included
cultural heritage, literacy and developing of life skills as well as material development for ESD. ACCU has three
levels of activities: material development, capacity building and information sharing. The Joint Regional Seminar
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held in Tokyo in February 2006 launched ACCU’s ESD programmes, with an emphasis on non-formal education
to reach marginalized groups. The COE programme aims to strengthen the financial and technical support for
existing institutions to promote ESD in the region, while the IP serves to initiate and support innovative ESD
projects and use them as good examples.
Sookhee Kwak highlighted that teacher education is the priority programme of APCEIU in the Asia and Pacific
region in “Reflecting on teacher education at APCEIU and its lessons.” APCEIU has held five teacher training
workshops since 2001 for participants from 39 Asia-Pacific member countries. One of the challenges of the
programme is how to reach teachers in some countries as the national and local policies vary and create barriers.
Development of educational materials for EIU and ESD is one of the main elements of the APCEIU programme.
A teacher’s resource book on EIU has been developed and produced in several languages. In 2006, teacher
training workshops will be held in Iran, Viet Nam and Cambodia. An expert consultation will be held in Malaysia,
and sub-regional Asia-Pacific EIU policy meetings will also be held in 2006.
To integrate EIU and ESD conceptually, peace and equity, cultural diversity, intercultural understanding, and
sustainability are brought together to find the focus and common ground for these areas. The challenges include
mainstreaming, finding synergy and cross-linkages within UNESCO and institutional partnerships, multiplying
the impact of the initiatives. The task for teacher education is to widen the conceptual framework for and promote
international dialogue on EIU and ESD.
In “Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD,” Zinaida Fadeeva introduced the United Nations University (UNU)
and Institute for Advanced Studies. She also described the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCEs) programme, a
close network of existing institutions involved in formal and non-formal education, initiated to implement the
DESD agenda for local and sub-regional contexts. Potential actors in the network include schools, universities,
research centres as well as local governments and businesses. New RCEs will be launched in the future and the
scope of the activities is rapidly expanding. Mainstreaming ESD into education is one of the focus areas for the
RCE programme, and linkages to the ACCU and other ESD programmes are sought to ensure the success of the
programme.
Discussion on cooperation with ACCU, APCEIU and UNU
UNESCO’s relationship with these programmes is strengthened through the Regional Interagency Steering
Committee, of which ACCU, APCEIU and UNU are members. The importance of collaboration is even more
significant considering the limited resources of the agencies and the synergies that can be found through
collaboration. Also, ensuring the sustainability of the ongoing programmes is an important factor for the
collaboration. It was recommended that other channels for communication and nominations beyond National
Commissions be found to ensure target groups are reached. Participants supported the networks and recommended
that APEID facilitates the collaboration, creation of synergies and the sharing of practices.
Session VII: Planning for the APEID-APCEIU meeting in August 2006
APEID and APCEIU will hold a consultative meeting in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, from 22 to 25 August
2006. The meeting will conduct a needs assessment by consulting with key stakeholders in the region to
determine:
• how to reorient education to ESD in the longer term
• how to work with teacher education institutions (TEIs) in reorienting teacher education to ESD and how
to develop a regional network of TEIs, the mechanisms needed to support it and how to link it to other
networks in the short term
It was suggested that APEID and APCEIU invite two representatives from each of the following categories to the
meeting:
• Selected APEID Associate Centres in teacher education institutions
• TEIs in the eight Asia-Pacific countries that are part of the International ESD Network
• Countries where APCEIU wants to strengthen its networks
• UNESCO Chairs in Teacher Education, especially USP, for indigenous perspectives and others which
may address the needs of marginalized groups
• COEs from ACCU
• Regional institutions such as SEAMEO, Innotech
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• A mix of well-established centres and those that are less involved
• A balanced geographical distribution in the region and within countries including peripheral areas such
as Mindanao in the Philippines
• MoEs and policy makers
The 3-4 day programme could cover the following themes:
• Essence of ESD/EIU and DESD – rationale, objectives – and mapping participants’ perceptions and
understanding of ESD
• Existing ESD practices at the institutional, national and regional levels
• Articulation of the barriers, tensions, challenges and enabling factors
• Needs assessment of TEIs to undertake ESD
• ESD frameworks, themes and content, emphasizing the process
• Pedagogy and methodologies, experiential sessions
• Potential initiatives, activities and changes
• Development of work plans for each TEI
• Signing of MOUs
• Development of a clearinghouse for ESD materials and resources
• Formulation of a framework for self-assessment and identification of the support mechanisms needed
• Process for creating a network with examples of operational networks, network building, secretariat for
the network and support mechanisms
• Future meetings, events and follow up
Monitoring and evaluation
• Regular communication, reporting and follow-up
Support mechanisms
• Map the national and regional support mechanisms already in place and include in the work plans
• Explore links with existing networks and related institutions (i.e. APNIEVE, RCEs, APEID)
• Build on previous workshops and update new and old members
• Create web links to relevant websites
• Develop a list of resources available and establish a clearinghouse for resources
• Provide support for action research projects, publish case studies and include in the research agenda for
the Asia and Pacific region
• Establish a network secretariat
Recommendations
It is crucial to remember that the scope and focus of our tasks are on schools and teacher education. It is equally
important to reflect on the kind of strategies that should be developed as we work with our partners, i.e. Ministries
of Education, policy makers, action research networks. Many insightful comments, ideas and suggestions emerged
during the meeting, both during and outside the formal sessions, and a key recurring theme is that conceptual
conflicts exist among economic, environmental and socio-cultural aspects of ESD, between ESD and EIU, and
also within the concept of sustainable development. Yet it is critical that the various values, perspectives and
world views should not be forced onto any one person or group. Rather, each learner has to develop his/her own
thinking about these various concepts. Making such choices involves an empowering and transformative
pedagogy that enables learners to link the personal with the political and develop critical thinking about ESD,
tapping the intrinsic motivation and drawing out the values commitment for empowered action for change at the
collective level. Based on this broad pre-condition, several recommendations were formulated as follow:
• A pedagogy for values commitment and critical thinking should be developed for ESD with the
appropriate teaching-learning processes and methodologies for development of knowledge, skills, values,
attitudes and the ability to transform and bring about social change.
• Various paradigms and world views with their attendant values should be openly mapped to promote an
understanding of conflicting perspectives.
• A strategic plan should be developed and coordinated by APEID, in consultation with key partners, to
implement ESD systematically and to build on existing initiatives, synergies and complementarities of
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the good work already done by a range of partners throughout the region, thereby promoting
collaboration.
• A framework for implementing ESD should be developed, accompanied by a process continuum, from
reform to transformation, with milestones for self assessment.
• A regional-level framework and strategy for ESD should be developed focusing on formal and nonformal
teacher education, for both the medium and longer term, to include the establishment and
coordination of appropriate networks with support mechanisms, and the preparation of briefing papers
tailored to specific stakeholder groups.
• Diverse models of engagement applicable to different contexts and appealing to diverse interests,
highlighting the benefits of ESD and explaining the implications and linkages with other existing
initiatives should be developed for a range of relevant stakeholders.
• The ESD framework and strategy should take due account of the needs of indigenous and marginalized
groups.
• An expanded document on linkages should be developed for the Asia and Pacific region to include the
United Nations Decades for Human Rights Education and for Peace and Non-violence.
• Correspondence should be directed to IBE seeking their support for mapping good practices in ESD.
• Guidelines for reorienting education to ESD should start at the pre-service level of teacher training.
• APEID should revitalize and link existing relevant ESD networks and facilitate appropriate support
mechanisms to ensure their sustainability (i.e. APCEIU, ACCU, UNU-RCE, APNIEVE, ASPnet,
UNITWIN UNESCO Chairs). Collaboration, the creation of synergies and the sharing of practices
among them should be facilitated by APEID for the benefit of the whole region.
12

Redefining the General Concept of ESD on Environment and
Economic Perspectives
Shuichi Nakayama
Professor, Hiroshima University of Economics
Chair, Education Sub-Committee of
the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO
1. Preface
“There must be a strange feature in our world today that the environmental awareness on the one hand, is
growing very rapidly among the people. On the other hand, it is the fact that the environmental disruption in
some parts of our world is steadily taking place. We have to aware that there must be a monster machine to
disrupt our environment in another place of our growing awareness of better environment. We have still in
trouble to get a way for a sustainable planet Earth.” (A column of newspaper in Japanese, “Our Earth, Now-
Looking towards a Sustainable Society დ , The Nihon Keizai Newspaper , 26 March 2006).
The purpose of this paper is to redefine the concept of the environmental and economic perspectives of ESD
after examining the official documents regarding the promotion of ESD.
2. The Earth Charter(2003) – A Guidepost of the principles of ESD -
The Earth Charter is one of the fundamental philosophical documents for SD as well as ESD. It has a subtitle
as “Values and Principles for a Sustainable Future”. After about seven year’s discussion in the world
community, the Earth Charter Committee finally declared it in June 2000 in Den-Haag, Netherlands.
UNESCO adopted the Charter at the General Conference in 2003. The official web-site of the Earth Charter
explains more as followings.
(http://www.earthcharter.org/innerpg.cfm?id_page=106)
In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development issued a call for creation
of a new charter that would set forth-fundamental principles for sustainable development. The drafting of an
Earth Charter was part of the unfinished business of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
In 1994 Maurice Strong, the secretary general of the Earth Summit and chairman of the Earth Council, and
Mikhail Gorbachev, president of Green Cross International, launched a new Earth Charter initiative with
support from the Dutch government. An Earth Charter Commission was formed in 1997 to oversee the
project and an Earth Charter Secretariat was established at the Earth Council in Costa Rica. For more
detailed background information please refer to ABOUT US/The Initiative/Overview of Activities.
Meeting at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in March 2000, the Commission approved the final version
of the Earth Charter.
The Earth Charter’s four basic values and 16 principals for a sustainable future are arranged as under.
(1) Respect and care for the community of life,
1) Respect Earth and life in all its diversity
2) Care for the community of life
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3) Build democratic societies
4) Secure earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future
generation
(2) Ecological integrity,
5) Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems
6) Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection
7) Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction
8) Advance the study of ecological sustainability
(3) Social and economic justice,
9) Eradicate poverty
10) Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all revels
promote human development in an equitable and sustainable
manner
11) Affirm gender equality
12) Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural
and social environment
(4) Democracy, non-violence, and peace.
13) Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels
14) Integration to formal education and life-long learning the
knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of
life
15) Treat all living beings with respect and consideration
16) Promote a culture of tolerance, non-violence, and peace
(The Earth Charter promotion Committee of Japan ed. (2003), The Earth Charter- Values and Principals
for a Sustainable Future. Tokyo: Gyosei)
Some special features of the Earth Charter are, firstly, its nature of authoritative synthesis of values,
principals, and aspirations that are widely shared by people in all regions of the world. Secondly, it has
strong message to call people’s involvement to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect
for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Thirdly, it seeks everyone to
share the universal responsibility for the present and future wellbeing of the human family and the larger
living world. It might be said that these three pillars are the never-ending goal of dreams for all human kind
on this planet Earth.
3. The UN Conference on Human Environment (1972)
- Origin of the Concept of Sustainable Development and Environmental Education -
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As well known to all concerned people about ESD, the original concept of sustainable development has a
long rooted history discussed at the UN Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972.
The beginning of 1970 was the time that the worldwide public faced the serious difficulties to imagine the
future society, with the great concern about the rapid growth of world population and the disruption of the
environment by the progress of industrialization in the world after the Second World War.
Some major points can be drawn from the Declaration on Human Environment.
(http://www.unep.prg/Documents.multilinguial/Default.asp?DocumentID=97&ArticleID=1501&1=en) In
the “Preamble” of the Declaration, it states the need for a common outlook and for common principles to
inspire and guide the peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment.
It is well known from this statement that the core interest of the Conference was on the preservation of the
human environment. Another point of remarks is, firstly, the recognition to protect and improve the
environment for present and future generation. The Chapter 1 of the Principles of the Declaration states as
following. “Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an
environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and bears a solemn responsibility to
protect and improve the environment for present and future generations.” The Declaration Ch.3 clarified the
following disturbing elements. (1) dangerous levels or pollution in water, air, earth and living beings; (2)
major and undesirable disturbances to the ecological balance of the biosphere; (3) destruction and depletion
of irreplaceable resources; and the gross deficiencies harmful to the physical, mental and social health of
man, in the man-made environment, particularly in the living and working environment. It must be noted
that the Declaration expected the economic and social development is essential for ensuring a favourable
living and working environment for man and for improvement of the quality of life. (Ch.8 of the Principles.)
It also expected the planning must be applied to human settlements and urbanisation with view to avoiding
adverse effects on the environment and obtaining maximum social, economic and environmental benefits
for all. (Ch.9 of Principle)
Having read the Declaration, it is well understood that it displayed very clearly not only the outline of
Agenda 21 by Rio Earth Summit in 1992, but also the general concept of sustainable development. It is the
original message for three aspects of SD as social, environmental and economic development presented in
Agenda 21.
4. UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992)
- Specifying the Goals of Sustainable Development –
It might be said that the world community accepted the concept of sustainable development (SD) at the UN
Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 after 20 year so UN
Conference of Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972.
It is well known by the public that the Agenda 21 was adopted in the conference as the action plan to be
tackled by the States and Governments of the world in order to fulfillment of sustainable development in the
beginning of 21 Century. Needless to say, it was the Agenda 21 that demonstrated the concepts and contents
of Sustainable Development in the revolution of the idea of Sustainable Development. The followings are
the major parts of Chapters.
(http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21toc.htm)
The Chapters 2 to 8 clearly describe the social and economic dimensions as follows;
(2) International cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries and related
domestic policies;
(3) Combating poverty;
(4) Changing consumption patterns;
(5) Demographic dynamics and sustainability;
(6) Protecting and promoting human health conditions;
(7) Promoting sustainable human settlement development;
(8) Integrating environment and development in decision-making.
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The Chapters 9 through 22 describes the conservation and management of resources for development, just
as the environmental perspective as follows:
(9) Protection of the atmosphere;
(10) Integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources;
(11) Combating deforestration;
(12) Managing fragile ecosystems: combating desertification and drought;
(13) Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountain development;
(14) Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development:
(15) Conservation of biological diversity;
(16) Environmentally sound management of biotechnology;
(17) Protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semi-enclosed
seas, and coastal area and the protection, rational use and development of their
living resources;
(18) Protection of the quality and supply of freshwater resources: application of
integrated approaches to the development, management and use of water resources;
(19) Environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, including prevention of
illegal international traffic in toxic and dangerous produces;
(20) Environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, in hazardous wastes.
(21) Environmentally sound management of solid wastes and sewage-related issues;
(22) Safe and environmentally sound management of radioactive wastes.
One of the major events among states and governments after the Earth Summit was the creation of the
Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and the implementation of National Action Plan of
Sustainable Development in many governments of the world. At the same time the national environment
protection act was also implemented among many countries. However, the world community had found that
the progress of achievement of the national action plan had remained with a very disappointed level in many
countries under the worldwide economic depression in 1990s. It was the major cause that the ESD
(Education for Sustainable Developed) was proposed at the WSSD in Johannesburg in 2002.
5. World Summit for Sustainable Development (2002)
- Upholding of ESD to the United Nations’ Decade -
After 10 years from The Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Environment and Development, the WSSD was
held for 2 through 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg. As already known to all, the WSSD produced two
basic documents, namely (1) Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, and (2) WSSD Plan of
Implementation. The declaration has 37 chapters, but surprisingly the Plan of Implementation has 150
chapters with huge number of specific proposals in it. The Plan of Implementation seems to be more action
oriented rather than describing the abstract of ideas as compared with the Agenda 21. Chapter 2 of
Introduction of the Plan of Implementation states that “we commit ourselves to undertaking concrete actions
and measures at all levels and to enhancing international cooperation. These efforts will also promote the
integration of the three components of sustainable development- economic development, social
development and environmental protection- as interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars. ”
(http//:www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/summit docs/2309 planfinal.htm)
It was the WSSD that the ESD was proposed by the Japanese government together with NGOs. Many
concerned people were razing questions at many stages how did the Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD) come out to the UN Decade at WSSD. Rokichi Hirono ((2003: p.293) mentioned in his article that
the back ground of proposing ESD at the Johannesburg WSSD by the Japanese government and NGOs had
based on the statements after two international conferences. The first one was the idea of DESD discussed
by the Sokagakkai based on the activities by UNCSD (UN Commission on Sustainable Development)
which have been considered the ESD after the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The second was the statement “a
recommendation of education for a sustainable future” by the International Conference on Earth Ethics
organized jointly by the OISCA International, a Japan based NGO and a UN Agency held in October 2001.
There was a common understanding in these two statements that the immediate requirement for the world
community is to tackle with the development strategy is the international cooperation and support for the
intensified development policy and capacity building which are consistent in poverty reduction and
environmental protection. A proposal of the UNDESD from Japan was warmly received by many
16

international organizations and UN agencies, such as Multi-stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future
(UK), Education Forum for Sustainability (US), UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, ILO, and UNHABITAT. They
have actively involved in the symposium organized by JFJ (Japan Forum for Johannesburg) in which the
DESD was the central theme discussed during the WSSD. (Hirono 2003: p.293)
To make better understanding the concept of Sustainable Development, it might be safe to re-visit to the
WSSD Plan of Implementation. It has 10 core scopes as mentioned below from which the concept of
Sustainable Development can be abstracted.
(1) Poverty eradication,
(2) Changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production,
(3) Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social
development,
(4) Sustainable development in a globalizing world,
(5) Health and sustainable development,
(6) Sustainable development of Small Island developing States,
(7) Sustainable development for Africa,
(8) Other regional initiatives,
(9) Means of implementation,
(10) Institutional framework for sustainable development
The Plan of Implementation of WSSD is the document that demonstrates very clearly the goals, objectives,
perspectives, play role of various stakeholders concerned the promotion of SD. However, it is understood
that the concept of SD in this document is basically same with those of the Agend21. It must be said that the
Plan of Implementation proposed the reconfirm the importance of SD with the immediate action to be taken.
Some of the characteristics are the proposals of regional initiative such as the small islands and Africa,
where the introduction of SD programmes was far behind as compared to other regions of the world.
6. Draft UNESCO International Implementation Scheme (2004) – Specifying the
strategic perspectives of ESD -
The Draft IIS (2004) composed with four sections; (1) Education for Sustainable Development, (2)
Stakeholders and Strategies, (3) Implementation and Evaluation, and (4) Programming the Decade.
“Education for sustainable development should not be equated with environmental education. The latter is a
well-established discipline, which focuses on humankind’s relationship with the natural environment and on
ways to conserve and preserve it and properly steward its resources. Sustainable development therefore
encompasses environmental education, setting it in the broader context of socio-cultural factors and the
socio-political issues of equity, poverty, democracy and quality of life. ” (The Draft IIS : p.16)
The ultimate goal is to achieve peaceful coexistence among peoples, with less suffering. less hunger, less
poverty in a world where people will be able to practice their rights as human beings and citizens in a
dignified way. At the same time, the natural environment will play its regenerating role by avoiding biodiversity
loss and waste accumulation in the biosphere and the geo-sphere. (The Draft IIS : p.13)
The Draft pointed the fifteen strategic perspectives under three basic perspectives as such (The Draft IIS:
pp.17-20).These strategic perspectives can be treated as areas of specific objectives for ESD. In other wards,
it might be said that these are the prior areas for promoting ESD abstracted from the specific objectives of
the Agenda 21.
(1) Socio-cultural perspectives
1) Human rights
ESD must equip people to assert their right to live in a sustainable environment.
2) Peace and human security
ESD seeks to build skills and values for peace in the minds of humankind, as
enshrined in the UNESCO Charter.
3) Gender equality
17

The broader goal of gender equality is a societal goal to which education, all other
social institutions, must contribute.
4) Cultural diversity and intercultural understanding
Many opportunities for education and sustainable human development are
undermined by the lack of tolerance and intercultural understanding, upon which
peace is funded.
5) Health
A healthy population and safe environment are important pre-condition for
sustainable development.
6) HIV/AIDS
The ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and rising incidence in Asia
undermine sustainable development and educational processes.
7) Governance
At local, national and international levels, sustainable development will best be
promoted where governance structures enable transparency, full expression of
opinion, free debate and broad input into policy formulation.
(2) Environmental perspectives
1) Natural resources (Water, energy, agriculture, bio-diversity)
Humanity is dependent on the goods and services provided by ecosystems. Thus,
the protection and restoration on the Earth’s ecosystems is an important
challenge.
2) Climate change
ESD must bring to the awareness of learners the crucial need for international
agreements and enforceable quantified targets to limit damage to the atmosphere
and check harmful climate change.
3) Rural transformation
Educational activities have to be linked to the specific needs of the rural
community for skills and capacities to seize economic opportunities, improve
livelihood and enhance the quality of life.
4) Sustainable urbanization
Cities not only pose potential threat to sustainable development but also hold
promising opportunities for social and economic advancement and for
environmental improvements at local, national, and global levels.
5) Disaster prevention and mitigation
Sustainable development is undermined where communities suffer disaster or are
threatened by them.
(3) Economic perspectives
1) Poverty reduction
Poverty reduction is the central concern of the economic element, but must be
understood in relation to the other three elements: social, environmental and
cultural.
2) Corporate responsibility and accountability
ESD must build a balanced awareness of these economic and financial forces and
enable learners to take action to increase public accountability and responsible
commercial practice.
3) Market economy
One basic challenge is to create global governance systems that harmonize the
market more effectively with environmental protection and the goal of equity.
7. UNESCO International Implementation Scheme of ESD (2005)
- Emphasizing UNESCO’s leadership role and the implementation process -
The notable points in UNESCO-IIS of ESD (2005) clearly presents four major thrust of ESD derived from
18

Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (1992):
(1) Improving access to quality basic education;
(2) Reorienting existing education programmes;
(3) Developing public understanding and awareness;
(4) Providing training.
The IIS (2005) discussed the sustainability issues. These issues come from three spheres of sustainable
d evelopment – environment, society and economy. Environmental issues like water and waste affect every
nation, as do social issues like employment, human rights, gender equity, peace and human security. Every
country also has to address economic issues such as poverty reduction and corporate responsibility and
accountability. Major issues that have grabbed global attention such as HIV/AIDS, migration, climate
change and urbanization involve more than one sphere of sustainability. (IIS 2005:p.7) It must be noticed
that this categorization of perspectives is different from the Draft IIS (2004). The usage of term was also
changed from “perspectives” in 2004 to “sphere” in 2005.
Now, it must be needed to reframe the concept of three spheres of ESD according to this revised
categorization of strategic perspectives as mentioned in the Draft IIS (2004) in order to make clear the
concepts for each one of spheres. The IIS has made re-categorize the 15 perspectives of SD into 4 spheres
such as environmental issues, social issues, economic issue and overarching issues which might be
abstracted from the Working Paper: Asia-pacific Regional Strategy of ESD in Asia and Pacific (2005) in
which core issues of ESD were discussed.
The IIS mentioned in the section of Goals of UNDESD that the overall goal of the DESD is to integrate the
principals, values, practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. The basic
vision of the DESD is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the
values, behavior and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
(The IIS: p.6).
It is needless to say that the values must be the center of the goals of ESD. However, as a nature of
UNESCO, the IIS states in the section of Values as following. “The ways countries decide how to approach
sustainable development will be closely linked to the values held in these societies, for it is these values that
define how personal decisions are made and how national legislation is written.” (The IIS: p.7) Further it
mentioned that “Understanding your own values and, the values of the society you live in, and the values of
others around the world is a central part of education for a sustainable future. Each nation, cultural group,
and individual must learn the skills of recognizing their own values and assessing these values in the context
of sustainability.” (The IIS: p.7) It is very important to emphasize to recognize own values in promoting
ESD. However, it must be very crucial process to define the common values for human development such
as democracy, equity, freedom.
8. The National Implementation Scheme of ESD of Japan (NIS-ESD of Japan
2006) – A sample of the national implementation scheme -
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on ESD of Japanese Government has opened to the public the National
Implementation Scheme of ESD in March 2006. It is the very comprehensive document of 43 pages
including the specific policy programmes from Ministries of; Foreign Affairs: Education, Culture, Sports,
and Science & Technology: Environment: Agriculture, Forestry & Fishery: Economy & Industry: Land &
Transport.
It emphasized that the Japanese Government along with NGOs had proposed ESD to the United Nation’s
Decade at the WSSD to be included in Johannesburg in 2002. The UN 57 th General Assembly adopted the
resolution of the Decade in 2002 by the proposal from Japanese Government. (NIS of Japan: p.2)
It might be good to know how the Japanese Government refined the values for promoting ESD in Japan. It
might be said that the principles and values are taken from the Draft UNESCO IIS (2004), UNESCO IIS
(2005) and the Working Paper: Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy of ESD. One of the remarkable points is the
fact that NIS-ESD of Japan is written the different application of values to be taken to different perspectives
19

in country and outside country, especially toward the developing countries.
It says that the prior agenda to be tackled and focussed in Japan are the action change of the life style and
economic systems based on mass production, mass consumption, mass disposal, then introduce sustainable
consumption, sustainable production, and secure of bio-diversity. On the other hand, for the developing
countries, the achieving of Millennium Development Goals is central tasks along with better understanding
of current situation and international cooperation with various stakeholders in and outside country. (NIS-
ESD of Japan: p.5)
9. Concluding Remarks
– Redefining the concept of ESD on environmental and economic perspectives
An intention of this paper was to define the general concepts of environmental and economic aspects of
ESD after the examination of principles, values, and concepts of environmental and economic perspectives
described in the past official documents promoting ESD. One conclusion to be noticed is that ESD is the
process of capacity building for bringing a world of sustainable development into our hand for the benefit of
all humankind. Therefore it is urged to present the key concepts of specific actions for achieving a
sustainable future.
After examining the basic documents concerning for the promotion of ESD, especially the Decade of ESD,
the author developed following four tables to define the values, goals, subject-wise core content matter and
their issues in order to make all concerned people little easy for taking action toward the sustainable future.
Table 1 presents the common values for ESD, Table 2 for space-wise goals of environmental and economic
perspectives for ESD, Table 3 for core content matter by subject areas for ESD, and Table 4 for core issues
by subject areas for ESD.
Table 1 Common Values for ESD
Spheres
Common Values for ESD
Goals of Society
Brighter Future , Harmony with nature,
Quality of life,
World of peace
1 Social
Development
Democracy,
Human dignity & rights,
Cultural diversity
Freedom,
Equity,
2 Environmental Protection Environmental conservation, Care for the environment,
Cultural landscape
3 Economic Development Equity of economic opportunity, Economic sufficiency for
all, Sustainable economy, Sustainable production,
Sustainable consumption
After UNESCO ed. (2006), UNDESD (2005-14)
: International Implementation Scheme
20

Table 2 Space-wise Goals of Environmental and
Economic Perspectives for ESD
Space Environmental Perspective Economic Perspective
Common Goal
Harmony with nature Sustainability
1 Family Eco-life, 3Rs Life style
Less energy consumption
2 Community
More green and clean Improvement of access
3 Work Place Higher health standard 3Rs products
4 Country R ecycling-based Society Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
5 S ub-Region International cooperation for
Recycling of resources
better environment
6 World Peace,
Non-violence,
T olerance
Eradication of socio-economic gap
Table 3 Core Content Matter by Subject Areas for ESD
Subject Areas
Core Content Matter
1 Mathematics Sustainable numerical
2 National Language
Literacy development,
Study of national/international heroes
3 Social Studies Inter-dependence of natural/human resources, National &
international Citizenship, Democracy & Secularism, Cultural
Diversity
4 Sciences Sustainable technology
5 Foreign Language T olerance to other culture
6 Arts and Music Ethnic/Universal music and arts
7 Sports & Health E thnic/Universal sports and health
8 H ome Management
Reflecting of own life-style,
Life-style of other culture
9 Vocational Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)
21

Table 4 Core Issues by Subject Areas
Subject Areas
Core Issues
1 Mathematics Sustainable growth rate
2 National Language Own culture can be learned by mother tongue
3 Social Studies, Geography,
History
Respect equally to own culture and the values of others.
4 Sciences Environmental preservation
5 Foreign Language Mother tongue of other cultures
6 Arts and Music Cultural diversity
7 Sports & Health Cultural diversity
8 Home Management Less consumption,
3Rs
9 Vocational Less production, Less disposal
22

References
Committee of Ministries ed. (2006), National Implementation Scheme of Japan, Tokyo: Government of
Japan. (Downloaded from web-site of the Ministry of Education) (In Japanese)
Derek Elias and others ed. (2005), Working Paper: Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy of ESD.
Bankok:UNESCO Asia and Pacific Bureau for Education.
The Earth Charter Promotion Committee of Japan ed. (2003), The Earth Charter – Values and Principles for
a Sustainable Future. Tokyo: Gyousei.
Ryokichi Hirono(2003), Promotion of the DESD in Section of Earth Environment, Ministry of Environment
ed., Report from the Johannesburg Summit, Tokyo: Energy Journal, pp.293-302 (in Japanese)
UNESCO ed. (2004), United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-14 – Draft
International Implementation Scheme -, Paris: UNESCO. (Downloaded from UNESCO web-site)
UNESCO ed. (2005), United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14) –
International Implementation Scheme -, Paris: UNESCO. (Downloaded from UNESCO web-site)
http://www.earthcharter.org/innerpg.cfm?id_page=106 for the Earth Charter.
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/summit docs/2309 planfinal.htm for the WSSD
http://www.unep.prg/Documents.multilinguial/Default.asp?DocumentID=97&ArticleID=1501&1=en for the
UN Conference on Human Environment.
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21toc.htm for the UN Conference on
Environment and Development.
23

Young People and the Environment
Implication of a Study of Youth Environmental Attitudes and
Education in the Asia Pacific Region for Curriculum Reform
during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development 1
John Fien
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
National studies of environmental attitudes are increasingly becoming a part of the environmental policy
mix, especially in countries in the North. There are now also many cross-cultural surveys. It is notable,
however, that such research has mostly been confined to North America and Europe and has concentrated
nearly exclusively on adult environmental attitudes.
Two recently published books, Environment, Education and Society: Local Traditions and Global
Discourses in the Asia Pacific (Yencken, Fien and Sykes 2000) and Young People and the Environment: An
Asia-Pacific Perspective (Fien, Yencken and Sykes 2002), break this pattern with a focus on the Asia Pacific
region and an emphasis on young people. These books report the efforts of a team of over forty researchers
in twelve countries in Asia and the Pacific and involved a detailed analysis of cultural influences on youth
environmental knowledge, beliefs and behaviour in each country and a series of focus group interviews and
a questionnaire survey with approximately one thousand 16-17 year old students in a major city in each
country.
This paper uses the findings of this project to reflect upon the implications for curriculum reform in
secondary schools in the Asia-Pacific region during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development.
The cultural context
Our region is a particularly important one for exploring the cultural aspects of environmental attitudes. The
various countries in the research have different cultural traditions – and many subcultures – that affect the
formation of environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. It comprises countries such as Australia,
New Zealand and the USA with predominantly Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman traditions and attitudes to
1 This paper is a shortened version of Chapter 12 in Environment, Education and Society: Local Traditions
and Global Discourses in the Asia Pacific (Yencken, Fien and Sykes 2000). It also draws upon ideas I wrote
for Chapter 3 of Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability, Background
Paper prepared for UNESCO International Conference, Thessaloniki (UNESCO 1997)
24

nature; countries such as China, Taiwan and Singapore with Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions and
in China's instance more recent Communist influences; countries such as Japan and Korea with their own
distinct versions of these traditions; a country such as India with Hindu and Muslim traditions; a country
such as Thailand with strong Buddhist traditions; countries such as Indonesia with a strong Muslim
tradition; and other countries with mixes of traditions such as the Philippines (Catholic with other Christian,
Muslim and indigenous) and Fiji (Melanesian, Hindu and Western). The region also includes the diverse
cultures of the indigenous people of countries in the region. The countries in the study were therefore
representative of most of the main cultural and religious groupings in the world.
There are long traditions of responsibility and care for the environment in every country involved in the
research. For example, in India, although nature is approached through humanity, all living things are seen
as sacred and to be worshipped. This is common across the three great Indian religious traditions, Hinduism,
Jainism and Buddhism. The Islamic tradition, reflected in countries such as Brunei, in parts of India,
Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries in the region, stresses a relationship of stewardship rather than
mastery of nature with the Koran requiring people looked after and protect God’s creation. The same
worldview is found in the environmental ethic of the many indigenous groups in the region. The main
cultural traditions of China (Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism) advocate respect for nature. Christian
religions also advocate stewardship of the environment and care for other living things.
In all or nearly all these traditions there are, however, countervailing traditions. In Christianity, for example,
the belief that God created people in his own image and gave humans dominion over the earth has often
been discussed as a source of western disregard for the environment. There are similar tensions in other
religions also and these give rise both to environmental respect and disregard on different occasions. The
Confucian principles of reciprocity and balance mean that Chinese cultures have traditionally perceived the
world as unity or balance of conflicting opposites.
25

The research design
The study had two central goals.
The first goal was to explore the balance of global environmental thinking and local cultural influences on
the environmental attitudes of young people. The second goal was to analyse the findings of the study in
order to identify the implications for future curriculum development in the different countries of the region.
However, both of these goals depended upon collecting data on the environmental attitudes of a
representative sample of young people in each of the cities involved. The purpose of this paper is to share a
summary of the findings and to identify implications that might guide ongoing curriculum development
during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
First of all, it must be noted that it is not an easy task to explore and compare environmental attitudes of
young people in different countries. There are cultural, conceptual and methodological difficulties of some
magnitude and many associated practical problems.
A major issue for the research was that of cultural context. Each of the countries involved in the research
had different cultural traditions – and many subcultures – that affect the formation of environmental
knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. There is furthermore vigorous theoretical debate about universal and
relativist norms and values in different cultures, and especially across cultures. A related cultural issue
concerned problems of cross-cultural comparison as terms used in one culture have different meanings in
others. These problems of language and meaning are accentuated whenever translation is required. As a
result, the first research task for project members in each country was to undertake an extensive trace the
environmental, social, educational, economic, political and media influences that have contributed to
environmental thinking in their countries and to analyse how these may be impacting on the experiences of
young people.
The key conceptual issue related to the concept of attitude. What is meant by attitude? What are we
measuring when we attempt to measure attitude? What might be the relationship between attitude and
behaviour? How is behaviour measured? What influence does knowledge have on attitude and behaviour? If
we are testing knowledge what kind of knowledge is significant?
Much attention has been given in recent years to the nature and components of environmental attitudes.
Attitude is a complex concept, characterised “by an embarrassing degree of ambiguity and confusion”
(Fishbein & Ajzen 1975: 6). However, it is commonly held in the psychological literature that attitude has
three structural dimensions: cognition, affect and conation. Cognition relates to knowledge and beliefs;
affect concerns feelings; and conation concerns tendencies to act. While there is debate over the functional
relationship between these three components and whether they can be measured in isolation from each
26

other, this study concentrated upon these three components and sought to triangulate conclusions by having
multiple measures of each and balancing the results of survey answers with focus group questions.
The major methodological issue was to find ways of measuring environmental knowledge, beliefs and
behaviour. A related concern was to identify samples from each country that would yield data that was
comparable in terms of age, gender mix, socio-economic status and years of schooling.
From our deliberations about these issues we concluded that the research needed to include a serious
attempt to describe the cultural contexts in which environmental attitudes in individual country were being
formed. We also used techniques for translating the questionnaires that ensured as far as possible that the
meaning of the questions did not change significantly in translation. We concluded that notwithstanding our
best efforts in these two regards there would remain important limitations on the authority that we could
give to comparisons of the patterns of findings across the different countries involved in the research. This
did not mean, however, that no valid analyses could be made. In particular, we could look to see where there
were commonalities in findings and where there were significant differences. The commonalities might be
reasonably interpreted as based on shared cross-cultural values. The differences, it might be inferred, could
be based on local cultural or situational contexts, which, although they might be very difficult to source with
authority, provided indicators of the influence of local and traditional values.
We also concluded that we should focus on students in at least one large city in each country and that we
should work with students in the last two years of high school and who were attending schools whose
students results were so high that a very high proportion went on to university. This does not mean that we
do not think that the views of rural youth, younger people or students of average academic ability are not
important. Rather, these decisions are a reflection of the desire for comparability of data within the
resources available for the study. One advantage of the chosen sample, however, is that we can claim that
the sample represent the views of the young people who have a strong chance of going on to university and
perhaps becoming the business, academic, political and military leaders of Asia in coming decades.
Methodologically, we also concluded that one form of survey technique would not suffice given the great
cultural, social and economic diversity in the region. We decided to balance quantitative and qualitative
techniques by using both a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews.
The two books, Environment, Education and Society: Local Traditions and Global Discourses in the Asia
Pacific (Yencken, Fien and Sykes 2000) and Young People and the Environment: An Asia-Pacific
Perspective (Fien, Yencken and Sykes 2002), provide detailed analyses of the findings. The former focuses
on cultural themes such as the influence of religion, indigenous beliefs, political systems, etc. The latter
provides an analysis on a country-by-country basis. Appendix 1 is a set of summary tables. Here, the focus
is on a summary of the overall conclusions and the curriculum implications.
27

Overall conclusions
The richness and diversity of these traditions and the many ways in which they embody notions of stewardship
of nature are very striking. However, despite the individual differences, the focus group interviews and surveys
yielded remarkably consistent pattern in the findings about the environmental awareness, knowledge, beliefs
and behaviour of young people across the region. These findings have important implications for
environmental education policy and curriculum development.
First, as might be expected, awareness and knowledge of individual environmental concepts vary considerably.
Nevertheless it could be said that there is at least some awareness in every country of all the concepts
discussed in the research. These concepts included: the carbon cycle, sustainable development, biodiversity,
renewable resources, ecology, intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, the greenhouse effect,
ozone layer depletion and carrying capacity. Even the least known concepts, intergenerational equity and the
precautionary principle, were known to at least 20% of students in all countries. However, those concepts that
were less discipline-specific and more sustainable development related – the newer ones – were far less well
known and understood perhaps a sign of curricula in most countries failing to keep up to date with
developments in national policy
Second, young people recognise environmental problems as real and significant and are knowledgeable and
concerned about a wide range of local, national and global problems. However, questions can be asked about
the depth of understanding that lies beneath these high levels of awareness. For example, in every country the
destruction of the ozone layer was seen as the most important environmental issue facing the world. Yet, this is
one of the very few global problems that international action seems to have solved, although recovery to pre-
1980 levels is not expected until around 2050. Probing this situation might lead to several questions. Are
students’ misunderstandings due to incomplete teaching, inadequate educational resources or, perhaps, the
tendency for environmental courses to focus on problems rather than solutions and success stories?
Third, environmental beliefs are widely shared by young people across all countries despite differences in local
cultural traditions, environmental situations and education systems. The great majority of students in all the
countries in the study expressed strongly environmentally supportive views and beliefs. It could therefore be
said that young people in all countries have moved decisively towards the adoption of an environmental
paradigm. Interestingly, the young people generally believed that while protecting the environment is more
important than economic growth, it is possible to have both a healthy environment and a prosperous economy.
However, they do not seem to have a sound understanding of the relationships between social, economic and
institutional frameworks, and ecological degradation and sustainability.
This may be because the young people in every country said that the media, particularly television, was their
major source of environmental information, followed by schools, whose contribution was often regarded as
more reliable but also more boring. Increased attention to the humanities (especially media literacy) and the
28

social sciences (especially ecological economics) may be appropriate ways of developing the concepts and
skills needed to address this problem.
Fourth, individual actions to protect the environment vary greatly within and between countries. However
there is a clear pattern on at least one point: in all countries other than Japan at least half of the students
claim to have taken some action to protect the environment. Even in Japan a third of the students say that
they have taken some action. The nature of the actions taken is also similar – domestic actions such as
recycling predominate. The question that needs to be asked about this finding is ‘Why is the figure so low,
especially when the young people said that they usually felt good when they took such actions?’ Perhaps, it
is because the vast majority of students felt that they did not know much about what they could do and did
not have faith in social institutions to support their actions. Indeed, the knowledge that young people seem
to have about the environment is mainly propositional in nature, rather than procedural; ie it is ‘knowledge
about the environment’ rather than ‘knowledge how to work for the environment’. This situation might help
explain the ambivalence between the young people’s high levels of expressed concern and their general lack
of willingness to change personal life-styles or take other actions to protect the environment.
This gives rise to a fifth important conclusion from the research: school curricula need to change so that
young people explore the many possible ways in which current systems can change to support sustainability,
in which current lifestyles reflect these systems, and in which their own actions can contribute to a
sustainable future. At the very least, a much better understanding of the nature of the problems and their
likely solutions might be achieved and, in this way, some of the pessimism and negativity expressed by the
young people might be dissipated.
The next section addresses these curriculum implications in detail.
Curriculum Implications for Attention during the DESD
These findings point to the need for curriculum reform on at least three levels.
Firstly, there is a need for many more subjects than biology and geography to focus on environmental issues.
While much work has been done on the environmental dimensions of all subjects in other parts of the world,
and on environmental studies and across-the-curriculum approaches to environmental education in primary
schools, and teacher education in the Asia-Pacific region, little work has been done to develop an explicit focus
on environmental education in secondary schools in this region.
In all countries, we saw that students fared much better in understanding traditional concepts from biology and
geography than they did in defining the concepts of sustainable development, biodiversity, carrying capacity,
the precautionary principle and intergenerational equity. This second set require much greater exposure and
discussion than they are receiving at the present time because of their significance in environmental thinking.
However, few of these are yet to make their way into syllabuses in the countries of the region and there is an
29

urgent need to begin to develop an understanding of the key concepts that can shape sustainable development.
While only five such concepts were used in the survey, many others from the fields of political ecology and
ecological economics could have been used. These include: ecological footprint, ecospace, natural resource
accounting, life-cycle analysis, environmental assessment, eco-efficiency, sustainable consumption and so on.
A fuller set of concepts such as these (and their definitions), and which could form the basis of a contemporary
approach to environmental and sustainability learning, is provided in Box 1.
Secondly, teachers and students need increased flexibility for choosing topics and issues to investigate so that
they may concentrate on the life role relevance of schooling. However, this will require loosening the grip of
discipline-based subjects and nationally or centrally determined examinations on the secondary school
curriculum. These are enormous barriers to the reorientation of education towards sustainable development,
barriers that cannot be addressed by the efforts of individual teachers or even schools, no matter how
committed they might be. Effectively addressing barriers such as these requires an appreciation of the role of
education in the processes of social continuity and change, the diverse and sometimes contradictory roles of
governments, and the corresponding multiple purposes of education.
Thus, thirdly, there is a need for a major philosophical reorientation of secondary education. Central to this is
an understanding of the roles of schooling in social reproduction and the ways in which the structures of
secondary education reproduce, albeit unintentionally perhaps, unsustainable development. These structures
also provide the context for identifying opportunities and strategies to reorient education towards the
development of a civil society based upon the values and practices of sustainability.
Schools serve many purposes today beyond academic ones. Schools are generally public institutions and, in
most cases, are subject to the directions of government and its policy-making processes. However, one point
seems to be common in all countries. This is that governments have multiple and sometimes contradictory roles
and these are manifested in diverse ways in educational policies and practices (Carnoy and Levin 1985;
Schlechty 1990). For example, on one hand, governments need to ensure that education systems socialise and
educate citizens in ways that will enable them to contribute to desired economic activities and goals. This
includes vocational knowledge and skills, but also the attitudes of responsibility, diligence, punctuality and
social cohesion that will maintain and promote these goals.
This is the “reproductive” role of the state and education. On the other hand, governments particularly in
democratic countries, need to take action to maintain their public legitimacy by anticipating trends that may
challenge national well-being and by responding to public concerns about social problems, such as racism,
poverty, public safety and, increasingly, the environment. Education is one way in which governments seek to
achieve this goal, generally by developing educational policies that enhance the capacities of citizens to
respond to anticipated challenges, to identify and articulate their concerns, and to contribute as active and
informed citizens to solutions by participating in discussions about them and other public issues. This is the
role of the state and education in “constructing civil society”.
30

Box 1: A Suggested Set of Concepts for Reforming the
Content of Secondary Education
1. Carrying capacity: The capacity of ecosystems to support continued growth in population
numbers, resource consumption, and waste production.
2. Steady-state economy: A non-growth economy in which the demands of resource consumption are
in balance with resource supply and production.
3. Ecospace: The total amount of energy, land, water and other resources that can be used regionally
or globally without environmental damage, disadvantaging the capacities of others to meet their
basic needs or impinging on the rights of future generations.
4. Sustainable development: A process by which the needs of present generations can be satisfied
without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs.
5. Ecological footprint: The area of land and water needed to support the total flow of energy and
materials consumed by a community or population indefinitely.
6. Natural resource accounting: A strategy that helps a household, corporation or government
calculate its real wealth, i.e. the value of total economic production minus the value of the natural
and social capital consumed to achieve it.
7. Eco-efficiency: A strategy for maximising the productivity of material and energy inputs to a
production process whilst also reducing resource consumption and waste production and
generating cost savings and competitive advantage.
8. Life Cycle Analysis: A management tool for identifying the net flows of resource and energy used
in the production, consumption and disposal of a product or service in order to leverage ecoefficiency
gains.
9. Sustainable consumption: The use of services and related products to satisfy basic human needs
and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials
as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product.
10. The 5 Rs: Reduce, reuse, renew, recycle and rethink!
11. Local-global links: The recognition that the consumption of a product or service in one part of the
world is dependent on flows of energy and materials in other parts of the world and that this
creates potential opportunities and losses economically, socially and environmentally at all points
in the local-global chain.
12. Interdependence: The relationships of mutual dependence between all elements and lifeforms,
including humans, within natural systems.
13. Biodiversity: The diverse and interdependent composition of lifeforms in an ecosystem that is
necessary for sustaining flows of energy and materials indefinitely.
14. Interspecies equity: A consideration of the need for humans to treat creatures decently, and protect
them from cruelty and avoidable suffering.
15. Intragenerational equity: A consideration of the need to ensure that all individuals and societies
have access to the resources required to satisfy basic human needs and rights
31

16. Intergenerational equity: A consideration of the need to live off net resource production rather
than environmental capital in order to enable future generations access a world that is at least as
diverse and productive as the one each generation inherits.
17. Human rights: The fundamental freedoms of conscience and religion, expression, peaceful
assembly and association which ensure access to democratic participation and meeting basic
human needs.
18. Basic human needs: The needs and right of all people and societies for fair and equitable access to
flows of energy and materials for survival and a satisfying quality of life within the limits of the
Earth.
19. Media literacy: An appreciation of the role of the public media and marketing and advertising
industries in creating perceptions of needs and wants and the skill to identify the roles thee media
may play in encouraging and undermining sustainable consumption
20. Democracy: The right of all people to access channels for community decision making.
The curriculum is a product of both the “reproductive” and the “constructing civil society” roles of
governments. Unfortunately, the press of short-term political and economic priorities has given ascendancy
to the reproductive roles of secondary education. There are historically embedded reasons for this in Asia
and the Pacific because many education systems developed to serve the economic needs of colonial empires
for factory workers, technicians, clerks and administrators in the colonies. This has resulted in education
systems characterised by hierarchical patterns of knowledge which privilege literacy, mathematics and
abstract science; hierarchical relationships between teachers and students; teacher-centred processes of
teaching and learning; and competitive assessment and credentialing practices that favour the social
differentiation and the reproductive roles of schooling.
Summarising the impact of influences such as these, Orr (1991) draws attention to the powerful influences
of overtly academic teaching methods on the hidden curriculum and which undermine the values of a
sustainable society:
Process is important for learning. Courses taught as lecture courses tend to induce passivity. Indoor
classes create the illusion that learning only occurs inside four walls isolated from what the students
call, without apparent irony, the "real world". Dissecting frogs in biology class teaches lessons about
Nature that no one would verbally profess. Campus architecture is crystalised pedagogy that
reinforces passivity, monologue, domination, and artificiality. (Orr 1991: 101)
Thus, the process of reorienting education towards sustainability is a broader and more pervasive task than
that of revising syllabuses to include new sustainability concepts and devising new teaching and learning
materials that incorporate principles and examples of sustainability - as necessary as these reforms are. Orr
32

(1992: 83) notes on this point that the crisis of unsustainability “cannot be solved by the same kind of
education that helped create the problems.... Schools, colleges and universities are part of the problem”.
Changing Pedagogy
The multiple roles of education in response to the range of national goals that a country may have were
described above as a balance between the reproduction of politically-endorsed (and mostly economically
motivated) values, practices and institutions and the empowerment of students to play an informed and
active role as members of civil society. These are not mutually exclusive roles, and education is designed to
promote both. However, without a whole-of-government commitment to sustainable development in most
countries, schools have tended to reproduce an unsustainable culture that intensifies environment and
development problems rather than one that empowers citizens to work towards their solution.
This situation of unbalanced priorities calls for a reaffirmation of the role of formal education in building
civil society by helping students: (i) develop criteria for determining what is best to conserve in their
cultural, economic and natural heritage; (ii) discern values and strategies for creating sustainability in their
local communities; and (iii) their understanding so formed, with others, to national and global contexts. This
is the contemporary version of what Dewey (1916) called the "reconstructionist" tradition in education. This
is not to say that the economic imperatives that underlie the reproductive functions of formal education are
to be ignored. Economically sound, ecologically sustainable and socially just forms of development are to be
encouraged; indeed, appropriate development is a core principle of a sustainable society.
However, a reorientation of education towards sustainability calls attention to the problematical effects of
inappropriate development and unfettered economic growth, and also to the ways that these are perpetuated
through dominant patterns of schooling and the narrow and limited range of knowledge, attitudes and skills
students learn as a result. Building upon students’ strong levels of awareness of, and concern for,
environmental quality in this way can be a major contribution to building a politically literate civil society.
Indeed, as Orr (1992: 84) argues, “I see no prospect whatsoever for building a sustainable society without an
active, engaged, informed, and competent citizenry” and this requires “an unwavering commitment by
educational institutions to foster widespread civic competence”.
While a curriculum organised around sustainability concepts such as those suggested above could be
described as more relevant to contemporary social and environmental needs, it would make little
contribution to a curriculum for reconstructing civil society unless the methods of learning and teaching that
are used in secondary schools are also reformed.
Indeed, pedagogical choices that teachers make are a significant determinant of the outcomes of the learning
experiences of students. That is, the nature of the learning experiences provided for students will influence
the outcomes achieved irrespective of whatever sustainable development concepts, themes and topics are the
33

focus of learning. As Whitty (1985) remarks, whether or not particular lessons are ultimately reproductive or
transformative (i.e. contributing to empowerment for participation in civil society) is essentially a matter of
how they are worked on pedagogically and how they are articulated with other issues in and beyond the
school. Issues of pedagogy are therefore vital in the reorientation of education towards sustainability.
Pedagogy involves more than the traditional concept of instructional practices; it also subsumes the teacher’s
visions of what education is for and how society might be. Thus, the reconstructionist tradition in education
involves two related processes of pedagogy: the organisation of knowledge around a range of critical
concepts and values so that they can explore the ethical implications of the issues under investigation, and
the participation of students in community affairs so that they might become active members of civil society.
These two aspects of pedagogy relate to two remaining curriculum implications of the country studies - the
development of (i) an ethic for living sustainably and (ii) the willingness and ability of students to practice
civic responsibility.
The development of an ethic for living sustainably
As a focus for education, sustainable development not only requires new concepts for thinking about the
world but also new attitudes and values for making ethical judgements about the state of the environment
and alternative propositions for enhancing its sustainability. This directs attention to the need to identify an
appropriate ethic for living sustainably that can be integrated into the curriculum to help ensure student
learning is holistic and has a moral base.
As a sample set of values to encompass such an ethic, the principles in the Earth Charter have been endorsed
by UNESCO as a basis for curriculum focus during the DESD, and include:
• To respect Earth and life in all its diversity;
• To care for the community of life with understanding, compassion and love;
• To build democratic societies that are just, sustainable, participatory and peaceful; and
• To secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
These four principles illustrate that the concept of sustainable development in the Earth Charter embraces
the view that the problems of poverty, environmental degradation, ethnic and religious conflict, and social
injustice are all interdependent, and that policies that address one problem can impact and improve other
issues.
However, ethics are not just a matter of attitudes and values. While these are important, ethics also involve
moral reasoning and critical thinking, and it is this aspect of ethics that render them an essential concern of
pedagogy. To have a set of values, however ethical, and teach them to students in an uncompromising way is
indoctrination. However, it is possible to teach in a professionally ethical way with a commitment to
34

sustainable development. This involves viewing pedagogy as a process of encouraging students to explore
questions, issues and problems of sustainability, especially in contexts relevant to them and their
communities, and the development of student-centred and interactive enquiry-based approaches to teaching
and learning. Such approaches do not preclude the use of more teacher-centred methods such as exposition,
narration and demonstration where appropriate. However, it does mean that, wherever possible, student
learning will be based in the community, will use the environment and community as a resource for learning,
and will involve such activities as debating controversial issues, role play, simulation games, values
clarification and analysis, and discovery learning as well as a range of creative and experiential activities
(see Fien, Heck and Ferreira 1997). Naish, Rawling and Hart identify the characteristics of such an enquirybased
pedagogy by describing it as an approach to teaching and learning which:
• identifies questions, issues and problems as the starting point for enquiry
• involves students as active participants in a sequence of meaningful learning through enquiry
• provides opportunities for the development of a wide range of skills and abilities (intellectual,
social, practical and communication)
• presents opportunities for fieldwork and classroom work to be closely integrated
• provides possibilities for open-ended enquiries in which attitudes and values may be clarified, and
an open interchange of ideas and opinions can take place
• provides scope for an effective balance of both teacher-directed work and more independent student
enquiry
• assists in the development of political literacy such that students gain understanding of the social
world and how to participate in it. (Naish, Rawling and Hart, 1986: 46)
The focus on issues and problems in this enquiry-based approach to pedagogy may cause worry and concern
for students if not handled well. However, as evident in our country studies, young people across all
countries already are seriously concerned about the future of the environment and their place in it. Thus, in a
discussion of the importance of action competence in developing students’ capacities for environmental
citizenship, Jensen and Schnack (1997: 164) argue that, “It is not so much a question of creating anxiety
during environmental education. The problem is more [one of] how to handle the anxiety and worry which
students already feel”. Thus, they give primacy to the regular involvement of students in learning how to
resolve problems, developing and evaluating visions of alternative futures, and actively working in and with
the community on problems that are of significance to them. These three aspects of an action-focused
pedagogy emphasise the importance of actively involving students in projects to build sustainability in their
local communities which are discussed in he next section. Without regular experiences such as these, the
reorientation of objectives, curriculum themes, and concepts for sustainability will be in vain. Empowerment
to work for sustainability is the raison d’etre of reorienting formal education towards sustainable
development.
35

The willingness and ability of students to practice civic responsibility
A key finding of the study that was common across all countries and, perhaps, was the most disheartening
was the relatively strong sense of ambivalence (Connell 1997) that the young people showed towards
making life style changes and practising civic responsibility in accord with their high levels of expressed
interest in, and concern for, environmental matters. While young people in every country expressed a strong
desire to improve the environment, few students described a past record of active environmental citizenship
or a willingness to work for environmental protection in the future. While recycling and reusing, choosing
household products that are better for the environment, and reducing water consumption were cited as
regular activities, and some young people said that they had taken part in tree planting and clean-up
campaigns, only a very small minority of young people in any of the countries said that they had written
letters, signed petitions, attended meetings or made formal complaints. These are also the actions that most
said that that they would not consider taking in the future also. This record of ambivalence exists despite the
fact that a large majority of respondents (between 70% and 94%) in all countries stated that they felt
“positive” or “really good” when they took pro-environmental actions and that they generally experienced
favourable reactions and support for such actions from others involved, their teachers and their immediate
families.
This paradox cannot be explained easily. Indeed, there are many cultural and political prohibitions on
western styles of active citizenship in several counties in the Asia-Pacific Region. However, there is a strong
indication in the survey findings that the nature of common educational experiences plays an influential role
also. For example, most young people said that they had poor skills and knowledge for bringing about
environmental improvements, even if in only a small way. When they were asked to rate their knowledge
and skills in this area, the highest response in all countries was only a medium ranking. Indeed, students in
all the countries studied said that the two most common reasons for not acting in an environmentallyfriendly
way were a belief that their actions would not make a difference and that they felt that there was no
practical alternative even when they knew that what they did was wrong. This reflects not only a lack of
knowledge of possible alternatives but also a failure of schools to provide students with experiences that
teach such knowledge and skills. It also indicates that students have rarely had the opportunity to work with
others on practical environmental projects and develop confidence in their individual and collective abilities
to successfully bring about change.
Implications for Teacher Education
Reforms to curriculum and pedagogy such as those outlined above can help empower teachers to take
responsibility for planning learning experiences that can enhance the capacities of students to participate
effectively as member of civil society in the interests of sustainable development. However, successfully
inducting teachers into the new roles envisioned for them requires a recognition that educational change is
multidimensional.
36

Thus, effective changes to classroom practice require change in at least three areas: (i) the preparation and
adoption of new curriculum guidelines, syllabuses, teaching activities and educational and materials, (ii)
changes in teachers’ familiarity with, and use of, new forms of pedagogy and assessment, and (iii) the
reflective development of teachers’ beliefs or practical theories of education (Fullan with Stiegelbauer
1991).
The clarification of teachers’ commitments to education for sustainability, together with the development of
their willingness and capacities to adopt new roles as curriculum developers, facilitators of student learning
and assessors, make teacher education, at both the pre-service and the in-service levels, a vital aspect of the
reorientation of education for sustainability (see Fien and Tilbury 1996). The UNESCO multimedia teacher
education programme, Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future was developed to help satisfy this
need.
Conclusion
Reorienting education towards sustainability is a process of educational reform and innovation. Individual
countries, education systems, schools and teachers will need to reflect critically on the suggestions for
curriculum and pedagogical reform and the more significant second-order changes to national priorities,
educational goals and approaches to curriculum development, implementation and evaluation outlined in
this chapter and to interpret and focus them for action in national and local contexts. It is possible that pre-
Earth Summit forms of education could be considered a “failed innovation” despite the initiatives that could
be cited. As Fullan with Stiegelbauer (1991: 354) lament, “We have a huge negative legacy of failed reform
that simply cannot be overcome simply through good intentions and powerful rhetoric”. Reorienting
environmental education for sustainability is powerful rhetoric and a wonderful aspiration. However, there is
much to be learnt about the processes of educational innovation and change. Learning from the successful
experiences of other educational reform movements and interpreting their lessons to education for
sustainability and local cultural and educational contexts must become the new priority of priorities for
environmental education and all those who, like Orr (1992), view “The crisis of sustainability, the fit
between humanity and its habitat” not only as “a permanent feature on the public agenda” but “as the
agenda” concludes therefore that:
No other issue of politics, economics and public policy will remain unaffected by the crisis of
resources, population, climate change, species extinction, acid rain, deforestation, ozone depletion,
and soil loss. Sustainability is about the terms and conditions of human survival .... Those presuming
to educate should not stand aloof from the decisions about how and whether life will be lived in the
twenty-first century. To do so would be to miss the Mount Everest issues on the historical topography
of our age, and condemn ourselves to irrelevance. (83; 145)
37

REFERENCES
Carnoy, M. and Levin, H. (198S) Schooling and Work in the Democratic State, Stanford University Press,
Stanford.
Dewey, J. (1916) Democracy and Education, Macmillan, New York.
Fien, J., Heck, D. and Ferreira, J., eds. (1997 forthcoming) Learning for a Sustainable Environment: A
Workshop Manual for Teacher Educators, UNESCO-ACEID, Bangkok.
Fien, J. and Tilbury, D. (1996) Learning for a Sustainable Environment: An Agenda for Teacher Education
in Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO-ACEID, Bangkok, pp. 58-59.
Fien, J., Sykes, H. and Yencken, D. eds. (2002) Young People and the Environment in Asia and the Pacific,
Kluwer, Dortrecht and New York.
Fullan, M. with Stiegelbauer, S. (1991) The New Meaning of Educational Change, Cassell Educational
Limited, London, p. 21.
Jensen, B. B. and Schnack, K. (1997) The action competence approach in environmental education,
Environmental Education Research, 3 (2), 163-178.
Naish, M., Rawling, E. and Hart, C. (1986) Geography 16-19: The Contribution of a Curriculum Project to
16-19 Education, Longman, Harlow, p. 46.
Orr, D. (1992) Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, State University
of New York Press, Albany.
Orr, D. (1991) What is education for?, The Trumpeter, 8, p. 101.
Schlechty, P. (199O) Schools for the 21st Century, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
UNESCO-EPD (1997) Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability,
Background Paper prepared for UNESCO International Conference, Thessaloniki.
Whitty, G. (1985) Sociology and School Knowledge: Curriculum Theory, Research and Politics, Methuen,
London.
Yencken, D., Fien, J. and Sykes, H. eds. (2000) Environment, Education and Society in the Asia-Pacific:
Local Traditions and Global Discourses, London, Routledge.
38

Appendix 1: Summary of Findings
Table 1: Most important environmental issues – nationally and globally (% of students)
Country Population Ozone
layer
Forests Household
rubbish
Greenhouse
Effect
Air
pollution
N G N G N G N G N G N G
Australia 3 16 18 28 16 17 7 3 6 9 7 6
Brunei 3 16 7 37 14 13 34 6 2 13 9 10
China
46 11 2 25 9 12 2

Table 2: Environmental concepts: Relatively high level of awareness and class discussion (% of
students)
Australia
- Heard of
- Discussed
Brunei
- Heard of
- Discussed
China – Guangzhou
- Heard of
- Discussed
China – Hong Kong
- Heard of
- Discussed
Fiji
- Heard of
- Discussed
India
- Heard of
- Discussed
Japan
- Heard of
- Discussed
New Zealand
- Heard of
- Discussed
Singapore
- Heard of
- Discussed
Thailand
- Heard of
- Discussed
USA
- Heard of
- Discussed
Green
House
Effect
99
81
98
58
92
46
98
59
36
40
99
95
86
33
95
64
99
91
99
70
99
38
Ozone
Layer
99
81
99
57
97
49
96
47
Renewable
Resources
USA data refers to the discussion of the concepts both in class and at home
62
45
97
93
92
58
97
67
99
88
99
69
99
31
94
60
98
58
98
67
98
56
70
65
99
95
32
6
91
60
99
77
87
36
90
50
Ecology
91
31
90
51
94
46
73
35
87
83
99
73
92
18
78
38
97
71
99
69
95
59
Carbon
Cycle
66
31
91
73
56
26
47
18
80
78
99
95
52
18
75
50
91
73
70
27
80
73
Interdependence
65
22
71
20
94
33
78
25
-
-
97
85
50
8
79
45
84
45
98
32
61
45
40

Table 3: Environmental concepts: Relatively low level of awareness and class discussion (% of
students)
Australia
- Heard of
- Discussed
Brunei
- Heard of
- Discussed
China – Guangzhou
- Heard of
- Discussed
China – Hong Kong
- Heard of
- Discussed
Fiji
- Heard of
- Discussed
India
- Heard of
- Discussed
Japan
- Heard of
- Discussed
New Zealand
- Heard of
- Discussed
Singapore
- Heard of
- Discussed
Thailand
- Heard of
- Discussed
USA
- Heard of
- Discussed
Sustainable
Development
54
16
54
7
87
11
48
9
19
25
68
38
43
13
47
12
45
10
66
6
43
37
Carrying
Capacity
50
16
50
9
72
22
52
16
48
32
Biodiversity
USA data refers to the discussion of the concepts both in class and at home
48
26
43
10
54
13
62
25
95
55
81
56
49
15
57
33
90
43
41
12
20
17
86
72
67
12
50
13
53
19
90
39
76
61
Intergenerational
Equity
35
6
25
3
62
11
44
9
76
43
35
17
36
4
40
8
30
4
94
25
23
18
Precautionary
Principle
22
3
37
3
66
15
38
8
15
10
26
14
26
3
31
6
28
4
96
25
23
20
41

Table 4: Environmental concepts: Relatively high level of correct definitions (% correct)
Green House
Effect
Ozone Layer Renewable
Resources
Ecology Carbon
Cycle
Australia 71 38 60 443 45
Brunei 63 37 56 44 60
China – Guangzhou 45 54 58 44 40
China – Hong Kong 67 25 39 55 40
Fiji 29 45 34 42 36
India 67 57 32 73 50
Japan 48 82 8 14 26
New Zealand 55 32 48 `24 39
Singapore 94 75 57 59 78
Thailand 15 39 63 82 54
USA 73 44 54 57 54
Table 5: Environmental concepts: Relatively low level of correct definitions (% correct)
Sustainable
Development
Carrying
Capacity
Biodiversity
Intergenerational
Equity
Precautionary
Principle
Australia 26 78 81 63 20
Brunei 9 40 69 50 25
China – Guangzhou 53 65 59 73 55
China – Hong Kong 24 66 52 59 25
Fiji 34 49 41 46 25
India 25 39 46 71 19
Japan 24 55 24 51 20
New Zealand 20 58 58 3 19
Singapore 19 22 86 66 32
Thailand 60 70 68 64 14
USA 24 84 83 63 24
Table 6 Knowledge of environmental concepts (%)
Country Correct responses Country Correct responses
Australia 53 Japan 33
Brunei 53 New Zealand 42
China Guangzhou 59 Singapore 59
China Hong Kong 43 Thailand 53
India 50 USA 55
42

Table 7: Importance and reliability of sources of environmental information (% of students)
Country
Television
News
papers
Radio School Friends
and
Family
Government
NGOs
I R I R I R I R I R I R I R
Australia 45 20 35 23 7 9 42 31 21 18 6 23 19 41
Brunei 61 51 49 35 12 16 46 37 30 23 11 21 18 30
China
68 27 29 11 23 18 36 28 26 24 15 35 12 35
Guangzhou
China
37 18 30 20 10 11 31 32 11 14 18 46 31 54
Hong Kong
India 44 39 48 45 14 8 71 58 44 39 8 16 12 17
Japan 49 22 26 22 5 12 17 16 16 22 3 12 6 29
New Zealand 37 26 32 27 10 15 36 27 21 20 8 21 27 45
Singapore 47 35 57 47 7 10 53 27 13 20 13 39 10 46
Thailand 72 37 27 13 10 10 30 27 20 20 14 39 10 41
USA 29 18 25 38 5 8 56 49 17 20 5 40 13 53
I = Most important a source of environmental information
R = Very reliable source of environmental information
Totals exceed 100 because multiples
answers were possible.
Table 8 Attitudes to economic growth vs environmental protection (% of students)
Country
Concentrate on
economic growth
Concentrate on
protecting the
environment
Not sure
Australia 16 66 18
Brunei 25 59 14
China, Guangzhou 20 68 11
China, Hong Kong 32 59 9
India 8 81 9
Japan 4 83 13
New Zealand 13 64 22
Singapore 10 78 12
Thailand 20 71 9
USA 10 64 26
43

Table 9 Does economic growth have to be at the expense of the environment? (% of students)
Country
Economic growth
must be at expense of
environment
It is possible to have
both
Not sure
Australia, Brisbane 17 78 5
Brunei 13 82 3
China, Guangzhou 17 81 1
China, Hong Kong 18 75 7
India 11 85 2
Japan 45 43 12
New Zealand 14 73 12
Singapore 22 76 3
Thailand 9 89 2
USA 17 75 8
Table 10 Environmental beliefs systems (% of students)
Country
Technological
Belief System
Neutral Environmental
Belief System
Australia 18 25 57
Brunei 20 31 49
China Guangzhou 27 23 51
China Hong Kong 21 26 53
Japan 15 25 61
New Zealand 20 28 52
Singapore 16 24 60
Thailand 16 30 55
USA 21 26 53
Table 11 Desire to improve the environment (% of students)
Country
Strong - Very
Strong
Medium Weak - Very
Weak
Australia 55 35 9
Brunei 66 27 3
China Guangzhou 87 12 2
China Hong Kong 54 40 7
Fiji 61 32 15
India 72 25 2
Japan 80 12 8
New Zealand 47 37 11
Singapore 59 36 4
Thailand 75 23 2
USA 61 32 8
44

Table 12 Actions to improve the environment in the last year (% of students)
Country
Choosing
environmental
household
products
Writing
letter,
signing
petition
going to
meeting
Deciding to
reuse or
recycle
Encouraging
someone else
to change
behaviour
Taking part
in clean up
campaign
Australia 60 29 74 42 19
Brunei 34 11 44 37 48
China Guangzhou 48 8 58 40 44
China Hong Kong 37 11 58 35 27
India 19 18 35 36 15
Japan 41 6 62 15 14
New Zealand 45 21 48 31 21
Singapore 65 7 75 46 28
Thailand 52 4 55 38 44
USA 47 12 86 44 23
Totals exceed 100 because multiples answers were possible.
Table 13 Actions to improve the environment in the last year (% of students)
Country
Making a
report or
complaint
Reducing
water use
Trying to get
information
for own
interest
Taking part
in tree
planting
Making
a gift
Australia 10 45 19 23 24
Brunei 13 26 26 21 16
China Guangzhou 13 44 35 33 8
China Hong Kong 11 36 16 17 21
India 15 28 32 31 13
Japan 6 47 13 2 10
New Zealand 12 27 17 17 18
Singapore 6 60 27 4 27
Thailand 15 64 10 49 18
USA 8 36 17 20 12
Totals exceed 100 because multiples answers were possible.
45

Table 14 Reasons for environmentally unfriendly actions (% of students)
Country
I don’t
understand
Cost
I’m not
interested
I don’t
have time
It’s more
convenient
not to
worry
My actions
won’t make
a difference
Australia 33 30 13 38 33 45
Brunei 8 10 5 12 7 19
12 23 8 22 18 33
China Guangzhou
China Hong Kong 29 30 24 35 26 39
India 29 11 10 33 10 67
Japan 50 34 34 48 24 59
N. Z. 32 31 16 35 29 44
Singapore 8 10 5 12 14 16
Thailand 25 35 10 34 34 44
USA 43 47 20 60 52 61
Totals exceed 100 because multiples answers were possible.
Table 15 Reasons for environmentally unfriendly actions (% of students)
Country
I don’t believe
what people
say about
damage to the
environment
I don’t like
being told
what to do
I don’t want
to do things
different from
my friends
Although I
know what I
do is wrong,
there is no
practical
alternative
Other reasons
Australia 13 13 8 48 33
Brunei 4 5 3 16 13
9 15 15 44 35
China Guangzhou
China Hong Kong 9 9 17 45 22
India 22 16 23 71 35
Japan 7 17 11 9 30
New Zealand 13 17 13 35 32
Singapore 2 2 4 19 8
Thailand 15 26 28 73 33
USA 16 14 11 39 35
Totals exceed 100 because multiples answers were possible.
46

Environmental and Economic Perspectives of
Education for Sustainable Development
Lawrence Surendra
1. Introduction
The objectives of the Experts meeting are:
1. To identify and conceptualize the content areas for ESD
2. To discuss the relationship of ESD with other education initiatives such as Environmental Education
(EE), EIU, EFA, UNLD and MDGs
3. To recommend guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable development
4. To plan the organization of the APEID-APCEIU workshop on "Reorienting Teacher Education to Address
Sustainability in September 2006
Keeping these objectives in mind, this paper looking at the 'Environment and Economic Perspectives of
ESD', reviews some critical perspectives in relation to economics and the environment interface. Based on
that review, some critical conceptual principles central to sustainable development are pointed to and then
an attempt is made to see how these concepts could influence the development of curriculum and other
interventions in relation to ESD.
Reviewing, the environmental and economic perspectives of ESD, requires a rapid survey of the economic
theories and perspectives that have influenced economic development and the policy debates over the paths
of economic development. This because sustainable economic development has always taken precedence
over all other demands of sustainability, be it nature, culture or society. In such a history and process, the
interface/s that has arisen between environment and economics needs to be identified. Doing so may
provide us a better basis to look at the perspectives of both economics and environment that are critical and
relevant to achieve the objectives of ESD.
One interesting method might be to see the clash of perspectives, between economics and environment and
as best exemplified in the development versus environment debate. Though we are not going into that
debate but the developments in economic theory keeping this clash in view is of relevance to us.
2. Environment versus Development
Economics always gets and is given an elevated status, though in many ways it is an inexact science and
there is as much rhetoric in economics as in many other branch of social science. Part of the rhetoric is also
story telling. Economics as in many other fields of knowledge involves varying degrees of story telling. As
the economist, Meghnad Desai, writes, “economists tell stories and the simpler, more plausible story, the
better is it likely to be accepted. The process is multilayered. When economists tell stories to each other,
these are detailed, full of technical arguments, sometimes of econometric evidence. When they address the
public at large, they simplify, appeal to intuition. But the simple story told to the politician must connect
with the detailed story told to colleagues, otherwise the profession will shun the person. He (or very
infrequently she) may become the King’s friend but will always feel defensive when entering the seminar
room” (1)
Recognizing the story telling of economists, is also to recognize among other things the perception that has
been successfully created in the minds of the public, a perception which has come to stay about there being
a generalised conflict between ‘the environment and development’ rather than between particular types of
economic growth and development and the environment. In the process, the public at large have to come
47

accept a “environment versus development” controversy and which is continuously kept alive, in favour of
and to defend the perspectives and priorities of one dimensional economic growth and elite oriented patterns
of growth.
However, given the intrinsic nature of democracy and democratic choice, these narrow economic growth
perspectives have not gone completely unchallenged either. The privileging of ‘growth’ as the only form of
‘economic development’ has faced even within the discipline of economics, contesting perspectives,
regarding what should be the content, direction and purpose of economic development. Basically, three
types of economic perspectives have tried to influence and drive ‘development’. The most dominant and
almost hegemonic perspective, which we began with and as part of the story telling of economists, is ‘the
growth economics’ perspective. The second perspective which held some influence in the past especially in
the 1960s and 1970s, but even then only in fits and bursts is the ‘development economics’ perspective. A
more recent entry only in the past decade and half or so, is the ‘environment economics’ perspective.
‘Growth economics’ in one avatar or the other, the more recent in its very aggressive ‘neo-liberal’ form has
held sway over economic theorising and policy. A major reason being the attractiveness of the argument that
higher rates of growth means increased wealth. And increased wealth could inevitably or automatically deal
with all the problems of poverty, overpopulation, unemployment and unjust distribution. What have been
the consequences of this we all know and I will come back to it later.
Development economics tried to address the problems of ‘growth economics’ especially in relation to
problems that developing countries faced with regard to issues such as: growth with distribution, balanced
versus unbalanced growth and so forth. However, development economics also ran into problems, such as
the rise of a ‘dirigiste state’ both coexisting and conflicting with an imperfect market. To a great degree,
development economics both theory, policy and practice was not able to handle these emerging
contradictions. This coupled with the emergence of problems such as external debt and on the tails of which
the IMF inspired ‘structural adjustment’ was thrust on many countries, became the harbingers of neoliberalism
and globalisation. These events all telescoped and in a very short span of time, contributed to ring
the death knell for development economics, not only in public policy discussions but in academia as well.
The breakdown of the UN initiated international consensus about ‘development’ that was built carefully
from the 1950s through the 1960s and 1970s, the deadlock in which the North-South Talks got into
eventually leading to the substitution of the North-South talks with the Uruguay round of trade talks in
1986, created an overall atmosphere that was generally hostile to any talk of development and consequently
to development economics also. The invisible hand of the market was taking over all discourse about
economic development and growth. Though, the contradictions of the Uruguay round of GATT negotiations
and the controversies around the WTO brought back some legitimacy for development economics and
allowed it some play.
Environmental economics can be considered a relatively new discipline, that gained currency or rather
gained some recognition at the popular level, especially after the Brundtland Commission Report. It got a
further fillip during the negotiations leading to the Rio Summit and the Rio Summit itself. Though even
prior to Rio summit, economic theory and policy had to concern itself with the rising costs of pollution and
the diseconomies caused by waste but which were treated as externalities, since these costs were not and
could not be internalised the way conventional neo-classical economics dealt with these problems. This in
theory came to be addressed as ‘externalities’ and to a certain extent an ‘economics of pollution’ emerged as
a pre-cursor to environmental economics.
Resource Economics that tangentially dealt with areas related to Natural Resources could be seen as the
beginning of Environmental Economics. Resource Economics grew mainly with the concerns about
‘Scarcity and Growth’ and whether economic growth would be possible in given a finite supply of
resources. This preoccupation with resource depletion not as a concern by itself but whether resource
depletion would stand in the way of economic growth has contributed to concerns about resources in
general within neo-classical economics. Resource economics and its valuations techniques to a certain
extent contributed to the growth of a natural resource economics that looked at natural resources and their
role within economic growth.
48

However what goes as "environmental economics' or "resource economics" are both, at best, sub-fields of
neoclassical economics. To that extent, whether it be in valuing the natural resources or dealing with the
externalities of pollution and waste, there is always a talk about "internalising environmental costs". But
then the question would be, how would this “internalisation of environmental costs” be done, under
globalisation and in a globalising world which undermines the ability of nations to internalise environmental
and social costs. When economic integration, powered by free market economics, promotes a race to the
bottom, what Amartya Sen calls welfare cutting competition, in terms of the lowest common denominator in
social and environmental standards.
In such a situation, internalising environmental costs can be a pipe dream. It may have to more to do with
what some harsh critics of environment economics, refer to as the cosy, enchanted theoretical world of an
emerging class of "environmental economists" cut off from the social realities of poverty and hunger. Quite
aside of the social problems, even in ecological terms, what poses as environmental economics is seen by
some economists as inadequate to the challenges faced by the Earth’s ecosystem, and in response new fields
as ecological economics has also emerged.
3. Economics, Economists, Sources and Sinks
While economists of different hues and economic theories can always summon this or that evidence to
support one or the other argument, for or against the environment, the fact is that science has fairly settled
the issue and a paradigm shift has taken place. In 1972, when the Club of Rome made public its famous
`Limits to Growth' thesis, positing limits to economic growth in terms of scarcity of resources, resource
economists and others showed the fallacies involved and how resource limits could be overcome. However,
the real paradigm shift had to be made in relation to nature as a sink; especially, the atmosphere as a sink
absorbing globe-warming and ozone-depleting gases, when it was realised that while resource limits could
be overcome, sink limits were absolute. The natural ecosystem, including the atmosphere, had absolute
limits as to how much of the wastes of economic growth it could take as a sink. This leaves us with no other
choice but to address the central problem and deal with the scale of our "growth", "the physical size of the
economy relative to the containing ecosystem", as the eminent ecological economist Herman Daly has put
it, thus beautifully capturing the relationship of the economy to nature and the dilemma we are in.
This central fact that even if resource limits may be overcome, sink limits are absolute is the most
significant contribution from environmental and ecological perspective to achieving sustainable
development. In paradigmatic terms, this shift in our understanding of our relationship to “the containing
ecosystem” is comparable to the shift in the world view of physics from Newtonian physics to Einsteinian
physics. One need not go into a whole lot of environment perspectives in looking at the arguments for
sustainable development. The fact that we may reach and breach sink limits leading to may be irreversible
consequences is a powerful perspective for humanity to reconsider all that humanity especially in this
century has taken for granted.
This is the main reason that even powerful institutions such as the World Bank which has for the past three
decades or more, in almost evangelical terms, been propagating the belief that rapid economic growth is the
only panacea, is beginning to realise the illogic of such a position. In earlier times when the Bank did
address the issue of `Environment and Development' (the 1992 World Development Report was on this
theme), it was only to argue that more economic growth was the automatic solution to environmental
problems.
In the WDR of 1992, World Bank economists even discovered an "environmental Kuznets curve", whereby
they could argue that though growth was initially bad for the environment, persisting with growth was
necessary because it would be good for the environment later. Though it did not exactly happen that way
and which anyway was to be expected. This, in spite of the power, the seduction and propaganda blitz
involved in the story telling through the WDRs by the World Bank economists. This is also why it still took
the World Bank, almost a decade to change its story line. The World Bank finally did catch up on the
distinction between "sources" and "sinks", in the WDR 2003, `Sustainable Development in a Dynamic
World'.
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A central issue related to the issue of sources and sinks, and the absolute limit posed by the sink limit is
scale. At the interface between economic and environment perspectives is scale, which cannot be avoided
and which we pay least attention to. We have already referred to this issue earlier with regard to the “scales
of our economic growth”. While conventional and all varieties of mainstream economics addresses the
issue of allocation, two other critical issues that are not addressed is scale and distribution. If economic
policy should seriously address the issue of sustainable development, it should address all the three central
economic problems, of allocation, distribution and scale and not just allocation. Education for Sustainable
Development has a very important and central role to make people understand the importance of these three
central problems of economic development and their relationship to sustainable development.
If it is imperative that economic policy should address the needs of nature and society, and not just the
market, can it then do so without addressing the problem of economic scale and redistribution and concern
itself only with allocative efficiency via right prices is the central question. Herman Daly, again succinctly
describes the situation: "Standard economics strains out the gnat of allocative efficiency while swallowing
the twin camels of unjust distribution and unsustainable scale. As distribution becomes more unjust, big
money buys political power and uses it to avoid any redistribution. A favourite ploy for avoiding
redistribution is to emphasise economic growth." It is that reality that we see in most of our countries today
and this is the given context within which we should promote Education for Sustainable Development in
order to achieve sustainable development.
In looking at economic perspectives and the interface between economics and environment and touching
upon aspects of economic theory in this regard, it may be necessary to briefly to touch upon the Asian
context for sustainable development. A useful take off point for this may be the UN-ESCAPs last (2005)
Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development on the theme of `Green Growth'. A note put out
by the ESCAP Secretariat on the occasion points out that industrial production in the Asia-Pacific region,
home to 61 per cent of the world's population and covering 40 per cent of the world's territory, increased by
almost 40 per cent, as compared to the global increase of only 23 per cent.
However, this phenomenal growth was accompanied by some serious environmental problems with possibly
disastrous, long-term consequences. Per capita water availability is reaching scarcity limits in many areas
subject to seasonal shortages. More than 462 million people were affected by drought, which brought death
and homelessness, in South Asia alone during 2000-2004. Over 60 per cent of the water used is in
agriculture in at least 30 countries in the region. Agricultural production increased by some 62 per cent
between 1990 and 2002, mainly through massive consumption of agricultural chemicals. Overuse of
agrochemicals has endangered the productive capacities of agricultural land, impacted on water quality,
wildlife and health. There have been dramatic declines in fisheries resources and continued degradation of
coastal ecosystems. If urgent attention is not paid to some of the pressing environmental problems, the state
of the environment of the Asia and Pacific region is likely to reach thresholds from which recovery may be
near impossible. There can be also the tendency to play a waiting game until every threshold is passed, but it
is clear that precious little can be done after crossing the threshold of repair.
In this context, the UNESCAP Regional Implementation Plan for Sustainable Development in Asia and the
Pacific, 2006-2010 referred to shifting the development paradigm from `grow now, clean up later' to
environmentally sustainable economic growth, or `Green Economic Growth'. No one will disagree that such
a shift is both urgent, in relation to the multiple stresses on the region's natural resources and environment,
and reasonable, with reference to economic policy.
But what about the issues of scale and distribution. The UNESCAP conference, in advocating `Green
Growth', indirectly referred to unsustainable scale but completely bypassed the issue of equity, so central to
sustainability - ecological, social, cultural, and last, but not the least, economic. Among the general public,
there is a sentiment that like rapid economic growth, focus on the environment, green growth, sustainability
and so on, should not become another ploy for not addressing the issue of equity, both internally within
nations and between nations in the global economy.
One of the major reasons for this credibility problem seems to be the question in the minds of most people,
whether any environmentally sustainable economic growth can happen, in the face of what they see as the
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neo-liberal economic orthodoxies being thrust on the political leaderships of the countries of the region.
They see this happening also in part due to collusion by economists, in this case neo-liberal economists
sitting in powerful positions of policy-making. This raises some serious credibility problems about
economists. It is not only economists who have a serious credibility problem to address but also UN
institutions and international agencies. Neo-liberal prescriptions are being constantly challenged and
questioned by not only the academic and teaching community, but also increasingly growing sections
among the larger public. This has led to some degree of cynicism about the UN's espousal of causes with
reference to sustainability and so forth.
The question often asked including about the UNDESD is whether these are just ploys to overlook the
inequities in distribution and ignore the aspirations of the people. To a certain extent, the credibility of
economists will always be questioned and quite correctly, but the greater challenge lies in addressing the
scepticism of people about institutions and their lack of faith in institutions. This is one of urgent and central
challenges to ESD, what I call addressing the credibility challenge. There is a huge task for in ESD in
building faith in institutions especially the UN. In the absence of faith in institutions and some kind of hope
that transformation is possible, public cynicism is not the best breeding ground for any kind of progress
towards ecological and environmental sustainability.
In the context of the UNDESD, there has to be a more forceful statement from those promoting ESD,
especially agencies such as UNESCAP, UNESCO, that as UN bodies they are committed in terms of the
U.N. Charter to a normative world view and have a duty to address the issue of equity, unlike multilateral
financial and trade institutions wedded to a positivist world view. The UNDESD should and can position
itself within this normative space and show that in the face of the helplessness of people who are being
overwhelmed by a positivist world view, ESD offers the space for teachers and communities to mobilise for
change, for building hope and empowering themselves.
4. About EIU and Synergy between EIU and ESD
It is in addressing the credibility challenge and putting forward in a strong and credible sense the normative
values that the UN systems stands for, EIU has a very great role, significance and supportive role to play
with regard to ESD. EIU provides a very important normative framework for a critical understanding of
contemporary global reality. A framework within which conflicts between nations that constantly reproduce
discourses of war, nationalism and mutual hatred can not only be understood but see how that understanding
can help minimize and ultimately eliminate such conflicts. But as we all know that it is not only historical
conflicts between nations that colour perceptions of each other, influence learning, teaching and education
and the way children learn about others. More importantly and critically it is also inequity within society,
social stratification and prejudice between social groups that stand in the way of living together and
intercultural understanding. Matter of fact a closely related aspect of EIU is Intercultural Understanding and
both are needed for societies and nations to move towards peace and justice within societies and between
societies.
EIU as a concept though it arose within the post-world war II context in UNESCO as a way to promote
peaceful relations between nations, it was transformed from a normative concept to a more instrumentalist
one to promote internationalization in Asian nations seeking new markets in other Asian countries and
markets. EIU somehow regained its moorings in the four pillars of Learning, viz. Learning to Be, Learning
to Know, Learning to Do and Learning to Live Together that that the Jacques Delor Report ‘Learning the
Treasure Within’ spelt out. It is the dimension of Learning to Live Together that EIU emphasizes and
promotes. The work of APCEIU is in giving content to the concept of EIU but from a perspective of ‘living
together’ by looking at the different dimensions of EIU such as Culture, Peace, Equity, Human Rights,
Globalization and Justice and thus provide a transformatory learning environment and a normative world
view.
In translating the value of ‘learning to live together’ to teaching, training and pedagogy what has happened
in many other normative discourses and pedagogy is a greater emphasis on only the values aspect of the
education. One of the problematic parts of focusing largely on values in transformative education
approaches, while values definitely should underpin such education, however such approaches without
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intending to do so, can be or seen to be indifferent to structures and the way power operates. It also asks for
an altruistic approach which by itself is not incorrect however does not place in perspective the role of selfinterest.
This especially so, in an unequal world and in highly stratified societies as in Asia and the Pacific.
In recapturing the original meaning of EIU, an important distinction and contribution in APCEIU’s
development of EIU as a concept and the development of the five constitutive themes of EIU, is the
integration of the structural critique and understanding the links between structures and the lack of equity or
peace. Thus, conceptually also, providing immense scope for further work on EIU with regard especially to
development of curriculum, teaching, training process, methodology and pedagogy.
The link between values and structures and moving from a normative understanding and approach to a
critical analysis of structures also provides us with the perspectives for the urgently needed tasks of social
transformation. In so doing we then also give recognition to the importance of social transformation as a
key to achieving normative goals such as a Culture of Peace that EIU ultimately seeks to promote. In that
sense, EIU can be said to rest on a kind of tripod of Values, Structural Analysis and Social
Transformation. Such a tripod also makes EIU very relevant in the context of the objectives of the UN
Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, 2005 -2014 and which is appropriate to mention here in
terms of the synergy that exists EIU and ESD and which must be explored and utilised.
5. Building on the synergies between EIU and ESD
The many synergies between EIU and ESD can be beneficially used to promote a world which treasures and
values, cultural diversity, respects social justice and thus achieve sustainability and harmony in the
relationship between man and nature. In such a synergetic process, EIU and ESD can work hand in hand to
ensure peace and equity for all and which the world is so badly in need of. As already mentioned, EIU has
its moorings in the four pillars of Learning, viz. Learning to Be, Learning to Know, Learning to Do and
Learning to Live Together that that the Jacques Delor Report ‘Learning the Treasure Within’ has spelt out.
To this a fifth pillar, that of ‘Learning to Transform’ can be added in the context of ESD and as creatively
pointed out by Sheldon Shaeffer, the Director of the Regional Office of UNESCO for Asia and the Pacific
and in the context of promoting ESD in the Asia and Pacific Region. It is in the context of ‘Learning to
transform’ the task of ‘reorienting education to address sustainability’ also becomes a very critical task.
In achieving Peace, Sustainability and Equity in the Asia and Pacific Region we can see that EIU has a very
important role to play and the UNDESD provides a very good opportunity. APCEIU as the only Regional
Centre on EIU Focuses on 4 of the five key lessons learnt between Rio and Johannesburg. These are:
1. ESD an emerging concept that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating a
sustainable future.
2. Basic Education as a foundation that contributes to ESD
3. Refocusing on existing education policies, programmes and practices.
4. Stress on education as the key to rural transformation and as essential to ensuring the economic, cultural
and ecological vitality of rural areas and communities.
Sustainable Development in the perspective of UNESCO is grounded on four interdependent systems and
supports four inter-related principles for sustainable living, viz.
Four Systems:
• Biophysical
• Economic
• Social and
• Political
Four Inter-Related Principles:
• Peace and Equity
• Democracy
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• Appropriate Development
• Conservation
The synergy between EIU and ESD is not only conceptually in the inter-relationship between the four
systems and the four principles that are all crucial to achieving Sustainable Development but also in the fact
that Education is central to both. If ESD is not simply about Environment Education as has been
emphasised by UNESCO then issues such as the promotion of a normative world view, a pedagogy for
learning to transform and advocacy for peace and equity are very critical dimensions of ESD.
6. EE, ESD and the Knowledge Dimension.
Having stated that ESD is not only about Environment Education, it is important to understand what EE can
do or cannot do in the context of ESD. To do this one has to make a very quick review of the contribution of
EE so far. Without doubt EE has contributed to a wider awareness about the environment, promoting of the
understanding of the responsibility of human beings for the environment and their duties to care for it and a
deeper understanding of the web of nature. The advantage of EE has also been that it has relied a lot on
natural science, whereas ESD may be still limited in that direction, the flip side of this strength in EE has
also meant very weak links have been built between society and knowledge (in terms of the science) of the
environment. EE has tended to be more individualistic and limited with regard to understanding of
structures. ESD has an immense potential to link science and society, to extend knowledge about sustainable
development, involving, the natural sciences (ecosystems and sinks), the social sciences (peace and equity)
and society (participation and empowerment). Teachers and education should be oriented in such a
perspective.
Therefore, a related issue with regard to ESD is not in creating new knowledge about Sustainable
Development but in the extension of the knowledge we already have. For the latter again, higher educational
institutions have a crucial role to play. So when we say, “re-orienting education for sustainability’, the tasks
we have to look at is how knowledge that exists about sustainability can be extended and for that what is the
role higher educational institutions can play. To quote Robert Goodland, "There must be a balance in
society between investing in sharing of existing scientific knowledge and investing in further extension of
that knowledge. Our strong emphasis on public pedagogy reflects our belief that in present circumstances it
is more important to extend basic knowledge of how the world works to everyone than for a few advanced
specialists to master further details of their special discipline. The scientific background to our principles is
not new — indeed they derive their force precisely from the most basic laws of science. All physicists know
and accept them (first and second laws of thermodynamics and the principle of matter-conservation). But
the voting public does not understand them, and often the scientists themselves fail to see how these laws set
the context for sustainable development. Public pedagogy is therefore the foundation of our model.
In a democracy, public policy cannot rise above the understanding of the average voter. Consequently, the
distribution of knowledge is at least as critical for democracy as the distribution of income." Of course in
the distribution of knowledge, teachers play a very important role. On the other hand they are the worst
affected by income distribution getting more and more skewed, especially under conditions of globalization.
The linking up of teachers both in a sense of the importance of equity in society and from a perspective of
them being a chain in the distribution of knowledge is very critical to the success of ESD. We have to work
with the self-interest of teachers in mind and not only ask for their altruism as EE often has tended to do. A
point that Robert Goodland et al also make and which we shall come to next. Reorienting Education in such
a perspective is going to very significant to the outcomes that ESD can produce in society.
7. Five critical requirements for a model of sustainability and it relevance for ESD
Goodland lists five critical requirements for a theoretical model of sustainability which also I find are very
relevant with regard to ESD. The four critical requirements are:
a) The model must be based on a scientifically acceptable conception of the world.
b) The model must contain a scientifically supportable definition of sustainability.
c) The overall perspective must be applicable at different scales, and must see the economy as a
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subsystem of the ecosystem at each scale. Individuals must see how their actions aggregate from
micro scales up to the macro scale, and thus understand their role in the overall move toward
sustainability.
d) The micro-economical perspective should not require individuals to act against self interest. We may
need some altruistic behaviour in the political task of setting up the rules of the game, but in the
actual playing of the game we should not expect individuals to behave altruistically.
e) The model must be pedagogical and simple to disseminate so that it can support a public consensus
necessary to be put into practice democratically.
Drawing upon these five critical requirements and relating it to ESD, in particular the objective of
'Reorienting Education for Sustainability', I see five tasks that can be listed corresponding to the five
requirements for a model of sustainability.
a) The model must be based on a scientifically acceptable conception of the world.
ESD Task: Develop and relate to a simple definition of the “containing ecosystem” and sources
and sinks as characteristics of such an ecosystem.
b) The model must contain a scientifically supportable definition of sustainability.
ESD Task: Convey how, the notion of sink limits are absolute and how this puts a limiting
condition on man's activities and in relation to the "containing ecosystem" and the sink limits, the
scale of man's activity is critical and crucial.
c) The overall perspective must be applicable at different scales, and must see the economy as a
subsystem of the ecosystem at each scale. Individuals must see how their actions aggregate from
micro scales up to the macro scale, and thus understand their role in the overall move toward
sustainability.
ESD Task: Make this a framework for developing ESD in different sub-systems of knowledge that
education deals with.
d) The micro-economical perspective should not require individuals to act against self interest. We may
need some altruistic behaviour in the political task of setting up the rules of the game, but in the
actual playing of the game we should not expect individuals to behave altruistically.
ESD Task: Relate it to the daily lives of teachers, their human rights, situations of peace and equity
in the communities in which they teach or they know of. Link their situation to that of the situation
of communities and ordinary people. This fifth requirement above will be very clear to teachers,
who in most societies are the lowest paid and whose services, especially in conditions of
globalisation, are not given the value that society should give them. Whole school approaches and
school in the community approaches should be used to show why things happen in a certain way
and how ESD perspectives can change them.
e) The model must be pedagogical and simple to disseminate so that it can support a public consensus
necessary to be put into practice democratically.
ESD Task: Make this requirement for a model of sustainability also a requirement for ESD.
Conclusion: Prior to the Rio Summit, UNESCO Paris, came out with a small publication, titled,
‘Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland Robert Goodland, Herman
Daly, Salah El Serafy and Bernard von Droste.
This small publication made a significant impact on the thinking of economists, academics, teachers and
practitioners with regard to Sustainable Development. Brundtland’s seminal contribution was in conveying
the sink limits as opposed to the source limits. This was conveyed by the Goodland et al in a scientifically
acceptable conception of the world with a scientifically supportable definition of sustainability and without
running away from the real life problems of economic development that is environmentally sustainable. It is
a similar task that we face in making teachers, the academic community and the communities at large taking
ownership of ESD. Once that happens our roles are redundant and that is how it should be, from a
perspective of sustainability.
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Notes: (incomplete)
1. Meghnad Deasi, Story Telling and Formalism in Economics: the Instance of Famine, International Social
Science Journal, Basil Blackwell/UNESCO, No.113, August 1987;
2. Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland
Robert Goodland, Herman Daly, Salah El Serafy and Bernard von Droste,
UNESCO, Paris.
55

Sustainable Production and Consumption
Educating Future Consumers
___________________________________________
Zinaida Fadeeva,
UNU-IAS
Introduction
Considering the enormity of sustainable production and consumption topic, this paper addresses limited
yet vast area of sustainable purchasing. It will also be focused at youth education. This focus is dictated
by a simple consideration that teachers often have the least resources, including time, to acquire
systematic knowledge on the complex transdisciplinary subjects.
The paper touched upon several areas – sources of unsustainable production and consumption, some of
the learning challenges and areas to be addressed – and intended for the discussion in the expert group.
Overproduction and over consumption – source of the problem and challenges
Consider this…
If an economy grows at 6% per annum, which is the average rate across Asia, in 25 years it will
quadruple in size. This will require, with a current rate of resource use, a four-fold increase in resource
efficiency.
If an economy grows at 10% per annum, which is the average rate across urban areas in China, in 25
years it will increase ten-fold. This will require, with a current rate of resource use, a ten-fold increase
in resource efficiency.
If an economy grows at 6% per annum, which is the average rate across the manufacturing sector in
Southern China, in 25 years it will grow twenty five times. This will require, with a current rate of
resource use, a 25-fold increase in resource efficiency.
(from presentation of R. Welford during the 3R Conference in Japan, 2005 1 )
Population growth, wealth and distribution
Combination of several factors contribute to the often mentioned issue of overproduction of
overconsumption, with population growth and style of consumption among frequently mentioned.
‣ The demographic studies indicate that the current population growth will result in fifty percent
increase by the year 2050. Nine to fourteen billion people will be consuming already significantly
depleted resources of the planet.
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‣ The life style of the wealthier part of earth population imposes serious threat on the carrying
capacity of the planet and well-being of the poorer nations. In spite of the growing middle class in the
developing countries the gap between reach and poor, including that in the developing countries, is
widening. For example, the world annual expenditure on makeup is 18 billion dollars (Economist,
2003; Renner, 2003, sited in Tojo, 2004 2 ). At the same time, it is believe that 19 billion dollars would
solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition of the world.
‣ There is often reinforced assumption that the volume of consumption is linked positively to the
well-being constitutes a foundation of new affluent life-style.
Relevance for the regions – developed and
developing countries
It is frequently stated that unsustainable
production and consumption, particularly in the
industrialised countries, is a cause of
deterioration of the environment and social fabric
of the society. Main responsibility is clearly in the
hands of developed nations with their
technological and financial capabilities and
wealthier consumers. It does not deny the
relevance of the subject for many developing
countries. While the relevance of the SPC subject
as relevant to own consumers might be dismissed
by the governments in
developing countries 3 , it remains urgent outside of the arena of political debate. Growing middle class
in India, China and some other developing
countries calls for bringing SPC debate to each and every area. More that eighty percent of population
in industrial countries belong to the class of “consumers” as of data from 2002. (Gardner, Assadourian
and Sarin, 2004: 7 4 ). Fast economic growth in some countries lead to the growing middle class with
“western’ consumption patterns . As of 2002, for example, 19%, 12% and 33% of the local population
belonged to the consumer class in China, India and Brazil respectively. (Gardner, Assadourian and
Sarin, 2004: 7). Economic growth of China and India will add two billion “Western” consumers
(UNEP, 2002).
In the Asia-Pacific region, it is particularly important to address the issues of sustainable consumption -
the region has more middle-income earners than Europe and North America together. Two-thirds of the
population growth takes place in this region.
The middle class often constitutes a group that defines trends of life-style. Another reason for attention
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to SPC in developing countries is a hope for that the trajectory of development might take a different
turn favouring sustainable development. Finally, understanding of the effect of particular SPC systems
on the environment and people in developing countries could produce an educated and active citizenry
able to participate in the complex interactions of SPC.
Among other issues, the important concern for developing countries in end-of-life management of the
products. Increasingly, the producers are encouraged to design goods that could be taken back, reused,
recycled or taken care in some other safe and reliable ways. Often, product disassembling process takes
place in the developing countries, taking advantage of cheap and abundant labour. While such business
provides jobs for many, health and environmental security of such operations needs to be strictly
monitored and higher standards of operations enforced (UNEP, 2002).
Another related issue might be shipping of the waste, including hazardous waste, to poorer nations and
communities. Inadequate treatment facilities combines with a lack of training might lead to serious
health and environmental consequences in these regions (Puckett et al., 2002 cited in Tojo, 2004 5 ).
Challenges within the production-consumption systems
Serious attempts of the industries, particularly in developing countries, to address environmental and
social challenges resulted in significant improvements in production and product. Corporate social
responsibility, cleaner production, eco-design, environmental management systems are among many
instruments that contribute to the improvement of material efficiency and, consequently, minimization
of waste generation. Such improvements, however, were greatly offset by the effects of the growing
population and “rebound effect” – a response to cost reduction due to the efficiency gains.
Efforts on the side of the companies cannot reach desired effect for the reasons beyond control of the
producers of goods and services. Often, there is no system that would link the product design and the
end of life management of the product (Tojo, 2004), particularly across countries and the regions.
One of the serious challenges for the sustainable production and consumption is the fact that profit of
the producers is often directly linked to the volume of sold goods and services and, thus, to the resource
consumption. While de-linking such dependency requires serious system innovations, some solutions,
such as lending, renting, leasing of goods, are available already (the whole domain of product-service
systems –PSS – deals with the challenge).
Sustainable consumption
“Sustainable consumption is not about consuming less but consuming differently, consuming efficiently
and having an improved quality of life” (Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, UNEP)
The volume of consumption, due to the increasing population, constitutes one challenge of sustainable
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development. The social, environmental and economic impact of consumed goods and services is also
defined by the ways such goods and services are produced, distributed, used and managed at the end of
their life. Understanding of this interconnections helps to minimize impacts of consumption through
specific actions.
Conceptual clarifications form UNEP (2002) highlight that consumption of goods and services refers to
demand and volume while consumption of resources and generation of waste alludes to the ecological
impact of consumption.
UNDP, in its Human development report 6
consumption. The consumption should be
(1998) emphasized the main principles of sustainable
- Shared; ensuring basic needs for all
- Strengthening; building human capabilities
- Socially responsible; does not compromise well-being of others
- Sustainable; without mortgaging the choices of future generations.
Issues of sustainable procurement
Sustainable procurement (SP) is a procurement based on principles of sustainable development. It is not
only about environment but about human and labor rights and economic progress (see table 1).
Table 1. What should be considered within sustainable procurement
Social Aspects Environmental Aspects Economic Aspects
Working conditions
Environmental impact of Quality/price
Compensation
production processes, Economic relations of the
Skills development
Relations with civil society
services and products
producers with suppliers
and clients
SP is about minimizing resource depletion and pollution while improving standard of leaving,
particularly in developing countries. SC is a process of acquisition of goods and services while keeping
in mind (Interagency Sustainable Procurement Group 7 )
‣ the best value for money considerations such as, price, quality, availability, functionality, etc.
‣ environmental aspects ("green procurement": the effects on the environment that the product and/or
service has over its whole lifecycle, from the cradle to the crave)
‣ the entire Life Cycle of products
‣ social aspects: effects on issues such as poverty eradication, health, international equity in the
distribution of resources, labor conditions, human rights
There is a range of approaches to sustainable procurement, which can be applied to purchasing public
organsations 8 :
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‣ Specifying environmentally superior products and services, e.g. produced from recycle materials,
with minimum materials, environmentally superior in use (less energy consumption, etc.)
‣ Specifying products that take into account ethical and fairtrade issues
‣ Considering the whole life costs of purchases.
‣ Buying from companies that are identified as superior in their environmental and social activities,
e.g. have SCR programme and/or environemtnal management system
Challenges for educating young consumers
Education of youth should aim at developing understanding that becoming a responsible consumer is
one of the important steps towards becoming more responsible citizen. It should also equip students
with skills of making shopping decisions based on the principles of SD. The challenges of such
undertaking are enormous. The survey of young people’s consumption habits in 24 countries
undertaken jointly by UNEP and UNESCO 9 (2000) indicated main areas of concern. While young
people recognized the environmental and social impacts of their use and disposal of products, they fail
to fully understand contribution of their shopping behavior. The situation is somewhat better when it
comes to the understanding of impact of services. Still, these figures leave humongous room for
actions. A “country average of 52% are of the opinion that the way in which they dispose of their waste
affects the environment, 42% believe that the way they travel has an impact on the environment, 41%
think that their use of water affects the environment, and 29% believe that their energy use (gas and
electricity) has consequences for the environment” (UNEP and UNESCO, 2000 10 ).
Finally, on average 37% of the young respondents admitted that answering the survey made them for
the first time think about their consumption.
Consuming wisely, what should be learned?
Understanding of interdependencies between economic, ecological and social systems through the
market place where consumer becomes a major player is one of the goals in educating for sustainable
consumption. Another goal is understanding of mechanisms, including own actions that could lead to
more sustainable production and consumption.
This section lists some ideas. The ideas are not exhaustive but constitute a base for discussion.
Dependent on the socio-political situation different aspects of SPC would have different importance. To
understand and to differentiate among this different aspects, several skills should be developed. While
these skills are important for education as a whole, they are essential for the SPC.
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Interdependence - Aspects and impacts
Understanding of interdependence between production and consumption and poverty, employment,
stability of different regions, etc. creates awareness between actions and their consequences. It also
helps to avoid oversimplification of the subject. For example, it is seldom understood by the general
public that moving production to some of the developing countries, e.g. China or India, would help to
mitigate potential unemployment-related instabilities in these countries. Similarly, justifiable criticism
of affluent consumption of more economically developed countries often neglects the fact that it
provides investments and work for developing countries.
What should be learned:
‣ Ability to reflect on the interdependence between personal actions and state of the society,
economy and environment – actions and multitude of consequences
‣ Ability to reflect on the interdependence between local and global
‣ Ability to understand the interrelation of consumption, state of environment, health, poverty,
employment, etc.
‣ Ability to understand relations between different styles of consumption and state of environment
and society
‣ Distribution of effects - positive and negative (trade issue is important)
Understanding of leadership and good citizenship
Role of different societal actors and self in promoting sustainable consumption needs to be understood
so that actions would follow motivation. Such understanding should be reinforced by the knowledge of
possible actions. Clear analysis of actors’ opportunities and imitations would help to avoid unnecessary
simplification of the situation and help design effective actions.
What should be learned:
‣ Understanding of role different actors in the society, i.e. government, private sector, civil society
can play in forming different patterns of consumption and production
‣ Understanding of relationships between personal behaviour (life style) and environmental and
social consequences
‣ Understanding of actions that lead to more sustainable consumption by individuals, families and
schools
Quality of life and life style
The discussion of quality of life, as defined beyond economic growth, has long presence in the
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intellectual and political community. Multiple indicators were developed to account for progress tha
accounts more fully for social cohesion, health, education, stability and state of the environment. UNDP
human development index is one such measure. More than thirty years ago, Butan announced their
commitment to measure Gross National Happiness rather than Gross National Product.
What should be learned:
‣ Understanding of difference between needs and wants and appreciation of complexity of the topic
‣ Understanding what affects a desire for a particular life-style, e.g. peer-pressure, advertising and
media, etc, and differentiation between quality of life and a life-style
‣ Ability to differences the quality of life and volume of consumptions
Areas of consumption
Individuals consume goods and services in several main “areas” – food, shelter, transportation, and
clothing. Discussion of impacts in different areas of consumption will benefit, among other things, from
a) relating it to the type of environment in which consumption takes place (urban/rural and type of
ecosystem); discussion of different consumption alternatives (green electricity or nuclear energy, car or
bus, buying of leasing, etc.), c) social aspects of consumption (job generation, social stability, etc.)
Traditionally, there are several areas which governmental organsation, including schools and
universities, consider in the area of sustainable purchasing:
‣ Sustainable buildings
‣ Vehicles and travel
‣ Office consumables and equipment
‣ Recycling/ waste minimisation
Information and guidelines available in these areas might constitute a good source of information.
Volume of consumption
Additional challenges came from the analysis of the motivation for purchasing (UNEP&UNESCO
2000). Among four product criteria – eco-friendliness, quality, price and fashion, eco-friendliness was
the last with only 40% of respondents claiming it to be a base of their purchasing decisions. Many
young people are, predictably, motivated by peer-pressure in their purchasing and think (44%) that
having more would make them happier.
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Knowledge of alternatives
Knowledge of environmentally and socially superior products, e.g. fair-trade goods, locally produced
goods, and knowledge of appropriate use (reuse) and disposal should be combined with knowledge of
mechanisms of differentiation among these goods. Among such mechanisms are
‣ environmental labels and, e.g. product declarations,
‣ understanding of the life-cycle concept of goods and services help in selecting the best alternatives
and forms of ownership (buying, leasing, renting, etc.),
‣ Knowledge of companies environmental and social conduct – reputation of the producers needs to
be understood not only from the view point of quality and popularity of their product but also to
the effects of their social and environmental conduct
Other actions of responsible consumers
Purchasing is only one form of “voting” by the consumer. Other forms of actions are socially and
environmentally responsible campaigns, boycotts, etc. might be also effective in the situations where
awareness of the SPC in the society is low.
Understanding of the basic rights of the consumer and mechanisms of consumer protection is integral
part of preparation for SPC.
Challenges of integration into educational programmes
Cross-disciplinary nature and existing capacity
The SPC is an area that systematically links activities of individuals, organisations and groups of
organisations to environmental, political and economic issues at different levels. It simultaneously
touches subjects within several disciplines and areas of public concern. Being a great advantage, it also
presents a considerable challenge. Questions of environment, economy, human rights, employment,
trade, etc. become natural subjects for discussion of SPC and sustainable procurement as a part of it.
However, teachers and instructors that are called to facilitate CPS knowledge development might not
have sufficient knowledge in the area. While such knowledge exists in the institutions of higher
education, and professional groups, e.g. businesses, consumer protection organisations, governments, it
has only minor presence at schools.
Direct challenge to the value-system (link to actions)
ESD is expected to contribute to the world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from
education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. SPC is an area
that explicitly links individual life style to the social, economic and environmental areas locally and
globally. That is where individual value system is, often for the first time, is exposed and questioned.
According to many young people participating in the UNEP survey on sustainable consumption (UNEP,
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2000), the questionnaire, for the first time made them think about effects of their consumption.
Understanding of the consumption patterns, defined by personal value-system, need to be, eventually,
linked to the change of learners behaviours. Rule 4/40 - in the surveys about preferences for “sociallycorrect”
choices, 40% are indicating their will to follow these; in reality, only 4% are doing so –
confirms the magnitude of the challenge.
Teaching and learning methods
It would be beneficial to make the learning of SPC a highly experiential process. Trip to the market,
supermarket or a local shop will allow comparison of the products, their prices, quality (e.g. health
aspects of the product), environmental (e.g. packaging, coloring) and socio-political (e.g. place of
production, employment) aspects.
Linking consumer education to management and maintenance of the organization (e.g. school) through
discussion of organizational purchasing decisions (programmes on energy efficiency) might further
contribute to developing a sense of agency.
Some of the promising collaborating partners
On issues of sustainable consumption
UNEP, Production and Consumption Brunch – in collaboration with Consumer international worked on
the issue of youth and advertising and media; also published series of reports including Consumption
opportunities (2001), Sustainable Consumption: A Global Status Report (2002), Resource Kit on
Sustainable Consumption and Production (2004).
UNDP, had a programme on environmentally sustainable consumption.
OECD, among other activities published series of papers on Sustainable Consumption and Production –
e.g. Sustainable Consumption and Production, (1997), Sustainable Consumption and Production:
Clarifying the Concepts (1997), Towards Sustainable Consumption Patterns: A Progress Report on
Member Country Initiatives (1998), Education and Learning for Sustainable Consumption, (1999)
WBSCD
IISD – produced a comprehensive portfolio of materials of sustainable consumption and production -
http://www.iisd.org/susprod/keyresources.htm
Individual businesses – for example, UNU-IAS and UNESCO, following recommendations of the
Steering Committee on DESD in Asia Pacific region, initiated a project targeting TNCs as well as their
main suppliers, as a first step for engaging with the private sector and issues of SPC within the context
of DESD. Such focus is informed by the consideration that the effect of TNC activities is felt across the
whole supply chain with the most impact on local communities in developing countries. It is not always
obvious, however, which actors along the supply chain could create a leverage for SD actions. Small
suppliers (small and medium-sized enterprises: SMEs) to the TNCs and communities around such
SMEs are considered to be the main beneficiaries of the proposed project. The overall goal of the
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project is to initiate a process leading to creation of training and awareness-raising programmes in the
area of SD that will eventually be run by the actors across the supply chain or local actors, i.e. NGOs
and/or local governments.
On issues of sustainable procurement
Consumer Protection organisations
The Interagency Sustainable Procurement Group – a consortium of the multilateral development
banks (MDBs), United Nations (UN) organisations, and a variety of non governmental organisations
International Green Purchasing Network http://www.igpn.org/guideline/
Consumer International – Asia Pacific office published materials guiding consumers to more
responsible purchasing decisions.
End Note:
1 The Ministerial Conference on the 3R initiative, Tokyo, 28-30 April 2005
2 Tojo, N., (2004). Extended Producer Responsibility as a Driver for Design Change - Utopia or
Reality?, IIIEE Lund University, Lund Sweden
3 Such rhetorical rejection is done with an intention of putting main responsibility in addressing the
root causes of unsustainable production and consumption on the developing countries
4 Gardner, G., E. Assadourian, and R. Sarin. 2004. “The State of Consumption Today.” Ch. 1 in:
State of the World 2004, by the Worldwatch Institute. 2004. New York: W. W. Norton.
5 Tojo, N., (2004). Extended Producer Responsibility as a Driver for Design Change - Utopia or
Reality?, IIIEE Lund University, Lund Sweden
6 Human Development Report Consumption for Human Development (1998) UNDP
7 http://www.sustainableprocurement.net/home2.html
8 These approaches are developed for public procurement. They are, however, applicable to any
purchasing decision by businesses or private consumers.
9 UNEP and UNESCO (2000) Youth, sustainable consumption patterns and life styles
10 UNEP and UNESCO (2000) Youth, sustainable consumption patterns and life styles
65

Education for Sustainable Development &
the Weaving of A Cultural of Peace:
Complementarities and Synergies 1
Toh Swee-Hin (S. H. Toh), Professor & Director,
Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University
Introduction
The proclamation by the U.N General Assembly of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-2014) undoubtedly provides a major impetus for the promotion and integration of
principles of “sustainable development” in all levels and modes of education worldwide. Indeed, UNESCO, as
a leading agency for implementing the DESD, has identified tit as one of the four global initiatives in
education, the others being the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Education for All (EFA) and the
United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD). As the UNESCO Education Sector’s Technical paper No. 1-2005
“Education for Sustainable Development in Action” clarified, these four initiatives, while different in focus and
emphases, are interrelated and need to work together to fulfill a common agenda and overlapping goals.
However, drawing on my extensive and long-term role as a peace educator or in educating for a culture of
peace, I feel it is meaningful to observe that several substantive and well developed innovations or
movements in education are not identified as global initiatives in their own right. Apart from peace
education, there are of course the long-standing fields of disarmament education, human rights education,
multicultural or intercultural education, education for international understanding, citizenship education, and
values education. In the UNESCO Technical Paper earlier mentioned, some of these initiatives are
mentioned only in a subsidiary way when ESD is defined as emphasizing “aspects of learning that enhance
the transition towards sustainability including future(s) education; citizenship education; education for a
culture of peace; gender equality and respect for human rights; health education; population education;
educating for protecting and managing natural resources; and education for sustainable consumption”.
It is important to recall that the international community, through the U.N., also affirmed the global
significance of these other initiatives, such as the recently concluded Decade for Human Rights Education
(1995-2004), and the ongoing International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of
the World (2001-2010). I have raised this observation principally because there are considerable
complementarities and synergy of ideas and practices between and among all of these initiatives. Most
importantly, we need to accord due respect to the commitment and tireless efforts of many individuals,
communities, schools and other educational, social and cultural institutions or civil society organizations that
are continuing to transform our contemporary realities of violence, militarization, injustices, human rights
violations, ecological destruction and all forms of discrimination.
Specifically, in regard to the field of education for a culture of peace, the Mid-Term Report on the International
Decade coordinated by David Adams and submitted in 2005 to the United Nations documented a broad range
of programs and projects confirming that education can contribute creatively to the urgent goal of building a
culture of peace. Indeed, as a lead agency for implementing the Decade, UNESCO has helped to facilitate
some of these successful programs in education for a culture of peace, through conferences, forums, teacher
training workshops, curriculum development, ASP projects and UNESCO /UNITWIN Chairs. UNESCO
Centres such as the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) has actively
promoted EIU toward a culture of peace. Likewise, there are many exemplars of civil society movements (e.g.
Hague Appeal for Peace, International Institutes on Peace Education) and universities worldwide (e.g. UN
University for Peace, Costa Rica) that are doing valuable work in promoting peace education. Based on my
personal experiences in South contexts, notably in the Philippines since 1986, when I collaborated in
commencing the first graduate program in peace education, there is now extensive awareness and practice in
education for a culture of peace from schools and universities to grassroots communities.
1 (This paper draws on ideas and issues in the Introduction essay in APCEIU (2005) Learning to Live
Together: A Teacher’s Manual for EIU in the Asia-Pacific Region)
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In sum, may I suggest that ESD and education for a culture of peace have much to share as well to
collaborate in seeking to build a world that transcends violence, unsustainable relationships and systems,
local/global injustices and a host of other conflicts that affect the well-being of humanity and our planet. I
appreciate the opportunities during this meeting for exploring possibilities for dialogue on the
complementarities and synergies between these global initiatives. A fruitful means of clarifying how ESD
and education for a culture of peace (“ECOP”) inter-relates is to consider the role of sustainability in each of
the multiple dimensions of ECOP. How do principles and issues of sustainability feature in the root causes
of conflicts and peacelessness, and why they are essential in resolution or transformation of the conflicts
toward a nonviolent, just, compassionate and sustainable world?
cultivating
inner peace
dismantling the
culture of war
living with
justice and
compassion
building
cultural respect,
reconciliation
living in promoting & solidarity
harmony
with the
Earth
human rights &
responsibilities
Figure 1: A Holistic Understanding of a Culture of Peace
Presented at the APCEIU Expert Consultation on EIU, Fiji, 2002 (Toh, S.H. & Cawagas, V.F.)
As shown in Figure 1 above, a holistic conceptual framework of education for a culture of peace may be
articulated in terms of six major themes: Dismantling the Culture of War; Living with Justice and
Compassion; Promoting Human Rights and Responsibilities; Building Cultural Respect, Reconciliation,
and Solidarity; Living in Harmony with the Earth; and Cultivating Inner Peace. The themes are
represented by the metaphor of a flower to emphasize their interconnectedness as “petals” to form an
organic whole. All the petals, representing the six themes, are equally important to the essence of the flower.
Educators may choose to initially focus on any of the petals but to be holistic, due consideration will need to
be given to all the other petals. Hence the order in which the six themes are presented in this framework
does not imply a hierarchy of importance of the six themes. It is also important to note that this is only one
framework, among several, that have been proposed for conceptualizing education for a culture of peace.
However, experiences in implementing it in several South and North contexts suggest that the six themes
actively resonate with and are perceived to be relevant with contemporary societal and global realities. For
the purpose of this paper, the fifth theme “Living in Harmony with the Earth”, given its direct focus on
environmental sustainability, will be weaved into the dialogue on the five other themes, rather than
separately analyzed. In the concluding segment of the paper, the relevance of key pedagogical principles of
peace education will also be clarified for ESD.
Sustainability and a Culture of Peace
(a) Dismantling the Culture of War
Tragically, the scourge of wars and armed conflicts underpinned by a pervasive culture of militarization, is
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still a major problem confronting humanity in this new century. The so-called peace dividend after the end
of the Cold war remains very partially realized. Millions of peoples, including the very young, continue to
suffer trauma, hardships, pain, and death., from internal armed conflicts, inter-state violence, militarized
occupations, and a seemingly endless and complex cycle of “terrorism” and “counter-terrorism”. The
problems of proliferation of “weapons of mass destruction” and conventional weaponry continues to
escalate, perpetuating or threatening to ignite further armed interventions and violence. However, despite
the odds, many civil society organizations and representative of some governments remain committed to the
nonviolent resolution of armed conflicts and the generic problem of militarization. Efforts to abolish the
arms trade , including the historic treaty to ban landmines; stop recruitment of child soldiers and provide for
their rehabilitation and trauma healing ; and post-war or conflict peace-building efforts are also integral
components of education for a culture of peace. At a micro- level, dismantling the culture of war also
applies to overcoming the problem of physical violence in schools (e.g., bullying, assaults, corporal
punishment, “gang” fighting, and teacher victimization),and in homes (e.g. domestic violence). and the
widespread cultural conditioning towards the “acceptability” of violence via media, internet, videogames,
toys and even sport. Consequently, education for conflict resolution and critical media literacy are playing
vital and constructive tools in peace education.
Turning now to ESD, there is now considerable evidence of the interconnections between these various
dimensions of a culture of war and issues of sustainability (Renner, 2005). Wars, armed conflicts and
militarization have caused or continue to deepen ecological destruction, whether from bombs, missiles,
mines (even after hostilities have ceased) or toxic wastes of military production and activities. When
military, industrial and even civilian infrastructure (e.g. oil wells, refineries, water, sanitation etc) are
destroyed, or chemical agents and nowadays “depleted uranium” weapons are deployed, a host of longterm
post-war environmental problems ensue, including increased incidence of diseases. Increasingly too,
the link between competition over resources and conflicts (sometimes leading to wars) is growing stronger
across the world (Klare, 2001). Other significant social and cultural effects of militarization globally
include the diminished availability of resources for basic human development when trillions of dollars are
monopolized by wasteful expenditures on armaments and militarized ‘security”. Where foreign military
bases have been established, women in particular have been subject to sexual violence and exploitation,
while millions of war-created refugees have placed great stresses on the environment. It is also meaningful
to note that when nations or communities have engaged in environmental cooperation (e.g. use and
management of shared waterways and other environmental resources) , conflicts and potential wars have
been prevented while ensuring sustainable development that benefits all parties ( Conca, Carius & Dabelko,
2005).
In conceptualizing a holistic paradigm of ESD, it is therefore essential to include issues and problems
related to a culture of “war” from macro to micro levels of life. Perspectives and experiences drawn from
disarmament education, education for nonviolence and education for conflict resolution or transformation
all have considerable relevance to the theory and practice of ESD. Unless current and future generations
of children and adults are challenged to overcome a collective consciousness and attitudes that violence is
an acceptable strategy to confront conflicts, than the culture of war , with all its unsustainable practices and
consequences, will remain strong.
(b) Living with Justice and Compassion
Another key theme in educating for a culture of peace is living with justice and compassion, which seeks
to build local national, international and global relationships and structures that adequately meet the basic
needs of all peoples based on values of dignity, freedom and justice. This vision is also implicit or explicit
in the MDGs, EFA , International Literacy Decade and ESD as indicated in the UNESCO Technical Paper
No.1-2005. Over several decades now, the concept of “national and international development” has been
articulated as the vehicle for overcoming symptoms of poverty, hunger, ill-health and other economic and
social deprivations experienced by a majority of peoples and communities.
The dominant paradigm of development, expressed in related concepts like modernization and of late,
globalization, has argued that with rapid growth; reliance on the engine of free trade and the private
sector, more and more wealth will be produced that will “trickle down” to all citizens. North (advanced
industrialized and wealthy) nations can help the South catch up through aid, trade and investments via
integration in the growth-centred globalized economy, marketplace, and political order dominated by the
powerful nation-states, transnational corporations, and international agencies or regimes (e.g., IMF, World
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Bank, WTO, APEC, and NAFTA). However, as the countless voices of ordinary peoples in marginalized
contexts worldwide have passionately revealed, such modernization and globalization have increased
structural violence against the poor majorities. Structural violence refers to the unequal and unjust
distribution of economic power and resources so. Internally and globally, the rich-poor gaps continue to
widen.
Education for a culture of pace and indeed ESD must therefore face the challenges of world poverty and
recognize that the root causes are inequalities and injustices. As the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan
stated: “true peace is far more than the absence of war. It is a phenomenon that encompasses economic
development and social justice.” The ILO’s World Commission on the Social Dimensions of
Globalization: A Fair Globalization has noted that “while wealth is being created … too many countries
and people are not sharing in its benefits.” The Commission therefore calls for globalization that is “fair,
inclusive, democratically governed, and provides opportunities and tangible benefits for all countries and
peoples.”
Worldwide, ordinary peoples, NGOs, CSOs, and some critical political and governmental representatives
have consequently been educating and mobilizing for an alternative framework of development that one
acronym PEACE refers to as Participatory, Equitable, Appropriate (in values and technology), Critically
empowering and Ecologically sustainable. PEACEful development has the central priority of meeting the
basic needs of all citizens. From rural to urban contexts, the poor and solidarity groups are empowering
themselves through critical education leading to self-reliant, equity-led and sustainable projects.
Undoubtedly, the interdependencies between sustainability and living with justice and compassion are
very strong. To begin with, the dominant priority given to unlimited economic growth (what one UNDP
report labeled as “ruthless ” growth) and consumption places grossly unsustainable demands on planetary
resources. If all human beings were to live with an over-heavy ecological footprint that a minority
presently “enjoy”, we would need many more “planet Earths”. As mines gobble up ever more needed
minerals and other raw materials needed for existing and aspirant industrial and consumer machines (e.g.
China, India); as agribusiness convert ever large tracts of land into “monocultures” of cash/exportoriented
crops; as other natural resources are depleted (e.g. forests, fisheries etc); as infrastructure like
dams displace ordinary citizens from ancestral domains; as commercialization of the most basic of
resources, water, is promoted by globalization and national policies; as the pace and scale of pollution of
air, land and water intensifies; as elite-centred tourism causes more environmental damage; as the
relentless pursuit of biotechnology threatens to undermine the ecological integrity of planetary systems; as
environmental resources are depleted to repay the crippling debt burden -- so especially the poor and
marginalized will have even less resources for their basic survival, while forced to bear the burden of
pollution and human-made “natural” disasters (e.g. industrial accidents, toxic wastes, flooding, landslides,
drought, chemical poisoning etc). (Worldwatch Institute, 2005; Anderson, 2000; Shiva, 2002). Moreover,
in an interdependent world, the “rich” cannot also escape the long-term consequences of such an
unsustainable development paradigm.
In sum, ESD needs to include within its paradigm and curriculum a critique of and a challenge to
rethink the ideology of “progress” driving consumerist technologically advanced societies. ESD learners
should be sensitized to the ongoing work to replace conventional and dominant indicators of economic
“success”(e.g. GNP, GDP) with more holistic indicators such as human development index, “gross
national happiness” (advocated by the nation of Bhutan), and the GPI(“genuine progress index”) that take
into account principles of sustainability, justice and other dimensions of a culture of peace. Nowadays, the
cult of advertising, which seeks to shape consumers’ tastes, has even tapped into the increasing public
concern over the environment, by subliminally associating the latest unsustainable products (e.g. SUVs)
with virtually pristine environment.
Most importantly, ESD that encompasses living with justice and compassion would strongly emphasize
the concept of “green justice”. This means that sustainable development cannot only be for the benefit of
one’s nation or community. If “sustainable development” is conditioned to serve the unchanged goals of
growth-centred globalization, the roots of the ecological crisis will remain unshaken. Rather, ESD
challenges each person to consider how he/she as well as their institutions or agencies (e.g. governments,
transnational corporations, consumer lifestyles etc) may be as much a part of the problem of local and
global injustices that are accompanied by ecological destruction. This challenge is as much applicable to
the citizens of North societies that disproportionately benefit from unfair global trading and financial
systems as the elites and middle classes of South nations. In catalyzing personal and social action for
sustainability, ESD hence can draw on the inspiration of a broad spectrum of aid and development NGOs
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and community CSOs (now collaborating in the World Social Forum) that promote links of solidarity with
marginalized peoples in the “global South” advocating for alternative aid, trade and other foreign policies.
(International Forum on Globalization, 2002; ). Not least, a holistic ESD encourages learner to re-think
unsustainable consumerist lifestyles As Durning (1992) aptly asks “How much is Enough?” This issue is
revisited and elaborated in the fifth theme of educating for a culture of peace (“cultivating inner peace”)
and relates the principle of justice with the ethics of compassion.
Furthermore, an ESD that fully integrates a concern to transcend structural violence also needs to be
mindful of the emerging trend of ‘corporate environmentalism” and to help learners to understand its
agenda of “co-optation” of the principles and values of sustainability and sustainable development
(Karliner, 1997). While acknowledging that some corporations and organized entities such as the
Business Council for Sustainable Development can and have helped to reduce certain aspects of
environmental degradation and imbalances, critical ESD also alerts learners to the existing and potential
contradictions of corporate-led “sustainable development” policies. There is regrettably growing
evidence of a kind of corporate ‘green-washing” whose co-optation of environment care need to be
continually challenged by civil society groups worldwide. Citizens of a country also need to be mindful
of conduct by their nations’ transnational corporations that follow a ‘double standard’ of environmental
responsibility, so that business ethically do not cause ecological destruction and other social, political and
economic negativities (e.g. corruption, human rights violations) because of the excuse that “laws” or
monitoring mechanisms in another context are less “strict” then requirements at home.
(c) Promoting Human Rights and Responsibilities
The building of a culture of peace in all societies cannot overlook the fulfillment of the full spectrum of
human rights ( civil, political, economic, social, or cultural) as embodied in the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights. All persons deserve to live and to be treated as human beings each with inalienable
rights , and human rights policies, laws and education need to be promoted and defended at individual,
community, national and international levels. Human rights are better protected and promoted when
ordinary peoples are educated and empower themselves to build a strong civil society to which agencies of
state and private power must be accountable in the spirit of authentic democracy (Reardon, 1995;
Symonides, 1998).
Since 1948, when the Universal Declaration was proclaimed, there is no doubt that varying rates of
progress have been made in promoting human rights in various societies and the international community.
However, as human rights advocates and educators will agree, considerable challenges remain in bridging
the gaps between policies and legislative instruments and practice of human rights. In so many societies,
powerful elites and agencies continue to engage in conduct human rights violations which inflict great
suffering, pain and indignities to countless men, women and children. In international relations,
militarized conflicts and interventions and as earlier noted, the structural violence of unequal economic
structures have also perpetrated denial of the rights to food, healthcare , housing, clean water and a
plethora of basic economic and social rights and entitlements of many citizens and communities. The
geo-political ”double standard” of condemning human rights violations by “unfriendly” states and leaders,
while tolerating, or even abetting via aid and diplomacy, the violations of “allies” or “friends” need to be
challenged in ESD. Ecological destruction in the pursuit of “ruthless” economic growth also leaves in its
trail severe violations of a whole host of rights. The tragic and dehumanizing exemplars of industrial
accidents like Bhopal or Chernobyl, or deforestation which ultimately led to catastrophic flash flooding
that killed several thousand Filipinos on the island of Ormoc come to mind. To date, the global conduct of
corporations and other business organizations, and even international financial institutions has also not
been subject to the same level of monitoring and accountability as, example, repressive dictators and
generals who commit crimes against humanity.
Another participant in this meeting, Jeff Plantilla , will be articulating in detail the relationship between
human rights principles and instruments and ESD, and I look forward to the dialogue on his contribution.
From the perspective of education for a culture of peace, I would like to highlight only a few issues. To
begin with, the courageous and dedicated work of human rights advocates and educators who often face
the daily risks of repression in some contexts, need to be fully supported. ESD should therefore provide
opportunities for learners to learn about and be inspired by the work of grassroots organizations and
individuals struggling to demand accountability from various powerful sectors within or outside their
societies. In this regard, the cause of defending human rights is assisted when national or global media are
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willing to shine their light on violations, though this does not always happen since state or corporate
media can often be a central part of power-structures that condone those very violations in the name of
“national interests”, “national security”, or other self-interested geo-strategic agendas.
Secondly, ESD needs to help learners sort through the issue of “universality” versus “relativism” in
understanding and implementing human rights. Although reference is made to recognizing cultural and
social circumstances in the preamble of the Vienna Declaration and Frame of Action adopted by the World
Conference on Human Rights in 1993, nonetheless this Declaration clearly affirms the universality
principle. As human rights advocates and the numerous international conventions and instruments
emphasize, cultural beliefs and practices cannot be used as a rationale to violate human rights. For
example, in some cultures and communities, women can be subject to physical violence in their homes.
Such domestic violence cannot be justified as a culturally specific norm or practice that overrides the
universal rights to security and safety.
Thirdly, educators for a culture of peace and likewise many human rights educators, would suggest that
ESD needs to be especially attentive to the human rights of marginalized and vulnerable groups, including
women, children, refugees and indigenous peoples. Unsustainable development and globalization from
above have , for example, exploited women’s under-paid and socially controlled labour in the global
assembly line and migrant worker sector, while subjecting them to greater hardships in accessing water
and other basic needs. In patriarchal social and cultural systems, men enjoy a greater fulfillment of their
human rights compared to women in almost every social, economic, cultural and political dimensions of
life. Furthermore, ESD needs to highlight and acknowledge the vital role that women have and continue
to struggle to pay in enhancing the sustainable management of resources. Theoretically, ESD can usefully
draw on the insights from the field called eco-feminism, which grounds sustainability principles in
feminist worldviews and perspectives (Reuther, 1992).
Similarly, ESD needs to mobilize advocacy for the rights of children, a group which is increasingly
serving as the most vulnerable and exploited underclass of the unjust world and national economic orders,
whether as street-children, prostitutes or bonded labour. As earlier mentioned, many are also brutally
recruited and traumatized as child soldiers. Another group whose human rights continue to be severely
violated is the refugees and asylum seekers. In this regard, ESD in a nation like Australia necessarily
challenges learners to critically reflect on the consistency of official policies (e.g. mandatory detention of
asylum seeks, even children until recently) with the various human rights conventions to which Australia
is a signatory. In the next theme of educating for a culture of peace, the rights of an often much
marginalized group, namely, indigenous people, will also be examined for the links of education for a
culture of peace with education for sustainability.
Not least, ESD which integrates human rights education also need to ensure that learners understand and
develop commitment to human rights as much as a deep sense of responsibilities. Neglecting this task will
likely lead to a self-centred and egoistic demand for human rights (“mine” or “ours”) with little selfcritical
acknowledgement of being responsible for not violating and helping to act in solidarity in
promoting the human rights of others.
(d) Building Cultural Respect, Reconciliation, and Solidarity
In this theme of educating for a culture of peace, the focus lies on helping learners to critically understand
conflicts between peoples of different cultures and ethnic/“racial” identities. Compounded by a culture of
war and structural violence, these conflicts have included the outcomes of brutal violence even to the
point of genocide and ethnic cleansing. While Samuel Huntington’s thesis of a “clash of civilizations” has
often been cited to “explain “ these conflicts, peace educators and critical multicultural educators would
challenge the thesis as simplistic and dangerously leading to a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy”. This simplistic
argument overlooks the complexities of “civilizations” and ignores the evidence of intercultural
cooperation and solidarity even when conflicts or even wars have occurred. Rather, conflicts involving
communities and peoples of different cultures and traditions are not usually caused by cultural difference
per se, but by a complexity of root political, economic and social causes (e.g. contestation for resources or
territories; struggles for justice and self-determination; political stereotyping in a fear-based post-9/11
national security paradigm).
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This is especially exemplified by the situation of indigenous peoples worldwide. Victims of historical
episodes of violent conquest and colonization, indigenous cultures and communities in contemporary
times continue to face the violations of their rights under the dominant paradigm of unsustainable
development under the agendas of modernization and globalization. Labeled as impediments to
“progress”, indigenous peoples are displaced and/or repressed if they resist displacement or cooptation by
dams, mining, logging, agribusiness, energy infrastructure or investments and ironically even some
“environmental conservation” initiatives (e.g. national parks) ( Bodley, 1988; Clad, 1985).
ESD clearly has a responsibility to cultivate among learners solidarity for the struggles of indigenous
peoples in all continents for their human rights and cultural survival. However, this solidarity is evoked
not merely because of the violations of indigenous people’s rights. It is also based on a deep appreciation
and understanding that indigenous peoples hold within their cultural fabric and traditions much wisdom
consistent with modern worldviews on sustainability (Knudtson & Suzuki, 1992). Echoing the
environment and development document, “Our Common Future”, the 1995 Report of the World
Commission on Culture and Development , “Our Creative Diversity” also noted that
through centuries if living close to nature, indigenous people throughout the world have acquired detailed
knowledge of their environment and its natural resources. Living in and from the rich variety of complex
ecosystems, they understand the functioning of these systems, the properties of plants and animals and the
techniques for using and managing the systems. Equally, ecological concerns are embedded in their very
struggles for survival, identity, autonomy, and in many cases democratic rights and governance. Who
decides the fate of tribal culture and nature? Do the people decide for themselves? Or does the state or the
conservationists? That is why cries such as “Our rule is in our villages” or “Our rights over the forests”
are being heard in forests around the world. (pg. 211).
Indigenous knowledge, practices and rituals in relating to “nature” are therefore increasingly being
recognized and in some cases, revived by indigenous communities themselves, for their significant
contributions to enhancing biodiversity conservation and planetary and inter-generational sustainability
(Bennagen & Lucas-Fernan, 1996; IDRC, 1993; Hawthorne, 2001). Regrettably although not surprisingly,
this recognition of the ‘wisdom of the elders” has also been cooped by powerful economic forces for profit
(e.g. using indigenous knowledge to manufacture/ patent new pharmaceuticals and even genetic material).
ESD hence needs to bring to the attention of learners to the phenomenon called “biopiracy” which
commodifies and privatizes indigenous knowledge for the narrow economic benefit of corporate elites and
firms contrary to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Shiva, 1997) In sum, ESD has the challenge of
catalyzing non-indigenous peoples’ commitment to authentic reconciliation with our indigenous sisters
and brothers, for in reconciling, we are able to humbly accept the limitations and errors of our past and
present thinking and action steeped in unsustainability.
Many societies have through colonization and migration also become highly multicultural. In building a
culture of peace in such multicultural contexts, there is clearly a need to promote values, attitudes and
social-cultural policies based on mutual respect, understanding, non-discrimination, and non-racism. As
the Delors Commission on Education for the 21 st century stressed, one key pillar of education is learning
to live together based on the principle of unity diversity. The development of multicultural education or
intercultural education is hence an essential dimension in ESD. However, care is needed in ESD not to
reduce multiculturalism and multicultural education to a superficial ‘celebration of diversity and
harmony” via a so-called festivals or 4Ds approach (dance, diet, dress, dialect) that avoids dealing with
the root causes of root causes of intercultural disharmony (e.g., racism, discrimination, structural
injustices, and historical oppression).
However, in looking at contemporary thinking and practices in multicultural education from an ESD
worldview, it must be admitted that the theme of sustainability and sustainable development is often
neglected. Awareness of and a willingness to challenge racism and other forms of cultural discrimination
do not necessarily imply an appreciation of the problems of environmental destruction. Newcomers or
citizens born in a multicultural society like Australia or Canada may be culturally respectful and sensitive,
but continue to engage in unsustainable lifestyles or support government and private sector policies that
favour unsustainable growth and economic development locally and globally. Some may even subscribe
to the idea that as globalization is leading to a cultural homogeneity based on consumerism and
globalized media and cultural goods and services, then the vision of cultural diversity , as a part of
biodiversity, is increasingly less relevant. Clearly, how to encourage a rethinking of this view will be a
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major challenge for ESD.
Finally, in the promotion of multiculturalism in ESD, insights can now be drawn from the growth of what
is called interfaith dialogue, as representatives of diverse faiths, religions and spiritual traditions are
meeting to more deeply understanding each other’s knowledge and spirituality traditions while respecting
differences. Exemplars of such interfaith dialogue movements include the World Conference on Religions
and Peace, Parliament of the World’s Religions, United Religions Initiative and many local and
grassroots community organizations. IUNESCO has also been active in promoting such interfaith and
intercultural dialogue initiatives (e.g. the Declaration on the Contribution of Religions to a Culture of
Peace; the Dialogue of Civilizations). From dialogue and respect has emerged in many contexts a process
of reconciliation and healing of bitterness, enmity and distrust. Most importantly, the different faiths are
finding that they share many common values and ethical principles for guiding relationships among all
peoples and culture nonviolent and just interfaith and intercultural relationship (Mische & Merkling,
2001). In turn, this common ground of shared values should hopefully lead to collaborative action among
all faiths to resolve common societal and global problems (e.g., injustice, violence, human rights
violations, discrimination, racism, and ecological destruction). This was affirmed in the International
Symposium on “Cultivating Wisdom, Harvesting Peace” held at the Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith
University, in Aug, 2005, with the support of UNESCO, various National Commissions of UNESCO,
UNESCO centres and offices, and diverse faith, interfaith and educational institutions (Toh & Cawagas,
2006). As elaborated in the next fifth theme of educating for a culture of peace, the role of faiths and
spirituality traditions in helping to develop a consciousness of sustainability should be tapped in ESD.
(e) Cultivating Inner Peace
The four previous themes of building a culture of peace and the links with ESD have focused mainly on
visible relationships and structures of human life. However, there is a growing recognition among peace
educators that that the inner dimensions and sources of peaceful values and practices should be equally
cultivated, given the realities of feelings of alienation, loss of meaning, and an epidemic of depression
and despair, especially in affluent societies. This education for inner peace draws deeply the insights and
wisdom from the teachings of prophets, saints, and sages of diverse faiths and spirituality traditions,
One increasingly practiced though not necessarily the only strategy for developing inner equilibrium and
tranquility lies in diverse methods of meditation and contemplation. However, it is important to not reduce
meditation to a ‘technique”, but rather as part of a holistic process of spiritual growth. Moreover, in
educating for a culture of peace, the theme of cultivating inner is mindful that inner peace should not be
sought for by a self in a disconnected way to the search for outer peace or building a peaceful world. As
the engaged Buddhists and basic Christian communities have, for example, emphasized, peoples of faith
and spirituality also cultivate a strong responsibility to work for nonviolent, loving, compassionate and
just relationships, structures and a world community. In Islam, while the greater “jihad” is to struggle for
inner purification, Muslims are also called to practice social justice in society and the world.
Considering now the principles and values of ESD, and recalling the analysis made in the preceding
pages of its linkages with other themes of educating for a culture of peace, it is not difficult to see how
cultivating inner peace is also in accord with sustainability. Thus when faiths and spirituality traditions
educate their followers to gently see through the illusions of excessive materialism, power, greed,
unkindness, and violence, and other attachments (e.g. power, status, fame etc), they are more likely to
reconsider the ideology of over-consumerism, fetish of “brands or logos or fashion, and the reduction of
“happiness” to “quantity” rather than quality” of life. Through cultivating greater inner peace, a person is
more inspired to consider what is referred to as voluntary simplicity based on lifestyles and interpersonal
and social relationships that uphold sustainability, justice, nonviolence, respect and loving kindness for all
beings and the planet (Burch, 2000; Thich, 1996).
Not surprisingly, there is now considerable interest in “green theology”, whereby different faiths are
examined as inspirational sources of environmental values toward the vision of a shared global ethic. The
ideas and work of Christian theologians and environmental advocates (e.g. Thomas Berry, Sean
McDonagh, Matthew Fox ) and engaged Buddhists (e.g. Joanna Macy, Sulak Sivaraksa, Thich Nhat Hanh)
are a few exemplars in this regard (McDonagh, 1994; Sivaraksa, 2001). This link between faith and
ecological sustainability is illustrated by the following commentaries on various traditions:
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Various texts and rituals extol the earth (bhu), the atmosphere (bhuvah), and sky (sva),
as well as the goddess associated with the earth (Prthivi), and the gods associated with
water (Ap), with fire and heat (Agni) and the wind (Vayu). The centrality of these gods
and goddesses suggests an underlying ecological sensitivity within the Hindu tradition.
[Source: Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University, Forum on Religion and Ecology]
We are only tenants on this earth. The land belongs to God. We are given permission to
enjoy the Creator’s abundant gifts, but we must not waste or wantonly destroy anything.
The Jewish injunction known as bal taschit teaches us to live lightly, conserving earth’s
abundance.
[Source: Daniel B. Fink, Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel, Forum on Religion and Ecology]
Daoism has a unique sense of value in that it judges affluence by the number of different
species. If all things in the universe grow well, then a society is a community of affluence.
If not, this kingdom is on the decline. This view encourages both government and people
to take good care of nature. This thought is a special contribution by Daoism to the
conservation of nature.
[Source: Alliance of Religions and Conservation, www.arcworld.org/faiths.]
“The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a
cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees and the earth. When we
realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise … then we can
build a noble environment. If our lives are not based on this truth, then we shall perish.”
[Thai Monk, Buddhadasa Bhikku]
Shinto tradition acknowledges a deep debt to the blessing of nature and the spiritual
power which brings about life, fertility, and prosperity. This life-giving power was called
Musubi (divine power of growth), and perceived in all the workings of nature. Since the
Japanese people felt the divine within nature, they came to hold the ideal of a life that was
in harmony with and united with nature.
[Source: Alliance of Religions and Conservation, www.arcworld.org/faiths]
We affirm that the world, as God’s handiwork, has its own inherent integrity; that land,
waters, air, forests, mountains and all creatures, including humanity, are “good” in God’s
sight. The integrity of creation has a social aspect which we recognize as peace with
justice, and an ecological aspect which we recognize in the self-renewing, sustainable
character of natural ecosystems. [World Council of Churches]
Islam teaches that we will one day be judged by Allah for how we have discharged our
responsibilities following the guidance of Islam. Have we been good trustees, and have we
kept nature in harmony? So there will be a day of reckoning.
[Source: Alliance of Religions and Conservation,www.arcworld.org/faiths]
We are called to the vision of Guru Nanak which is a World Society comprising Godconscious
human beings who have realized God. To these spiritual beings the earth and the
universe are sacred; all life is unity, and their mission is the spiritualization of all. Sikhism
[Source: Alliance of Religions and Conservation, www.arcworld.org/faiths]
The world reflects the qualities and attributes of God, and should therefore be greatly
respected and cherished. Baha’i Scriptures describe nature as an emanation of God’s will.
Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world
[Tablets of Baha’u’llah p 142]
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In the August 2005 UNESCO-supported International Symposium on “Cultivating Wisdom, Harvesting
Peace” organized by the Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University and involving over 120 representatives of
diverse faiths and cultures, recommendations made on the theme of “Enhancing Sustainable Futures”
included:
“22. Educating for cultivating wisdom and building peace recognizes that the ecological
crisis in the contemporary world is due to the worldviews and actions of individuals,
institutions and systems that accelerate environmental destruction and humanity’s
unsustainable use of planetary resources.
23. All educational programs need to draw on the values and wisdom of diverse faiths,
cultures and civilizations to nurture the moral, spiritual and ethical commitment of human
beings to relate with each other and our planet in ways that enhance ecological integrity
and sustainable futures
[Toh & Cawagas, 2006: 18]
In recent decades, this turn towards re-awakening the deep principles of sustainability across diverse faiths
has therefore led to community and individual environmental care action on the part of religious or lay
leaders and followers. As Gaza (2000) noted in her review of Buddhist environmental activism, the guiding
principles of mindfulness, compassion and non-harming have catalyzed Buddhist communities and
individual practitioners to challenge further destruction of wilderness, logging, chemical pesticide
pollution, inhumane treatment of animals, and unsustainable consumption habits. In Christian schools
worldwide, curriculum development and teaching has been moved by “green theology” to include core
issues and principles of the integrity of creation and sustainability.
A further dimension of cultivating inner peace and its relevance to ESD lies in the field that Theodore
Roszak and others (Roszak, Gomes & Kanner, 1995) have called “eco-psychology”, or alternatively as
psychoecology, green therapy , ecotherapy, Earth-centred therapy and other parallel terms. In his words,
“ecology needs psychology; psychology needs ecology”. Eco-psychology recognizes E.O.Wilson’s
hypothesis of “biophilia”, “the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms”,
and argues for the idea of the ‘ecological unconscious” as a “resource for restoring (humanity) to
environmental harmony”. Rather than tactics of shock, shame, and contempt, eco-psychologists seeks to
nurture this ecological unconscious. In a parallel way, though drawing on her Buddhist worldwide, engaged
eco-Buddhist Joanna Macy has designed and implemented educational programs to help people understand
and overcome their ‘environmental despair”, which includes fears, pain, guilt, denial, and powerlessness. In
her view, “unlocking our pain for the world reconnects us with the larger web of life”.
In sum, this reflection on cultivating inner peace as an essential theme of educating for a culture of peace
suggests that a holistic paradigm of ESD should not shy away from ideas, principles and sources of spiritual
knowledge and wisdom found in all cultures, faiths, and civilizations. Understandably, the rise in dominance
and power of “secularism” has tended to marginalize as “irrelevant” or “superstitious” considerations of
values and principles rooted in ancient wisdoms. While affirming that secular systems of knowledge and
social practices have helped to build a culture of peace and sustainability, ESD needs to be critically open to
other sources of understanding and sustainable living. Furthermore, by expecting this engagement to be
critical, it also means that faith and spirituality should also be subject to critical examination for
contradictions in theory and practice.
Pedagogical principles for ESD
A final crucial dimension of educating for a culture of peace and its fruitful collaboration with ESD relates
to the issue of "how" or the "process" of educating peacefully. Across diverse fields of the educational
initiatives mentioned at the beginning of this paper, there is a strong consensus that the desired goals and
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purposes of teaching and learning cannot be accomplished only on then basis of appropriate content, even if
it be the most comprehensive. Equally important is how that content is taught and learned. Hence, in peace
education, disarmament education, human rights education, multicultural education and ESD, it is vital to
clarify what pedagogical principles needs to be weaved in the teaching-learning process. In this regard, may
I share the following principles that have guided my work in educating for a culture of peace in both South
and North contexts. Despite cultural, social, economic and other societal differences, my co-educators and I
have found these principles to be perceived as relevant and helpful to many educators in formal or nonformal
community sites.
The underpinning philosophy of the educational process seeks to be critical, empowering and transformative
(Toh & Cawagas, 1991; Toh, Cawagas & Durante, 1992; Goldstein & Selby, 2002; O’Sullivan, 1999;
Hicks, 1988). No claim is made, however, about the level and degree of “success”, and many barriers and
difficulties have also been encountered. I would suggest that these pedagogical principles can also be
helpful to ESD implementation and practice, though as John Fien’s paper in this workshop has argued, there
are challenges in working with youth in the Asia-Pacific region to promote active environmental citizenship.
Holistic Understanding
The first pedagogical principle is holistic understanding. As a culture of peace and similarly “sustainable
development” encompasses diverse issues, it is not useful for learners to acquire only a fragmented
understanding of conflict, violence, unsustainable development and ways to peace and sustainability.
Holistic understanding means looking into inter-relationships between and among different problems of
peacelessness, conflict and violence in terms of root causes and resolutions. For example, the symptoms of
structural violence and ecological destruction are usually linked to human rights violations, militarization
and over- and unjust consumption of the earth’s resources. Intercultural conflict will not necessarily be
resolved through only enhanced mutual respect and understanding of each other’s values and traditions if,
for example, the underlying roots causes of injustice and unsustainable exploitation of resources are also not
addressed. Micro level conflicts like personal alienation and addictions may be rooted in macro level
problems of poverty and inequalities, as well as in a lack of inner peace. It is therefore essential to draw a
learner’s understanding of various conflicts into a holistic framework; otherwise, a partial analysis which
overlooks the wider roots of a problem will only result in partial, unrealistic or ineffectual resolutions.
In a school context, an important dimension of holistic understanding lies in infusing education for a culture
of peace and ESD across all curricular and extra-curricular areas. The world needs citizens in science,
technology, business, and law oriented to sustainability and peace as much as in the social sciences and arts.
Holistic understanding also advocates that the various levels and modes of education are equally important,
whether formal or non-formal, whether educating children or adults or social, economic and cultural groups.
Most importantly, all modes of education should complement, sustain, and support each other. For instance,
formal ESD and peace education are strengthened by linking students’ understanding with concrete realities
and practices of conflict, peace building and sustainable development in the non-formal sectors.
Furthermore, educating for a culture of peace and ESD needs to involve the very marginalized and
oppressed as well as the non-poor, advantaged, governing and elite sectors of society, so that possible allies
may be gained for transformation.
Dialogue
In the words of the well-known Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, contemporary educational systems have
emphasized or continue to promote a “banking” approach where teachers assume the role of authoritarian
“experts” and learners become passive imbibers of knowledge. Such a mode of teaching and learning would
be inconsistent with any educational paradigm that seeks to be transformative and empowering, such as
ESD, peace education and related initiatives.
Alternatively a dialogical strategy however cultivates a more horizontal teacher-learner relationship in
which both dialogically educate and learn from each other. In this regard, the community of transformative
educators tends to rely on creative and participatory teaching-learning strategies. This mode of learning does
not seek to “indoctrinate” and ensures that learners are exposed to a range of alternative perspectives on a
problem. It also encourages learners to talk about their realities, experiences, understandings, biases,
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commitments, hopes, despairs and dreams. For example, a TV talk show format could be used in which
small groups of students represent the views of a corporation, local elites, police or military personnel,
villagers, and an NGO or CSO to discuss a conflict over an economic development project that is having
an impact on the sustainability of the local environment. This simulation is then followed by a process of
critical debriefing and analysis, with the educator sharing further knowledge and details of the various
perspectives. In this way, learners are able to appreciate that there are various paradigms in
environmentalism and sustainable development (Pepper, 1996).
The learning process thus simultaneously surfaces the level of awareness and personal commitment of
learners, as well as offer possibilities for dialogue within a “learning community.” In dialogue, the essential
process of cultivating peace, as earlier discussed, is facilitated, so that, for example, learners as “consumers”
are encouraged to self-reflect on their own ‘moral consciousness” and ethics in making consumer choices
(McGregor, 2006).
In many societies, curriculum in formal educational systems tends to be purely academic and most often
irrelevant to local, social, economic, and cultural realities. Education as dialogue should entail much closer
linkages between learning institutions, the wider community and other living faiths and spirituality. If
possible, representatives from the community and wider society can be invited to share their views and
experiences. Learners can then be challenged to see how their more “abstract” academic knowledge can be
applied to community problems. They could gain from exposure to traditional or folk wisdom in coping
with daily problems. Learners should develop the humility to appreciate that people who may not hold any
formal credentials also possess knowledge that may be valuable and relevant to people-centred social
development and human survival.
Values Formation
Education for a peaceful and sustainable global community also emphasizes the crucial role of values
formation through its pedagogical processes (Toh & Cawagas, 1991). Recognizing that all knowledge is
never free of values, the peace or ESD educator constantly encourages learners to surface innermost values
that shape their understanding of realities and their actions in the world. Peace education and ESD needs to
be very explicit about their preferred values, such as compassion, justice, equity, gender-fairness, caring for
life, sharing, reconciliation, integrity, sustainability, hope and active nonviolence. A strong indicator of
peaceful pedagogy is that it stirs hopefulness, a faith that ordinary peoples can exercise patience,
commitment, and courage in transforming their realities without falling into despair and a sense of
powerlessness.
Finally, those educating for a culture of peace as well as ESD have to draw upon their inner strengths and
convictions, which in turn are nurtured by a willingness to continually contemplate on personal values and
motivations. Why are we educating for peace and sustainability? How can we educate and work for a
peaceful and sustainable world without being unpeaceful in our thoughts and practices? In the Asia-Pacific
region, diverse civilizations and cultures have, for thousands of years, emphasized the essential role of
cultivating values or virtues through education. As earlier noted, in reference to inter-faith dialogue, there is
a growing consensus among the world’s faiths and spirituality traditions that their core beliefs are infused
with many common values and virtues such as nonviolence, justice, compassion, love, mercy, forgiveness,
honesty, kindness, humility, generosity, courage, and patience. ESD in the region therefore can draw deeply
in the essence of the various faiths and civilizations to help learners form or strengthen the values so
essential in the building of a sustainable and peaceful world.
Critical empowerment
Dialogue per se is also limiting if it stops there. As Freire articulated, it needs to promote conscientization or
what may be alternatively called critical empowerment. While dialogical, participatory, and non-banking
pedagogies and methodologies are crucial, they are not sufficient. Thus if ESD or education for a culture of
peace or human rights education and the like are not able to move not only minds but also hearts and spirits
into personal and social action for peace building, it will remain largely “academic.”
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In short, educating for critical empowerment need to help learners go beyond describing symptoms of
conflicts and violence in their immediate contexts. It challenges learners to engage in a personal struggle
to develop a critical consciousness that actively seeks to transform prevailing realities of violence,
injustice and unsustainability toward a culture of nonviolence, justice and sustainability. One helpful
pedagogical tool in this process of critical empowerment is to expose learners to inspiring role models of
peoples and grassroots communities courageously and patiently building sustainable futures, such as the
famous Chipko campaign among tribal Indians to save their forests and hence their social, economic and
cultural survival, as well as other nonviolent actions taken by global and local environmental NGOs and
communities to protect biodiversity, defend rights to basic resources such as water; protesting
displacement by dams (e.g Narmada in India) and challenging ecological destruction. From the rolemodelling
of human rights in their own school institution to advocating for release of political prisoners,
abolition of the death penalty and improved rights of marginalized sectors, students will hopefully
embrace a culture of human rights which in turn positively contributes to sustainability and a culture of
peace.
Care, however, needs to be also taken in ESD or related educational initiative to go beyond “action” that
does not address the root causes of unsustainability and violence. For example, in formal educational
systems, environmental education has often become a regular theme in school curricula and pedagogy.
While educating children to join in building a more environmentally friendly school and society (e.g.,
recycle, reuse, reduce, protecting endangered species) are positive steps forward, the students also need to
be challenged here to dig deep into the roots of the crisis., such as questioning unsustainable development
and exploring voluntary simplicity in lifestyle choices. Raising funds to ‘adopt” a poor child based on an
attitude of “pity” need to be contrasted with the alternative of solidarity assistance for specific community
projects.
For those suffering in marginalized sectors of society, empowerment is a process of awakening to the roots
of the structural violence and lack of sustainability in their daily lives. As apathy and hopelessness are
replaced by self-confidence and hope, the poor themselves begin to struggle actively for changes to bring
about justice and sustainable futures. For the elite sectors of society, critical empowerment involves a
transformation that requires a commitment to personal and social action for a sustainable and just
personhood and world order (Gaspar, 2005).
Concluding Remark
Hopefully, this exploration of the existing and potential linkages between ESD and education for a culture
of peace has revealed some key complementarities and synergies between the two initiatives. Both share a
common vision for a world that is nonviolent, just, and sustainable and respects all human rights for all
peoples. Both have clear expectations on the need for individuals to go through a process of critical
education that empowers them to engage in personal transformation as much as systematic societal and
structural changes. However, a number of relevant contributions that education for a culture of peace can
help to enrich a holistic paradigm of ESD have also been suggested, while ESD, by bringing sustainability
to the foreground, challenges all the other multiple dimensions of a culture of peace to demonstrate their
interconnectedness with the values, principles and strategies of building sustainable futures. As the
Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki and his co-author Amada McConnell (1997) remind us,
…there is a joy in the companionship of others working to make a difference for future
generations, and there is hope. Each of us has the ability to act powerfully for change;
together we can regain the ancient and sustaining harmony, in which human needs and
the needs of all our companions on the planet are held in balance with the sacred, selfemerging
process of Earth.
___________________________________________
Professor Toh Swee-Hin (S.H.Toh) is the founding Director of the Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University, Brisbane,
Australia. He has taught in universities in Australia and Canada, and contributed to the development of education for a
culture of peace as a UNESCO consultant and in various North and South contexts, notably in the Philippines, as well
as in the establishment and teacher training and research programs of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education
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for International Understanding (APCEIU) and serves as a member of its Advisory Committee. In 2000, he was
awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education.
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Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Understanding
within ESD Social and Cultural Perspectives Of ESD
1 Introduction
Joy de Leo
President UNESCO APNIEVE Australia
This paper seeks to concisely summarise how the social and cultural perspectives of Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD) may be addressed in the Asia Pacific region, specifically in relation to
intercultural understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity, bearing in mind the objectives of the
Experts meeting:
1. to identify and conceptualize the content areas for ESD;
2. to discuss the relationship of ESD with other education initiatives such as Environmental Education (EE,
EIU, EFA, UNLD and MDGs);
3. to recommend guidelines for reorienting existing education to address sustainable development, and
4. to plan the organization of the APEID-APCEIU workshop on "Reorienting Teacher Education to Address
Sustainability" in September 2006.
2 Content areas for ESD
According to the Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting Teacher Education to
address Sustainability, prepared by the UNESCO Chair, York University Toronto, ESD is more than
acquiring knowledge and understanding issues, it is also about developing skills, values and perspectives.
This suggests then that any reorientation of teacher education needs to identify what teachers, and ultimately
their students, need:
• to know and understand;
• to do (skills and competencies), and to
• develop processes for exploring meaning, to clarify their own and other’s identity, socio-cultural
and religious perspectives and world views, through values identification and development (ie
learning to be), in order to
• learn how to live together equitably, peacefully and sustainably.
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UNESCO Four Pillars
The UNESCO four pillars for learning, drawn from the UNESCO Report on Education for the 21 st century,
chaired by Jacques Delors, although published over ten years ago, provide an effective and relevant
framework for ESD, that is easy to use and to apply flexibly in any context, namely:
Learning to Know, to Do, to Be and to Live Together
The framework presented by the four pillars has not yet been fully explored nor implemented and should not
be discarded due to its simplicity nor for the time that has elapsed since it was published. In fact, I would
argue that its merit lies precisely in its simplicity, especially when dealing with the challenging task of
integrating the complex and inter related multiplicity of issues to be addressed by ESD.
We should also avoid re inventing the wheel, or creating new frameworks that are incompatible with what is
already being implemented by stressed teachers working with an overcrowded curriculum. We should
instead assist educators to streamline and integrate ESD content within existing curriculum reform strategies
addressing global issues, with particular relevance and application to the local context.
A reorientation of education should therefore not seek to transform education, which is larger than the task
at hand, but rather to reform it consistent with other parallel efforts. Of the three stages:
1 Education about sustainability (awareness)
2 Education for sustainable development (reform) and
3 Education as sustainable development (transformation),
we are advised to aim for stage two.
While this is slower, incremental reform steps are more achievable in terms of resources, more enduring and
sustainable, before we are ready to implement transformative approaches.
In determining the content areas for ESD it is recommended that the Meeting on ESD in Thailand develop a
matrix which identifies the content and issues for each of the ESD thematic areas, but which also identifies
the values, perspectives and skills to be developed (see figure XX on Page XX).
3 Teaching- Learning processes for ESD
In addition to identifying the content areas for ESD, a reorientation of education to address sustainability
also needs to identify the processes for teaching and learning that are most conducive to an integrated
approach to ESD.
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The APNIEVE teaching-learning process, developed by Dr Lourdes Quisumbing is a particularly
appropriate model for addressing this, both because it integrates values into learning approaches, but also
because it works very well with the four pillars and the Toronto Guidelines as illustrated below:
Toronto Guidelines 4 Pillars Framework Process
Knowledge and issues Learning to know Knowing
(Cognitive & Conceptual)
Understanding
Values, perspectives Learning to be & to live together Understanding
(Affective/Socio-cultural/Spiritual)
Valuing
Skills Learning to do Action
(Practical/Kinesthetic)
As with any recommended framework, content or process for teachers however, it is important not to be
prescriptive but to offer a guide for adaptation to any socio-cultural context. The process would therefore
need to be adapted flexibly given that learning styles, needs and emphases are different across cultures and
indeed for every individual. The objective then is to cater for all learning styles to ensure that learning is
effective and accessible to all.
4 Values for ESD
A reorientation of education to address ESD that is accessible must then reflect the very values and
principles that are implied by sustainability (eg equity, cultural inclusivity and cultural appropriateness to
name a few) and that are implied in numerous UN documents and UNESCO initiatives, in particular those
that are of relevance to ESD (ie EE, EIU, EFA, UNLD, MDGs & UDHR etc).
The values related to each of the thematic areas would need to be identified and listed in the matrix
mentioned earlier (see figure XX on Page XX), however it is likely that many of these values will overlap,
leading to a synthesized list.
Some of the universal values related to Intercultural understanding and cultural diversity are:
Appreciation of Diversity
Mutual Respect, Tolerance, Acceptance, Understanding
Human Dignity, Individual Worth
Equality, Equity, Justice, Fairness, Equanimity
Peace, Harmony, Social cohesion, Non Violence
Care and Concern for others, Compassion,
Inclusion, Sharing, Collective well being
Truth, Reconciliation, Forgiveness
Strengthening Cultural identity, language and heritage
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The integration of values in education presents a number of problematic issues and questions such as
“whose values are to be taught?” and “how are we to teach them?”
Since values are more “caught than taught” then an emphasis on the development of the teacher’s awareness
of the values reflected in their attitudes, speech, actions and behaviours is essential, in addition to whole
school alignment with the values agreed by the school community. The process of identifying shared values
would then draw in the entire community to the ESD discussion, resulting in effective, albeit informal,
whole community learning.
The approach to values in ESD needs to be addressed sensitively to incorporate the universal values implied
in relevant documents, while respecting the context-specific cultural and/or religious values, provided these
are not contrary to human rights. Striking a balance between universality and cultural relativity should not
however compromise human rights nor the principles of ESD.
In many cases, differences in values between cultures lay in the relative emphases, priority and importance
given to some values over others. In cases where considerable differences in values do exist, the most
constructive perspectives to be highlighted are those of complementarity and the beneficial synergies to be
obtained from the richness of human diversity, mutual learning through sharing and exchange and unity
through diversity.
The process of values learning would ideally be designed to draw from the learner the universal values
inherent to the human spirit, with local cultural variations of emphasis.
For this reason, the spiritual development of the learner, whether in a religious or secular context, is integral
to the development of a set of values, perspectives and a world view which embraces the principles of
sustainability, peace and human rights.
5 Social and Cultural Perspectives of ESD
I will briefly list here some of the social and cultural perspectives related to ESD, so that the areas of
overlap may be clearly seen, highlighting the need for a synthesis to occur as part of the meeting in
Thailand.
Social Perspectives:
Human Rights and dignity
Equity, equality, equal opportunity
Social and economic Justice
Social inclusion and acceptance
Democratic participation and community-based decision making
Civil society and citizenship rights and responsibilities
Social cohesion, mutual respect and understanding
Appropriate support, self-empowerment and positive discrimination for the disadvantaged
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Non discrimination on grounds of socio-economic status and/or gender
Cultural Perspectives relating to intercultural understanding and cultural diversity:
Equity, equal opportunity, equal access (gender, rural & marginalised)
Structure of power relationships –gender, indigenous, refugees, youth, social status
Human rights – including cultural & linguistic rights (indigenous peoples, refugees)
Social and Cultural Inclusion – participation in all areas of life (youth)
Diversity – Respect for diversity and sharing commonalities, Unity in Diversity - universal values balanced
with cultural, traditional and spiritual values.
Unity in Diversity - universal values of cultures & spiritual traditions
Universality vs relativity – human rights issues
Productive Diversity – diversity as a socio-economic benefit, sharing & learning from each other,
productive synergies
Mutual Respect for cultural identity, language, faith, heritage
Tolerance acceptance of diverse cultures, languages, faith, spiritual traditions
Peace, inner/outer, harmony – conflict resolution, mediation
Reconciliation, forgiveness, healing
Indigenous issues – linguistic, cultural, spiritual, land rights, traditional law & lifestyle, Traditional
knowledge (knowledge appropriation), living in harmony with the land
Individualism vs Collectivism sharing cultures/dominating cultures
Countering Racism, discrimination, xenophobia
In a nutshell, the reorientation of education for ESD would need to incorporate knowledge, understanding
and respect for self, others and for all life, reflected in decisions, actions and behaviours.
6 Integrated Framework for Reorienting Education to address ESD
As mentioned earlier, it is recommended that a draft matrix be developed in Thailand incorporating the
knowledge, skills, values and the desired learning outcomes of a framework for ESD in the Asia Pacific,
accompanied by the processes and methodologies for doing so.
Thematic areas Knowledge &
Understanding
Skills and
competencies
Values &
Perspectives
Learning
Outcomes
A draft Matrix for reorienting education to ESD.
7 Statement of Principles for reorienting education to ESD with specific reference to
cultural understanding and cultural diversity
I have here listed some draft principles for underpinning the reorienting of education towards ESD for a
culturally sensitive and culturally inclusive approach, insofar as they relate to intercultural education,
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cultural diversity and indigenous peoples.
Cultural Inclusive Principles for Intercultural Education
All learners benefit from appreciating and understanding cultural diversity
Develop the knowledge, concepts, values and skills that enable learners to participate effectively at local,
national and international levels.
Promotes, values and uses the cultural and linguistic diversity of the learner in the classroom.
Includes and values a range of knowledge, experiences and view points of a culturally plural society.
Provides students with accurate information of the history, lives and cultures of indigenous and other
peoples.
Values and includes the cultural and linguistic knowledge and skills of learners in the learning process.
Promotes a human rights and human relations approach for countering racism and discrimination.
Allows learners to recognise, acknowledge and engage in diverse learning experiences.
A culturally inclusive approach to ESD requires:
A whole-organization approach which encompasses the curriculum content, teaching practices, learning
environment, organisational processes and ethos.
A learner-focussed approach valuing the cultural/linguistic background and experience of learners.
Democratic processes in teaching/learning, and supportive teaching and learning environments that model
democracy in action.
An integrative curriculum approach
Promotion of language learning
A conflict-sensitive curriculum that addresses socio-historical issues to understand causes of injustice and
how these may be resolved.
Culturally appropriate Indigenous Education
Teachers use relevant and effective, culturally-appropriate methods of teaching.
Learning strategies acknowledge and accommodate different learning styles of all learners.
Students learn directly from Indigenous people or use resources developed by or in consultation with
Indigenous people.
Learners are provided with opportunities to actively develop understanding, skills, knowledge and empathy.
Develop skills in critical analysis to understand the structure of power and injustice
Awareness of racism and discrimination and strategies for countering racism
Learning involves Indigenous peoples’ stories and view points.
A supportive learning environment that includes affective, cognitive, practical/functional and aesthetic
dimensions and is relevant to the learners.
Involves parents and communities, by increasing their involvement in the children’s learning.
Educators become central figures who care, understand, guide and motivate learners.
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Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
Incorporate indigenous perspectives across the curriculum and in learning activities
Foster understanding and work together for a shared future in which all peoples are treated with respect and
dignity
Consult local indigenous communities, elders and custodians of the land
Celebrate, value and learn from and about indigenous peoples, histories, cultures, languages, achievements,
issues past/present, in places of significance if possible and with cultural instructors
Positive interactions between students, teachers, parents and community
Strive for equitable access to education and learning outcomes
Use culturally appropriate strategies for indigenous learners
Consult elders and use indigenous approved teaching resources
Value human rights, counter stereotyping and racism
Students learn about and participate actively in Reconciliation, healing and forgiveness with indigenous
and/or marginalised peoples.
References
Delors, Jacques. Learning: The Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on
Education for the Twenty-first Century. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1996
Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability,
UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability, York University,
Toronto and the International Network of Teacher-Education Institutions, UNESCO October 2005
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Re-orienting Teacher Education for
Socially Sustainable Development
Chan Lean heng, PhD
Popular Educator & Associate Professor
School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Introduction
No society can sustain ably, nor can its members live in dignity and peace, if there is inequality,
injustice, prejudice or discrimination of any group. Indeed one of the three core pillars of sustainable
development anchors on the creation of a society where there is equity/equality and fairness in all
dimensions of human life sometimes referred as socially sustainable development. This paper explores the
meaning and contexts of socially sustainable development, and how to reorient teacher education to take on
board aspects of social sustainability. Social sustainability is close linked to the social issues that threaten
the peace and harmonious social fabric/cohesion in our society. The social issues to be addressed have to be
locally relevant and culturally appropriate; hence they will vary according to the geo-politics of the
respective regions and countries. However we do know that there are certain fundamental social issues like
issues of equity and justice, which cut across all countries, at all levels and with all groups.
Part one examines the meanings and discourse of sustainable development to situate the concept of
socially sustainable development. The meaning, relationship and interdependence of socially sustainable
development, sustainable human development and gender inequity/inequality are explored in part two. This
is followed in part three where gender equity is examined as a case in point to illustrate why it is necessary
and important to address gender inequity/inequality, and in general, the dimensions of social sustainability
to achieve sustainable development, and the subsequent implications arising for teacher education. The
fourth and final section identifies and discusses two sets of proposals for reorienting teacher education to
address sustainability.
Sustainable Development
Over the past decade, sustainable development has become a global concern. The term was first
mooted by Barbara Ward, the founder of the International Institute for Environment and Development in
the mid 1970s (Holmberg 1992). Sustainability was also promoted in the World Conservation Strategy in
1980, which stressed the interdependence of conservation and development (IUCN, 1980). However, it
was not until 1987, after the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,
commonly called the Bruntland Report, that sustainable development gained world attention. The
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Bruntland report defined sustainable development as; “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987). In other
words, development is essential to satisfy human needs and improve the quality of human life. At the
same time, development must be based on the efficient and environmentally responsible use and
preservation of all of society’s scarce resources – natural/physical and human - economic, socially and
politically as well as the protection of the cosmos which embraces the continuity of all species.
From one pillar to three-pillar or multi-pillars
Since its conception, various attempts have been made to find a more precise, operational
definition of sustainable development. Sustainable development as originally conceptualized, was related
to harmonious economic growth, environmental protection and resource conservation. The various
formulations of its meaning/s have evolved from what is termed as the one-pillar model to three-pillar or
multi-pillar models (Littig & GrieBler 2005). The one pillar model is an ecological definition of
sustainable development which gives priority to environmental concerns, emphasising the overall
performance or health of ecological systems. Based on this definition, sustainable development is about
preserving the ecological systems and resources necessary for economic and social life. The environment
or planet earth is regarded as the important pre-requisite for meeting the future needs of humanity. In this
definition the problematic association of sustainable development to concepts of social justice and
equality is neglected.
Today, a further elaboration of the term sustainability is undertaken by many people who argue
that the environmental aspect, though a necessary condition is not an adequate prerequisite for a humane
and fully sustainable society (Georgopoulos, 2002). Some scholars contend that poverty alleviation,
justice, solidarity, attainment of peace, population stabilization, women’s empowerment and
empowerment of all marginalized vulnerable groups, employment that allows for the creation of decent
livelihoods, human rights observance and equitable distribution of income, equitable access to
opportunities, resources and social services within and between nations, etc. should be integrated into the
notion and practice of sustainable development. Indeed sustainable development also requires an ethos of
equity, fairness and compassion (Cairness 2001). These dimensions are examples of criteria that give an
indication of the ‘desired direction of processes, rather than the final state’ (Sachs 1999) as sustainable
development has to be locally relevant and culturally appropriate. Sustainable development therefore
addresses virtually the entire process by which societies manage the material conditions of their
production, reproduction and consumption (adapted from Becker et.al 1997), including the economic,
social, political and cultural principles that guide the distribution of these and the environmental
resources.
Put simply, sustainability requires the ecological imperative to stay within the carrying capacity
of the planet, the economic imperative to provide an adequate and fair standard of living for all, and the
social-cultural-political imperative to develop forms of governance and institutions that promote values,
practices and relationships that can sustain everyone’s livelihood fairly. This debate gives rise to the socalled
‘multi-pillar model’, where sustainable development embraces ecological, economic and social
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goals. This is based on the belief that human needs cannot be sufficiently met through an ecologically
sound and healthy environment alone. A society that is committed to sustainability has to take care of the
equally important and legitimate economic, social, cultural and political rights, needs and responsibilities
of its members as well. Indeed these very conditions and values are resources that need to be increased
and preserved for future generations.
These dimensions - environment, economy and society (with culture as the underlying, crosscutting
base) are now referred by UNESCO as the three pillars of sustainable development (UNCED
1992). However, in reality there has been unequal attention or treatment of these three pillars. Neither are
the links and inter-relationships of these pillars sufficiently mapped out. In fact much of the discourse on
sustainable development has centered mainly on the environment and economy, neglecting the cultural,
spiritual, political-institutional and social dimensions in society. They have generally received far less
attention than the economic and environment/ecological dimensions even though sustainable
development is so closely linked with and integral to the quality of life and well being of present and
future generations. What then is the role of social, cultural and political features in sustainable
development? This brings us to the topic of this paper: socially sustainable development.
Socially Sustainable Development, Sustainable Human Development and Gender
Equity/Equality
Socially sustainable development
What is socially sustainable development? How does it relate to sustainable development? How
can it be recognized? What are its indicators? How can aspects of social sustainability be attained or
addressed in the field of education, specifically through teacher education?
Sustainability addresses the question of how societies can shape their modes of existence, change
and continuity in ways that ensure conditions that can support the continuity of life of present and future
generations, preserving and making all that is good last. From this point of view the component of
sustainable development under the pillar of ‘society’ refers to the viability of socially, culturally and
politically shaped practices, relations and relationships amongst people in society - within and between
nations; and between society and nature over time. This is what is often regarded as socially sustainable
development by various people (for example, Sachs 1999, Koning 2001, Thin, Lockhart & Yaron 2002,
Littig & Briebker 2005). Dimensions of social sustainability are related to the various social, cultural and
political aspects of life, to the issues that threaten the continuity of people’s lives, which affect the continued
betterment of our society, from intra-generation to inter-generation to inter-species, within and between
nations. These issues range from those that affect the security and dignity of individuals at the intra and
inter-personal levels to more systemic problems of poverty, injustice, inequity and armed conflict that affect
not only the conditions and position of specific social groups but whole nations and whole regions in the
world, including the issues that affect our economy and eco-systems directly. These issues are diverse and
complex and have been defined in different ways and emphasized differently by different people. However
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the constituents of socially sustainable development whether they are regarded as themes/issues, goals,
indicators or values have emerged clearly in the literature.
Koning (2001) defines social sustainability as a society that is just and with a decent livelihood
for all, where there is no exclusion of social groups - a society characterised by emancipation, freedom
and solidarity. Thin, Lockhart and Yaron (2002) highlight four themes necessary for socially sustainable
development, namely, social justice (to achieve equal opportunity and human rights for all now and in the
future), solidarity (to generate empathy and co-operation between different groups of people),
participation (to build opportunities for everyone to play a meaningful part in development and governance
t improve their quality of life) and security (to create livelihood security and safety from physical and
environmental threats). These four areas are adopted by United Kingdom’s Department for International
Development as the cornerstones of a socially inclusive society (DFID-UK 2002). Khan (1995) draws our
attention to the socially equitable quality of life and highlights gender as the basis of many inequities.
Becker, Jahn, Steiss & Wehling (1997) have identified indicators that even consider access to information
(including education and mass media), connectedness, physical, psychological and reproductive health,
access to life sustaining activities (nutrition, housing, employment, access to land and resources), and
safety in and out of home. The intergenerational dimension via the transfer of assets and/or skills, and
land and knowledge from parents to children and from generation to generation as a whole is emphasized by
Chambers and Conway (1992).
In the words of DFID-UK social sustainability “reflects people’s entitlements, especially the
aspirations of the poor and powerless” (DFID-UK website). It is about minimizing exclusion and
maximizing equity. This refers to all aspects that ensure a socially just and equitable quality of life,
grounded on conscious and responsible individual and collective agency, which enables access to all life
sustaining activities. This will include a fair and equitable access to rights and distribution/redistribution of
essential resources and power, fairly applied laws and regulations, the guaranteed opportunity for everyone
to contribute to the pursuit of meeting human practical and strategic needs, improving the human condition,
and the full realization of human potentials for everyone in safe and healthy environments, and to a fair
return to their labor and/or capital.
As such, social sustainability is both a means and an end, with analytical/political and normative
dimensions (Littig & GrieBler 2005). It is an end in itself as something, like a socially just or a socially
inclusive society to be attained. On the other hand it is a means - by operationalising these aims into
indicators that can be measured as a condition to be accomplished and sustained for future generations it
(Koning 2001). The analytical aspects refer to the goals that include sustainable social processes and
sustainable social relations that shape a society’s relationship among its members and with nature and the
entire cosmos. In this respect, how society regulate and change these processes so as to ensure the chances
for sustainable development for present and future generations have to be monitored. The normative aspect
of social sustainability refers to the standards/conditions on how society ought to develop and what ideals
should development strive for? Thus it is necessary to recognise that the importance of delineating and
struggling for social rights and values like justice, equity, participation, and equal opportunities essential for
socially sustainable development are also legitimate in themselves, and not because of their positive effect
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for sustainable development. Anand and Sen (1995) assert that socially sustainable development is above
all, based on sustainable human development. To attain socially sustainable development we must at the
same time understand and work towards sustainable human development.
Sustainable Human Development
Socially sustainable development is based on and integral to sustainable human development. What
then is sustainable human development and how does it relate with and contribute to the understanding and
formulation of socially sustainable development?
Sustainable human development is concerned with the whole development of human society, not
only the economic aspects. It addresses the social dimensions as the most important element, and views
productive (materialistic) efforts as one of the means for achieving this. Sustainable human development
views human life in its varied, multi-facets. The non-economic dimensions are equally important. However
it does not reduce the importance of economic development, but rather places it within a new paradigm
where economics must serve humanity, not vice versa.
The International Human Development Report of 1995 (UNDP 1995) has identified four main
constituents in sustainable human development. The first component is productivity of human capacities -
not just economic productivity but human ability to carry out productive, life sustaining and creative
activities that extend beyond the economic sphere. The second component is equality, which are equal
opportunities available to each individual in society without any obstacles or discrimination, regardless of
creed, sex, ethnicity or income level or other defining characteristics. With these inclusive forms of equality
and non-discrimination, social justice will also be attained. Sustainability is the third component. This will
require that there is no damage inflicted on present or future generations whether as a result of the depletion
of natural resources and polluting the environment or as a result of public debts, the burden of which is
borne by future generations, or because of negligence in developing human resources, creating difficult
future conditions as a result of present choices and consumption patterns. Empowerment is the fourth
component. This refers to people’s active participation and contribution. All members of society, not just the
elites or politicians should participate in decision making and public affairs as development can only be
achieved by and through people, and not for or on behalf of them. People are not merely passive
beneficiaries, but are active agents instead.
In this respect, sustainable human development is about developing people’s capacities and human
agency, and not maximizing material benefit or (unequal) economic growth only. The objective is not only
to increase production, productivity or material well-being only but rather to raise the social cultural
standards of all human beings, enabling them to live a fuller life, to realise their potentials and expand the
range of their capabilities to do more, to live a better, healthier and more secure life, to avoid curable
diseases, have protection from crime and all forms of violence, better access to knowledge, rest hours,
political and cultural freedoms, creation of an environment that permits people to enjoy a long, healthy,
sustainable and creative life, in harmony with, and preserving and protecting the eco-system. Sustainable
human development is not only about material well-being. Neither is it about privileged individuals’
betterment only. Special attention has to be given to the distribution and redistribution of benefits, and to the
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consequential social-political and environmental effects. Development that is achieved at the expense of
poorer groups, or that which enriches or discriminates certain segments of society at the expense of others,
or that which destroys the environment, abuses freedoms, violation of entitlements and affects social and
political balances is antithesis to sustainable human development. This is where and how the goals and
criteria of socially sustainable development and sustainable human development converge.
Central to socially sustainable development and sustainable human development are guiding values
like compassion, care, respecting differences, fairness and, equity. They are important not only for present
and future generations of the human species but for the biosphere and other species of the planet’s
ecological system. Underlying sustainable human development is the development of people’s capabilities
and values, critical consciousness and agency, which address the ability/ies to effect social cultural and
political change as much as the ability to transform and transcend existing unequal economic growth.
Sustainable human development therefore is both a means to and the goal of socially sustainable
development. Sustainable human development emphasizes issues of basic needs and equity while raising the
issue of whether there is any reason to pass these on to the next generation, while socially sustainable
development emphasizes the need to address distributional equity and justice.
Although socially sustainable development and sustainable human development have relevance of
their own, it is necessary to situate their attainment in the context of current and emergent processes of
globalization and unequal progress in an unequal world. These very patterns of uneven development have
also generated and even exacerbated immense problems in the environment, economy and society. While
the material standard of living in most industrialised countries and a few developing nations have been
raised the majority of the world’s population continue to live in abject conditions of poverty, social
exclusion, discrimination and marginalisation. Even where there is growth, the poor have become
increasingly disadvantaged because inequality has risen dramatically within and between countries dividing
those who are able to benefit and those who do not. Conditions of the poor continue to be worsened with the
hiv/aids pandemic and other life-threatening diseases. New risks and new uncertainties create new waves of
impoverishment accompanied by environmental degradation of marginal lands where many of the poor are
struggling to survive. At the same time it is necessary to note that men and women do not experience these
issues and challenges in the same way. Globalisation of the economy has also contributed further to
deepening the feminization of poverty and acerbated the gaps between men and women even amongst the
poor. If we do not take into account these gender differences and the differential power implications arising
from these differences in the assessment of solutions and challenges for sustainable development we are
ignoring women’s realities and disregarding their knowledge and capabilities.
Indeed the current paradigm of uneven development in a globalising unequal world that perpetuate
today’s inequities are neither sustainable nor worth sustaining. These inequities exist not only in economic
terms. They are reflected in all arenas of human life, within and between generations and between species.
Racism, sexism, discrimination arising from sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion/faith, social status,
gender, etc are some of the visible indicators of social inequity. No society can sustain ably if there is
discrimination or prejudice of any group. Amongst these groups, women, more often than men experience
systematic discrimination at all levels and encounter all forms of inequity and inequality all the time.
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Contemporary economic, political and cultural systems continue to produce and perpetuate social
inequities/inequalities. While all forms of equities 1 are essential for a sustainable human society, socially
sustainable development and ultimately sustainable development, the critical importance of gender equity
has been underscored by many (Anand & Sen 1995). Gender as the basis of many inequities has also been
widely established (Khan 1995, Gender and Development Group, World Bank 2003). Indeed gender equity
has been referred as the crux of a sustainable human development, the heart of justice and sustainability
(Hirpa 2005). Socially sustainable development is fundamentally linked to gender equity. It is this very
reason that I now hone in on a discussion of gender inequity/inequality and the need for a gender
perspective in sustainable development as an entry point to understand, address and to attain socially
sustainable development.
Gender Equity – the heart of justice and sustainability
What is gender equity/equality and how is it related to socially sustainable development and
sustainable development? I will begin by explaining the meaning of gender, gender equity and gender
equality before elaborating on why gender equity/equality is fundamental for socially sustainable
development.
Gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with
being male or female by society. It applies to both women and men, as well as to their relations with one
another and to their environment. The way women and men share resources, make decisions about their
livelihoods, and plan for the future of their children, family, community and society at large are all issues
pertaining to gender. Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. It refers to treating men
and women differently, or the same when appropriate, to achieve outcomes that satisfy the needs of both. To
ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and
social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity
leads to equality. Gender equality means that women and men enjoy the same status and are in the same
position to access resources and opportunities. Gender equality means that men and women have equal
conditions for realizing their full human right and potential to contribute to national political, economic,
social and cultural development, and to benefit from the results. It is the equal valuing by society of both the
similarities and differences between women and men and the varying roles they play. Where gender
inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making
and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the
empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women
1 According to Daily (1996) equity is essentially a measure of the relative similarity among individuals or
groups in opportunity to enjoy socio-political rights, material resources, technologies, health, education
and other ingredients of human well-being. Essentially it focuses on basic fairness of both the processes
and outcomes of decision making in all facets of society. An even broader approach to equity involves the
concept of fairness for non-human forms of life and even inanimate nature. Humans have the responsibility
of prudent stewardship over nature and the whole cosmos. It goes beyond mere rights of usage to
conscious and responsible preservation and protection.
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more autonomy to manage their own lives.
About two thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are female. More women than men live in
poverty. Economic disparities persist partly because much of the unpaid work within families and
communities falls on women. Women’s disproportionately higher share of domestic responsibilities restrains
their opportunities for training and development. Regardless of their occupations, women with the same
qualifications normally earn less than men for work of equal value. Social and legal institutions still do not
guarantee women equality in basic legal and human rights, access to or own land or other resources, inherit
property, in earning and employment and social and political participation. Laws that potentially threaten
the well-being of women like sexual and domestic violence are exceptionally difficult to be introduced not
to talk of enforcement.
Poverty traps women in multiple layers of discrimination and hinders their ability to claim their
rights and entitlements, widening and deepening the existing inequities and inequalities. Poor women find it
even more difficult to obtain access to credit and schooling and earn an income. Globalisation has furhter
widened the gap, with women losing more than their share of jobs, benefits and labour rights. Women
continue to be grossly under-represented in positions of power and decision-making because of obstacles
such as illiteracy, poverty and limited access to education, patriarchal attitudes and the dual burden of
domestic and paid work. They continue to face intolerable levels of violence at all stage of their lives, in
both private and public spheres. Prevalence of cultural attitudes and practices that promote the low value
and disrespect of girls further deter women’s advancement and well-being. Indeed women’s issues are issues
of poverty, inequality and social injustice.
The poverty and discrimination of women and the subsequent gender inequities/inequalities are
deeply entrenched in all societies, in all facets of live and are reproduced through a variety of practices and
institutions. These issues affect the stability of society. Unless addressed the sustainability of our society
will be affected. As illustrated above, the need for gender equity/equality cuts across all aspects of human
life and is essential for sustainable development. Gutierrez (2006:2) described gender equity as “the door
that opens wide the way toward new possibilities for justice and peace at all levels”. I will demarcate below
five main reasons why gender equity/equality is fundamental to socially sustainable development,
concluding with some ideas as to why gender equity/equality is an essential building block in sustainable
development.
Gender inequity/inequality is social injustice and is a pervasive global issue
Almost 75 % of the world’s poor are women. The disproportionate number of women suffering
calls for a concerted effort and strategy to achieve justice and fairness in economic and social development
to equalize the benefits to both women and men. Women and girls throughout the world have higher rates of
illness and less education than men and boys. Infant girls are known to have much higher mortality rates
worldwide. Though women hold fewer jobs, they are often singly responsible for providing for their
families. They have far less representation in governance and government. They are excluded from
ownership of property and the inheritance of wealth, and face far more discrimination in employment and
wages. Discrimination based on gender creates persistent inequality between women and men in all aspects
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of life, exacerbating the vulnerability and insecurity of women and girls and of whole nations across the
globe. Reduction of gender inequalities has a strong contribution to make to social justice and to sustainbale
development.
Gender inequity/inequality is caused by and results in other inequalities and social problems that are
not sustainable
Research from around the world has shown that gender inequality tends to slow economic growth
and make the move from poverty more difficult. Discrimination against women and girls (including gender
based violence, economic discrimination, reproductive health inequities and harmful trade practices)
remains the most pervasive and persistent form of discrimination arising from inequality. The impact of
sexism and patriarchy has adverse impact on women’s subjectivities and agency. Discrimination based on
gender creates persistent inequality between women and men in all aspects of life, acerbating the insecurity
and vulnerability of women and girls. Feminsation of poverty has further increased new forms of violence,
such as forced prostituion and trafficking. Unequal power relations and participation in decision making
between women and men are among the structural causes of social and political instability that often lead to
poverty.
Gender equity/equality is part and parcel of human rights
Gender equality is, first and foremost, a human right. Women are entitled to live in dignity and in
freedom from want and from fear. Despite many international agreements affirming women’s human rights
women are still much more likely than men to be poor, malnourished, illiterate and excluded. Women
usually have less access than men to medical care, property ownership, credit, training and employment.
They are far less likely than men to hold positions of power or authority and far more likely to be victims of
domestic violence. Women’s equality is undermined by historical imbalances in decision-making power and
access to resources, rights, and entitlements for women. Either by law or by custom, women in many
countries still lack rights to own land and to inherit property, obtain access to credit, attend and stay in
school, earn income and move up in their work, free from job discrimination. Women are still widely underrepresented
in decision-making at all levels, in the household and in the public sphere. The need for
women’s participation in all spheres of society – private and public domains and the recognition of
inequality and discrimination have led to the creation of specific standards for the protection of women’s
rights as human rights. The inequality that exists between men and women reflects the deficit in human
rights. If women, especially poor women are not accorded equal rights as men development can never be
achieved in a sustainable manner.
Gender equality leads to reducing poverty and hunger
Addressing gender inequality is central in the fight against poverty and the arising inequalities and
injustices. “It has been noted that states that fail to promote gender equality between men and women tend
to experience slower economic growth and more persistent poverty. Not only does gender inequality
exacerbate poverty; poverty also exacerbates inequality between males and females” (Gender and
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Development Group, World Bank 2003:7). Empowering women is an indispensable tool for advancing
development and reducing poverty. Research undertaken by the World Bank reports that as the education
level of women increases, so does their children’s enrollment in school, and that women are more likely
than men to use their income to improve the nutrition, health and education of their children. Higher levels
of women’s education are strongly associated with both lower infant mortality and lower fertility, as well as
with higher levels of education and economic opportunity for their children (see Gender and Development,
World Bank Website, 2006). Thus when men and women are relatively equal, economies tend to grow
faster, the poor move more quickly out of poverty and the well being of men, women and children is
fostered.
Gender equality is also key to achieving the other seven goals of Millenium Development Goals.
The importance of gender equality is underscored by its inclusion as one of the eight Millennium
Development Goals that serve as a framework for halving poverty and improving lives. The United Nations
Millennium Declaration has committed its member countries ‘to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women, as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate
development that is truly sustainable” (United Nations 2000). As clarified in the 2005 State of World
Population, gender equality is also the key to achieving the other seven goals. “Without progress towards
gender equality and the empowerment of women, none of the MDGs will be achieved” (GENDERNET,
OECD, 2003). In fact gender issues are highly relevant to achieving all the MDGs, be it attaining
environmental sustainability or enabling universal access to health care, or reducing child mortality.
Because the MDGs are mutually reinforcing, progress in one will affect the other. Thus progress in genxer
equality will help further other MDGs.
Gender equity is an essential building block in socially sustainable development and sustainable
development.
Gender equity as the foundation of the three pillars of sustainable development has been
recognized. It cuts across all aspects of the three pillars of sustainable development, including the
fundamental cultural component. None of the three pillars of sustainable development can be attained
without addressing the fundamental, pervasive and prevailing problem of gender inequity/inequality.
Empowering women and ensuring their education and access to resources contribute to the health and
productivity of whole families and communities and to improved prospects for the next generation.
Despite the fact that much has been published on gender and sustainable development (for
example, Martine 1996, Naiyana 2003) most of the work in education for sustainable development has not
given attention to gender relations or the gendered dimensions in education for sustainable development
though the discourse on gender equity/equality and sustainable development has started (see Gender and
Development Group, World Bank 2002, Hemmati & Gardiner 2002). A gendered perspective as well as a
gender equity/equality perspective is essential to and in education for sustainable development. From the
above discussion on socially sustainable development and gender inequity/inequality I have discerned two
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sets of implications for re-orienting teacher education. The first pertains to ‘how to enable teachers identify
and examine the social issues threatening sustainable development, including their inter-relationships and
effects; and to comprehend the meaning and contexts of socially sustainable development. The second
relates to ‘how to take on board issues of gender inequity/inequality in education for sustainable
development, including the need to build capacity for integrating a gendered perspective and a gender
equality perspective into education for sustainable development. The next section will discuss how to
address these implications for teacher education.
Re-orienting Teacher Education
Two areas for action can be discerned to re-orient teacher education to address sustainability
arising from the implications delineated in the previous section. The first area deals directly with the content
component of what and how to re-orient teacher education for socially sustainable development specifically,
the agenda of mainstreaming gender in education for sustainable development as a strategy to address and
attain socially sustainable development. The second set of recommendations identifies pertinent aspects
relating to intervention in education for sustainable development. Given the constraint of length in this
paper, I will only elaborate on the first set of proposals for reorienting teacher education for socially
sustainable development. The second set of recommendations will only be outlined briefly.
1 Reorienting teacher education for socially sustainable development
To re-orient teacher education to take on board some of the concerns of SSD two sets of
recommendations are appropriate.
(a) Introduce participatory social analysis, popular education and the role of teachers in
transformative development to the curriculum in teacher training
To enable teachers explore issues of socially sustainable development and to understand the
context and scope of socially sustainable development it will be useful to expose teachers to the
methodology of participatory social analysis and popular education together with its wide array of
experiential participatory tools and techniques. The issues of socially sustainable development are many and
diverse. To enable teachers to identify and work through some of the issues that are relevant to and pertinent
to their society it will be useful to incorporate into teacher education the knowledge and practice of
participatory social analysis to enable them to identify and map the inter-relationships of issues threatening
socially sustainable development. Using this methodology, teachers will be able to use participatory tools to
chart the various levels of the contexts of their society and engage through guided participatory activities
and the cycle of learning to deepen, analyse, and through visioning develop appropriate plans of possible
actions. Participatory social analysis and popular education is an awareness-raising process. It is a way of
understanding the society one lives in so as to be able to engage meaningfully to improve and/or change the
situation. This methodology also embraces the use of different types of knowledge and different modes of
learning to incorporate women’s ways and lived experiences of participants.
Teachers are currently a very demoralized community of professionals -overworked, underpaid and
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unappreciated in most countries. The decade of education for sustainable development can be an
opportunity to help revive the morale and roles of teachers by providing a space and context for them to
explore their conditions and situation by linking them to the concerns of sustainability. It will be very
appropriate in particular to introduce ideas and discussions on transformative sustainable development and
its relationship with the roles and contribution of teachers.
(b) Incorporate gender perspectives and capacity building for gender mainstreaming in
education for sustainable development
To develop a gender perspective it will be necessary to include in the curriculum for teacher
education topics on understanding gender and the unequal differential conditions and position of women
and men (including that of teachers), as well as sensitizing and equipping teachers to address gender issues
in the classroom. Again because of constraint in the length of this paper these topics will not be elaborated
here but I refer to two references of mine which will give some ideas on these aspects (Chan L.H. 1998,
2004). There is also lots of other published material on these topics. What I will elaborate at greater length
here will be my proposal on capacity building for gender mainstreaming as a way to introduce a gender
equality perspective into education for sustainable development.
Before delineating what is needed in building capacity for gender mainstreaming let me first explain
the meaning of mainstreaming and the different dimensions of gender mainstreaming (the summary here is
drawn mainly from Corner 1999). Mainstreaming is about changing gender relationships between men and
women in order to achieve more equal sharing of power and responsibility which will benefit both men and
women and society as a whole. It is about promoting the full and equal participation of women in decision
making in all areas and at all levels. It is not only about changes in women's gender roles and capacities.
Mainstreaming also promote and support changes in men's gender roles, attitudes and behaviours as well. It
uses gender analysis to identify the differential access to and impacts on women and men of all concerned
areas. The analysis is then used to devise measures to bring about equal participation and equal benefits for
women and men. To meet women's specific gender needs special programs or/and policies to address the areas
of special needs for women may be needed.
There are three strands in mainstreaming and two approaches to gender mainstreaming. These three
different strands are mainstreaming gender, mainstreaming women and mainstreaming gender and women.
Mainstreaming gender is the more technical aspect associated with gender and development. It is a means of
identifying the different interests, needs and effects of policies, programs etc on women and men through
gender analysis and other forms of analysis. Mainstreaming women and their specific concerns and issues
constitute the more political aspect of mainstreaming. It emphasizes the empowerment of women’s equal
participation, not as beneficiaries or actors in development but as active players in decision-making.
Mainstreaming gender and women link mainstreaming gender and mainstreaming women together,
recognizing that each is equally important and that both are complimentary. Mainstreaming women does not
necessarily involve gender mainstreaming. Women can be just as gender blind to gender differences and their
impact on men, or even on women! Gender mainstreaming could also be carried out with little or no
participation from women. In our present current mainstream, women are under-represented and male
dominated. If women and men were equally represented their differential impact would be taken into account
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with their equal participation in decision-making. Thus mainstreaming with a gender perspective as a technical
approach is desirable even after men and women are equally represented. In our region, because women are
excluded from political processes even in their own families, mainstreaming gender and gender analysis is the
first step towards modifying the mainstream to enable and empower women into decision making.
There are two approaches to gender mainstreaming. The integrationist approach focuses on building a
gender perspective into existing institutions - women enter the mainstream without major changes in society or
the overall approach to development. The social, cultural and organisational arrangements remain the same
except for more numbers of women. The other approach aims at transforming the mainstream. This means that
an integral component of and even a pre-requisite for implementing a gender perspective is the transformation
of institutions and development. As it becomes possible for women to be more actively and genuinely
represented, their involvement and the changing gender composition must lead to fundamental qualitative
changes in the nature and functioning of institutions in mainstream society. The daily practices and power
relations between men and women must also change to benefit men, women, children and society as a whole.
Transforming the mainstream in gender mainstreaming is no doubt more appropriate for attaining sustainable
development.
Gender mainstreaming has been proposed at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995)
as a key strategy to reduce inequalities between men and women. This recommendation also falls in line with
UNESCO’s Agenda for Gender Equality. I will now demarcate four areas for building capacity in gender
mainstreaming in education for sustainable development. Firstly, it will be necessary to incorporate gender
sensitivity/awareness training on gender especially about gender relations and gender inequity/inequality, and
the extent to which this affect sustainable development into the curricula of teacher education. The second set
of actions falls within the scope of building capacities for transforming the mainstream for men and women.
This will entail three types of capacity building, namely (a) capacity building for women in the confidence of
their capacities 2 and in non-traditional areas like leadership, governance and in empowerment which are to be
based on democratic principles and the ethos of sustainability; (b) capacity building for men, mainly to change
men’s gender attitudes, eliminate gender-based violence, enhance men’s capacities in sustainable roles and
relationships with women, male responsibility and partnership with women; and (c) social capacity building
for men and women about gender stereotypes, discriminatory behaviour, attitudes and practices. The third area
deals with developing gender analyses in all realms of sustainable development where differences between
women’s and men’s access to resources, benefits and control over participation and decision-making, and the
direct and indirect impact on women and men can be explicitly delineated. Finally, information and resources
used in education for sustainable development should be disaggregated by sex to develop the necessary gender
statistics especially on topics relating to sustainable development that will be used in the curricula. Specific
information on emerging gender issues like the incidence, nature and impact of violence against women should
2
Including women’s knowledge, women’s ways of knowing and doing things (which are often very different
from men), their confidence and to address the effects of sub-ordination and subjugation, especially that of
internalized oppression.
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also be given due attention.
2 Intervention strategies of education for sustainable development
Intervention by teachers to teach or promote sustainable development is not only confined to the
classroom or curricula only though these are the usual spaces given attention. Among others, I list here eight
aspects for consideration in promoting strategic intervention for reorienting teacher education.
(a) Strategic advocacy: Striving for sustainability goes beyond the decade of education for
sustainable development. To ensure continuity and sustained efforts special tactical efforts will
have to be directed at reaching out to and converting those in strategic positions of power in the
institutional hierarchy to the task and endeavor of education for sustainable development as well
as to mainstream and institutionalise the agenda of education for sustainable development.
(b) Neglected groups: The perspective of socially sustainable development alerts us to recognize
that social exclusion and unequal treatment is unsustainable. Special attention should be directed
to rural areas and non-premier schools as well as the commonly excluded, vulnerable groups like
children with special needs and children/youth from neglected communities like the indigenous
people and rural/urban poor.
(c) Ethical partnerships: linking men and women teachers, schools with the community, etc: A
central theme to improving gender equity is the need to inspire and build a culture of partnership.
Partnership not only between men and women but also between school institutions and civil
society, and between local to national and global levels of policy making for sustainable
development. Apart from micro-intervention at the classroom, it will be strategic for teachers and
schools to collaborate and link their education for sustainable development work with the
community and with non-government organizations. Likewise, for men and women teachers to
collaborate and to address the gender relations among themselves be it interpersonal or in terms
of institutional practices at the school level.
(d) Whole school approach: Teaching sustainability at the classroom level is a good starting point
but for education for sustainable development to be effective the whole school has to be
involved, engaging the active participations of students and teachers beyond their classroom
curricula as well as the assimilation of principles of sustainability in the organization,
management and whole culture of the school. Other levels and members of the school
community like parents and principals will also be equally important actors/partners to ensure
inclusive, democratic participation and governance in the school.
(e) Classroom dynamics as learning spaces for education for sustainable development:
Orientate teachers to the dynamics of classroom learning beyond the teaching of subjects to
address gender and other discriminatory (cultural and social) issues and practices. The
inculcation of sustainable values have to be inculcated and nurtured through the quotidian forms
of interaction, role modeled and mentored by teachers and senior students consciously.
(f) Education for sustainable development vignettes and resources: Compile and make
accessible the stock of resources on education for sustainable development for teachers’
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(g)
(h)
reference. Develop case examples and document good practice on how to incorporate a gender
perspective into sustainable development education, including the non-tangible aspects of value
formation.
Building and linking capacities in all aspects of education for sustainable development:
Currently the issues of environment have been quite well integrated into the school curricula but
not so with the other two pillars. Develop and sustain training/capacity building for teacher
educators and teachers in the two neglected pillars of sustainable development. Identify/develop
a resource pool of people familiar with the substantive and methodological concerns of education
for sustainable development and with gendered perspectives. Link and mainstream education for
sustainable development into other existing endeavors with the school sector like ASP-net etc.
Follow-up support mechanism: Create and sustain a support mechanism at UNESCO/subregional
and national levels to promote, expand and document lessons and good practice from
the various attempts and experiments in the regions. This support mechanism can be a focal point
to initiate an ongoing network.
Conclusion
The ‘society’ pillar of sustainable development has generally received far less attention than the
economy and environment/ecological dimensions even though sustainable development is so closely linked
with quality of life, well being and future generations. This paper has attempted to bring attention to socially
sustainable development - the social dimensions of sustainable development, and how to bring on board
these dimensions in reorienting teacher education for sustainability. It highlights how gender equity/equality
as the heart of justice and sustainability can be mainstreamed into education for sustainable development
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Human Rights in Education for Sustainable
Development∗
Jefferson R. Plantilla,
HURIGHTS OSAKA
The 1986 United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Right to Development 1 constitutes a milestone in the
human rights-development field. It provides a clearer basis for linking development with human rights. It
recognizes development as a right – an inalienable human right. The concept that people are both beneficiary
and active participant in the development process fits the development approach of many non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). The idea of the exercise of the right to self-determination being clearly linked to an
effective exercise of control over a country’s natural resources makes the argument for community-based
natural resource management scheme stronger. The right to development concept brings human rights closer
to the issues that many marginalized communities are faced with.
The basic principle that all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized in the context of
total development covering economic, social, cultural and political spheres brings the common ground
between human rights and development to the fore.
A few months later, the Brundtlandt Report 2 came out that elicited very positive reaction from those working at
the grassroots level. The idea of sustainable development provides the framework for the interplay of the peoplecentered
development, the realization of human rights, and the protection of the environment. While many cases
affecting communities of people in the so-called rural areas violate all of them – people-centered development,
human rights, and environmental integrity – the link between them have hardly been given much focus. What
seems to be clear in the cases of indigenous peoples prohibited from using the forest (which forms part of their
ancestral domain), of rural communities displaced by dams and other infrastructural projects, of urban slum
dwellers evicted from public land is the problem of unsustainable development. The Brundtlandt Report
provides a way to address this common concern. Social development advocates now cite human rights to protect
disadvantaged communities. Some environment advocates now insist on social development and human rights
realization as keys to protecting the environment.
The right to development complements the concept of sustainable development.
These ground-level movements gave rise to the need to mainstream the concept of sustainable development in
∗ Paper prepared for the UNESCO Expert Meeting on ESD: “Reorienting Education to Address Sustainability”
(1-3 May 2006, Thailand).
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all government policies and programs.
The promotion of education for sustainable development is a key opportunity in continuing the
mainstreaming of the concept of sustainable development in the government system.
Context
The decade of the 1990s seems to be a period of education reform. Countries that opened up to market
economics saw the need to redirect the education system towards supporting this change. Doi moi in Vietnam
has created new emphasis on language (particularly English) and information technology in the education
curriculum. 3 Other countries simply realized the need to remain or become competitive by “going back to the
basics” of mathematics, science, language, and information technology as core components of the school
curriculum. Most countries saw the need to upgrade the education system to fit into the increasingly
globalized environment.
This situation led some parents to think that it is best that their children learn with English as the medium of
instruction. 4 While many parents may not hold the same view, learning English as a subject is no longer a
matter of government policy but an expected educational goal among increasing number of parents.
The decade of the 1990s is also known for the series of global conferences that started with the 1992 Rio
conference on environment and development. These global conferences highlighted issues relating to human
rights, particularly those affecting specific sectors (such as women and children), and issues (such as health,
population, habitat and environment). Among these conferences, the 1993 World Conference on Human
Rights (Vienna) led to significant results such as the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, and the adoption of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004). At the
national level, the Vienna conference is considered to have pushed the establishment of national human rights
institutions 5 as well as adoption of national human rights action plans in several countries in Asia-Pacific.
These world conferences helped make human rights more interesting to the mass media. People might have
“known” human rights with the mass media as the likely source of knowledge. Popular conception of human
rights is not, however, necessarily equivalent to a proper understanding of human rights. Time and again, we
hear those engaged in human rights education lamenting people’s negative perceptions of human rights. 6
People may equate human rights with cases of violence such as torture and extra-judicial execution, and fail
to see human rights in daily life situations. Human rights may be seen by teachers as reason for indiscipline
and loss of their authority. Government officials may see human rights simply as excuses for the political act
of opposing the government.
The rise of people’s participation mainly through the so-called civil society put governments on the defensive.
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Everyone has an agenda to lobby governments with - from gender to environmental causes. Governments
were expected to please all groups by agreeing to their demands in some ways. In the field of education, this
policy statement says it all:
At a time when concerns such as ‘literacy’, ‘family system’, ‘neighbourhood education’,
‘environmental education’, ‘consumer education’, ‘tourism education’, ‘AIDS education’,
‘human rights education’, ‘legal literacy’, ‘peace education’, ‘population education’,
‘migration education’, ‘global education’, and ‘safety education’ are making a case for
separate place in the curriculum, the best approach would be to integrate these ideas and
concepts, after a careful analysis in the existing areas of learning. 7
The integration of these “educations” into the school curriculum is the main approach taken by countries in
the region. But with the emphasis on learning knowledge and skills needed in a highly competitive globalized
economic system - translated into “leaner” school curriculum - there is a challenge posed on those who
pursue “educations” that do not fall within the core learning areas of the school curriculums. They need to
find out how the integration of these “educations” is done in terms of content, teaching/learning materials,
and year levels covered.
Human rights education
Human rights education has been formally adopted by some countries in the Asia-Pacific region through
human rights/human rights education national action plans (developed either by governments or the
government-established national human rights institutions). 8 There are also countries implementing programs
and projects related to human rights education, with support from international institutions, such as education
on child rights, gender, and rights of people with disabilities.
Some governments see human rights education as part of existing education programs such as the following:
- Civic education (Vietnam, Malaysia)
- Moral studies (Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan)
- Legal education (Philippines, China)
- Religious education (Malaysia, Pakistan)
- Values education (Thailand, Philippines, India, Fiji, South Korea)
- Peace education (Thailand, South Korea, Philippines)
- Gender and Development education (Philippines)
While these educations are important, they may not necessarily lead to learning human rights. If the stress is
only on the concept of duty or obligation as good citizens or members of family and society, the concept of
rights is likely ignored. On the other hand, a stress on active participation in the affairs of the family and society
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provides the space for learning about relevant rights. In the same way, learning of values may lead to
understanding of human rights if there is a conscious effort to link them.
Under the integration approach, human rights are seen as most appropriate topic in the social sciences subjects
(social studies, history, economics) and also in language/literature subjects. In the case of the Philippines, most
educators see human rights as appropriate for a learning area called Makabayan 9 under which values education is
part. In the case of Japan, the so-called synthetic/integrated subject is considered appropriate for human rights
education. 10 The Philippine and Japanese curriculums do not foreclose the teaching of human rights in other
required learning areas.
A recent 4-country survey provides an “indicative” picture of human rights awareness among students. 11 The
survey shows that while education policies supporting human rights education are in place, there is generally
weak implementation at the school level. Most schools rely on the already prescribed teaching of
constitutional rights, and do not cover international human rights instruments. While students generally know
or have heard of human rights, they do not seem to understand the principles involved such as the universality
principle, or do not know how they apply. They are also seemingly confused as to whether human rights are
taught as a topic integrated into various subjects in the curriculum, or as separate subject.
An important finding of the research is the difference between students in urban centers (or more advanced schools)
and those in rural areas as far as human rights awareness or interest is concerned. Rural students tend to have higher
awareness or interest in human rights. A possible explanation is the situation they are in. Rural students tend to
witness or probably suffer from the conflicts, injustices and other problems in their daily lives and thus have
sharper sense of what could be human rights violations.
The finding in this survey about the gap between knowledge of human rights (however they are defined) and
their practice confirms the findings of other human rights awareness surveys. 12 Human rights education faces
the main challenge of facilitating acquisition of knowledge, and the development of skills and attitude, on
human rights, and their practice at personal and societal levels.
What makes an education human rights education?
Human rights education has been defined and redefined through the years. There are several United Nations (UN)
documents defining human rights education. 13 UNESCO itself has several major documents on human rights
education issued from the 1970s till 1990s. 14
In order to have a common framework, it is best to adopt the latest statement of the definition under the UN
World Programme for Human Rights Education, whose first phase plan focuses on the formal education
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system. The first phase plan is jointly being implemented by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights and UNESCO. The first phase plan provides the following definition:
human rights education can be defined as education, training and information aiming at building a
universal culture of human rights through the sharing of knowledge, imparting of skills and
moulding of attitudes directed to:
(a) The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
(b) The full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity;
(c) The promotion of understanding, tolerance, gender equality and friendship among all nations,
indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups;
(d) The enabling of all persons to participate effectively in a free and democratic society governed
by the rule of law;
(e) The building and maintenance of peace;
(f) The promotion of people-centred sustainable development and social justice.
One notes the overlap between this definition and the definition of education for sustainable development (ESD).
Human rights education under this definition covers sustainable development, social justice, peace, gender equality,
democracy, etc. One can say that since ESD includes human rights, then ESD is a form of human rights education.
What distinguishes an education as human rights education is the presence of a particular purpose of
“strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” All other elements in the list above
can be any other education.
What to teach and learn
The first phase plan of WPHRE emphasizes the following components of human rights education: 15
a. understanding of the basic human rights and their principles
b. development of an attitude of non-discrimination
c. development of capacity to analyze problems in order to find solutions
d. empowerment of communities and individuals
e. use of human rights principles found in local cultures, history and social development
f. development of knowledge and skills on using human rights instruments and mechanisms
g. use of participatory pedagogies
h. creation of teaching and learning environment that fulfils human rights
i. making human rights relevant to the daily lives of the students.
As indicated in several surveys on human rights awareness as well experiences in holding human rights
education activities, there is a need for a clear understanding of what "rights" and "human rights" mean. This
can help correct the oft-repeated view that studying human rights leads to indiscipline, selfish attitude,
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political activism, and inculcation of negative "western" values. While political activism is not bad per se,
many educators see it otherwise. Human rights must be appreciated as a holistic concept addressing the
fulfilment of human needs and potentials and the full respect for human dignity. This is the baseline for
understanding human rights, which are rooted at our humanity not on particular cultural, political, social or
economic characteristics.
Human rights should likewise be appreciated as a modern formulation based on various strands of thinking
about human dignity. The formulation has the “root” (human dignity) firmly in place but its “branches” are
still growing alongside societal development. We have not seen the last international human rights document.
In addition to more than 20 major UN human rights documents, hundreds more are probing into different
areas of human concerns and endeavors not only through the UN but through regional and subregional
intergovernmental mechanisms.
Asia-Pacific, for example, is at present engaged in evolving its own set of human rights documents. West Asia
(through the Arab League) is reviewing its own Arab Charter on Human Rights, South Asia (through the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) has adopted in 2002 two major human rights
agreements, 16 Southeast Asia (through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has adopted declarations
and action programs with human rights components, 17 and the Pacific Plan which contains provisions on
human rights (and also sustainable development) has been endorsed by the leaders of the Pacific Islands
Forum. 18 The subregional human rights initiatives in the Asia-Pacific are grounded on the basic UN human
rights instruments. Their value lies in making these UN human rights standards apply more effectively to the
particular characteristics of the subregions. It is also possible that there is an attempt at developing human
rights standards higher than those at the current international level. This can be seen in the conclusion of
judges and lawyers in a workshop in the Pacific when they say that the
Pacific region has developed distinctive and effective practices for the promotion and protection of
human rights in the framework of community life. In particular, the experience of Pacific States in
employing traditional means of dispute settlement, including mediation and restorative justice is a rich
one and should be integrated into efforts to further promote respect for human rights within all aspects of
the administration of justice. 19
This is probably similar to the promotion of the concept of “community right” by the National Human Rights
Commission of Thailand to provide “local groups of people with the entitlement to participate in development
and to determine their local affairs, including the protection and usage of their local natural resources.” The
Chairperson of the Commission explains that “community right” is a “genuinely universal human right since
it [is] derived from the basic concept of human rights, i.e., the right to life and livelihood, and the right to selfdetermination.”
20
Thus, it should be clear that regional or subregional formulation of human rights should aim at developing
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standards higher than the international human rights standards, and never lower that level. It should be clear
too that regional or subregional human rights initiatives are not a substitute for ratifying UN human rights
instruments.
It would be most interesting to have these subregional initiatives discussed in schools in the Asia-Pacific.
With the numerous documents on human rights, there must be a way to avoid getting lost in the human rights
forest.
There is a set of human rights principles that the UN promotes to all peoples and mainstreams in all its
programs and activities. The UN has also in recent decade exerted effort to clarify what human rights mean,
in view of the different or confused notions of human rights even among UN staff.
Human rights are defined in the following manner:
Or
Human rights are inherent entitlements which come to every person as a consequence of being
human.
Human rights are commonly understood as being those rights which are inherent to the human being.
The concept of human rights acknowledges that every single human being is entitled to enjoy his or
her human rights without distinction as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. 21
In relation to sustainable development, the UNDP defines human rights in this way:
Human rights are based on respect for the dignity and worth of all human beings and seek to ensure
freedom from fear and want. Rooted in ethical principles (and usually inscribed in a country's
constitutional and legal framework), human rights are essential to the well-being of every man,
woman and child. Premised on fundamental and inviolable standards, they are universal and
inalienable. 22
Two major principles govern human rights: equality and non-discrimination. Equality principle means that all
human beings are equal in dignity and rights. (Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR]) Nondiscrimination
principle means that
Everyone is entitled to all … rights and freedoms … without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or
other status.
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Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international
status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-selfgoverning
or under any other limitation of sovereignty. (Article 2, UDHR)
Human rights have the following most important characteristics: 23
- human rights are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each person;
- human rights are universal, meaning that they are applied equally and without discrimination to all
people;
- human rights are inalienable, in that no one can have his or her human rights taken away other than
in specific situations, for example, the right to liberty can be restricted if a person is found guilty of a
crime by a court of law;
- human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent, for the reason that it is insufficient to
respect some human rights and not others.
The UN explains that in “practice, the violation of one right will often affect the respect of several other
rights. All human rights should therefore be seen as having equal importance and of being equally essential to
respect for the dignity and worth of every person.” 24
These characteristics of human rights, particularly the issue of indivisibility, interrelatedness and
interdependence of rights, are important in the context of the debate about hierarchy or priority of rights. This
can be termed the “rice/roti or rights” debate. It is the view of the UN as well as scholars and human rights
workers that there is no either-or situation in human rights. Poverty does not deter the exercise of human
rights. The availability of food, for example, may in fact depend on how far human rights are asserted.
It should also be noted that the equality principle does not prevent the recognition of specific set of rights
pertaining to particular people who possess specific characteristics. Rather than violate the equality principle,
the specific set of rights for particular groups reinforces it. Thus women, children, and migrant workers, have
their respective rights set forth in separate human rights instruments. Indigenous peoples, elderly people, and
people with disabilities have their rights set forth in declarations, 25 while the discussions on adopting a
convention for their rights are still going on.
To illustrate this point, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) provides for the rights of rural women (Article 14 [2]). Rural women have the right
(a) To participate in the elaboration and implementation of development planning at all levels;
(b) To have access to adequate health care facilities, including information, counselling and services in
family planning;
(c) To benefit directly from social security programmes;
(d) To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, including that relating to
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functional literacy, as well as, inter alia, the benefit of all community and extension services, in order to
increase their technical proficiency;
(e) To organize self-help groups and co-operatives in order to obtain equal access to economic
opportunities through employment or self employment;
(f) To participate in all community activities;
(g) To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and
equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes;
(h) To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and
water supply, transport and communications.
The UN notes the differing views on human rights despite the existence of international human rights
instruments. It notes that the traditional view that human rights cover only civil and political rights is now
challenged. This view is seen as
too limited in scope and that a more multidimensional and holistic approach must be taken. Thus to basic
civil and political rights are added crucial social, economic and cultural rights, including the right to an
adequate standard of living; the right to education; the right to work and to equal pay for equal work; and
the right of minorities to enjoy their own culture, religion and language. Of particular importance to this
view is the protection and advancement of the rights of disadvantaged and minority groups (such as
women, children and indigenous peoples). The United Nations (UN) has adopted this holistic approach in
determining what human rights are, and the international community has repeatedly affirmed the
interdependence of both sets of rights. 26
One can generally refer to the rights listed in the UDHR as basic human rights that should be taught/learned:
Civil and Political Rights
Right to life, liberty and security of person
Rights not to be enslaved
Right not to be tortured or cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment
Right to recognition everywhere as a person before the
law
Right to equal protection of the law
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Right to social security
Right to work
Right to rest and leisure
Right to adequate standard of living
Right to education
Right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention
or exile.
Right freely to participate in the cultural life of
the community
Right to an effective remedy by the competent
national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental
rights
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Right to a fair and public hearing by an independent
and impartial tribunal
Right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty
Right not to be subjected to arbitrary interference
privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to
attacks upon his honour and reputation
Right to freedom of movement and residence
Right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum
from persecution
Right to a nationality
Right to marry and to found a family
Right to own property
Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Right to freedom of opinion and expression
Right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
Right to take part in the government
As a favorite statement that captures the full range of human rights, provides a vision of society and presents
human rights wholesomely, I use this:
The Progress of Nations 27
The day will come when the progress of nations will be judged not by their military or economic
strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities and public buildings, but by the well-being of their
peoples:
by their levels of health, nutrition and education;
by their opportunities to earn a fair reward for their labours;
by their ability to participate in the decisions that affect their lives;
by the respect that is shown for their civil and political liberties;
by the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged; and
by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and bodies of their children.
Human rights documents
A proper reference document for the discussion on human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human
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Rights (UDHR) which provides an overview of human rights in a less complicated manner.
In summary here are the main points to take note of in UDHR:
1. Importance of the UDHR:
a. The UDHR is a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.
b. It urges peoples and governments to educate ALL peoples about their human rights and freedoms.
c. It calls for securing universal and effective recognition and observance of human rights through
progressive national and international measures.
d. It provides for some limitations to the exercise of human rights.
e. It recognizes people’s duty to their community.
2. Basic Principles
a. Concept of human being and equality
- every human being is born free and equal in rights and dignity, and endowed with reason and
conscience. And thus every human being is expected to act toward other human beings in a spirit of
brotherhood/sisterhood.
b. Non-discrimination
- race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other status, political status of country or territory are not bases for exception in human
rights.
c. Respect and observance
- respect for all human rights is expected from all human beings
- universal observance of human rights is achievable through progressive measures
d. Individuals and community
- the individual is important but meaningful exercise of rights happen in the context of the family,
community and in some cases groups.
e. Social and international order
- everyone is entitled to a social and international order in order that the rights stated in UDHR can
be fully realized.
f. Limitations on exercise of rights
- subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due
recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of
morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
Specific rights would refer to the articles (Articles 3 -27) in the UDHR as listed earlier.
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The concept of “progressive measures” should be carefully noted. It provides an answer to the oft-repeated
government excuse of lack of resources in failing to comply with obligations under the human rights
instruments. In general, the realization of human rights can be done by stages using whatever available
resources are there – this is so-called progressive realization. Governments are not asked to ensure immediate
fulfilment of all rights, but a sincere effort to realize them (alone or with the support of the international
community) over a reasonable period of time is expected. This also implies that governments should not be
violating human rights at the same time, as it affects the progressive measures.
For purposes of having more comprehensive and relevant discussion of human rights in various subjects at
the primary and secondary levels, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) should be a major
reference document.
Using both UDHR and CRC, human rights should be discussed in relation to environment, health,
development, social security, among others. Concepts of non-discrimination, participation, due process,
government obligation/responsibility/role, and accountability should be part of the discussion as relevant
human rights principles. 28
The UDHR-CRC combination can be useful in defining education in human rights terms. The UDHR
provides that education “shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedom …[and] promote understanding,
tolerance, peace and friendly relations between nations and all racial or religious groups." The CRC provides
details about the objective of education. It should be directed to the
• development of the child’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities to their fullest
potential;
• development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;
• development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language, and
values; for the national values of the country in which the child is living or the country from which
he or she may originate; and for civilizations different from his or her own;
• the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding,
peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national, and religious
groups and persons of indigenous origin (Article 29 [1] [a, b, c, d]).
Discussing education based on UDHR and CRC provisions would set the stage for the human-rights-oriented
teaching/learning process.
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Application of human rights concepts
It is conceded that the CRC is a long and not so easy to understand document. It mainly speaks of the
obligations that States party to the convention have to fulfil. Determining the specific rights can therefore be
confusing at certain points.
Fortunately, the CRC has gained much support in many countries in the region that there are examples of the
way child rights can be appreciated much more easily and in relation to many issues affecting children.
One can understand child rights in relation to life cycle as shown below:
Life Cycle and Child’s Rights 29
Life Cycle Description Child’s Rights
Parental
care/support,
caring/nurturing family
Environment
Through-out
the life cycle
Pre-natal
period
(Unborn)
Infancy
(0-2 Years)
Early
Childhood
(3-5 years)
Childhood
(6-12 years)
The period of conception lasting
approximately 9
months. A single cell develops into
a complex
organism with a complete brain and
behavioral
capabilities. Mother's nourishment,
health, wellbeing (physical,
emotional psychological), and
safety directly affect the unborn
child. Brain development is
affected by the mother's nutrition.
From birth to about 24 months.
The child is
dependent on parents especially the
mother for
love, nutrition, and stimulation. A
loving,
nurturing, and supportive parents is
needed for
survival and development of the
child.
Child explores the environment of
the home and develops
interpersonal and socialization
skills;
psycho-motor development occurs.
Parents other care givers enrich the
child's world.
Change from home to school
changes the child's
- To have adequate nourishment
- To have access to safe water and sanitation
- To have a clean and safe home and community
environment
- To be safe from hazardous conditions
- To be safe from any form of violence, abuse and
exploitation
- To be provided with parental care and support
- To be carried to term with the proper nutrition
and have normal fetal development in the womb of
a healthy and properly nourished mother.
- To be born healthy, well, and wanted.
- To be registered at birth
- To be exclusively breast-fed immediately after
birth
- To receive complete and timely immunization
from common childhood diseases
- To be provided with parental care and support
- To experience early childhood care and
stimulation for development
- To avail of free-micro-nutrient supplement
- To receive free and compulsory elementary
education
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Adolescence
(13-17 years)
perspective and contributes to their
development.
Schools redirect behavioral
patterns through the
preferences of teachers and
institution’s culture.
A period of transition and rapid
physical changes.
The pursuit of independence and
identity are preeminent.
More and more time is spent
outside the
family; increased peer influence.
- To avail of open and flexible learning systems
- To participate in quality and relevant education
that is appropriate to the child’s development stage
and evolving capacity.
- To receive free secondary education
- To further avail of open and flexible learning
systems
- To further participate in quality and relevant
education appropriate to the child’s development
stage and evolving capacity
- To participate in the development process
This kind of presentation of child rights emphasizes two important points:
a. It shows how human rights relate to daily life, and to the changing life and environment of the
children. Some rights of children are more appropriate in certain stages in life.
b. It provides an example of government policy and program developed using the human rights
perspective.
There are also principles governing child rights that should be noted:
- best interest of the child – in realizing the rights of the child, the basic guide is that it should promote
the best interest of the children concerned
- participation – children (anyone below 18 years old) should be able to take part in making decisions
on matters affecting them in accordance with their level of development and evolving capacity.
In relation to human rights education, a key component is the identification of concrete issues affecting the
students in various stages of their life that can be linked to human rights. This exercise can be done at school
level through a human rights curricular framework as shown below.
The Human Rights Curricular Framework – Indonesia 30
Grade level
HR curricular
framework
Issues Human rights concept Core values
1
2
3
Self
Family
Community
- Malnutrition
-Parental neglect
-Domestic violence
on women and
children
-corporal
punishment at home
- High death rate of
children
- Conflict situation
- Conflict among
ethnic groups
- Right to life
- Right to health
-Right to protection
-Right to protection
-Right to seek medical
help
- Rights of indigenous
peoples
- Right to participate in
- Love and care
- Family and social
protection
- Care and treatment
- Human dignity
- Equality and justice
- Human dignity
- Diversity
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sustainable
development
This framework is based on the assumption that human rights concepts and issues are more easily integrated
into the school curriculum by linking them to values, which are already defined. A human rights curricular
framework is a multi-year, multi-subject overview of the human rights education program in a school. Its
contents (issues and human rights concepts) should address the contexts of the students.
Needless to say, the discussion of local laws, from the constitution to specific-issue legislations, is necessary
to apply human rights principles to the particular context of the students. This is also important in discussing
what actions are possible on particular issues.
The child rights framework has also been used on pedagogy as the table below demonstrates.
A child’s rights
Right to express his/her opinion freely and to
have that opinion taken into account in any
matter or procedure affecting the child
(Article 12.1)
Right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion (Article 14.1).
All rights apply to all children without
exception. It is the State’s obligation to
protect children from any form of
discrimination and to take positive action to
promote their rights (Article 2).
Right to protection from interference with
privacy, family, home and correspondence,
and from libel or slander (Article 16.1).
The State shall protect the child from all
forms of maltreatment by parents or others
responsible for the care of the child and
establish appropriate social programs for the
prevention of abuse and the treatment of
victims (Article 19.1).
School discipline shall be consistent with the
child’s rights and dignity (Article 28.2).
Conditions created by an active learning
strategy
Learning situations consist of group, in-pair,
individual and whole-class learning. By working
in pairs and in groups students can share their
opinions. Teacher allows every student to decide
what and how learning activities are to be done.
Teacher encourages students to express their
thoughts, feelings and values in various creative
works such as poems, stories, pictures, reports,
posters, models, and craft and arts work.
Racial, sex and religious discrimination should be
prevented. Teacher develops a variety of activities
according to students’ individual interests,
learning speed, emotional characteristics, learning
difficulties, ability to receive information from
hearing, seeing or touching.
Teacher creates an atmosphere of respect for
privacy, of openness, honesty, heart-to-heart
conflict resolution and [avoidance] of backbiting.
Teacher creates an atmosphere of kindness,
forgiveness and mutual help, and prevents abuse,
the use of swear words and bullying.
School creates an atmosphere of intrinsically
motivated discipline and regulations that do not
curb oral, written, facial and bodily expressions.
This table was developed by educators in Indonesia in promoting the use of active learning strategy. 31
And for the over-all school system, the child rights framework is best promoted through the child-friendly
school system (CFSS) which
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• includes everyone and treats them equally – whether girls or boys, from poor or rich families, living
nearby or far away, having low or high social status
• addresses the needs of the students – by giving them the best possible education that enhances their
knowledge and skills, by using teaching methods and curriculum appropriate to their situation and
dignity
• protects their welfare and safety – by making the school facilities safe, does not punish them
physically, does not allow bullying
• allows the students to take part in the school activities – allowing children to work together and
express themselves through music, drawing, drama and other forms. 32
These are the different applications of child rights in the school system both as content and process of
teaching and learning. They are not so different from the rights-based approach to education being promoted
by UNESCO.
ESD issues and human rights
On the whole, discussion on human rights under the ESD umbrella focuses on the "realization" side of the
discourse - how to make human rights a reality in the current situation of society. As in the examples shown
above on the application of child rights, human rights in general are more easily applied when linked to
particular issues. The UNDP's human rights approach to sustainable human development is most relevant in
this regard. UNDP focuses on the rights most frequently encountered in its sustainable human development
activities, by classifying them as groups of rights. 33 The groups of rights matched with the issues that they
refer to are shown below:
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Issues
Human rights
1. Food and health • Rights to food, health, habitat and economic
security. It is the legal obligation of all states and of UN
agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization,
the World Health Organization, the International Labour
Organisation and UNDP to promote the progressive
realization of these rights through development efforts.
Since these are human rights, as well as government
obligations, they empower people.
2. Land, language and culture • Rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. Among
them, rights to maintain languages and cultures and rights
of distinct peoples living in distinct regions to selfdetermined
development and control of ancestral lands,
which are often the basis of community organization,
culture and ways of life.
• Rights to land. Notably, protection of the rights of
those who depend on their lands for their livelihood.
These rights are often grounded in customary law,
and special processes may be needed to protect them.
3. Environment • Rights to environmental protection. Rights to food,
health, habitat and livelihood depend on environmental
protection and the complementary relationships between
promoting and protecting human rights and promoting
and protecting environments.
4. Labor and the workplace • Rights to work. This imposes obligations on
development planners to promote opportunities for
productive employment (through local, self-help efforts
as well as private and public investment), reduce risks to
people from policies (such as structural adjustment) that
create unemployment and adopt training programs that
help people (notably the young) become qualified for
productive work in a world of changing technologies and
economic activities.
• Rights of workers. These include rights to organize
and bargain over terms of employment and rights to
adequate remuneration and a safe, nondiscriminatory
workplace.
5. Education
• Rights to education. This covers not only formal
schooling but also access to civic knowledge and training
(often provided by NGOs) that facilitate people's
awareness and exercise of other rights and their effective
participation in development.
6. Children’s welfare • Rights of children. Specifically, these reaffirm the right
to life and protection against violence, abuse and neglect;
the right to health and social security, education, and rest
and leisure; freedom from trafficking in children and
protection against child prostitution; and freedom from
torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
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7. Women • Rights to equality. This ensures freedom from
discrimination against enjoying the above rights and
empowerment of women and groups to organize and
demand removal of customs and practices that inhibit
equal opportunities to realize the benefits of
development.
8. Rule of law and good governance • Rights to administrative due process. These include,
for example, rights of access to officials responsible for
designing or administering development activities; of
access to information and to a fair hearing for people who
claim to be threatened or harmed by development
projects; and to redress and impose accountability on
development actors who disregard the rights of affected
people.
• Rights to the rule of law. These include the rules,
procedures and institutions (including courts) that enable
people to secure enforcement of all their rights.
• Rights of participation. Fundamental freedoms include
rights of people to meet with others, organize assemblies
and speak freely. These are universal rights, and their
exercise is essential in securing all other rights in
development processes, as well as crucial in building
civil society in social, economic, political and legal
terms.
These groupings of rights provide an easier reference to the many human rights issues affecting sustainable
development. They also direct us to what can be considered crucial issues in the human rights-development (and
also environment) field.
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Final note
Human rights education in the Asia-Pacific has to relate to its particular cultural context. This is an oftrepeated
view expressed by government and civil society. It is thus incumbent upon the human rights
educators in the region to base the education process on the cultural milieu of the peoples they relate to. They
may need to explore the indigenous language concepts related to human rights as was done in the APCEIU
Pacific Region Teacher Training Workshop in relation to Pacific language. 34 They may adopt the principle of
drawing on the “rich cultural heritage and diversity in this region including appropriate recognition of family
and community values.” They may also evolve “appropriate and effective human rights teaching strategies
that build on the liberating elements of indigenous concepts, folk knowledge and cultural practices.” 35
Culture is best protected and enhanced by use. This is true also for the human right to culture.
This paper is basically a guide to the many initiatives and documentations on human rights/human rights
education in the region that are worth applying in ESD. Reinventing the wheel is not necessary when direct
use of the existing resources is available.
Properly developed and networked, ESD can be an over-aching educational umbrella that would link all the
existing educational initiatives on human rights, development and environment.
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Endnotes
1 United Nations General Assembly resolution 41/128 (4 December 1986).
2 Our Common Future - From one earth to one world, World Commission on Environment and Development,
(London: Oxford University Press, 1987).
3 Nguyen Thanh Hoan, Teacher Training in Vietnam, Hanoi University of Education, 2004.
4 This issue came up in the discussion during the South Asia Workshop on Human Rights Education in
Schools, organized by HURIGHTS OSAKA in 2005 (December 2005, Delhi).
5 There are now 17 national human rights institutions/offices established across the Asia-Pacific region, see
www.asiapacificforum.net for the list of countries with such institutions/offices.
6 The reports from the national human rights commissions of Thailand and Malaysia in the recent Roundtable
Discussion on "Engaging ASEAN Governments on Human Rights Education" on 23-25 March 2006 held in
Bangkok, are recent examples of the problem of misconception of human rights.
7 National Council of Educational Research and Training, National Curriculum Framework for School
Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training (Delhi, 2000), page 23.
8 One count of such national action plans (including programs of national human rights institutions) on human
rights/human rights education reveals 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific adopted them during the 1994-2005
period. See Human Rights Education in Southeast Asian Schools powerpoint presentation of Jefferson R.
Plantilla in the Roundtable Discussion on "Engaging ASEAN Governments on Human Rights Education" on
23-25 March 2006 held in Bangkok.
9 MAKABAYAN includes Social Studies, Music, Arts, Physical Education, Technical and Livelihood
Education and Values Education.
10 Osamu Abe describes this course in the following manner: "A course entitled “Period for Integrated Study”
(PIS) was introduced in 1998 by the Ministry of Education. This course is mandatory, and follows crosssectoral
and comprehensive studying activities. These studies are related to the life environment of students
including topics such as international understanding, information, environment, welfare and health. Each
school is able to select the topical content of these studies. PIS was implemented in all primary and secondary
schools in 2002. PIS was established to provide children with direct experiences about nature and human
relations." in A Situational Analysis of Education for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific Region,
revised edition (Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2005), page 17.
11 The survey, a project of HURIGHTS OSAKA, was undertaken in India, Japan, the Philippines and Sri
Lanka during the 2004-2005 period.
12
See SUHAKAM, "Assessing Knowledge of Human Rights Practices in Malaysian Schools" in Human
Rights Education in Asian Schools, volume 8 (Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA, 2005); Anita Magbitang-
Chauhan, Marites Dalangin, Lolita Santos and Lasila Reyes, "Philippines: Human Rights Education in Nueva
Ecija" in Human Rights Education in Asian Schools, volume 3 (Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA, 2000); and
Pesus Chou, Meei-Yuan Liou, Hong-Jen Chang, "The Present Status of Human Rights Perception and
124

Behavior and their Relationship to Smoking and Drinking Among Adolescent Students in Taiwan" in Human
Rights Education in Asian Schools, volume 3 (Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA, 2000).
13 General UN programs on human rights education:
- World Public Information Campaign on Human Rights
- 1993 - Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna)
- 1994 - UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995 – 2004)
- 2004 - World Programme for Human Rights Education
14 Major UNESCO documents on human rights education:
- 1974 - Recommendation Concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace
and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Paris)
- 1978 - Recommendations from the UNESCO International Congress on the Teaching of Human Rights
(Vienna)
- 1987 - UNESCO International Congress on Human Rights Teaching, Information and Documentation
(Malta)
- 1992 - International Forum on Education for Democracy, (Tunis)
- 1994 - Declaration of International Conference on Education (Geneva)
- 1995 - World Plan of Action on Education for Human Rights and Democracy (Montreal)
- 1995 - Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy (Paris)
15 Based on "C. Principles for human rights education activities," World Programme for Human Rights
Education, Annex, UNGA resolution A/52/525/Rev. 1 (2 March 2005).
16 The South Asian Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for
Prostitution (January 2002) and the SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of
Child Welfare in South Asia (January 2002) are now awaiting ratification by the SAARC member-countries.
17 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted the following documents relating to human
rights:
• Jakarta Declaration on Violence against Women in Southeast Asia (13 June 2004)
• Declaration against Trafficking in Persons (29 November 2004)
• Vientiane Action Programme (29 November 2004)
• Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter - 11th ASEAN Summit (December 2005).
18 See www.pacificplan.org/tiki-page.php?pageName=The+Pacific+Plan
19
Sub-regional Workshop for Pacific Island States on Human Rights Education and the Administration of
Justice held in Nadi, Fiji on 25 - 27 June 2002.
20 “The Community Right in Thailand” in Right Angle, October-December 2002, volume 1, number 1
(Bangkok: National Human Rights Commission of Thailand), page 1.
21 Human Rights – A Basic Handbook for UN Staff, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(New York), pages 3 and 2.
22 See Integrating human rights with sustainable human development - A UNDP policy document, United
Nations Development Programme (New York, January 1998) in
http://magnet.undp.org/Docs/policy5.html#How
125

23 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, op cit., page 3
24 Ibid.
25 The International Labour Organisation has one convention adopted in 1989 entitled Indigenous and Tribal
Convention (no. 169). It came into effect in 1991.
26 UNDP, ibid.
27 Progress of Nations, UNICEF.
28 It would be worthwhile to see Human Rights Lesson Plans for Southeast Asian Schools (Bangkok: 2003)
which provides examples of lesson plans that take up various human rights issues in different subjects in the
curriculum. They use both UNDHR and CRC provisions.
29 Taken from the Philippine National Strategic Framework Plan for Development for Children [Child 21]
(Manila, 2000).
30 Taken from Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center, Human Rights Lesson Plans for Southeast
Asian Schools (Bangkok: 2003), page 16. The translation and printing of the Khmer, Vietnamese and Bahasa
Indonesia versions of this publication were done with the support of UNESCO Bangkok.
31 Saparinah Sadli, Soetandyo Wignosoebroto and S. Belen, "The State of Human Rights Education in
Indonesian Schools: Developing a Model," in Human Rights Education in Asian Schools volume two, March
1999, (Osaka: HURIGHTS OSAKA), page 14.
32 Taken from Is Your School Child-Friendly? (Philippine Department of Education and UNICEF Manila).
33
UNDP, op cit.
34 Marion Kim, "Holism, Dialogue and Critical Empowerment: A Pedagogy for Peace" in SANGSAENG,
volume 5 (APCEIU, 2002), page 29.
35 Final Document of the Conference-Workshop on Asia-Pacific Human Rights Education for Development
Manila, December 15, 1995.
126

International Network of Institutions of Teacher Education:
Five Years of Work on Reorienting Teacher Education to
Address Sustainability
Rosalyn McKeown, Ph.D.
University of Tennessee, U.S.A.
Abstract
In 1998, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development work program on Education
for Sustainable Development called for UNESCO to develop guidelines for reorienting teacher training to
address sustainability. UNESCO passed this responsibility to the UNITWIN / UNESCO Chair at York
University in Toronto, Canada. Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair, established an International Network of
30 teacher-education institutions from 28 countries willing to change curriculums, programs, practices, and
policies to address sustainability in locally relevant and culturally appropriate ways. Participants kept track
of their efforts in journals, chronicling successes and failures. The Network met every two years to discuss
their efforts and exchange ideas.
After three years, the Chair and Secretariat sent network members a survey requesting information
about what worked, what did not work, insights, and recommendations for other institutions of teacher
education. The responses were synthesized in Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting Teacher
Education to Address Sustainability published by UNESCO. This document makes recommendations in a
number of areas including:
1. Ministerial and national level involvement
2. Community and regional/provincial involvement
3. Changes within institutions of higher education, including faculties of education
4. Funding and other resources
5. Partnerships
6. Research
7. Communications
8. Information Technology Opportunities
1 Note—The text of this paper contains excerpts from a document for which I was the lead writer:
Hopkins, Charles, Rosalyn McKeown, and the International Network. 2005. “Guidelines and
Recommendation for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability.” Education for Sustainable
Development in Action Technical Paper no. 2. Paris: UNESCO. Rather than using quotes extensively, I
noted the page number from where paragraphs originated.
127

Introduction 1
Educating for a more sustainable future in its broadest sense includes improving quality basic
education, reorienting education to address sustainability, improving public awareness, and providing
training to many sectors of society. This document focuses on one aspect of
education—teacher education—especially the role of institutions of teacher education in reorienting teacher
education to address sustainability. (p. 11)
Institutions of teacher education fulfill vital roles in the global education community; they have the
potential to bring changes within educational systems that will shape the knowledge and skills of future
generations. Often, education is described as the great hope for creating a more sustainable future; teachereducation
institutions serve as key change agents in transforming education and society, so such a future is
possible. Not only do teacher-education institutions educate new teachers, they update the knowledge and
skills of in-service teachers, create teacher-education curriculum, provide professional development for
practicing teachers, contribute to textbooks, consult with local schools, and often provide expert opinion to
regional and national ministries of education. Institutions of teacher education also perform similar services
for school principals who have significant impact on what occurs in schools. Because of this broad
influence in curriculum design and implementation, as well as policy setting within educational institutions,
faculty members of teacher-education institutions are perfectly poised to promote education for sustainable
development (ESD). By working with the administrations and faculties of teacher education institutions,
governments can bring about systematic, economically effective change. (p. 10 – 11)
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History of This Project and Document
During the 1990s, UNESCO identified teacher-education institutions and teacher educators as key
change agents in reorienting education to address sustainability. In 1997 UNESCO held a Teacher
Education Consultation in Thessaloniki, Greece in conjunction with the Environment and Society:
Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability conference. Twenty-one participants from institution of
teacher education from nine nations attended the meeting to discuss paths forward to reorient teacher
education to address sustainability. Subsequently, in 1998 the United Nations (UN) Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD) work program on Education for Sustainable Development called for
UNESCO to develop guidelines for reorienting teacher training to address sustainability. In order to
accomplish this task, UNESCO and York University, Toronto, Canada agreed to establish a UNITWIN /
UNESCO Chair in 1999 to provide advice to UNESCO and institutions of teacher education. UNESCO
passed the task of developing guidelines for the reorientation of teacher education to the UNESCO Chair at
York. As a result, one of the long-term goals of the UNESCO Chair is to develop guidelines and
recommendations for reorienting teacher education and associated realms of pedagogy, curriculum, and
other related issues. (p. 12)
To write the guidelines, the Chair established an international network of more than 30 teachereducation
institutions in as many countries. Educators at these institutions worked collaboratively to identify
various ways of achieving this goal. The UNESCO Chair has convened three meetings of the International
Network. The first took place in Canada in October 2000, the second in South Africa in September 2002,
and the third in Sweden in 2004. At the first meeting, the Chair used the Education for Sustainable
Development Toolkit (McKeown, Hopkins, and Rizzi, 2000) to create a common understanding of ESD.
The Chair also adopted the Toolkit as the official document of the Chair and the International Network. At
the first meeting, the participants explored ways to move forward with reorienting teacher education to
address sustainability. In general, each institution decided upon its own avenues for experimentation, based
on the contexts of its community and nation. At subsequent meetings and in reports, participants shared
their efforts related to reorienting teacher education to address sustainability. The group also developed and
agreed on a format to document their efforts. The Chair and Secretariat distilled the experiences and
wisdom from the efforts reported by the instituions into the guidelines. (p. 12)
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Institutional Members of the International Network
sustainability are:
The institutional members of the International Network on reorienting teacher education to address
Argentina, National University of Rosario - Argentina
Australia, Griffith University
Barbados, Erdiston Teacher’s Training College
Brazil, Federal University of Parana
Canada, York University
China, Beijing Normal University
Czech Republic, Charles University and University of J.E. Purkyne
Denmark, N. Zahles College of Education
Germany, Freie University Berlin and University of Duisburg-Essen
Hungary, University of Debrecen
India, National Council for Teacher Education and Jamia Millia Islamia
Jamaica, Mico Teachers’ College and University of West Indies
Korea, Ewha Womans University
Latvia, Daugavpils University
Lesotho, National University of Lesotho
New Zealand, Christchurch College of Education
Nicaragua, University of the Autonomous Region of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua
Pakistan, University of the Punjab
Peru, Pontificia Catholic University of Peru
Russia, Rostov State University
South Africa, Rhodes University
Spain, University of Girona
Sweden, University of Uppsala
Taiwan, National Taiwan Normal University
United Kingdom, Scotland, University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom, England, University of Bath
United States of America, Florida Gulf Coast University
Vietnam, National Institute for Educational Science and Ministry of Education and Training
Zambia, University of Zambia
In addition, University of Tennessee served as secretariat for the project.
Initiatives Taken by the International Network
130

The responses to the surveys showed that members of the International Network undertook many
types of initiatives in their efforts to reorient teacher education to address sustainability in their home
institutions, provinces, nations, and internationally. Their efforts affected curriculums, programs, practices,
and policies within their institutions in locally relevant and culturally appropriate ways. Their activities
stimulated the growth of regional, national, and international networks. They used a wide variety of forums
available to teacher educators (e.g., conferences and journals) to advocate for ESD. Members kept track of
their efforts in journals, chronicling their efforts, successes, and failures. (p. 17)
Please note that members of the International Network received no funding from the Chair or any
other international organizations to support their activities to reorient teacher education to address
sustainability. We knew the successes of well-funded pilot programs would not be replicated; however,
success stemming from personal initiative and allocation of resources internal to an institution would be
believable and replicable. (p. 17)
Working within their spheres of influence, members of the International Network created and
implemented one or more the following types of activities related to ESD at their own institutions.
Curricular / Program Development
• Developed graduate level programs at Masters’ and doctoral levels in ESD.
• Developed a compulsory ESD course for masters’ programs in geography and environmental
education.
• Established advanced certificate programs in ESD.
• Established distance education courses in ESD.
• Established an environmental education concentration in the College of Education’s Masters’
Degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
• Established short in-service courses for teachers.
• Reviewed and revised existing courses to address sustainability.
• Infused ESD into all math, science, geography, and technology courses.
• Infused ESD into other disciplines at undergraduate and graduate level programs such as
agriculture, population education, and consumer education.
• Initiated programs with Women’s Studies, Women in Society, Women in Agriculture, and Women’s
Literacy.
• Devised an ESD project using literature and language arts at the secondary school level to address
male youth violence and to deliver skills in conflict resolution.
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• Launched an Aboriginal Studies program with a focus on ESD and traditional ecological
knowledge.
• Assisted in infusing the concepts of sustainability into dissertations and graduate research as an
option.
• Pursued research projects in ESD
Institutional Change
• Formed Institutes and Centers for Sustainability Education.
• Formed institution-wide ESD committees and discussion groups.
• Launched a Cyber-Environment Education Institute.
• Developed ESD internships for students from other countries.
• Established an interfaculty research institute on innovation and sustainability.
Faculty Professional Development
• Pursued European Union funding for faculty training in ESD.
• Developed interfaculty exchanges related to ESD among universities.
• Established a national ESD professional development consortium.
• Held institution-wide, national, and international conferences and workshops on ESD.
• Launched an international peer reviewed journal on ESD.
• Initiated practical and theoretical research projects leading to publication of articles and books.
Networking
• Formed four international regional networks of faculties of education related to ESD and
reorienting teacher education, which involved approximately 70 faculties.
• Established an ESD link with schools in another country.
• Developed a regional strategy for ESD.
• Established a language-based ESD network in Europe and the Americas in English, Portuguese,
and Spanish.
Partnerships/Community Service
• Formed partnerships with local / regional government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
• Developed recognition programs for schools and institutions that promote ESD (e.g., green school
movement).
• Formed Sustainable Business Partnerships to promote ESD.
132

• Undertook research on infusing ESD into teacher education on a national level.
• Engaged geographic information systems and other information technology approaches to monitor
community sustainability issues.
• Developed community-based off-campus teacher education projects within the inner city to
improve the delivery of schooling to undereducated youth.
• Formed regional ESD curriculum-writing teams.
• Developed link between the faculty of education and the school of business to co-develop
professional development programs on ESD for senior level education administrators.
• Produced manuals, texts, Web sites, and other sustainability teaching resources for elementary and
secondary schools.
• Translated key ESD materials, including the Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit Web
site, into local languages.
Promotion of ESD
• Raised the level of awareness of ESD through many activities by writing journal articles and
popular press materials; giving media interviews, lectures, and presentations at conferences;
contacting academics and educators in many disciplines; and speaking with higher-education
administrators around the world.
• Delivered copies of Agenda 21 to all faculty members in the six largest regional universities.
• Designed programs to model ESD practices within an institution.
• Produced sustainability demonstration sites that address energy conservation, organic agriculture,
wastewater treatment, etc.
• Participated in a national committee to rewrite teacher education certification requirements.
• Use the Earth Charter as a framework for the development of presentations and workshops. (p. 17
– 28)
Examples of Activities from Asia and the Pacific
The lists above are decontextualized . The following are short descriptions of some of the
activities undertaken by International Network members of the Asia-Pacific Region.
Department of Women’s Studies and Sustainable Development
It is now internationally recognized that women are not only equal with men, but many times even
more powerful as partners of ecosystem management. Their empowerment and knowledge of natural
133

esources and sustainable development are important to preserving this planet. In a country like Pakistan,
women have been working without realistic valuation of their work and work places. They are deprived of
many basic human rights, including the right to education. With a low level of literacy and awareness, such
women are unable to fulfill their roles effectively and contribute positively to sustainable development.
The Department of Women’s Studies (DWS) at the University of the Punjab established its master’s
degree to act as a catalyst for sustainable development by preparing properly educated men and women who:
know the complementarity of the genders, believe in the economic and social empowerment of women, and
can actively engage in sustainable development. The program, which focuses on women's roles inside and
outside the home, draws faculty and professionals from various multidisciplinary fields, as health sciences,
business administration, law, environmental programs, and small industries. DWS students work as interns in
nearly 30 different organizations. Graduates of the program are employed by governmental, nongovernmental,
and civil society organizations engaged in multifaceted tasks that lead to a more sustainable society. The DWS
program impacts not only the students, but also the professionals who come in contact with them.
University of the Punjab, Pakistan
Dr. Munawar Mirza (p. 20)
134

National Workshop on ESD and Teacher Education Leads to Local Changes
The first initiative of India's Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE) at Jamia Millia
Islamia was to organize a national workshop on ESD, to create awareness about sustainable development
among faculty members. Through other IASE workshops and meetings, faculty members identified a broad
course content for reorienting teacher education to address sustainable development. The broad areas
identified included: concept of sustainable development, education for sustainable development, consumer
education, population education, sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation, resource management,
impact of technology on the environment, and women's education and sustainability. These topics have
been incorporated in some optional papers as well as in some teaching subjects of the Bachelor of Education
(B.Ed.) degree.
IASE also organized an in-service program for teacher educators from other institutions around
Delhi. Subject experts from other departments of the university as well as other local universities served as
resource persons.
The following changes were incorporated at the B.Ed. level beginning with the 2002-2003 session.
• IASE increased links with other universities and NGOs in Delhi and provided opportunities for
deeper interaction with people involved in similar disciplines.
• Objectives for institutionalizing of the revised curriculum were achieved on time.
• IASE organized in-service programs for Delhi teachers on sustainable development.
• Craft instructors started using handmade papers and reusing or recycling waste products.
• Student teachers are undertaking projects based on environmental problems in their communities.
Jamia Millia Islamia, India
Professor Zeenat Kidwai (p. 55-56)
135

National Professional Development Program
In New Zealand ESD has been addressed through the concept of environmental education and
learning and education for sustainability. Also, ESD is identified as a policy strategy in many national and
local government, business, and private sector documents.
The Christchurch College of Education was the successful tender for the national environmental
education (EE) professional development contract from the Ministry of Education. The professional
development program involved three key initiatives. Firstly, it provided funding for the training of 75
national facilitators in seventeen different regions throughout NZ. A special Maori EE training program
added another 18 Maori facilitators. The second initiative involved the national facilitators delivering
regional training programs to teachers. The regional training programs provided a detailed exploration of
the EE Guidelines for NZ Schools. The professional development approach encouraged teachers to use
innovative ways to address ESD/EE within their current school programs and it also challenged participants
to consider alternative ways of designing new school programs that focus on ESD/EE. The third initiative
identified teachers and schools that were committed to ESD/EE and provided additional support and
assistance for the school to become a pilot school. The focus of the pilot schools was to establish a number
of regional 'enviro schools' or 'model schools' that could demonstrate a balanced curriculum approach to
achieving education for a sustainable future. Many of the national pilot schools are now part of a national
Enviro-Schools program.
Christchurch College of Education, New Zealand
Professor Barry Law (p. 36)
Reorienting Social Science and Geography Teacher Preparation Courses
Many participants in the International Network advise others in faculties of education to begin
working "within your own sphere of influence" and to initially change the things "within the areas that are
under your individual authority." This vignette from Griffith University in Australia illustrates the
successful reorienting of teacher education courses that prepare future secondary school social science and
geography teachers. Reorienting these courses attempts to achieve two specific outcomes.
The first outcome is enhanced awareness of ecological sustainability, including personal behaviors
and actions, both on the part of student teachers and the students whom they will teach. This effort has
focused on such specific strategies as calculating personal ecological footprints, auditing personal energy
consumption patterns, setting goals for reducing these, and monitoring progress toward attaining these goals.
In addition, the students learn strategies to (1) create ecologically sustainable schools through suitable
practices and (2) help creating sustainable communities through participating in community-based groups.
136

The second outcome is enhanced awareness and use of support structures for social science and
geography teachers, including a variety of environmental education centers as well as Web-based
information. This has involved extensive visits to the environmental education centers followed by oncampus
workshops. The workshops concentrate on how student teachers can use these centers as part of the
school curriculum and the appropriate use of Web sites to complete assessment tasks on issues related to the
sustainability of Australian river, coastal, bushland, and urban systems.
Course evaluations of these outcomes and strategies indicate that the student teachers have an
enhanced levels of environmental sensitivity as well as increased confidence that they will apply these
strategies in their teaching careers.
Griffith University, Australia
Professor Wayne Muller (p. 48)
A Cyber Multimedia Environmental Institute
Ewha Multimedia Environment Institute (EMEI)was established in 2001 with the financial aid of
the Ministry of Environment and Ewha Women's University. This institute, a first for Korea, has five parts:
Cyber Environmental Education Teacher Institute, Cyber Environmental Study Material Center, Cyber
Environmental Policy Education Institute, Cyber Environmental Experience Study Center, and the Cyber
Natural History Museum. Each part has a special program, and each part operates on an e-learning system.
Since the institute's opening, about a thousand customers per year visit the institute. Because
financial aid from the government and the university has decreased every year, it is difficult to upgrade the
program every year, requiring many financial resources. Nevertheless, this program has brought
sustainability to thousands of online students.
Ewha Women's University, Korea
Professor Woun Sik Choi (p. 22)
137

Establishing a Sustainable Campus
Since 2004, faculty members and students have launched a series of efforts to convert an old
administration building and the adjacent school garden into a Sustainable Campus (SC) at National Taiwan
Normal University (NTNU). The facilities create a platform for first-hand teaching and learning experience
for addressing sustainability. The SC, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Department of
Interior, and NTNU, has gradually become the demonstration base for many types of university courses.
Moreover, NTNU's Graduate Institute of Environmental Education has developed ESD teaching materials
and interpretive media for neighboring grade-school students, teachers and community residents. The major
efforts on the SC include:
1. Rainwater Harvesting and Black Water Treatment and Recycling System
a. A rainwater harvesting system collects rainwater from the roof of the administration
building and is used for flushing toilets in the building. The rainwater systems drastically
reduces the amount of water used from the city water-supply system
b. Black water (sewage) is treated first by a septic tank and next by a specially designed and
constructed wetland. The treated water is used to irrigate the SC garden
2. Increasing Biodiversity
a. By establishing a constructed wetland and aquatic pond, habitat was diversified both
aquatically and terrestrially, which attracted more flora and fauna to the SC.
b. By creating a rooftop garden, also called a green roof the SC now has a vegetable garden.
The garden is a demonstration site for organic farming methods. It also links farming with
urban life. The green roof can reduces the building’s consumption of electricity for airconditioning
during summer.
3. Energy Conservation Systems
a. By installing a solar photo-voltaic panel and a solar hot-water system on the rooftop to
generate electricity and hot water for the building, the SC campus reduced their energy
consumption from the grid.
b. By design and installed sun-shelf, which blocks the direct sunlight and reflects natural
light into the rooms of the building, the SC has decreased energy demand for indoor
lighting.
4. Environmental Education and Interpretation System
a. The SC is now open to all the facilities across all disciplines at NTNU as a platform for
their courses and for demonstrating possible means of sustainable living.
b. By developing and installing interpretive media (including eight pieces of interpretive
panels, one self-guided trail brochure, and a poster), visitors, both the public and school
students gain insight and interest in the site and learn about sustainability.
c. In addition the SC has an educational packet available for primary school teachers and
students. The packet includes four well-designed ESD teaching modules, which use the
SC as the basis for teaching.
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National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Dr. Tzuchau Chang
Dr. Ju Chou (p. 44 – 45)
Book Series: Education for Sustainable Development
In order to lay a foundation to promote the development and adoption of ESD in China, scholars
and teachers from several institutions wrote and published a series of books that introduces—for the first
time in China—ESD concepts, main principles, international developments, practices, projects, and
evaluation. The series on ESD is published by China Geological Press and includes seven books:
Panorama of Education for Sustainable Development
Green University and Education for Sustainable Development
Practice of Education for Sustainable Development
Research Projects and International Comparison of Education for Sustainable
Development Evaluation of Education for Sustainable Development
Handbook of Teacher Training on Education for Sustainable Development
Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit (translated works)
With one exception, the authors are from Beijing Normal University, Beijing Academy of
Education Sciences, Beijing Education Committee, and Tianjing Education Committee. The Education for
Sustainable Development Toolkit was written by Dr. Rosalyn McKeown of University of Tennessee and was
translated by Wang Min, Wei Dongying, and others from Beijing Normal University. Professor Wang Min
also served as editor-in-chief of the series.
Beijing Normal University, China
Professor Wang Min (p. 46 – 47)
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Methodology for Creating the Guidelines
Survey
In order to capture the efforts of those involved in reorienting teacher education to address
sustainability, the Chair sent a survey to members of the International Network in February 2004 requesting
return by mid-March. The survey requested that participants respond to the following.
• Make a list here of every initiative that you attempted since you joined the network. Sort the list
into an order of most successful to least successful.
• For each initiative, make brief notes on [1] what the main outcomes were, and [2] on why you think
it was successful / or unsuccessful.
• Within your own work, what were the key things that you could change directly? Why was this?
What was it that enabled you to make change happen? How significant was this change?
• What could you influence, indirectly, although not change yourself? Why was this? What was it
that enabled you to influence things? How significant was this change?
• Where you had no influence, why was this? How significant was this?
• Were there systemic limitations (either national or institutional) to reorienting teacher education
that were beyond your power to change?
• What issues did you face at your institution during the project? (For example, administration
change; financial cutbacks; new strategic plans; re-focusing of national priorities etc.) List these,
and comment how these helped / hindered your work. If you were able to get round particular
problems, explain how.
• On the basis of what you’ve written here (and your experience in the Project) please distill the
important lessons you have learned into recommendations about reorienting teacher education.
Analyzing the Survey Responses
The Chair and Secretariat read all of the surveys, noting variety and major recurring themes. The
themes became the structure for the forthcoming document. For the section on recommendations, the Chair
and Secretariat used a sorting technique to categorize the recommendations. Each recommendation was
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printed on a separate strip of paper and sorted. Similar strips were piled together. Piles with related themes
were combined. The sorting technique resulted in the following major categories for the recommendations.
1. Ministerial and national level involvement
2. Community and regional/provincial involvement
3. Changes within institutions of higher education, including faculties of education, students, and
individual faculty members.
4. Funding and other resources
5. Partnerships
6. Research
7. Communications
8. Information Technology Opportunities
Vetting and Editing
At the May 2004 meeting of the International Network in Goteburg, Sweden, the participants edited the first
draft of the guidelines, which had been distributed by email. Small groups also wrote the preface and
created a plan to present the document to UNESCO and for its general distribution. The Chair and
Secretariat solicited editorial comments of the group. A second draft, which incorporated comments and
changes form the May meeting, was circulated to the group for comment in September2004.
The Chair also requested that members of the Network write short vignettes describing their efforts to
reorient teacher education to address sustainability. These vignettes illustrate the prose of the Guidelines
and give context to the generic descriptions.
Selected Recommendations Relating to Institutions of Teacher Education:
Practical Activities to Reorient Teacher Education to Address Sustainability
Reorienting teacher education to address sustainability will require efforts in many arenas and from the
local to national scales. This section of the document lists recommendations, which stemmed from
real-life experience on reorienting teacher education to address sustainability. These recommendations
are the collective advice given by practitioners, who work in faculties of education, on how to move
forward to reorient education to address sustainability. The recommendations address a number of
themes and scales—personal to national—and concern curriculum, programs, policy, and practices all
associated with teacher education. The following are not the musings of people who simply imagine
how to move forward, but they are pieces of wisdom garnered through the experimentation and hard
work of teacher educators, who bridge theory and practice. (p. 33)
1. Recommendations on ministerial and national involvement:
Work with ministries of education to make ESD a mandatory part of elementary and secondary
education at national and provincial levels.
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Work with ministries of education to revise teacher education and certification requirements to
include ESD and to align these revisions to correspond to the ESD components of elementary and
secondary education. (p. 34)
2. Recommendations on community and regional/provincial involvement
Make use of community resources (e.g., NGOs, institutions, clubs, religious organizations,
government agencies, businesses, etc.) in the teacher education program, both within and outside
the classroom, to teach about local sustainability issues, efforts to address these issues, sustainable
practices, and sustainable businesses.
Establish new models of professional development in ESD that draw together essential skills,
cross-curricular approaches, and action-based learning models so that student teachers and inservice
teachers can work on projects that are relevant and important to their communities' future
well-being. (p.37)
3. Recommendations on change within institutions of higher education (IHEs)
A. Across IHEs
Promote reorienting education as a viable avenue for research and teaching in higher education
institutions. (p. 39)
B. Faculties of Education
Provide educational opportunities to ensure that every member of the faculty of education
understands the need for ESD, how it is relevant to teacher education in both improving quality
basic education and reorienting existing education, and how each faculty member can contribute to
the overall effort. (p. 41)
C. Engaging pre-service and in-service teachers.
Require interdisciplinary coursework on sustainability for student teachers and make materials
available for student teachers on local and global sustainability issues. (p.43)
D. Individual faculty member
Begin by working within your own sphere of influence; change the things within the areas that are
under your individual authority. (p. 48)
4. Recommendations on funding and other resources
Work with ministries of education to redirect existing funding to address ESD. (p.49)
5. Recommendations on partnerships
Strengthen partnerships between teacher-education institutions and elementary and secondary
schools, and such educational organizations as museums, outdoor education sites, and nature
centers. (p. 50)
6. Recommendations on research
Create a research agenda to address important questions, such as the effectiveness of faculty efforts
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to reorient education to address sustainability. (p. 51)
7. Recommendations on communications
Document successful ESD programs that have reoriented teacher education to address
sustainability. Publish and disseminate this work. (p. 54)
8. Recommendations on information technology opportunities
Study the use of ICT to match student preferred learning styles and modalities (e.g., especially
students from oral-based cultures whose preferred learning modality is listening, not reading). (p.
57)
The full set of recommendation can be found Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting
Teacher Education to Address Sustainability are available on the WWW at
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001433/143370E.pdf.
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Next Steps
The Chair and International Network members meet again 29 and 30 May 2006 in Helsinki. At this
meeting the Network members will:
(1) Develop recommendations for the distribution of the recently published Guidelines and
Recommendation for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability,
(2) Create a plan to engage additional faculties of education in reorienting teacher education to address
sustainability, including developing regional ESD teacher education networks associated with the
International Network of Teacher Education Institutions, and
(3) Develop a list of products and tools related to advocacy and capacity building for reorienting
teacher education for sustainable development.
Members of the Network are planning to establish a number of regional teacher-education networks
which will not only provide a forum for teacher educators to share their expertise, but also support
efforts to reorient teacher education to address sustainability. The concept of regional networks was
first discussed at the meeting in South Africa in 2002. Regional networks have been piloted and
established in Canada, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa. Others (e.g., Pakistan) are
in the planning phase. Together, these regional networks comprise more than 70 institutions of teacher
education working to assist one another in developing and implementing ESD teacher education
projects.
At the Setting the State for a Strategic Research Agenda for the UNDESD workshop held in Paris
20 – 22 February, the participants repeatedly mentioned that the education community needs case studies of
good practice in ESD. The Chair is going to prepare a collection of case studies on reorienting teacher
education to address sustainability. UNESCO plans to publish the collection of case studies.
The Chair, Secretariat, International Network, and emerging regional networks are committed to
promoting and improving reorienting teacher education to address sustainability. They will be active in a
variety of ways to accomplish their goals.
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References
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Secretary-General Addendum. UN Document E/CN.17/1998/5/Add.2 and CL3552
Fien, John, and Rupert Maclean. 2000 Teacher Education for Sustainability: Two Teacher Education Projects
from Asia and the Pacific. In Education for a Sustainable Future: A Paradigm of Home for the 21 st Century.
Keith A. Wheeler and Anne Perraca Bijur. eds. New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers.
Hopkins, C., J. Damlamian, and G. Lopez Ospina. 1996. Evolving towards Education for Sustainable
Development: An International Perspective. Nature and Resources, 32(3) 2-11.
Hopkins, Charles, and Rosalyn McKeown. 2002. Education for Sustainable Development: An International
Perspective. In Environmental Education for Sustainability: Responding to the Global Challenge, D.
Tilbury, R.B. Stevenson, J. Fien, and D. Schreuder, eds. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN
Commission on Education and Communication.
Hopkins, Charles, Rosalyn McKeown, and the International Network. 2005. “Guidelines and
Recommendation for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability.” Education for Sustainable
Development in Action Technical Paper no. 2. Paris: UNESCO. Available online at
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001433/143370E.pdf.
Huckle, John. 1996. Teacher Education. In Education for Sustainability. John Huckle and Stephen Sterling
eds. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
McKeown, Rosalyn, and Charles A. Hopkins. 2003. EE ≠ ESD: Diffusing the Worry. Environmental
Education Research. 9 (1): 117 – 128.
McKeown, Rosalyn, Charles Hopkins, and Regina Rizzi. 2000. Education for Sustainable Development
Toolkit. Knoxville: Waste Management Research and Education Institution.
McKeown, Rosalyn, Charles Hopkins, Regina Rizzi, and Maryanne Chrystalbridge. 2002. Education for
Sustainable Development Toolkit, version 2. Knoxville: Waste Management Research and Education
Institution.
McKeown, Rosalyn and Charles Hopkins. 2002. Weaving Sustainability into Pre-Service Teacher
Education. In Teaching Sustainability at Universities: Toward Greening the Curriculum, Walter Leal Fihlo,
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ed. Germany: Lange Scientific.
United Nations Department of Public Information, DPI/1344/Rev.1-97-01888-February 1997-5m, EARTH
SUMMIT AGENDA 21 The United Nations Programme of Action From Rio.
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Implementation of Agenda 21.
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EPD-97/Conf.401/CLD.1.
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Secretary General to the Second Preparatory Session for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
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Internet References
Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit, version 2. Knoxville: [Accessed 20 April 2004]
http://www.esdtoolkit.org.
Paris21. 2000 A Better World for All. [Accessed 26 April 2001]
http://www.paris21.org/betterworld/home.htm.
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http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf.
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Nuturing Relationships:
a Pacific Perspective of Teacher Education for Peace
and Sustainable Development*
Konai H Thaman**
Introduction
We are now in the middle of the UN Decade for a culture of peace and non-violence, and the beginning of the
UN Decade for education for sustainable development (DESD). These and other related UN instruments reflect
the longings of all concerned people for a world that is peaceful and sustainable. It is in this context that
UNESCO calls for a comprehensive system of education and training for all groups of people at all levels and
forms of education. Education for peace and sustainable development needs to be holistic and participatory,
focusing on peace and non-violence, human rights, democracy, tolerance, international and intercultural
understanding, as well as cultural and linguistic diversity .
As educators, we can appropriately ask the question: “What can teachers and those responsible for their
education do in order to help educate for peace and sustainable development? Because educational and
other initiatives that emanate from the international community often assume the acceptance of a Western
view of knowledge and value systems, it is necessary for me to re-phrase the question in order to
contextualise it for the majority of people who live is the Pacific Islands. The question that I need to ask is:
How do Pacific people conceptualise peace and sustainable development, and what kind of teacher is needed
to educate future generations towards peaceful and sustainable societies?
Pacific values and beliefs
My view of teachers and teacher education is influenced by values and beliefs that are rooted in various Pacific
cultures, which currently inhabit the Pacific Ocean. These cultures had, over millennia, developed their own
ways of life and knowledge systems, which helped them to survive despite efforts by others to obliterate and
render them unsustainable through colonial and other unpeaceful acts. In most Pacific cultures today, the notion
of "peace” is not necessarily equated to a situation "without violent conflict " (although that was important in
ancient times) but to a sense of well being, growth and oneness with others. In this context, peace is something
*Paper prepared for a UNESCO Experts meeting on ESD, Samutsongkram, Thailand, May 1-3.
** Professor of Pacific Education and UNESCO Chair in teacher education & culture, The University
of the South Pacific, Suva, FIJI.
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that is the outward expression of appropriate interpersonal and inter-group relationships, known in
Polynesian societies as vaa/wah. In Pacific Island societies, vaa or its equivalent, is often seen as a pre-condition
to peaceful co-existence and sustainable development (Thaman, 2002).
In Pacific Island Nations, it is important for educators to understand the way peace and Pacific peoples
conceptualize sustainable development because the values that underpin many global education initiatives
have largely been derived from Western cultures and not from the cultures of Pacific peoples. In my view,
understanding the similarities as well as the differences is vital for successful teaching and learning. This is
particularly significant given that conceptual analyses of Pacific indigenous educational ideas reveal values
and systems of learning and teaching that are different from that which underpin schooling and which many
Pacific island students find irrelevant and meaningless.
In my culture, for example, the main purpose of learning is to gain knowledge and understanding,
considered important for cultural survival and continuity – the Tongan equivalent of sustainable living. The
educated person is one who is poto – who knows what to do and does it well. Poto is achieved through the
appropriate and beneficial use of ‘ilo, the appropriate combination of knowledge, understanding and values,
acquired through ako or learning. Poto may be translated as wisdom and experience, and has intellectual,
emotional and spiritual connotations (Thaman, 1988). Similar notions exist in other Pacific cultures. In
Fijian, the closest equivalent of poto is yalomatua or yalovuku, which refers to the culmination of learning
or vuli, aimed at the acquisition of useful knowledge skills and values kila ka (Nabobo, 2003). In Kiribati,
it is wanawana, a term that has a strong element of responsibility (Teaero, 2003). Among the Lengo people
of Solomon Islands, a person of wisdom is manatha; s/he is a person who, through nanau (learning) obtains
ligana (wisdom), considered a necessary condition for surviving and sustainability in Lengo society
(Vatamana, 1997).
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Relationships: a core Pacific value
A core value of indigenous education is relationship: among people and between people and nature. An
important outcome of indigenous education is therefore knowledge and understanding of how people are
related to one another. Relationships define persons as well as groups and their acknowledgement and
nurturance ensure peace within and between groups. Relationships are important because they are central to
personal as well as group identities and they provide the framework for appropriate behaviour. Wealth is
often defined by one’s relationships with others, and a person is often regarded masiva or poor because s/he
had strained relationships with others. (Taufe’ulungaki, 2004). Learning about one’s relationships and
associated responsibilities and obligations formed a major part of the curriculum of indigenous education.
This is important as it ensures that learning is relevant and meaning for learners and education (worthwhile
learning) is aimed at cultural survival and continuity the Pacific equivalent for peace and sustainability.
In many parts of the Pacific, relationships continue to be emphasized by people who value collective rather
than individual behaviour. This is not to deny the importance of the individual; rather it is to emphasise the
fact that relationships define persons as well as communities and in order for teachers to play a role in
educating for peace and sustainable development, they will need to understand the importance of
relationships in the teaching/learning process.
The work of the UNESCO Chair in teacher education and culture assumes the vital role that culture plays in
the education of Pacific teachers and students. It acknowledges the fact that the expectations of schools often
conflict with the expectations of the home cultures of the majority of students (and teachers), creating what
Little refers to as the ‘cultural gap’. This means that in educating teachers for culturally diverse situations,
we need to ensure that they understand where the learners are coming from and create culturally inclusive
learning environments for students by better contexualising their work.
Our work to reorient teachers towards their own cultures and their contribution to teaching and learning has
not been easy. Many Pacific schools unfortunately do not acknowledge the existence of indigenous
education and some are often totally in opposition to it, despite the fact that students continue to be
immersed in it, especially those who live in more traditional and rural communities where learning occurs
under the guidance of elders and specialist teachers and where important knowledge, skills and values
continue to be transmitted through a variety of means including myths, legends, dance, poetry, songs,
proverbs and rituals. Through observation, listening, imitation, participation and some direct instruction,
young people obtain the necessary knowledge, skills and values of their cultures, elders, other adults and
sometimes their peers. Learning is practical and directly related to shared values and beliefs. In my own
country, for example, important values include those of : ‘ofa (compassion), faka’apa’apa (respect),
feveikotai’aki (reciprocity), tauhivaha’a (nurturing inter-personal relations), and fakama’uma’u (restraint
behaviour). The achievement of poto (wisdom) is measured against these values, through people’s
performance and behaviour in different social contexts.
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Relationships and the educated person
Poto persons in my culture know their relationships and social responsibilities. Failure to maintain such
relationships and/or contribute to one’s group’s responsibilities to another group, is an indicator of failure to
learn and therefore reflect negatively on those responsible for teaching, namely parents and other
community elders. Knowing and maintaining good inter-personal relationships is the responsibility of
everyone in society and a person’s wealth and standing in society are often measured in terms of how well
s/he maintains positive relationships with others through meeting his/her social obligations, a process that is
known in my culture as tauhi vaha’a (l. protecting interpersonal space or vaa mentioned earlier). Tauhi
vahaa (nurturing relationships) is important for peaceful cooexistence and minimising inter-personal and
inter-group conflicts. A poor person or a poor community is one that is unable to maintain good
relationships, the result of which is vaa kovi (bad relationships). Thus tauhi vahaa is a core value of
traditional Tongan education and its emphasis is evident in people’s daily lives.
Tauhivaha’a (l. protecting relationships), like other indigenous values, unfortunately is not always
emphasised in the classrooms, where learning is abstract and decontextualised and mostly unrelated to
students’ realities. School learning continues to emphasise children’s intellectual development; where
critical thinking is perceived as private, and independent of will, and mastery of the environment a desirable
feature of mental functions (Serpell, 1993:77). This aspect of schooling contradicts the notion of nature as
an integral part of indigenous cultures and people, where children are expected to respect and protect their
relationships with nature and with one another. If school learning in the Pacific continues along its current
path, peace and sustainable development will not be realized in our part of the world.
Changing the school culture is a mammoth task, but I believe that a start could be made by focusing on teachers
and those who train them and emphasising the concept of via - nurturing positive relationships and social
responsibility. Our work advocate that building positive relationships needs to be a major goal of teacher
education in the Pacific. We know that the way teachers perceive and carry out their work is directly related to
their beliefs and values which influence their notions of what education is and their role in that process. We
encourage teachers to stop and ask the question: "What are we doing and why?” Often their answers help
provide a clearer picture of their role as teachers and whether they are moral agents or simply forced labourers in
the education factories of their different countries. In our work we also encourage them to continuously reflect
upon their work and to try and locate themselves in various contexts be these personal, communal, or
professional.
Teachers’ moral and epistemological dilemmas
Irrespective of whatever contexts Pacific teachers find themselves in, they are bound to face moral as well as
epistemological dilemmas. The reason for this is that, like the majority of their students, teachers often have
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to face the same conflicting emphases of the education that they are supposed to deliver in formal
educational institutions, and the education, which they received as members of particular cultural groups.
The cultural groups to which Pacific teachers belong and with which they continue to identify, are made up
of people who share similar cultural histories, often sustained and maintained by their own epistemologies
and way of seeing the world as well as their place in that world. Each cultural group has developed
particular knowledge and value systems, which form the bases of the education of group members for the
purpose of cultural continuity, maintenance, and sustainability.
However, colonialism and its modern manifestation, globalisation interacted and consequently transformed not
only the structures of many Pacific cultures but also the way members of cultural groups see themselves and
others. The degree with which this transforming process influences the way teachers think and see the world
would depend on their ability to clarify for themselves the difference between their received wisdom (from their
formal, mainly western education) and the wisdom of the cultures in which they were socialised and from which
they continue to learn. For teacher educators, understanding such a difference is important because they are
preparing people to be agents of this transformation, whether they are aware of it or not as formal education in
the Pacific continues to be about change, and teachers in particular, are trained to change people: to add to their
knowledge, to develop new skills and to inculcate new attitudes and values.
Culture is therefore central to our work in teacher education. Culture defines particular ways of being and
behaving as well as ways of knowing, knowledge and wisdom and how these are passed on and/or
communicated to others. We have been inspired by the work of Dennis Lawton (1974) who once defined
curriculum as “a selection of the best of a culture the transmission of which is so important that it is not left
to chance but to specially prepared people – teachers”. A question I often ask my students (most of whom
are experienced teachers) : As a teacher (or teacher educator) in your country today, what selection of whose
culture are you responsible for transmitting to your students?” I believe that un-peaceful contexts and
situations which characterise our world in general and some parts of our region in particular, largely reflects
the failure of many of our education systems to consider the school as a site for the transmission of people’s
cultures, and the mistaken belief that the school curriculum as well as teachers and teaching are value-free
and culture-neutral.
The teacher education curriculum
The concern that Pacific education systems have been more than indifferent to the best of Pacific cultures for far
too long. Thomas & Postlethwaite (1984:25) had noticed the difference and said that ‘Both the methods and
content of indigenous islanders’ education prior to the intrusions of Westerners in the 19 th century were vastly
different from those introduced with the formal school and since then the two modes of education have
continued in parallel and often came into conflict. In 1997 the Pacific Association of Teacher Educators in
collaboration with the UNESCO Chair, conducted a survey of the teacher education curriculum in nice teacher
education programs to find out the extent to which Pacific values and knowledge systems were used to inform,
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and was incorporated into the curriculum of teacher education. The results of the survey were expected to be
used to:
• Enhance the interest in Pacific cultures as an important pedagogical tool as well as an important field of
educational study;
• Create awareness among teacher educators of the importance of education for cultural development
• Assist in the development of formal and non-formal educational materials that may empower teacher
educators by enhancing their ability to better contextualise their own teaching; and
• Serve as a catalyst for identifying local educators who might be interested in carrying out research and
cultural analyses in their own communities, particularly in relation to gathering information about
traditional knowledge knowledge systems as well as different learning and teaching styles.
Briefly the survey results did not tell us anything that we did not know. Less than 20% of the content of the
teacher education curriculum was derived from Pacific cultures and knowledge systems. Only 10% of
lecturers reported deriving their course content from Pacific cultures, and these were mainly vernacular
language and culture courses. Three teacher education programs aimed at preparing secondary school
teachers (USP, FCAE and Corpus Christie) reported deriving less than 22% of their course content from
Pacific cultures. This was of particular concern in the students’ first year, when 30% of respondents reported
deriving less than 20% of course content from Pacific cultures. The apparent failure to recognise and/or
value Pacific knowledge and values tended to be more prevalent at our university and the Fiji College of
Advanced Education where course content is largely influenced by staff’s own cultural and/or educational
backgrounds and not those of the students’. Furthermore, there continues to be widespread belief among
many college staff and academics that discipline-based knowledge and skills are culture-free and universal.
The lack of Pacific content in the teacher education curriculum was not a surprise given the examination
orientation of Pacific school curricula, particularly at high school levels. The initiative to survey the college
curriculum came from college principals who recognised a need to better contextualise teaching and
learning in schools so that more students could benefit from their education. It was also a major resolution
of a UNESC sub-regional seminar held in Rarotonga in 1991.
Towards cultural democracy in teacher education
The need to provide teachers with knowledge skills and values that will assist them in the task of ensuring that
more Pacific students achieve in schools cannot be overemphasised. In this regard it was important for teacher
educators to be able to use content that was familiar to trainees as well as methods and techniques that were
appropriate for and relevant to their learning contexts. This was regarded as important for improving the quality
of teacher education in the region. In 1998 work towards the preparation of Teacher Education Modules aimed at
assisting teacher educators in the region better contextualise their work began. The first six of these Modules
were published in 2000 and more are still to come. These modules are being used by both teacher trainees and
teacher educators and a second reprint has already been done.
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Soon after the launch of the Teacher Education Modules, a Pacific education symposium held in Fiji in 2001
heard that two important reasons for the failure of Pacific education systems to provide quality education to
young people in our region were the absence of a vision about what education can do for the region’s people and
the lack of ownership by Pacific peoples of their education systems due to the fact that Pacific curricula
continued to reflect the values and ideals of colonising and now globalising cultures of Europe and America
rather than Pacific cultures (Taufe’ulungaki, 2000). The school as well as the educational bureaucracy of which
it is a part continued to rely on notions of universalism and objectivity and promotes individual merit and
competitive attitudes whereas Pacific indigenous and vernacular education systems rely on specific contexts and
subjectivity and value human relationships and collective effort (Thaman, 1988; 2003). Referring to the situation
in Solomon Islands, a troubled nation at the time of the Symposium, Solomon Island academic and educator
Sanga (2000) reported that the extent to which the school in his country represented the multiple cultures of the
nation was minimal as the officially sanctioned values were those of a foreign school structure, curriculum and
teaching profession. At best, schooling in many parts of Oceania offer a few fortunate people (such as myself)
access to the modern, monetised sector; at worst it is a recipe for cultural conflicts and disasters, the destruction
of many children’s self confidence and morale, as well as the marginalisation of local and indigenous knowledge
systems of the very people and communities that send children to school. More Pacific Island educators had
come to the realisation that it was time to look to Pacific cultures for solutions to Pacific teaching and learning
problems.
Pacific cultures therefore have to be the context in which conversations about the role of the teacher in educating
for peace and sustainable development in the Pacific need to be situated and understood. It is a context in which
teachers as well as learners continuously face the conflicting demands and emphases between their formal
education and those of their home cultures; between the individualist values of schools and the marketplace and
the socially oriented cultural values of various Pacific communities (Little, 1995:778). This often results in
misunderstandings that will lead to un-peaceful and conflict-ridden relationships, and sometimes, physical
violence.
Today, the situation is worsening as the global market ideology pervades people’s lives as well as their work and
is changing even its most ardent opposers. Education is now a commodity to be sold rather than something that
is provided by governments for the common good. In our part of the world, some nations (such as New Zealand
and Australia) do not hide the fact that they need to be more proactive in marketing their educational services to
others, making issues of globalised curricula, cross cultural transfer, and appropriate learning strategies more
critical than ever. At an Asia Pacific UNESCO/GATS seminar held in Seoul in April 2005, questions were asked
about what and/or whose knowledge was being taught in schools and universities in the Asia Pacific region as
governments enthusiastically embrace market driven economies and educational development. There is also
evidence, including various UN Human Development index reports, globalisation and modernisation have
actually accentuated structural violence against the poor majorities in our region, creating structural injustices
that undermine people’s opportunities to meet basic needs including the education of their children (Toh Swee-
Hin, 2001).
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Within a globalising context teachers will continue the difficult task of mediating the interface between different
cultural and knowledge systems, meanings and values that exist in the educational institutions in which they
work, and at the same time they are expected to embrace the PEACE model which emphasises participatory,
equitable, appropriate (in values and technology), critically empowering and ecologically sustainable strategies
as well as understand the differences and similarities among the many cultural perspectives that exist within their
communities. Teachers are also expected to find ways of integrating the different cultures that have contributed
to their own personal development and philosophies.
Neglect of teachers
As teacher educators addressing some of these needs and challenges has not been easy. This is partly due to the
fact that the global picture in relation to teachers and their education has been less than clear. During the
curriculum reform years of the 1970s and 1980s, Pacific teachers were perceived as a hindrance to rather than a
help in implementing reforms when government believed that new curricula needed to be "teacher proof" so that
students could learn in spite of their teachers. More than three decades and many failed curriculum development
projects later, most Pacific governments as well as foreign aid organizations and their technical experts are now
saying that teachers and their education are vital for the success of curriculum and other educational reforms.
There is a history to the general neglect of teachers in the Pacific region. Despite many countries’ endorsement
of the 1966 Geneva Recommendation on the Status of Teachers, many educational reform movements in
developing nations, including in the Pacific, continued to ignore teachers, reinforcing the belief that educational
systems could be changed without having to deal with teachers. The 1995 World Bank Education Sector Review
of Six Key Options for reforming education systems, for example, did not even mention teachers, their selection
or training. Neglecting teachers had largely resulted in their relegation to an inferior role, both in relation to their
working conditions and from the viewpoint of teaching itself, forcing many potential teachers to opt for other
careers.
However, there have been some positive signs. For example a report on teacher training for the promotion of
peace, human rights and international understanding had been produced as part of the 44th session of the
International Conference on Education (ICE) held in Geneva in 1994. Two years later the Joint ILO/UNESCO
Committee of Experts on the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART) passed a
recommendation declaring, "that teachers deserve ongoing attention as their status and conditions of work
continue to deteriorate worldwide". And in 1996 the Delores Report, Education for the Twenty First Century:
Learning the Treasure Within devotes a whole chapter to teachers. Entitled Teachers: in search of new
perspectives, the authors warn that countries who wish to improve the quality of education must first improve
the recruitment, training, social status and working conditions of their teachers.
It is this recognition of the vital role of teachers in facilitating educational reforms in general and educating for
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peace and sustainable development in particular that underpins the work that we do at the University of the
South Pacific (USP). Focusing on teacher education from early childhood to tertiary, our University is assisting
its twelve member countries to meet their human resource needs within the context of their own cultures.
Teacher education is high on their priority lists as they work towards meeting international educational
obligations such as those relating to Education for All (EFA), Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN
Decade for Literacy (UNDL) and the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). The
emphasis on teachers and their education is also reflected in the work that is associated with the UNESCO Chair,
since its establishment eight years ago.
Teachers and teacher educators have been our main target groups. Through teacher education we hope to
prepare teachers who can create culturally inclusive learning environments and better contextualise their
teaching in order to achieve improved learning outcomes. Culturally inclusive curriculum and research are also
part of our advocacy and a regional workshop of culturally inclusive curriculum recently saw curriculum
planners from around the Pacific, including Maori and Australian aboriginal educators, come together to
evaluate the extent to which the school curriculum in their respective nations reflect the values and knowledge
systems of Pacific cultures rather than colonial and/or metropolitan cultures. A major part of this workshop
focused on researching and incorporating elements of Pacific cultures and knowledge systems in the curriculum
of teacher education curriculum in the hope that future generations of Pacific peoples would know and
appreciate their heritages as well as those of others, thereby contributing to intercultural understanding, tolerance
and peace.
Focus of UNESCO Chair activities
Some of the major foci of the work of the UNESCO Chair include:
• CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. Activities include advocacy,
research, teaching, research and publications; workshops, conference addresses/papers;
undergraduate and postgraduate teaching; development of distance and flexible course materials;
• CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE TEACHER EDUCATION. Activities include undergraduate and
postgraduate teaching and research; materials development through publications, e.g. Teacher
education modules, targeting staff of regional teachers’ colleges (edited by Benson and Thaman,
2000 – six Modules so far); Documenting Pacific indigenous educational ideas (e.g. resource book
on educational ideas from Oceania (Thaman, K. ed., 2003); Advocacy, e.g. publications,
conference addresses, & papers.
• CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT FOR (MULTI)CULTURAL LITERACY. Teaching, research,
advocacy through public addresses, networking with regional curriculum development units re.
frameworks for cultural and language studies, e.g. Tongan Studies, 1986).
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• RE-THINKING PACIFIC EDUCATION INITIATIVE FOR PACIFIC BY PACIFIC (RPEIPP);
The UNESCO Chair is one of the founding members of this initiative, and chairs the Advisory
Board of RPEIPP and the Board of Trustees of the Pacific Education Research Foundation (PERF).
Funded by NZAID, RPEIPP has held a number of activities since its first Rethinking Pacific
Education Symposium in 2001. A number of publications have also resulted from various national
and regional conferences and symposia, the most recent being a regional workshop on Culturally
Inclusive Curriculum, held in Fiji from April 3-7, 2006. RPEIPP sponsors activities in the area of
Action Research, Values Research, Leadership and Indigenous Knowledge, Educational Aid and
Indigenous Education.
• NETWORKING WITH REGIONAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS who are working in the area of
peace and sustainable development, through collaboration and exchange of information and
experiences.
These and other activities emphasise values that are sourced from Pacific cultures themselves. They are
contextual and rooted in human inter-personal relationships, and the nurturance of such relationships
through emphasizing respect, compassion, tolerance, and restrained behaviour (Thaman, 1988; 2001). We
also encourage the use of indigenous and traditional communication techniques, such as ‘talanoa’ which
emphasise dialogue and consensus as well as the use of participatory and creative strategies. Finally, we
encourage critical analyses and self-assessment and welcome constructive criticism. Through improved
understanding of their own as well as others’ cultures, we hope to enhance teachers and students’
commitment not only to peace and inter-cultural understanding but also to sustainable living.
Challenges to our work include lack of resources, both human and financial; lack of overt institutional
support; and indifference of some colleagues who see cultural literacy and inter-cultural education as wishywashy
and a possible drain on resources which they need for their own research and activities. For me
personally, working in the area of culture and education, although frustrating at times, has been fulfilling. I had
realised quite early in my career, that in a culturally diverse region such as ours, there was a need to move
towards cultural and cognitive democracy in our work in curriculum development and teacher education. In
order to do this we needed not only to include Pacific content and pedagogies in school and university curricula
but also to help develop Pacific philosophies of teaching and research that are sourced from the cultures of our
students and the communities that send them to university.
I end this paper with a brief summary of my own personal philosophy of teaching and research, symbolised in
the Tongan metaphor of kakala, and underpins the work of the UNESCO Chair. Developed in the early 1990s it
is used by Pacific researchers and scholars in Tonga as well as in New Zealand. The deveopment of personal
philosophies of teaching is a major goal of both my undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, where students are
expected to look towards their own cultural source for inspiration. The assumption being that if teachers have
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strong cultural identities, has compassion for their students, and value human relationships, they will be more
likely to work towards improved contextualisation of new concepts and competencies which they are expected
to teach.
Sourced from my own (Tongan) culture, kakala refers to fragrant flowers woven together to make a garland, and
has many equivalent concepts in Oceania such as lei (Hawaii); hei (Cook Islands) or salusalu (Fiji). There exist,
in Tonga and elsewhere, etiquette and mythology associated with kakala making. Kakala embodies physical,
social and spiritual elements and reflects the integrated nature of indigenous epistemologies and knowledge
systems.
There are three major processes associated with Kakala: toli, tui and luva. Toli is the collection and selection of
flowers and other plant material that are required for making a kakala; this would depend not only on the
occasion but also on the person(s) for whom a kakala is being made. It will also depend on the availability of the
materials themselves. Tui is the making or weaving of a kakala. The time taken to do this would also depend on
the complexity and intricacies of the flowers and the type of kakala being made. In Tonga, flowers are ranked
according to their cultural importance with the heilala having pride of place because of the mythology associated
with it. Luva is the final process and is about giving the kakala away to someone else as a sign of peace, love and
respect. Kakala provides me with a philosophy as well as a methodology of teaching and research that is rooted
in my culture but has equivalents in others. Kakala requires me to utilise knowledge from global as well as
Pacific (indigenous) cultures in order to weave something that is meaningful and culturally appropriate for my
students. This is important because, teaching in my view, is essentially autobiographic: as teachers, we give of
ourselves when we share our knowledge, skills and values with our students. If this is motivated by compassion,
a commitment to peaceful and harmonious relationships, and respect for one another’s cultures, then sharing will
lead to wisdom and sustainable relationships.
Teacher education for peace and sustainable development is essentially about developing people who can make
a difference in the school. As Adam Curle suggests, in order to be able to teach about peace, one needs to be at
peace with oneself. The message is clear: teachers need to model what they are teaching. This is exactly what the
Pacific conception of the teacher is: a role model from whom students can learn about how to behave in
appropriate ways. In this regard, I end with a poem, inspired by the educational ideas of Adam Curle, the
Foundation Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, a peace-maker and a mentor. A sharing
identity as opposed to a belonging identity is a precondition for teaching about peace. And if we were to add
sustainable development to this, it becomes clear that the teacher will need to model a life of sustainable living
and not merely teach about it. In the Pacific region, a sharing identity requires the nurturing of positive
relationships the results of which is an orientation towards peace and sustainable living. In my view, a sharing
identity is a pre-condition to educating for peace and sustainable development in Oceania. This is the orientation
that we need to inculcate among teachers of the future.
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today we come together
to read and sing of peace
lay aside our differences
rise and greet the breeze
there's no need to explain
define or defend our theme
question our ancestors
about their silent dreams
no need to blame the rain or pain
for crying on the phone
no need to ask how far the tide
will come to meet our bones
when all is said and done
you'll have to give up soon
the things that make you what you are
the things you think you own
a spouse a house
a child a friend
the land your customs
even the pain
for when you're left with nothing
and only wings to lift you up
you'll see how fast your soul is trembling
freedom's trapped in a cup
seize it now and hold it tight
have no fear you're there
let me whisper no I'll shout
peace is in the air
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REFERENCES
Curle, A. 1971. Making Peace. Tavistock, London.
Delores, J. 1996. Learning: the treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission
on Education for the Twenty-first century. UNESCO, Paris.
Lawton, D. 1974. Class, Culture and the Curriculum. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Little, A. 1995. Question of culture and education. Prospects 25(4):777-784
Nabobo, U. 2003. Indigenous Fijian educational ideas. In Thaman, K. (Ed), Educational ideas
from Oceania, UNESCO Chair/IOE, USP, Suva, 85-93.
Pene, F., Taufeulungaki, A. and Benson, C. 2002. Tree of Opportunity. Institute of Education, USP, Suva,
Fiji
Sanga, K. 2000. Indigenous leadership. Pacific cultures in the teacher education curriculum series, Module
6, UNESCO Chair/IOE, USP, Suva.
Serpell, R. 1993. The significance of schooling. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Taufe’ulungaki, A.M. 2000. Vernacular languages and classroom interaction in the Pacific. Module two,
Pacific Cultures in the Teacher Education Curriculum Series. Institute of Education/UNESCO Chair,
USP, Suva.
Taufeulungaki, A.M. 2004. Personal communication, Suva.
Teaero, T. 2003. indigenous education in Kiribati. In Thaman, K. (Ed), Educational ideas from Oceania,
UNESCO Chair/IOE, USP, Suva., 106-11.
Thaman, K.H. 1988. Ako and faiako: cultural values, educational ideas and teachers role perceptions in
Tonga. Unpublished PhD theses, the University of the South Pacific, Suva.
Thaman, K.H. 1992. Towards a culture-sensitive model of curriculum development for Pacific Island
Countries. Directions 13(1): 1-11.
Thaman, K.H. 2000. Towards cultural democracy in teacher education. First and Introductory Module,
Pacific Cultures in the teacher education curriculum series, UNESCO Chair/IOE, USP, Suva.
Thaman, K.H. 2002. Vaa: a Pacific foundation for education for inter-cultural understanding. Paper
prepared for a UNESCO/APCEIU regional workshop on Education for international understanding,
Suva.
Thaman, K.H. (Ed). 2003. Educational Ideas from Oceania. UNESCO Chair/IOE, USP, Suva, Fiji
Toh, S wee-Hin. 2001. Transcending the spiral of violence.
http://www.html/paulofreireinstitute.org/documents/peace
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Teacher and Learning for a Sustainable Future:
UNESCO’s New Multimedia Teacher Education Programme
John Fien
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Education for a sustainable development places education at the heart of the quest to build a fairer, less
troubled and more peaceful world. This makes education not just an end in itself – as important as the
intrinsic goals of education are - but also one of the most powerful instruments for bringing about the
changes required to achieve sustainable development. Teachers, of course, are vital actors in this process
and teacher education a key mechanism for building capacity for a sustainable future.
Within its special work programme on education, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable
Development invited UNESCO to make a significant effort to help teachers worldwide not only to
understand sustainable development concepts and issues but also to learn how to cope with interdisciplinary,
values-laden subjects in established curricula. As a result, the 1990s saw a great many UNESCO initiatives
around the world to advance teacher education for sustainable development. These include a UNESCO chair
and international network on teacher education for sustainable development, numerous publications of the
UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme, and many regional and sub-regional
workshops.
The Asia-Pacific region has been a leader in recognising in this with significant work taking place in
redefining education in an Asia-Pacific context, particularly to incorporate concepts of sustainable
development. Much exploration of how teacher education can rise to the occasion of this great need has
been on-going in the region.
There are a number of responses and developments in teacher education for sustainable development in the
Asia/Pacific worth noting. The first is the Teaching for a Sustainable World manual which contained all the
resources needed for 26 workshops on different sustainable development topics in teacher education courses.
Second, UNESCO APEID facilitated a regional action research network across 20 countries in the region
between 1993 and 1998 and, from this, published a set of competencies and guidelines on teacher education
for sustainability (Fien and Tilbury 1996). Other capacity building initiatives in teacher education from this
project included:
• the development of an action research network of over seventy teachers’ colleges operates in Karnataka
state in India and which is presently being replicated in the neighbouring state of Kerala;
• the establishment of a national environmental education resource centre in Vietnam;
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• revision of the teacher education degree curriculum in several participating institutions to include either
a compulsory study of environmental education, issues of sustainable development, etc. or a specialised
curriculum stream in environmental education;
• shared course materials and joint degree programmes between institutions to promote postgraduate
studies and research in environmental education in several countries, including international joint
degrees;
• thee publication of a set of workshop modules, the action research guide and several sample action
research case studies as a book called Learning for a Sustainable Environment: A Professional
Development Guide for Teacher Educators (Fien, Heck and Ferreira, 1997) and as an Internet site
(http://www.gu.edu.au/ciree/lse/index.html);
• the revision of many of the modules into national training manuals and teacher education guides, eg in
India, Fiji, Thailand and Vietnam (the latter two in national languages);
• the adoption of ideas from the action research network process by the York University UNESCO Chair
Network on Teacher Education for Sustainability in its work of facilitating professional development
and curriculum change in colleges and universities in 34 countries; and
• the development of research expertise of project members such that many went on to participate in a
survey and focus group study of factors influencing youth environmental attitudes in the region
(Yencken, Fien and Sykes, 2000).
The Teaching for a Sustainable World and Learning for a Sustainable Environment manuals were then used as a
basis for the development of an on-line multimedia teacher education programme called Teaching and Learning
for a Sustainable Future. This was first published in 2002 as a UNESCO contribution to the United Nations
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It has since been revised and updated for the UN
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
See http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf.
TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multimedia teacher education programme published by
UNESCO. Its 25 modules provide around 100 hours of highly interactive activities designed to enhance the
teacher’s understanding of sustainable development and related themes. It also develops practical skills for
integrating sustainable development themes into the school curriculum, and for using the teaching methods
best suited to the knowledge, values and citizenship objectives of educating for a sustainable future. As
such, it ahs been designed to enable teachers to plan learning experiences that empower their students to
develop and evaluate alternative visions of a sustainable future and to work creatively with others to help
bring their visions into effect.
The multimedia format of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future means that it can be accessed
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and used in a great many ways by teachers, student teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers,
education policy makers and authors of educational materials.
Objective
• To develop an appreciation of the scope and purpose of educating for a sustainable future.
• To clarify concepts and themes related to sustainable development and how they can be integrated in all
subject areas across the school curriculum.
• To enhance skills for integrating issues of sustainability into a range of school subjects and classroom
topics.
• To enhance skills for using a wide range of interactive and learner-centred teaching and learning
strategies that underpin the knowledge, critical thinking, values and citizenship objectives implicit in
reorienting education towards sustainable development.
• To encourage wider awareness of available Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), of
the potential of multimedia-based approaches to education and professional development and of the
Internet as a rich source of educational materials.
• To enhance skills in computer literacy and multimedia education.
Content
The programme contains 25 modules – each of which provides about 4-5 hours of professional
development. The modules are grouped in four sections
Curriculum Rationale
1. Exploring global realities
2. Understanding sustainable development
3. A futures perspective in the curriculum
4. Reorienting education for a sustainable future
5. Accepting the challenge
Teaching about Sustainability Across the Curriculum
6. Sustainable futures across the curriculum
7. Citizenship education
8. Health education
9. Consumer education
Interdisciplinary Curriculum Themes
10. Culture and religion for a sustainable future
11. Indigenous knowledge and sustainability
12. Women and sustainable development
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13. Population and development
14. Understanding world hunger
15. Sustainable agriculture
16. Sustainable tourism
17. Sustainable communities
Teaching and Learning Strategies
18. Experiential learning
19. Story-telling
20. Values education
21. Enquiry learning
22. Appropriate assessment
23. Future problem-solving
24. Learning outside the classroom
25. Community problem solving
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THE MULTIMEDIA LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Multimedia-based learning is becoming increasingly popular. While it has limitations, and certainly should
not be seen as a substitute for face to face interaction, it does have numerous advantages for teacher
education. For example, the information contained on the Internet is unlimited and evolving. It is up to date,
inexpensive to obtain, and searchable. It also reflects the views of many authors and sources of information.
Multimedia professional education can also be highly interactive and engaging through the use of
animation, audio and video files, games and on-line discussions. All these can be undertaken at any time and
at any place and without the need for an outside workshop facilitator.
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future incorporates these benefits of multimedia education. It also
demonstrates the principles of effective teaching and learning that are a necessary part of reorienting
education towards a sustainable future. That is, the type of professional development experiences in
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future seeks to ensure that the ‘medium’ for learning is a part of
the ‘message’.
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is also very easy to use as it has been designed with
attention to the needs of people who may have basic computer skills only. In addition, the programme can
be used in a very flexible way. Some of the key design features are:
Relevant for diverse audiences
The programme has been designed for both pre-service teacher education, i.e. for student teachers, and in
the in-service-education of experienced teachers. At the same time, it has also been designed to suit the
professional development needs of curriculum developers, education policy makers and authors of
educational materials.
Available in several formats
The programme is available in two multimedia formats – on the Internet at
and as a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM contains the entire website, complete
with over 500 Internet links that can be accessed directly from the CD-ROM (via an Internet connection).
Separate PDF files of every module are also provided both on the web site and on the CD-ROM. The
programme can therefore be printed and used in ‘hard copy’ format – although, of course, the multimedia
interactions will not work in this format.
Choice of topics
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future contains 25 topics (called modules) organised in 4 thematic
sections. While the modules are cross-linked, they are designed to be self contained. The modules can be
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studied in any order to suit the interests and needs of users.
Range of activities
Each of the modules contains 5 to 7 ‘activities’, each one usually requiring between 30 and 40 minutes to
complete. The personal Learning Journal integrated into the programme allows busy users to ‘save’ their
work after one or two activities and come back to the module when they have more time. These activities
provide a full multimedia learning experience. Passive reading is minimal. Most time is spent answering
questions, doing exercises, working through problems, games and other activities that encourage active
learning.
Easy to use
User friendliness is reinforced by using a common presentation for all 25 modules. Each module is
organized under the same headings - introduction, objectives, activities, references and credits, common
design elements (e.g. navigation bars and icons). Simple and clear instructions are provided throughout.
Simplicity of design
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future has a simple visual design, based on an attractive range of
colours and icons. The programme is free of the large files and complex graphics that increase download
time and cost of Internet access. The programme can operate on a computer with relatively simple hardware
specifications. No prior knowledge or skills is required. The clear instructions guide users step by step
through the programme.
Learning styles
The many different types of professional development activities integrated into Teaching and Learning for a
Sustainable Future provide a rich variety of learning experiences that cater to many learning styles. Long
passages have been kept to a minimum – and when they do appear – are mostly located in pop-up boxes and
can even be printed and read when convenient. Great care has been given to providing information in a
variety of forms (e.g. text, tables, diagrams, audio-files and linked Internet-sites). The activities require
users to analyse and interpret this information and to apply the ideas learnt to local curriculum and teaching
contexts. A Learning Journal allows users to summarise questions, answers and reflections and save them in
a word processing programme.
Adaptable
An ‘open architecture’ (i.e. technical structure) was used to create the computer files in Teaching and
Learning for a Sustainable Future. For this reason, the programme can be easily translated or adapted with a
minimum of technical expertise and a basic webpage creation application. See following sections for some
suggestions for adapting Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future to different educational and
cultural contexts.
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USING TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Independent Learning
The multimedia format of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future encourages independent learning
for individual and small group professional development. Teachers, curriculum developers, education policy
makers, authors and designers of educational materials and teacher educators can all use Teaching and
Learning for a Sustainable Future either from the Internet or CD-ROM and can study modules and
activities whenever they want, either at work or at home.
Through personalised Learning Journals, different users can work from a single CD-ROM or Internet-linked
computer. Since each user has a personalised Learning Journal, work remains confidential. This is because
the Learning Journal, when opened, is automatically downloaded onto the hard drive of the computer or
onto a floppy disk, and saved as a word processing file. Learning Journal files can also be printed out,
completed by hand, and stored as a set of paper files in a folder.
Because of the multimedia format of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future, teachers no longer
have to wait for a workshop or training seminar to be organised in their schools or districts. This is often a
problem for some teachers, especially for those in remote locations. Furthermore, the modules and activities
can be studied in any order - either alone or in small staff room or study groups. The resulting sense of
independence and responsibility can bring a new professionalism to teaching and thus help raise the status
of teachers.
Opportunities in Teacher Education Courses
Professors, lecturers and others responsible for developing teacher education curricula will find many
opportunities for using Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future in their courses. For example as:
• A stand-alone course on Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
• A selection of modules integrated into a stand-alone course on a specific education topic
• A selection of modules integrated into other courses on specific education topics as enrichment
material.
In all of these cases, Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future can be studied on-line or from the CD-
ROM – in class-time, as pre- or post-class activities, or as a full e-learning experience.
Each module in Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future takes approximately 4 hours to complete.
This provides 100 hours on learning, the amount of time students could generally be expected to study in a
10-14 week term or semester course. However, selections and groupings of modules can be made to suit
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local decisions about term/semester length, the balance of in-class contact versus independent study in a
course, assessment requirements, etc.
Moreover, the programme is available free of charge. Teacher education institutions can load a copy of
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future on a local server (to reduce access and download time for
staff and students) and duplicate copies of the CD-ROM for free distribution to their students. All that is
required is a request for permission from UNESCO, acknowledgment of UNESCO as the source, and using
the copies for non-profit educational purposes only.
National and regional adaptations and translations of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future are
encouraged. Teacher education institutions are invited to work collaboratively and with relevant Ministries
of Education to help facilitate these changes.
Some of the ways in which Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future can be used are illustrated in
five sample course designs in the ‘Getting Started’ section of the programme.
ADAPTING AND TRANSLATING THE PROGRAMME
As a demonstration project, Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future has been designed and
developed so as to facilitate translation into other languages as well as adaptation (i.e. changing the
programme) to respond to regional, national, or local needs.
UNESCO is ready to work with government ministries, regional organisations, teacher education
institutions and others responsible for the professional development of teachers to help facilitate these
changes.
Once an adaptation and/or translation of the programme has been done, the 'open architecture' used to create
the files in Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future allows it to be reprogrammed with basic
webpage creation and graphic design applications. The Technical Guidelines (below) provide multimedia
programmers with the information they need to introduce the desired changes to the files in the programme.
DISSEMINATION AND TRAINING TOOLBOX
With the support of funds from the government of the USA and Education International, UNESCO has
devel0ped a multimedia-based Dissemination and Training Toolbox for the programme to assst with
dissemination. The Toolbox contains:
• an overview of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future;
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• four half-day sample workshops (including facilitator’s instructions, workshop activities,
Powerpoint presentations and Resource Sheets);
• generic guidelines for using adult education processes in workshop facilitation;
• an interactive Workshop Planner; and
• guidelines for adaptation (including the South African case study) and for translation.
AVAILABILITY
Copies of the programme are available on the internet at or as a CDROM from UNESCO: Educating for a
Sustainable Future, UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development, 7 Place de Fontenoy,75352 Paris 07
SP, France.
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Evolving Environmental Education
and its Relation to EPD and ESD
Overview of the Conceptual Development based on a series of
International Discussion on Environmental Education
Masahisa SATO, Ph.D. 1
The concept of Environmental Education (EE) has evolved since the name of EE was used in the world
community. It seems that the evolution has been strongly reflected from the needs and interests for the
achievement of sustainable development and for the enhancement of quality education. In this paper, it
describes its historical development of EE in terms of thematic areas and approaches, and the relation to
Education and Population and Information for Human Environment (EPD) and Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD).
I. The Evolution of Environmental Education
The concept of EE was first formalised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources (IUCN), in 1970 at a meeting in Nevada, USA. At that meeting, Environmental
Education was defined as:
A process of recognising values and classifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes
necessary to understand and appreciate the inter-relatedness among man, his culture and his
biophysical surroundings. Environmental Education also entails practice in decision-making and
self-formulating of a code of behaviour about issues concerning environmental quality.
(IUCN, 1970 2 )
Recommendation 96 from a conference on the Human Environment held by the United Nations in
Stockholm during 1972 stated that the Secretary-General, the organisations of the United Nations system,
especially the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and other
international agencies concerned should, after consultation and agreement, take the necessary steps to
establish the International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP), inter-disciplinary in approach, inschool
and out-of-school, encompassing all levels of education and directed towards the general public, in
particular the ordinary citizens living in rural and urban areas, young people and adults alike, with a view to
educating them as to the simple steps they might take to manage and control their environment (United
Nations, 1972 3 ). Thus Environmental Education was recognised and its development was recommended
by the world community as a measure for the understanding, protection and improvement of the
environment and its quality (United Nations, 1972 4 ; UNESCO-UNEP, 1976 5 ). The International
Environmental Education Programme (IEEP) was established in 1975 and became a co-operative
activity between UNESCO and UNEP, which had the following objectives: (1) access to information; (2)
research and experimentation; (3) educational programmes and teaching materials; (4) training of personnel;
(5) technical and vocational education; (6) educating and informing the public; (7) general higher education;
(8) special training; and (9) international and regional cooperation. The IEEP organised many international
and regional conferences and workshops such as the 1977 Tbilisi and the 1987 Moscow congress developed
programmes for delivering Environmental Education, developed the concept and meaning of Environmental
Education, and proposed many recommendations and strategies.
1 ESD Consultant, the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO and Assistant Professor, the Musashi
Institute of Technology E-mail: m-sato@accu.or.jp / m-sato@yc.musashi-tech.ac.jp /
masahisasato@hotmail.com
2 IUCN. 1970. Environmental Education Workshop. Nevada, USA.
3 United Nations. 1972. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment, Declaration on Human
Environment, United Nations, New York, USA.
4 United Nations. 1972. Ibid
5 UNESCO-UNEP. 1976. Belgrade Charter, Connect, Vol. 1, No. 1, UNESCO, Paris, France.
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The IEEP has supported a large number of projects in many countries. In its first ten years, it went through
three phases of development. The first phase of the IEEP (1975-1977) contributed greatly to the
development of global Environmental Education awareness. In this phase, as a part of the follow-up to
the 1975 UNESCO-organised international Environmental Education workshop held in Belgrade,
regional meetings were held during 1976 and 1977 in Africa, the Arab States, Asia, Europe, Latin America
and North America. These meetings brought together representatives from all over each region to review
and evaluate the Belgrade Recommendations in more specific regional contexts prior to the Intergovernmental
Conference on Environmental Education which was convened in Tbilisi, USSR in 1977.
At the 1977 UNESCO-UNEP sponsored Tbilisi conference a fairly coherent concept of Environmental
Education as regards its goals, objectives, guiding principles, and models of implementation was drawn up.
In cognisance with IUCN’s definition (IUCN, 1970 6 ), Environmental Education was defined as:
A process aimed at developing a world population that is aware of and concerned about the total
environment and its associated problems, and which has knowledge, attitudes, motivations,
commitments and skills to work individually and collectively towards solutions of current
problems and the prevention of new ones.
(UNESCO-UNEP, 1978 7 )
Further, regarding the aim of Environmental Education, the conference stated that:
[…] a basic aim of Environmental Education is to succeed in making individuals and
communities understand the complex nature of the natural and the built environments
resulting from the interaction of their biological, physical, social, economic and cultural
aspects, and acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes and practical skills to participate in a
responsible and effective way in anticipating and solving environmental problems, and the
management of the quality of the environment.
(UNESCO-UNEP, 1978 8 )
This definition of Environmental Education formed the basis of the Tbilisi Declaration, which identified
five main objectives, i.e. awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills and participation, and actions (UNESCO-
UNEP, 1978 9 ), as shown in Table 1.
6 IUCN. 1970. Ibid.
7 UNESCO-UNEP. 1978. Inter-governmental Conference on Environmental Education, 14-26
October 1977, Tbilisi, USSR. UNESCO-UNEP, Paris, France
8 UNESCO-UNEP. 1978. Ibid.
9 UNESCO-UNEP. 1978. Ibid.
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Table 1: Objectives of Environmental Education
Objectives
Actions
Awareness • To help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness of and sensitivity
to the total environment and its allied problems.
Knowledge • To help social groups and individuals gain a variety of experience in, and
acquire a basic understanding of, the environment and its associated
problems.
Attitudes • To help social groups and individuals acquire a set of values and feelings of
concern for the environment, and the motivation for actively participating in
environmental improvement and protection.
Skills • To help social groups and individuals acquire the skills for identifying and
solving environmental problems.
Participation • To provide social groups and individuals with an opportunity to be actively
involved at all levels in working towards the resolution of environmental
problems.
Source: UNESCO-UNEP (1978) 10
The 1977 Tbilisi conference also stated that Environmental Education stems from the reorientation of
various disciplines and the establishment of links between them, to facilitate an integrated and
comprehensive perception of environmental issues and to encourage more rational actions to satisfy
the needs of society (UNESCO-UNEP, 1978 11 ). Therefore, the second phase of the IEEP (1978-1980)
was primarily devoted to the conceptual and methodological development of Environmental
Education (UNESCO, 1985 12 ).
In 1980, IUCN, UNEP and WWF published a report entitled The World Conservation Strategy (IUCN,
UNEP and WWF, 1980 13 ). The report also contributed to the development of the concept of
Environmental Education. It addressed for the first time the issues of the conflict between environmental
conservation and development. The strategy introduced “development” as an important means of
achieving conservation (Eliott, 1994 14 ), that they were mutually dependent and hence introduced the
concept of “Sustainable Development” (Sterling, 1992 15 ).
During the third phase of the IEEP (1981-1985), emphasis was placed on the development of content,
methods and materials for Environmental Education practices and training activities (UNESCO,
1985 16 ). This was the period in which an increasing number of countries realised the need to upgrade their
own environmental programmes to deal more effectively with environmental problems and to officially
introduce Environmental Education into their educational plans and reforms (UNESCO, 1985 17 ). As a result
of the practices, the concepts were further developed at the UNESCO-UNEP Congress on Environmental
Education and Training held in Moscow in 1987. The congress document emphasised the needs and
priorities in developing Environmental Education and training and suggested 42 international actions
required in Environmental Education and training for the 1990s. The global strategy was provided to
member states and institutions with a framework for preparing their own national strategies for
Environmental Education and training for the 1990s (UNESCO-UNEP, 1987 18 ). Since the 1987 Moscow
congress, which reflected on a series of IEEP activities, there seems to have been a shift in the emphasis of
10 UNESCO-UNEP. 1978. Ibid.
11 UNESCO-UNEP. 1978. Ibid.
12 UNESCO. 1985. Activities of the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme
(1973-1985), UNESCO, Paris, France.
13 IUCN, UNEP and WWP. 1980. World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable
Development. IUCN, UNEP and WWF, Gland, Switzerland.
14 Eliott, J. 1994. An Introduction to Sustainable Development: The Developing World. Routledge, London,
UK.
15 Sterling, S. 1992. Mapping Environmental Education – Progress, Principles and Potential. In Filho, W. L.
and Palmer, J. A. (Eds.) Key Issues in Environmental Education: Volume 1. The Horton Print Group,
Bradford, UK.
16 UNESCO. 1985. Ibid.
17 UNESCO. 1985. Ibid..
18 UNESCO-UNEP. 1987. UNESCO-UNEP Congress, Environmental Education and Training, International
Strategy for Action in the Field of Environmental Education and Training for the 1990s, Moscow, USSR,
UNESCO-UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya and Paris, France.
171

the IEEP. The shift saw more emphasis put on the educational activities involved in Environmental
Education rather than on the development of the concept and classroom activities in schools which
had been promoted in the first ten years of the IEEP.
In the same year as the Moscow congress, 1987, the ideas detailed in the World Conservation Strategy were
substantiated by the publication of Our Common Future, often referred to as the Brundland Report, by the
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Basically, this report called for a massive
long-term campaign of awareness-raising on environmental issues and the importance of sustainable
development, the theory being that, if the public was better informed, then attitudes would change and
people would feel a responsibility for the environment and take the necessary actions and decisions
(UNESCO-UNEP, 1988 19 ).
In 1991, Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living was published by IUCN, UNEP and
WWF. This was a follow-up to the World Conservation Strategy and was targeted at policy- and decisionmakers.
The strategy emphasised the importance of Environmental Education for sustainable
development and was based on a “conviction that people will alter their behaviour when they can see that it
will make things better, and can work together when they need to” (IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1991 20 ).
International debate and discussions on the environment and sustainable development arising from the
reports and publications, such as “Caring for the Earth” (1991), “Our Common Future” (1987), led to the
second major conference of the United Nations, two decades after Stockholm, the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
in 1992. In consequence, the Earth Summit resulted in five major achievements: (1) Agenda 21; (2) The
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; (3) a set of principles for the Sustainable Management
of Forests; (4) the Convention on Global Climate Change; and (5) the Conservation of Biodiversity (Palmer
and Neal, 1994 21 ). Agenda 21 is a comprehensive account of actions needed in order to work towards
sustainable development. In particular, with regard to the education, public awareness and training,
Environment and Population and Information for Human Development (EPD) was lunched by
UNESCO after the UNCED, where Agenda 21 was adapted as a global plan for sustainable development. It
provided a comprehensive set of principle to assist governments and other institutions in implementing
policies and programmes. The plan was to include economic, social and environmental considerations
intertwined with issues of poverty, equity, the quality of life and global environmental protection.
Fien (1999) stated that the theme of education has been central to discussion of sustainable
development since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. “Education” or a synonym (e.g.
awareness and training) is the second most used noun in Agenda 21 – second only to the word
“government” (Fien, 1999 22 ). Chapter 36 (Promoting education, public awareness and training) of Agenda
21 is based on the principles laid down at the 1977 Tbilisi conference and states that:
Education including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognised 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.
(United Nations, 1992 23 )
EPD was formally adopted by the 27 th session of the UNESCO general Conference in 1993, when it was
identified as one of UNESCO’s immediate priorities, taking into account the recommendations of UNCED
and the first International Congress on Population Education and Development, Istanbul (ICPED) in 1993.
19 UNESCO-UNEP. 1988. Sustainable Development via Environmental Education. Connect, Vol. 12, No. 2,
UNESCO, Paris, France, pp. 1-3.
20 IUCN, UNEP and WWF. 1991. Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. IUCN, UNEP and
WWF, Gland, Switzerland.
21 Palmer, J. and Neal, P. 1994. The Handbook of Environmental Education, Routledge, New York, USA.
22 Fien, J. 1999. Promoting Education for Sustainable Future: Approaches to Regional Co-operation in Asia
and the Pacific, In IGES. 1999. International Conference on Environmental Education in the Asia-Pacific
Region, Proceedings, 27-28 th Feb 1999, Yokohama, Japan, IGES and Environment Agency, Government
of Japan.
23 United Nations. 1992. Earth Summit, Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development.
The final text of agreements, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) 3-14
June 1992, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. United Nations, New York, USA.
172

It was developed to focus on: (1) sustainable development taking into account the importance of human
dignity in improving the quality of life and of the environment, while promoting a culture of peace,
solidarity and international understanding; (2) the diversity of life and the balance between reasonable
human activities and the need to preserve natural ecosystem; (3) a global and local perspective with
regard to the impact of global environment and population change; (4) building human capacities,
promoting people participation and cooperation among people and institutions, (5) re-orienting and
improving the quality of education and the means to disseminate knowledge on aspects of human
sustainable development (NIER, 2004 24 ). Further, Three principles were made the basis for the
implementation strategies of EPD: (1) refinement of the knowledge-base and development of action
framework; (2) development of new or re-orient education training and information programmes and
materials and strengthening of capacities of member states; and (3) mobilisation of support of decisionmakers
and opinion leaders at international, regional and national levels in favour of project actions, with
the cooperation of major news agencies.
Since 1992, much work has taken place around the world, especially within UNESCO in Paris and the
Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York, to develop a clear vision of the roles for
education fulfilling such high hopes (Fien, 1999 25 ). However, the IEEP came to end in 1995; after that
UNESCO, by itself, has continued to promote international activities under the name of EPD. There has
been a related change in the size of conferences and workshops, from the large scale of international
UNESCO-UNEP conferences in the 1970s and 1980s to the small scale of regional or sub-regional
conferences such as the Thessaloniki conference held in 1997.
At the 1997 Thessaloniki Conference, the early concept of Environmental Education based on the
improvement of environmental quality was further developed. This conference followed on from major
meetings relevant to education for sustainable development held in Tbilisi in 1977, Jomtien in 1990, Toronto
in 1992 and Istanbul in 1993 as well the series of United Nations conferences beginning in 1992 with Rio
(environment and development) and followed by Cairo (population) in 1994, by Copenhagen (social
development) and Beijing (women) both in 1995, and by Istanbul (human settlements) in 1996 (UNESCO,
1997 26 ). The Thessaloniki conference was designed to highlight the role of education and public
awareness for sustainability, to consider important contributions in this context, and to mobilise
action to this end (UNESCO, 1997 27 ). The conference discussed the concept of education for sustainability,
along with terms such as education for sustainable living, education for sustainable development and
education for a sustainable future. A significant outcome of the conference was the adoption of a series of
declarations collectively known as the Declaration of Thessaloniki.
According to Declaration 10 from the Tessaloniki conference, the concept of sustainability encompasses not
only the environment but also poverty, population, health, food security, democracy, human rights and
peace. Sustainability is, in the final analysis, a moral and ethical imperative in which cultural diversity and
traditional knowledge need to be respected. Also, Declaration 11 stated that Environmental Education, as
developed within the framework of the Tbilisi recommendations and as it has evolved since then, addresses
the entire range of global issues included in Agenda 21 and recognised by the major UN conferences, and
has also become recognised as education for sustainability. This allows that Environmental Education
may also be referred to as education for environment and sustainability (UNESCO, 1997 28 ). This
means that it is clear that the roots of education for environment and sustainability are firmly planted
in Environmental Education.
However, whilst the Thessaloniki conference was attended by 600 people, there were fewer than 10
delegates from the Asia-Pacific Region, which is perhaps an indication of the level of interest in
Environmental Education in the region at that time. However, other possible reasons for the absence of
delegates from the Asia-Pacific Region include: (1) distance; (2) lack of financial support; and (3) language
problems. This suggests that much work remains to be done to reorient education in order to develop a
regional perspective. After the Thessaloniki conference, inter-governmental organisations, governmental
24 NIER. 2004. Educational Innovation for Sustainable Development, Final Report of a Regional Seminar 27
July – 3 August 2004, NIER/UNESCO-APEID
25 Fien, J. 1999. Ibid.
26 UNESCO. 1997. Educating for a Sustainable Future: A Trans-disciplinary Vision for Concerted Action,
Proceedings, International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for
Sustainability, 8-12 December 1997, Thessaloniki, Greece. UNESCO, Paris, France.
27 UNESCO. 1997. Ibid.
28 UNESCO. 1997. Ibid.
173

organisations and NGOs held many conferences and implemented programmes with the aim of developing
practical actions at national, sub-regional and regional levels.
This review of international activities over the three decade revealed that the concept and meaning of
Environmental Education has been defined and discussed by a series of international conferences supported
by the IEEP and publications on sustainable development. IEEP activities have contributed to society in
terms of developing recognition of the importance of Environmental Education, and also orienting the
concept of Environmental Education and developing methods for its promotion. In addition, it can be said
that the IEEP contributed to the integration of Environmental Education into existing educational
programmes in various countries.
The third major conference of the United Nations, third decade after the Stockholm, the World Summit for
Sustainable Development (WSSD) - Johannesburg Summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in
2002. Based on such movements on education towards sustainable development, establishing the United
Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD, 2005-2014) was proposed by
Japanese Government and Japanese NGO network and endorsed at the WSSD in 2002, and in December of
the same year, adopted by the UN General Assembly with UNESCO designated as the lead agency.
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II. United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD)
UNDESD International Implementation Scheme (UNDESD-IIS) states
that ESD has its roots in history of two distinct areas of interest of the
United Nations: (1) quality basic education; and (2) environmental
education for sustainable development (UNESCO. 2005a 29 ). Quality
basic education rooted for the promotion of basic education with
universalizing access and promoting equity. It was developed based on a
series of discussion: (1) the Declaration of Human Rights (1948); (2)
Convention on Right of the Child – CRC (1989); (3) WCEFA and Jomtien
Declaration on Education for All – EFA (1990); (4) WEF and Dakar
Framework of Action (2000); (5) Millennium Development Goals, MDG
2-3 (2000-2015) and (6) United Nations Literacy Decade, UNLD (2003-
2012). While the environmental education for sustainable
development rooted environmental education with some historical changes from EE, to EPD and ESD (in
detail, see Chapter I. “the Evolution of Environmental Education”).
According to the UNDESD-IIS, it is noted that the overall goal of the Decade is:
“…to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects
of education and learning. This education effort will encourage change in behaviour that will
create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just
society for present and future generations”.
(UNESCO, 2005a 30 )
Further, UNDESD-IIS states that the objectives of the UNDESD are to: (1) facilitate networking, linkages,
exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD; (2) foster an increased quality of teaching and
learning in education for sustainable development; (3) help countries make progress towards and attain the
millennium development goals through ESD efforts; and to (4) provide countries with new opportunities to
incorporate ESD into education reform efforts.
As ESD is concerned with education of high quality, UNDESD-IIS emphasizes the following features to be
demonstrated (see table 2).
In particular, focus is given to the Asia-Pacific regional level, situation analysis was conducted in 2004, in
cooperation with appointed researchers, for the identification of issues and situation in line with ESD in the
Region. It states that preliminary finding from the situation analysis is that ESD is still predominantly
conceptualized in the context of Environmental Education by many key stakeholders and decision
makers, though much can be learned from the experience of successful EE initiatives, especially at the
grassroots level. Further, it is noted that moving EE to ESD will be a key challenge for the Decade
(UNESCO, 2005b 31 ).
29 UNESCO. 2005a. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014,
International Implementation Scheme, UNESCO, Paris, France
30 UNESCO. 2005a. Ibid.
31 UNESCO. 2005b. A Situation Analysis of Education for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific
Region, UNESCO, Bangkok, Thailand.
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Table 2: Features to be demonstrated under the Project
Education for Sustainable Development:
• is based on the principles and values that underline sustainable development;
• deals with the well being of all three realms of sustainability – environment, society and economy;
• promotes life-long learning;
• is locally relevant and culturally appropriate;
• is, but acknowledges that fulfilling local based on local needs, perceptions and conditions needs
often has international effects and consequences;
• engages formal, non-formal and informal education;
• accommodates the evolving nature of concept of sustainability;
• address content, taking into account context, global issues and local priorities;
• builds civil capacity for community-based decision making, social tolerance, environmental
stewardship, adaptable workforce and quality of life;
• is interdisciplinary. No one discipline can claim ESD for its own, but all disciplines can contribute
to ESD;
• uses a variety of pedagogical techniques that promote participatory learning and higher-order
thinking skills.
Source: UNESCO, 2005a 32
Based on the situation analysis and a series of regional meetings conducted, Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy
for ESD was developed in 2005. Core ESD issues in the Region were identified under the strategy, which
are as follows (see table 3):
Table 3: Core ESD Issues in Asia-Pacific
Issues
Examples
Information and Awareness • Eco-media, media literacy, ICT
Knowledge Systems • Learning for local and indigenous knowledge, integrating traditional and
modern technologies
Environmental Protection and • Biodiversity, climate change, natural resources, conservation
Management
Peace and Equity • Conflict resolution, peace, equity, appropriate development, democracy
Local Context • Community development, empowerment
Transformation • Rural transformation, urbanization, sustainable habitat, water, sanitation,
public infrastructure
Culture • Diversity and intercultural / interfaith understanding
Cross Cutting Issues and Themes • Human rights, citizenship, gender equality, sustainable futures, holistic
approaches, innovation, partnerships, sustainable production and
consumption, governance
Health • HIV/AIDS, malaria
Environmental Education •
Engagement of Leaders • Professional training course, executive education, partnerships,
networking
Source: UNESCO, 2005c 33
32 UNESCO. 2005a. Ibid.
33 UNESCO. 2005c. Working Paper: Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy for Education for Sustainable
Development, UNESCO, Bangkok, Thailand.
176

III. Evolving Environmental Education
– with regard to thematic areas, approaches.
III-1. Historical Development - Thematic Areas
In focusing on thematic areas covered by EE, EPD and ESD, it can be seen some historical changes (see
Figure 1). EE focuses on the improvement of environment and its quality, then EPD focuses on the three
aspects: (1) environment (quality and quantity); (2) development (economic, education, social services, and
capacity building); and (3) population (size, growth, distribution, and structure). ESD expanded further, it
includes three perspectives with diversified thematic areas: (1) environment 34 , e.g. natural resources,
climate change, rural development, sustainable urbanisation, and disaster prevention and mitigation; (2)
socio-culture 35 , e.g. human rights, peace and human security, gender equality, cultural diversity and inter
cultural understanding, health, HIV/AIDS, and governance; and (3) economy 36 , e.g. poverty reduction,
corporate responsibility and accountability, and market economy (UNESCO, 2005d 37 ). It can be said that
the thematic areas of ESD are comparatively diversified than the conventional thematic areas of EE.
Figure 1: Historical Development of Environmental Education (Thematic Areas)
III-2. Historical Development - Approaches
With regard to the approaches employed, Figure 2 shows the historical development. Special focus for EE
was given to top down approach, quantity focused, knowledge transfer, formal education (FE) as major
focus, cause-effect relationship and problem solving, which were emphasised under the theory of RDDA
(Research, Development, Dissemination, Adoption). The RDDA approach is characterised by a managerialhierarchical
system, technocracy, and positivistic epistemology, that learners were regarded as defective
model, that experts and researchers take a role of knowledge / skills / awareness providers (see Figure 2). In
34 Environmental Perspective: an awareness of the resources and fragility of the physical environment
and the affects on it of human activity and decisions, with a commitment to factoring environmental
concerns into social and economic policy development (UNESCO. 2005d).
35 Socio-Cultural Perspective: an understanding of social institutions and their role in change and
development, as well as the democratic and participatory systems which give opportunity for the
expression of opinion, the selection of governments, the forgoing of consensus and the resolution of
differences (UNESCO. 2005d).
36 Economical Perspective: a sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and their impact
on society and on the environment, with a commitment to assess personal and societal levels of
consumption out of concern for the environment and for social justice (UNESCO. 2005d).
37 UNESCO. 2005d. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014, Draft
International Implementation Scheme, UNESCO, Paris, France
177

consequence, teachers as passive technicians are dis-empowered and come to have recourse to technocracy.
While, in case of ESD, special focus is given to participatory learning, high-order thinking and action
research which enable to promote bottom-up approach, quality focused, knowledge acquisition and its
connection, construction of values and ethics, attitude change, life long learning through formal education
(FE), non-formal education (NFE) and in-formal education (IFE). It also respects the accommodation to the
evolving nature of concept of sustainability.
By implementing with participatory learning, high-order thinking and action research, “teachers” (school
teachers, non-formal mobile teachers, NGO facilitators) are able to take initiative in organising and
improving their educational activities. Further, the “teachers” are expected to be learners as well as
facilitators, and to share the learning opportunities and implement collective actions and decision making.
In this approach, individual capacity (value, ethics, high-order thinking, attitude), institutional capacity
(project management, institutional arrangement, e.g. partnership, networking and inter-linkages), civil
capacity (participation and collective decision making), participatory teaching / learning methods and its
process, decision making process and social support system, are the points to be considered for the
promotion of quality education. The points described need to be inter-linked to the conventional points
which encompass: content, teaching / learning methods and its process, teachers’ capacity, learning
environment and its access.
Figure 2: Historical Development of Environmental Education (Approaches)
178

ACCU - UNESCO Cooperation
for the Asia-Pacific Regional Promotion of DESD
Masahisa SATO, Ph.D. 38
I. Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) and its Contribution to
the UNDESD
The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organisation implementing regional
activities in Asia and the Pacific in line with the principles of UNESCO, primarily focusing on the
promotion of mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among peoples in the region. Since its
establishment in Tokyo, Japan, in 1971, ACCU has been co-ordinating various regional cooperative
programmes in the fields of culture, education and personnel exchange in close collaboration with UNESCO
and its Member States in Asia and the Pacific. The Education Division of ACCU has been carrying out
literacy and Non-formal Education (NFE) programmes with UNESCO and its Member States, Nongovernmental
Organisations and international agencies, in the areas of material development, human
resource development, establishment of Literacy Resource Centres for Girls and Women (LRCs), and
network building for the realisation of Education for All (EFA) and contribution to the United Nations
Literacy Decade (UNLD).
In 2005, the UNDESD was launched with UNESCO appointed as the lead agency. ACCU has a strong
history of developing materials and dissemination programmes and capacity building programme in the area
of non-formal education, which are direct relevance to some of the main strategic themes of ESD, such as
water pollution, forest conservation, waste management, disaster prevention, intercultural understanding and
so forth. Further, it is expected that existing ACCU programmes of EFA and LRC can be extended to ESD,
as ESD shares a primary concern for education of high quality, which is interdisciplinary and holistic,
driven by values, and based on critical thinking and participatory decision making to ensure relevance at the
local level.
In response to the inauguration of the UNDESD, ACCU has
initiated an ESD programme in 2005 in addition to its previous
programmes of EFA and LRC. The ESD programme has three
pillars: (1) the ACCU-UNESCO Regional Meeting on ESD;
(2) the Package Learning Materials on Environment
(PLANET) series; and (3) the ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific
Programme for ESD under the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-
Trust.
Firstly, ACCU plans to organise a series of Regional Meetings
on ESD in cooperation with UNESCO Bangkok, with a view to exchanging views on how to contribute to
the promotion of ESD in the region as well as planning and evaluating regional ESD programmes. The
situation of ESD in respective countries in the region will be reviewed and regional activities will be
discussed in the Meeting attended by experts and representatives from the UNESCO Member States.
Secondly, the PLANET series was designed and launched in 1997, in collaboration with specialists in NFE,
environment and cartoon animation in Asia and the Pacific region. It aims at raising environmental
awareness and generating a sense of togetherness between nature and humankind throughout the world,
thereby contributing to the promotion of ESD. The PLANET series provides a package of quality materials
in different formats (posters, booklets, animated cartoon videos and facilitators’ guides) on specific themes.
ACCU, in collaboration with a number of experts in the region, develops a prototype English version of the
package, and then local versions of PLANET are produced with necessary modifications to suit the
respective local contexts. Local versions of PLANET are used both in formal and non-formal settings, such
38 ESD Consultant, the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO
Assistant Professor, the Musashi Institute of Technology
179

as schools, community learning centres, adult literacy classes, and community development programmes.
Furthermore, ACCU supports dissemination and utilisation of the local versions of the package to ensure
that the materials are delivered to and enjoyed by the target learners.
Finally, in cooperation with UNESCO Bangkok, ACCU will also plan and implement the ACCU-UNESCO
Asia-Pacific ESD Programme under the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Promotion of ESD, which
encompasses “ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD” and “ACCU-UNESCO
Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD”. The Programme intends to support innovative projects and
organisations to serve as models for the promotion of ESD in Asia and the Pacific region, further
contributing to developing the quality of education, as the ESD mirrors the concern for education of high
quality. In this regard, the Programme emphasises the support of innovative projects and organisations.
ACCU and UNESCO jointly implement some of the programmes, and accumulate wisdom from the
experiences gained through the programme implementation for the promotion of ESD in the region.
It is hoped that the Programme will help enhance the quality of education for sustainable development and,
as a result, will contribute to enhancing the quality of people’s lives and achieving sustainable development.
II. ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific ESD Programmes
Objective of ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD:
• Support, technically and financially, an innovative projects to be implemented at the community
level/sub-national level/national level in UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific Region for the
realization of principles of ESD; and
• Reinforce the concepts of ESD through the implementation of projects in different parts of the Asia-
Pacific Region and share the experiences of various projects to further strengthen the regional efforts
for ESD.
Objectives of ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD:
• Contribute to orient/re-orient implementation mechanism for the promotion of ESD through Non-
Formal Education (NFE) approach;
• Contribute to the development of quality education through institutional capacity building, institutional
arrangements and project implementation;
• Contribute to strengthening institutional ESD networks at national, sub-regional and the Asia-Pacific
regional level; and
• Accumulate, share and disseminate the experience of COE to further strengthen the Regional efforts
for ESD.
In details, see attached Prospectus of both ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD
and ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD.
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2006-2007 ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific
Innovation Programme for ESD
ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific ESD Programme under the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the
Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development
PROSPECTUS
1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (UNDESD, 2005-2014) - THE GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has its roots in the history of two distinct areas of core
interest for the United Nations: (1) quality basic education; and (2) sustainable development. On these
critical foundations the establishment of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (UNDESD) was proposed and endorsed at the World Summit for Sustainable Development
(WSSD) in 2002, and in December of the same year, adopted by the UN General Assembly with UNESCO
designated as the lead agency.
According to the UNDESD International Implementation Scheme (UNESCO: 2005), it is noted that the
overall goal of the Decade is:
“…to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of
education and learning. This education effort will encourage change in behaviour that will create
a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just
society for present and future generations”.
(UNESCO: 2005, UNDESD International Implementation Scheme)
In addition, the International Implementation Scheme describes the following sub-goals for the UNDESD at
the national level: (1) to provide an opportunity for refining and promoting the vision of and transition to
sustainable development – through all forms of education, public awareness and training; and (2) to give
enhanced profile to the important role of education and learning in sustainable development.
The objectives of the UNDESD are to (1) facilitate networking, linkages, exchange and interaction among
stakeholders in ESD; (2) foster an increased quality of teaching and learning in education for sustainable
development; (3) help countries make progress towards, and attain, the Millennium Development Goals
through ESD efforts; and (4) provide countries with new opportunities to incorporate ESD into educational
reform efforts.
In particular, a key objective of the UNDESD is to implement ESD activities and programmes at the
community level. According to the Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy for ESD (UNESCO: 2005), it is essential
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to the success of ESD at the community level that coordination and networking be strengthened between
different stakeholders such as women, men, youth, faith-based groups, cultural institutions, indigenous
groups, schools, teachers and policy makers. Further, it is stated that there are several core elements for
success in engaging communities in ESD: (1) community participation in visioning, strategic planning and
resourcing discussions; (2) institutional arrangements such as partnerships, consensus-building, conflict
resolution, transparency and accountability; (3) cross-cutting elements such as capacity-building, gender
sensitization and quality; and (4) research and documentation for influencing policy.
According to the Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy for ESD, government functions at each level include: (1)
policy-making and framework setting; (2) promotion of public consultation and input; (3) national and
international public campaigns; (4) restructuring of educational systems to enable the implementation and
operationalization of ESD; and (5) initiation of demonstration/pilot projects in cooperation with relevant
stakeholders.
In particular, regarding the role of UNESCO National Commissions, it is stated that the Commissions
should strive to play a coordinating role with national government agencies, NGOs and other organizations,
mobilize all relevant organizations in support of ESD, create a common vision for the Decade, and
disseminate ideas and activities for the Decade.
2. BACKGROUND OF THE PROGRAMME
The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organisation which works, in line
with the principles of UNESCO, for the promotion of mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among
the peoples of the Asia-Pacific Region.
ACCU was established in 1971 in Tokyo, Japan, through joint efforts of both public and private sectors
within the country. ACCU has since been implementing various Asia-Pacific regional cooperative
programmes in the fields of culture, education and personnel exchange in close collaboration with UNESCO
and its Member States. In retrospect, almost all the activities of ACCU since its foundation have been
geared towards the realization of a sustainable future, through such areas as contribution to mutual
understanding of different cultures and meeting the needs for materials and human development for
education especially for the marginalized. In the field of educational cooperation, special focus has been
placed on literacy, Non-Formal Education (NFE) and environmental education for the contribution to
Education for All (EFA).
In the year of 2005, with the launch of the UNDESD, ACCU was entrusted by UNESCO to implement an
ESD-related Programme in the Asia-Pacific Region entitled “ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific ESD
Programme under UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable
Development” (hereinafter referred to as “ACCU-UNESCO ESD Programme”).
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The ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD is to be implemented, within the
framework of the ACCU-UNESCO ESD Programme, jointly with the UNESCO Member States in the
Region and in close co-operation with UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau of Education in
Bangkok, Thailand (UNESCO Bangkok), and with other UNESCO Field Offices.
The Programme will be built on the four major thrusts of ESD, underscored by the International
Implementation Scheme: (1) improving access to quality basic education; (2) reorienting existing education
programmes; (3) developing public understanding and awareness; and (4) providing training.
3. OVERALL OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
The overall objective of the Programme is to initiate and support projects to serve as good examples for the
implementation and promotion of ESD in the Asia-Pacific Region. The Programme is to facilitate ESD
teaching/learning opportunities of quality in all forms of education to be developed, with a special emphasis
on the Non-Formal Education (NFE) approach, implemented and promoted in the UNESCO Member States
of the Asia-Pacific Region. It aims to accumulate and share the experiences of various countries working for
the principles of sustainability, thus contributing to the achievement of the goals of UNDESD.
4. OBJECTIVES
The specific objectives of the Programme are to:
(1) Support, technically and financially, innovative projects to be implemented at the community
level/sub-national level/national level in UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific Region for the
realization of principles of ESD; and
(2) Reinforce the concepts of ESD through the implementation of projects in different parts of the
Asia-Pacific Region and share the experiences of various projects to further strengthen the regional efforts
for ESD.
5. PROGRAMME AREAS
The Programme aims to support innovative projects, at community level, sub-national, or national level in
the fields of:
Non-Formal Education (NFE)
Primary and Secondary Education
Media
Special focus will be given to those who are marginalized: illiterate/semi-illiterate population, girls and
women, out-of-school children, people with disabilities, and others with special needs.
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6. NUMBER OF PROJECTS TO BE SELECTED
In the field of Non-Formal Education (NFE) approximately 8 projects
In the field of Primary and Secondary Education
In the field of Media
approximately 2-3 projects
7. ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES
The following 40 UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific Region are invited to send application(s) for
this Programme:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji,
India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste,
Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Viet Nam.
8. ROLE OF NATIONAL COMMISSIONS IN EACH COUNTRY
National Commissions for UNESCO of the above mentioned countries are kindly requested to play the
following roles to co-ordinate with ACCU and UNESCO for the implementation of this Programme:
(1) Announcing this Programme widely within the country,
(2) Taking responsibility in the final selection of projects for application(s) from the country, after
due discussion and coordination with related organizations/institutions (refer to item 10 (4) below),
governmental and non-governmental.
(3) Designating one Implementing Organization (IO) for each project to be applied, and requesting
the Implementing Organization (IO) to prepare the Application Form and other necessary documents.
(4) Sending the Application Form(s) with relevant documents to ACCU before the closing date,
with its recommendation letter.
(5) Cooperating with the Implementing Organizations (IO) to smoothly implement the project,
when the application is selected by the Selection Committee for the implementation.
9. ROLE OF UNESCO FIELD OFFICES
UNESCO Field Offices (national, cluster, regional) are kindly requested to play such roles for the
implementation of the Programme as announcing the Programme widely in the country/countries covered
by the Office and assisting the relevant National Commission(s) for technical support to, and monitoring
progress of, the selected project, when appropriate.
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10. SELECTION OF CANDIDATE PROJECTS BY EACH COUNTRY
(1) In each country, the National Commission for UNESCO is requested to act as the contact point
in the first instance and coordination body for the selection of candidate projects.
(2) The National Commission for UNESCO is invited to select up to two candidate projects from
the country. UNESCO Offices can be involved in this process.
(3) In cases where there is more than one project selected by a National Commission for UNESCO
for application, inclusion of one or more Non-Formal Education (NFE) project(s) is highly recommended.
(4) In selecting the project(s), it is highly encouraged that each National Commission for UNESCO
will involve the existing institutions/organizations/network, governmental and non-governmental, in the
related fields, such as (a) Government Department of NFE, (b) Literacy Resource Centres for Girls and
Women (LRCs), (c) Community Learning Centres (CLCs) and their network, (d) UNESCO Associated
School Network, (e) Asia-Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education (APNIEVE),
(f) Council for Sustainable Development, (g) national co-ordinating committee for ESD, (h) the local
UNESCO Offices (if any),etc.
(5) For each selected project, one Implementing Organization (IO) is to be designated. National
Commission for UNESCO is not eligible to be an IO.
(6) Higher education institutions and academic research institutions are not eligible to be
Implementing Organizations.
11. APPLICATION
(1) Each prospective Implementing Organization (IO) will prepare the Application Form (Annex to
this paper), together with the following documents:
activity calendar including timetable and benchmarks
budget breakdown including funds received from ACCU and other funding sources if applicable
annual reports, project reports, and other publications previously produced by the Implementing
Organization.
(2) The National Commissions for UNESCO will send the application(s) to ACCU, together with
recommendation letter by E-mail and hardcopy before Monday 8 May 2006.
12. SELECTION
Assessment and selection of the Projects will be made by a Selection Committee set up by the Steering
Committee of the Programme. ACCU will not enter into communication regarding this.
13. EXPECTED THEMES AND FEATURES OF THE PROJECT
This Programme is to support “innovative projects” in each country which meet the objectives of the
185

Programme. Therefore, innovation can be freely interpreted at the discretion of each country.
The project may be one already being implemented in the country or a totally new project to be designed for
this Programme by a newly set-up consortium/network for the project, for example. The project may be a
national campaign, but priority is given to those projects with specific beneficiaries. It is highly desirable
that the project have a link with national policy for ESD and other international education initiatives:
Education for All (EFA), United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and/or the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
The project has to be designed taking the following factors into consideration;
Social relevance
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Optimum impact on the beneficiaries
High degree of community involvement
Social impacts
Project’s sustainability
(1) Possible Thematic areas:
ESD consists of three pillars; environmental perspective, socio-cultural perspective, and economic
perspective unified by an underlying dimension of culture. A project which deals with one of the following
as a main theme (especially those underlined) will be given higher priority in the selection process for the
2006-2007 Programme. As most of ESD projects will be cross-cutting, sub-themes can freely be identified
and incorporated in the project.
Possible Themes and Priorities
Environmental Perspectives: Natural Resources (water, energy, agriculture, biodiversity),
Climate Change, Rural Development, Sustainable Urbanisation, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Socio-Cultural Perspectives: Human Rights, Peace and Human Security, Gender Equality,
Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Understanding, Health, HIV/AIDS, Governance.
Economic Perspectives: Poverty Reduction, Corporate Responsibility and Accountability, Market
Economy.
(2) Features to be demonstrated in the Project:
As ESD is concerned with education of high quality, this Programme will prioritise Projects that
186

demonstrate the following features:
Features to be Demonstrated under the Project
Education for Sustainable Development:
• is based on the principles and values that underline sustainable development;
• promotes life-long learning;
• is locally relevant and culturally appropriate;
• accommodates the evolving nature of the concept of sustainability;
• addresses content, taking into account context, global issues and local priorities;
• builds civil capacity for community-based decision making, social tolerance,
environmental stewardship, adaptable workforce and quality of life;
• is interdisciplinary. No one discipline can claim ESD for its own, but all disciplines can contribute
to ESD;
• uses a variety of pedagogical techniques that promote participatory learning and higher-order
thinking skills.
*Based on the UNDESD International Implementation Scheme, 2005
14. SCHEDULE
23 February 2006 • Launch of the Programme at the ACCU-UNESCO Joint Regional
Programme for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development in
Asia and the Pacific (Tokyo)
March 2006 • Announcement of the Programme by ACCU and the invitation for
application through letter to the National Commissions for UNESCO,
circulars to the UNESCO Offices and ACCU partners in Asia-Pacific Region
and announcement on the ACCU Web-site
8 May 2006 • Closing date for applications
June 2006
• Selection Committee Meeting
• Notification of results to National Commissions for UNESCO and
UNESCO Field Offices, and IOs for successful applications
2006 Project Year
July 2006
• Provision of Implementation Guideline to the IOs of successful
applications
• Request for the revision of the project proposal (as necessary)
• Beginning of the implementation of the projects in each country
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July - November
2006
December 2006
2007 Project Year
January- November
2007
December 2007
• Continuation of the project • Monitoring
• Activity report submission
• Continuation of the project • Monitoring
• Final Report and Financial Statement submission
15. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS
Each Implementing Organization (IO) will be provided with financial assistance toward meeting the
expenses for the implementation of the project. The amount of the funds is no more than 12,000 USD per
project per project year for the duration of two years. The project should be completed by the end of
December 2007. The financial support is to be provided as seed money and the project sustainability is in
the hands of the Implementing Organization (IO) and its cooperating organizations/institutions, including
the National Commission of UNESCO.
The following expenses for the project are to be covered with the fund supported by ACCU:
• Workshops/training sessions/meetings expenses
• Daily Subsistence allowance (DSA) of workshop/meeting participants,
facilitators/lectures and resource persons
• Remuneration for lecturers and resource persons
• Printing/production cost
• Purchase of teaching/learning materials
• Rental costs
• Domestic travel cost to attend workshops/training sessions/meetings
• International travel cost for resource persons from outside of the country
• Administrative support costs
16. CORRESPONDENCE
All inquiries and correspondence concerning the Programme should be addressed to:
Education Division
Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
6 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo, 162-8484 JAPAN
[Phone] +81-3-3269-4559
[Fax] +81-3-3269-4510
[E-mail] education@accu.or.jp
[Homepage] http://www.accu.or.jp/en/
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2006-2010 ACCU- UNESCO Asia-Pacific
COE Programme for ESD
ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific ESD Programme under the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the
Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development
PROSPECTUS
1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (UNDESD, 2005-2014) - THE GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has its roots in the history of two distinct areas of core
interest for the United Nations: (1) quality basic education; and (2) sustainable development. On these
critical foundations the establishment of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (UNDESD) was proposed and endorsed at the World Summit for Sustainable Development
(WSSD) in 2002, and in December of the same year, adopted by the UN General Assembly with UNESCO
designated as the lead agency.
According to the UNDESD International Implementation Scheme (UNESCO. 2005), it is noted that the
overall goal of the Decade is:
“…to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of
education and learning. This education effort will encourage change in behaviour that will create
a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just
society for present and future generations”.
(UNESCO: 2005, UNDESD International Implementation Scheme)
Further, the objectives of the UNDESD are to (1) facilitate networking, linkages, exchange and interaction
among stakeholders in ESD; (2) foster an increased quality of teaching and learning in education for
sustainable development; (3) help countries make progress towards, and attain, the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) through ESD efforts; and to (4) provide countries with new opportunities to
incorporate ESD into education reform efforts.
2. BACKGROUND OF THE PROGRAMME
The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organisation which works, in line
with the principles of UNESCO, for the promotion of mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among
the peoples of the Asia-Pacific Region.
ACCU was established in 1971 in Tokyo, Japan, through joint efforts of both public and private sectors
189

within the country. ACCU has since been implementing various Asia-Pacific Regional cooperative
programmes in the fields of culture, education and personnel exchange in close collaboration with UNESCO
and its Member States. In retrospect, almost all the activities of ACCU since its foundation have been
geared towards the realization of a sustainable future, through such areas as contribution to mutual
understanding of different cultures, meeting the needs for materials development and capacity building for
education, especially for the marginalized. In the field of educational cooperation, special focus has been
placed on literacy, Non-Formal Education (NFE) and environmental education for the contribution to
Education for All (EFA).
In the year of 2005, with the launch of the UNDESD, ACCU was entrusted by UNESCO to implement an
ESD-related Programme in Asia and the Pacific Region entitled “ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific ESD
Programme under UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable
Development” (hereinafter referred to as “ACCU-UNESCO ESD Programme”).
The ACCU-UNESCO COE Programme for ESD is to be implemented, within the framework of the
ACCU-UNESCO ESD Programme in close co-operation with UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau
of Education in Bangkok, Thailand (UNESCO Bangkok).
For the purpose of this Programme, a COE (Centre of Excellence) is defined as an organization which
works for the promotion of ESD.
The Programme will be built on the four major thrusts of ESD, underscored by the International
Implementation Scheme: (1) improving access to quality basic education, (2) reorienting existing education
programmes, (3) developing public understanding and awareness, and (4) providing training.
3. OVERALL OBJECTIVE
The overall objective of the Programme is to support existing institutions working in related fields of ESD,
with a sound Non-Formal Education (NFE) approach, in order to foster and promote them as good examples
for ESD in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Further, the Programme aims to accumulate and share the experiences of various institutions working for
the principles of sustainability, thus contributing to the achievement of the goals of UNDESD.
4. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the Programme are to:
(1) contribute to orient/re-orient implementation mechanisms for the promotion of ESD through
the Non-Formal Education (NFE) approach,
(2) contribute to the development of quality education through institutional capacity building,
institutional arrangements and project implementation,
(3) contribute to strengthening institutional ESD networks at national, sub-regional and the Asia-
190

Pacific Regional level, and
efforts for ESD.
(4) accumulate, share and disseminate the experience of COE to further strengthen the Regional
5. PROGRAMME AREAS
The specific project(s) are to be implemented by each COE in close coordination /co-operation with ACCU.
It is expected that the COE, which may be governmental and non-governmental, at least executes a national
level guiding role, and preferably in neighbouring countries (at sub-regional level) as well, in respective
fields of expertise in thematic areas of ESD.
The COE will be encouraged to provide the Implementing Organizations of the ACCU-UNESCO Asia-
Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD with technical assistance, which is elaborated in the complementary
Prospectus of the ACCU-UNESCO ESD Programme.
A special focus of the projects implemented by each COE is expected to be given to those who are
marginalized: illiterate/semi-illiterate population, girls and women, out-of-school children, people with
disabilities, and others with special needs, with Non-Formal Education (NFE) approach.
6. CRITERIA FOR CANDIDATE ORGANIZATIONS/INSTITUTIONS
Organisations/institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, that meet the following criteria will be
considered as prospective COE. They must:
(1) have proven high effectiveness and social impact in terms of project implementation and management in
ESD-related activities for a minimum of ten years,
(2) have experience and expertise in ESD-related activities, most preferably with Non-Formal Education
(NFE) approach,
(3) have a functioning national and, preferably, sub-regional, Asia-Pacific Regional and international
network to multiply the effects of being a COE under this Programme,
(4) have a willingness and capability, with appropriate institutional support system, to contribute to ESD,
either as a whole or to one or more thematic areas of ESD by being a COE, and continue to do so after the
project term expires,
(5) have sufficient English capability in communication, documentation and reporting, and
(6) be physically located in one of the following countries:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, India,
Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu,
Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.
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7. SELECTION OF COE
(1) ACCU will request relevant organizations/institutions and individuals, including National
Commissions for UNESCO, UNESCO Offices, research institutions, experts, for information on candidate
organizations/institutions (including self-recommendation). The information has to be provided to ACCU
no later than Monday 8 May 2006.
(2) Pre-application forms will be sent to ACCU from those recommended organizations/
institutions.
(3) Based on assessment of ACCU and Selection Committee, a limited number of Candidate COE
will be invited to make applications to ACCU with a COE project proposal.
(4) In addition to evaluations of the application and COE project proposals, mission-based
interviews, discussions and research will be conducted by the Selection Committee Members, ACCU and
UNESCO.
(5) Five COE will be selected by the Selection Committee based on the result of the above (4). The
selection of COE will be made in due consideration of thematic area, working mechanism, and geographical
balance of the five COE, with the endorsement of the Steering Committee.
(6) The selection process will be due in around September 2006 and the COE will start
implementing the project.
8. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS
ACCU shall provide each COE with financial assistance toward meeting the expenses for implementation of
the project(s). The amount of the fund is no more than 32,000 USD per COE per project year for the
duration of five years. The COE activities will be monitored and reviewed on a yearly basis for continuation
of the COE activities.
The following expenses are to be covered with the fund provided by ACCU:
• Workshops/training sessions/meetings expenses
• Daily Subsistence allowance (DSA) of workshop/meeting participants, facilitators/lectures and
resource persons
• Remuneration for lecturers and resource persons
• Printing/production cost
• Purchase of teaching/learning materials
• Rental costs
• Domestic travel cost to attend workshops/training sessions/meetings
• International travel cost for resource persons from outside of the country
• Administrative support costs
9. CORRESPONDENCE
All inquiries and correspondence concerning the Programme should be addressed to:
192

Education Division
Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
6 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo, 162-8484 JAPAN
[Phone] +81-3-3269-4559
[Fax] +81-3-3269-4510
[E-mail] education@accu.or.jp
[Homepage] http://www.accu.or.jp/en/
For downloadable Prospectus and related information
193

EIU/ESD from the Perspective of Teacher Education
Reflection on Teachers Education of APCEIU
and its Lessons
I. Introduction
Dr. Sookhee KWAK
II.
Teacher Education on EIU/ESD
1. EIU History and Creation of APCEIU
1) EIU Historical Background
2) Process of Creation of APCEIU
3) Objectives and function of APCEIU
4) Activities of APCEIU
2. APCEIU Teacher Education on EIU/ESD
1) Asia-Pacific Teacher Training Workshop
2) Sub-regional Workshop
3) Asia-Pacific Experts Workshop (UNESCO Funds-In-Trust)
4)Development Educational Materials
5)Related Activities
III.
EIU/ESD from teacher education perspective
1. Concepts: EIU and ESD
2. Methodology
3. Management
4. Role of teacher
5. Localization
IV. Conclusion for future : Strategy, Tasks and Recommendations
I. Introduction
The Asia-Pacific region is a mosaic of multifarious ethnic, cultural and religious societies. Still many
areas in the region are in conflict or are struggling to recover from conflict. Conflicts in such areas are
destroying human security networks as well as infrastructures. For this reason, enhancing a Culture of
Peace is a momentous task directly connected to the challenge of enabling peace processes, through
which post-conflict societies can be guaranteed social justice and human rights. The world found itself in
a situation of an overall increase in violence, conflicts and wars. New realities of a globalized market and
economies also brought its own share of uncertainty and unpredictability to international affairs and
global economic governance. In this era of globalized economies and information, international financial
capital threatened the economies and the markets of developing and developed countries alike. In terms of
the sustainability of the planet, global warming, rapid ecological degradation, and environmental
pollution threatened seriously the whole planetary ecosystem. (Samuel Lee, 2004) In responding to these
emerging new conflicts and challenges, it is important to educate as also to put into practice the values
and approaches that enable the peoples of the various regions, races, cultures and religions to live together
194

in peace and equity, cultural diversity and sustainability.
In this regard the role of teacher is very crucial, because teacher is to educate these values and attitudes
for future generations on the spots and in the field. If teachers are very well equipped with knowledge,
experience, value and actions on EIU/ESD, they can guarantee to spread EIU/ESD at least in the field of
formal education sectors and non-formal education sectors. In this sense teacher education is very
important and necessary to spread EIU/ESD further, since teacher is one of main actor to carry out
EIU/ESD in the field. In this regard, it is necessary to reflect whether, and how the exiting teacher
education or teacher training have contributed to promote Education for International Understanding
(EIU)/ Education for Sustainable development(ESD) in the Asia-Pacific region and furthermore how
EIU/ESD might be more effectively implemented in the Asia-Pacific region, if EIU/ESD will be
alternative for sustainable future.
Therefore the past more than 5 years experiences of Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International
Understanding, especially which has implemented mainly teachers education on EIU/ESD can be helpful
for us to design guidelines and to find strategies to implement EIU/ESD effectively for the future.
This paper will be divided into four parts as the following: 1.Introduction, II.Teachers Education on
EIU/ESD. Here it will be introduced the experiences of APCEIU teacher training workshops since 2001
and other activities related to teacher education. III. EIU/ESD from teacher education perspective,
focusing on the lessons what to be improved or what to be considered further for future. Finally it will be
concluded IV with Recommendations for future.
II. Teacher Education on EIU/ESD
II.1. EIU History and Creation of APCEIU
1) Historical Background of Education for International Understanding
When the United Nations was founded, following the two world wars with levels of misery and brutality
never before witnessed by human society, its Charter (June 26, 1945, San Francisco) declared that its
purpose was for all human beings to live on earth together in peace, in societies based on tolerance and
harmony.
To carry out the mission of the UN in the educational, scientific and cultural fields, UNESCO (the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was founded. In its Foundation Charter (November
16, 1945), UNESCO declared, "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the
defences of peace must be constructed..." Wars are caused by ignorance, distrust and suspicion, the Charter
explained; thus the only way to establish world peace and human prosperity is to teach mutual understanding
and respect, freedom, justice, peace and the value of human dignity. Therefore UNESCO has emphasized
education for international understanding and cooperative projects to build a peaceful world.
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Since then, UNESCO has been promoting various projects and activities including International
Education, Education in World Citizenship, Education for Living in World Community, and Education for
International Understanding and Cooperation. UNESCO has also designated the schools that are actively
putting EIU into practice in their respective countries as the "Associated Schools Project," and is
promoting their solidarity in education for understanding.
In the 1970s, with the increase of economic inequality and neo-colonial, subordinate relationships, serious
problems emerged: destruction of nature, environmental pollution and global problems related to
population, food and energy. UNESCO recognized that education should contribute to human survival,
the maintenance of peace, and just development. UNESCO adopted a "Recommendation concerning
Education" at its 18th General Conference (Nov. 19, 1974), with the object of including international
understanding and awareness about global problems in every form and level of education, and to
emphasize international networking and cooperation, and sent it to the Member States. The full title of
this document is "Recommendation concerning Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms," and it is the basis for EIU policy these days.
The "Recommendation concerning Education" was influenced by the strong voices of the third world and
developing countries, and helped to expand the framework of EIU, from simple international relations
and understanding of other regions and cultures, to inclusive international education emphasizing global
issues such as education, peace, human rights, autonomous development and environmental preservation.
The report of the Club of Rome, the movement of undeveloped countries for self-reliant economic
development, the pacifist movement against the Vietnam War, the movement for armaments reduction,
etc., all had an influence on the "Recommendation concerning Education." EIU spread throughout the
world as an essential kind of education for world peace and human survival.
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, the period of confrontation between east and west and the cold war,
many countries used international understanding in ways that benefitted only themselves, and on the other
hand they ideologized it so that EIU could not develop properly in either developed or undeveloped
countries. It was also pointed out by some that the concept of EIU was too broad and ambiguous to be
efficient as education. In the 1980s, when neo-liberalism appeared and confrontation between the north
and the south became more serious, EIU developed differently in different countries. In most, it simply
stagnated.
In the 1990s, with the breakdown of the Cold War structure, eastern Europe was turned into a democratic
region and the market economy and neo-liberalism shaped the globalization process; this brought
renewed attention to EIU and the realization of its necessity for human survival. Many people had
expected that the end of the cold war would issue in an era of peace. But the conclusion of the ideological
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war has been followed by new inter-regional, inter-racial, inter-cultural and inter-religious conflicts and
confrontations, all of which are worsening; and this overall increase in violence led to the Gulf War and
the wars in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Chechnya and Kosovo. In the era of globalization and information
technology, international financial capital attacked the markets of undeveloped, developing and developed
countries alike; and many countries were pushed into economic crisis as they were overwhelmed by
foreign debts and forced to turn to the IMF relief fund to survive. Now environmental pollution threatens
the whole ecosystem; and the transnational movement of tens of thousands of migrant workers is making
all countries multi-racial and multi-cultural.
The only solution to these emergent new conflicts and confrontations is to teach and to put into practice the
values and methods that enable the peoples of the various races, cultures, religions and regions to live together
in justice and peace. It is now widely recognized that without this reorientation for life in community, the crisis
could escalate into inter-civilizational conflict and war, and even destruction of the earth, as Professor
Huntington predicted. This is the background of the movements for reconstruction, or "renaissance," of EIU in
the 1990s.
The movement for a culture of peace, centering on resolution of conflicts in troubled regions and
understanding and tolerance of other races, cultures and religions, has become the main priority of
UNESCO since 1992. On the other hand, after the USSR collapsed and the eastern European socialist
countries accepted democracy and change of their social structures, there were new demands for
democracy and human rights education. In 1993, the International Conference on Education for Human
Rights and Democracy was held in Montreal, and in October 1994 in Geneva, the 44th International
Conference on Education adopted the "Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action on Education for
Peace, Human Rights and Democracy." This document is now used throughout the world as the basic
prescription of the concept, range and methods of practice of EIU.
Ministry of Education officials from more than 100 countries attended the 44th International Educational
Conference that produced this document targeting racial discrimination, hatred of foreigners, human
rights violations, religious intolerance, the gap between rich and poor, and bloody wars. They appealed to
public educational organizations and non-governmental organizations to do their best to educate the
public to recognize and put into practice peace, tolerance, human rights, democracy and sustainable
development. EIU, which has pursued various methods so far, can be called "education for a culture of
peace," and pursues the same basic goals. UNESCO declared 1995 the "International Year of Tolerance,"
2000 the "International Year for a Culture of Peace" and 2001 as the "Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations," and is carrying out the related solidarity activities enthusiastically and continuously.
(APCEIU 2000)
2) Process of Creation of ACEIU
This international historical background provided the grounds upon which the Government of the
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Republic of Korea proposed the foundation of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International
Understanding, to be situated not just on Korean soil but in the whole Asia-Pacific region. In particular,
the Korean Government has selected globalization as the main goal of national policy and endeavored to
follow up on issues of globalization and international standards in every field. As Korea is already a trade
and economic power, one of the "newly industrialized countries" in Asia, and is expected to become a
developed country (as a member of the OECD) assuming increased international responsibilities, the
Korean Government views the establishment of ACEIU in Korea as natural and appropriate.
Therefore, at the 29th UNESCO General Conference in October 1997, the Korean Government proposed
the establishment of ACEIU as the first regional organization of its kind, and this proposal was adopted at
the 30th UNESCO General Conference.
In 1997 due to the request of the Ministry of Education, KNCU began teachers' training on EIU on a
nationwide scale. In 1998 the proposal was followed up by a feasibility study undertaken by a UNESCOrecommended
team of two foreign experts and two Korean experts recommended by the Republic of
Korea, and they evaluated the establishment of ACEIU positively. The Asia-Pacific Network for
International Education and Values Education (APNIEVE) sent a letter to Federico Mayor, then
Secretary-General of UNESCO, in support of the establishment of ACEIU in Korea. In 1999, EIU
became an important part of the "five-year (1999-2003) plan for educational development" in Korea.
Federico Mayor, then Secretary-General of UNESCO, visited Korea to attend the 2nd UNEVOC
(International Project on Technical and Vocational Education) in Seoul, and expressed his support for the
establishment of ACEIU in Korea. In 1999 KNCU held a workshop for EIU and peace education for the
Asia-Pacific region at the UNESCO Youth Centre in Ichon, adopted a recommendation supporting the
establishment of the Centre, and made guidelines for teachers' training.
In 1999 30C/Resolution 17 was adopted at the 30th General Conference. In June 2000 the Statutes of
ACEIU were drawn up by the executive committee of KNCU. In August 2000 Ja SONG, then Minister of
Education, and Koichiro Matsuura, Secretary-General of UNESCO, signed the "Agreement on the
Establishment of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding" and ACEIU's
inauguration and an international symposium in commemoration of the founding of the Centre were held
(August 25, 2000). In September 2000 Agreement No. 1535 (Agreement on the Establishment of the
Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding) was announced officially by the
Official Gazette No. 14597.(APCEIU 2000)
3) Objectives and Function of APCEIU
The objective of ACEIU is to promote and develop education for international understanding within the
framework of education for a culture of peace in the Asia-Pacific region. To realize this objective,
ACEIU will carry out the following functions according to 30C/Resolution 17 and the Agreement
between the Government of the Republic of Korea and UNESCO:
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• Strengthen national and regional capacities in planning and implementing a broad range of
practices in education for international understanding for a culture of peace;
• Encourage and facilitate collaborative links between Asia-Pacific initiatives and other regional,
international and global efforts in education;
• Implement research and development of the philosophy, teaching methods and curriculum of
education for international understanding and for a culture of peace;
• Organize training workshops and seminars;
• Collect, produce and disseminate information and materials.
The objective of ACEIU's foundation in Korea is presented clearly in Resolution 17, adopted by the 30th
UNESCO General Conference in November 1999 and in the Agreement between the Government of the
Republic of Korea and UNESCO, confirming or emphasizing the following;
• the responsibility of UNESCO and its Member States to promote education for
international understanding, justice, freedom, human rights and peace, as urged notably
in the 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding,
Cooperation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms and also in the Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action on Education
for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy prepared by the International Conference on
Education at its 44th session, in 1994, which were respectively endorsed and approved
subsequently by the General Conference at its 28th session, in 1995;
• the need for international and intercultural understanding, and for education for peace,
democracy, human rights and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region, which
has so much cultural diversity, urgent developmental needs and numerous possibilities
for conflict,;
• the urgent need for a more active mechanism of regional cooperation and collaboration
in research and development, training and information and materials development, in
order to provide technical assistance as regards education for international
understanding to Member States of the region; the Republic of Korea has accumulated a
great deal of experience, expertise, know-how and information in education for
international understanding over the past several years, and that the Korean National
Commission was designated in 1995 as the national centre of education for international
understanding to implement UNESCO's programme objectives and guidelines for
education for international understanding;
• the Republic of Korea has played the leading role in establishing and developing
regional networks in the field of education for international understanding, for example
the Asia-Pacific Network for International Education and Values Education(APNIEVE)
and the Asia-Pacific Philosophy Education Network for Democracy(APPEND),;
• the main function of the proposed centre is to carry out regional cooperative and
collaborative work in the field of education for international understanding, inter alia
on research and development. Training, teaching materials development, information
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dissemination, and international conferences and/or workshops, and further considering
that the physical facilities will be provided and the necessary operation costs met by the
host country; the Director-General to support the establishment of this centre in the
Republic of Korea and for this purpose include it within the main line of action for
education for a culture of peace, keeping in mind its transdisciplinary character;
• the Member States to join actively in the centre's activities and to share their expertise
and resources in order to support the centre by means of any appropriate contributions.
Agreement No. 1535 between the Government of the Republic of Korea and UNESCO, which is the basis
of ACEIU's foundation, was signed by Ja SONG, the Korean Minister of Education, and Koichi Matsuura,
Secretary-General of UNESCO. The Agreement was signed jointly by the President, the Prime Minister
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and when it was announced officially it took legal effect. (APCEIU,
2000)
4) Activities of APCEIU
The Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) is a regional centre
working under the auspices of UNESCO that seeks to promote Education for International Understanding
(EIU) towards a Culture of Peace in Asia and the Pacific region with the following mandates:
• To strengthen national and regional capacities in planning and implementing a broad range of
practices in Education for International Understanding towards a Culture of Peace;
• To encourage and facilitate collaboration between Asia-Pacific initiatives and other regional,
international and global efforts in education;
• To implement research and development of the philosophy, teaching methods and curriculum of
Education for International Understanding towards a Culture of Peace;
• To organize training workshops and seminars;
• To produce and distribute teaching materials and other publications;
• To create opportunities for indigenous voices and vulnerable groups in the Asia-Pacific region to
participate in Education for International Understanding and to share success stories;
• To promote Education for International Understanding as a constructive strategy towards democratic
and sustainable transformation of education in the Asia-Pacific region.
Since its inception, APCEIU has devoted itself to promoting a Culture of Peace and to building the
capacities of UNESCO Member States in Education for International Understanding through organizing
symposia, training teachers, publishing educational materials, and strengthening the network of teachers,
educators, experts, civil leaders and other stakeholders in the region.
EIU embraces concepts such as peace, social justice, human rights, cultural diversity and sustainable
development. In the present globalizing world, such concepts have become critical narratives of education
in the mission towards a peaceful and sustainable future. The work of APCEIU will be implemented in
five areas: 1) Promotion of EIU towards a Culture of Peace; 2) Building Capacities of Asia-Pacific
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Member States to promote EIU; 3) Dissemination of Information on EIU; 4) Strengthening EIU
Information Infrastructure; 5) Strengthening Institutional Capacities of APCEIU & Enhancing EIU
Network.
II. 2. APCEIU Teacher Education on EIU/ESD
1. Asia-Pacific Teacher Training Workshop
As a key dimension of its mission, APCEIU organizes and conducts regional training programmes for experts,
teachers, and teacher educators in Education for International Understanding toward a Culture of Peace.
APCEIU has organized several regional training workshops on EIU towards a culture of peace, beginning with
the UNESCO-APNIEVE Workshop in 2001. Subsequent to that, based on an Experts workshop held in Suva,
Fiji, in 2002, a conceptual structure was evolved for organizing Asia Pacific Teacher Training Workshops
(APPTTW) in 2003. Based on the experience of the 2003 APTTW, some refinements and fine-tuning of the
Training Programme was done and a shortened Training Workshop, for 3 weeks was held in 2004 compared to
the 4 weeks Training Workshop held in 2003.
With the launching in 2005 of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and
the designation of UNESCO as lead agency for its promotion, APCEIU this year began to integrate
sustainable development themes in its programming. To highlight the close relationship of the valuesbased
themes that bind the goals of the Decade with its own mission, APCEIU organized its principal
programme for teachers around the integrated theme of “Education for International Understanding and
Education for Sustainable Development toward a Culture of Peace.” In consultation with UNESCO Asia-
Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, the integrated theme was developed during a regional
Experts’ Workshop organized by APCEIU in May 2005 in preparation for the 5 th Asia-Pacific Training of
Trainers Workshop held in September 2005.
The 5th Experts Workshop in the Asia-Pacific Region was held on May 17-19, 2005 in Bangkok,
Thailand. The workshop’s tasks were focused on the promotion of the twin themes, Education for
International Understanding (EIU) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in schools among
the Member States in the Asia-Pacific region. The objectives of the Expert Planning Meeting were: To
develop a conceptual framework to link Education for International Understanding (EIU) with Education
for Sustainable Development (ESD); To review existing resource materials which have been developed
by APCEIU, APEID, APNIEVE and other agencies to examine how these materials can be adapted and
used in APCEIU activities, and to identify gaps where new materials need to be developed; To plan for
long term strategies on how to influence policy makers, curriculum developers, teacher educators, and
teachers to incorporate EIU/ESD in the school curricula through capacity building and information
sharing. The experts reviewed existing educational materials produced by APCEIU, UNESCO, APEID,
UNESCO Bangkok and UNESCO-APNIEVE for a better understanding of the concepts of EIU and ESD,
and shared ideas on how to link these two key concepts.
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During the workshop the participants addressed the following questions: What are some of the
overlapping themes and sub-themes as well as topics for each theme? What teaching methods are suitable
for teaching-learning EIU/ESD? How can these resource materials be adapted and used by teachers,
teacher educators, or curriculum developers in the various national contexts? What should be the content
for EIU/ESD in schools? How can these materials be used in APCEIU activities? What areas need further
development of resource materials? Participants shared ideas and strategies to encourage Member States
to incorporate EIU and ESD in school curricula and to better equip curriculum developers, teacher
educators and teachers to implement the teaching and learning of EIU/ESD in schools. As their immediate
task, the experts planned the programme for the Training Workshop in September. By the end of the
workshop, the experts had developed a conceptual framework on EIU and ESD, and integrated the two
concepts into three main themes for the September Training Workshop: Peace and Equity, Cultural
Diversity and Intercultural Understanding, and Sustainability. They recommended that more priority be
given to trainers--or teacher educators, rather than teachers--in order to multiply its impact in the region,
given limited resources. This will build up capacities to carry out EIU and ESD at the regional level.
The Fifth Annual Training Workshop for Teachers and Teacher Educators in the Asia-Pacific region was
held on September 20-29, 2005 in Chiangmai, Thailand. The eight-day workshop had 20 participants
from 12 countries, representing all the Asia-Pacific sub-regions: Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, China,
Iran, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Eight resource persons made
presentations on the themes of Peace and Equity, Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Understanding,
Sustainability, and Human Rights. Participants were mostly teacher educators including senior Education
Ministry officers with backgrounds in social science disciplines such as economics, history, social
education, foreign languages, and the arts.
Major financial support for this training workshop was provided by the Korean Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Development and UNESCO Funds-In-Trust supported by the Korean government. Of the
20 participants, 15 were sponsored by sending institutions which covered travel costs, including UNESCO
national commissions, UNESCO cluster offices, ministries of education and GTZ (the German Technical
Assistance Agency) in Sri Lanka.
At the end of the workshop, participants broke into subregional groups and prepared action plans to
“apply and multiply” what they learned and experienced to their own fields of work in their home
countries. As they shared their action plans, participants committed themselves to organizing EIU and
ESD workshops in their home countries. APCEIU and UNESCO Bangkok Offices were also asked to
support possible sub-regional workshops as follow-up activities. (APCEIU, 2005)
Five Teacher Training Workshops (TTW) on EIU in 2001-2005: Teacher/educator/school
administrators from 39 Asia-Pacific member countries have participated.
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• 1 st TTW, July10-13, 2001, in Ichon, Korea in collaboration with UNESCO-APNIEVE, 34 participants, 15
countries
• 2 nd TTW, July16-20, 2002, in Suva, Fiji, in cooperation with UNESCO Apia Office & Fiji UNESCO NC,
40 teachers and educators, 10 Pacific counties
• 3 rd TTW, July 7-August 2, 2003, in Ichon, Korea, 30 participants, 14 countries.
A teaching manual/resource book was field tested
• 4 th TTW, June21-July11, 2004, in Ichon, Korea, 35 participants, 20 Asia Pacific countries
• 5 th TOT, 20-29, September 2005, in Chiangmai, Thailand, 35 Participants from 12 Countries. UNESCO
Bangkok office
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Number of Participants during 2001-2005
No Country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total
1 Afghanistan 0
2 Australia 3 3 1 2 2 11
3 Bangladesh 2 2
4 Buhtan 1 2 1 4
5 Brunei 0
6 Cambodia 2 3 5
7 Canada 2 1 3
8 China 1 2 1 1 5
9 Cook Islands 3 3
10 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 0
11 East Timor 1 1
12 Fiji 23 23
13 Hong Kong 0
14 India 1 1 2
15 Indonesia 2 1 1 4
16 Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran) 3 2 2 7
17 Japan 1 1
18 Kazakstan 1 1
19 Korea 11 1 7 6 1 26
20 Kyrgystan 0
21 Lao People's Democratic Republic 1 1 2
22
Malaysia
2 2 1 2 7
23 Maldives 0
24
Mongolia
1 1 2
25 Myanmar 0
26 Nauru 0
27 Nepal 2 2
28 New Zealand 3 2 5
29 Niue 0
30 Oman 1 1
31 Pakistan 2 1 3
32 Palau 1 1
33 Papua New Guinea 3 1 4
34 Philippines 2 1 3 6
35 Russian Federation 0
36 Samoa 1 4 5
37 Solomon Islands 2 2
38 Sri Lanka 1 2 2 5
39 Tajikistan 0
40 Thailand 2 2 2 4 10
41 Tokelau 0
42 Tonga 3 1 4
43 Turkey 2 2
44 Turkmenistan 0
45 Tuvalu 1 1
46 Uzbekistan 1 2 2 5
47 Vanuatu 2 2
48 Vietnam
1 1 2
Total 32 51 30 35 21 169
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Linkage with UNESCO Institutions/ Subsidy during 2001-2005
• 2001. 7.10-13 Ichon, Korea 34 persons(15 countries)Vietnam1, Australia 3, Canada 1,
Hongkong1, Indonesia2, Malaysia 2, Oman 1, Kyjahistan 1, Thailand 2, Sri Lanka 1, Japan2,
Korea 8, Philippines 7, Bhutan 1 , Laos 1
• 2002. 7.16-20, Suva, Fiji40 persons(10 countries) Fiji 20, Cooks Island 3, PNG 2, Samoa 3,
Solomon Island 2, Tokelau 1, Tonga 3, Tobalau 1, Vanuatu 2,New Zealand 3.
• 2003. 7.7-8.2 (4 weeks)Ichon, Korea30 persons(14 countries)Laos 1, Malaysia 2, Mongolia 1,
Bangladesh 2, Bhutan 2, Uzbekistan 2, Iran 3, Indonesia 1, China 2, Thailand 1, PNG 1,
Philippines 3, Australia 1, Korea 811 persons(9 countries)Bhutan 100% x 1p Indonesia 100% x
1pChina 100% x 1pLaos 100% x 1p PNG 100% x 1p Uzbekistan 50% x 2pMongolia 50% x
1pBangladesh 50% x 2pIran $1,000
• 2004. 6.21-7.11 (3 weeks), Ichon, Korea34 Persons(20 countries) China 1, Cambodia 2Timor
leste 1, India, Indonesia 1, Iran 3, Korea 4Mongolia 1 Nepal 2,New Zealand 2 Pakistan 2, Palau
1, Sri Lanka 2, Tonga 1, Thailand 2, Turkey 2, Uzbekistan 2, Australia 2. 12 Persons(8
countries) Cambodia 100% x 2 PTimor leste 100% x 1P,India 50% x 1P Mongolia 50% x1P
Pakistan 50% x2P Sri Lanka 50% x2P,Tonga 100% x 1P Uzbekistan 50% x 2 P-Post-conflict
countries 100%,-the least developed countries 50%
• 2005. 9-20-29(10 days) Chiangmai, Thailand 35 persons (11 countries) Australia 2,
Bhutan(100% x1P), Cambodia 2+100 x1 p, China 1, Iran 1(100%x 1P), Korea 1, Malaysia 2,
Pakistan 1, Sri Lanka 2, Thailand 4, Vietnam 1
2. Sub-regional Workshop
Furthermore, as part of follow-up plans and country programmes that the participants were asked to
prepare, the Sri Lankan and Indian participants proposed a Peace Event Programme between Indian and
Sri Lankan School Teachers and which GTZ Sri Lanka would support in terms of local organizing. This
was seen as a very concrete proposal at the sub-regional level and which would create possibilities for
developing programmes in the South Asian sub region to contribute to the promotion of a Culture of
Peace through Education for International Understanding and to strengthen networking in the subregional
level. The 2004 Peace Event and workshops for the development of South Asia sub-regional
programmes took place in India and Sri Lanka, on the theme of Education for Democracy, Pluralism and
Tolerance. During the workshop, the participants had opportunities to interact with participants and learn
more about current issues related to peace education at the sub-regional level, to strengthen their
networking for the future mutual cooperation at the sub-regional level and to develop their strategy and
action plan towards a culture of peace. (APCEIU, 2004)
In 2005 South Asia Consultation on Training of Teacher Educators was held at the Central Institute for
Indian Languages (CIIL) in Mysore, India from December 15-17, 2005. This event was organized by
APCEIU in cooperation with the Regional Institute of Education of the National Council of Education
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Research and Training (RIE-NCERT), Central Institute for Indian Languages (CIIL), University of
Mysore, UNESCO New Delhi Office, GTZ BESP (Basic Education Sector Programme), Indian Social
Institute (ISI), Bangalore YMCA, and United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-
IAS).
Participants selected based on recommendations by teacher training institutions and UNESCO, included
teachers, teacher educators, and professors from Sri Lanka, India, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Maldives.
This consultation provided participants with a meaningful space for discussing future orientations and
perspectives in the South Asia region, focusing on exchanges concerning programmes of partner
institutions and reviews of the curricular and material outcomes of previous teacher training workshops.
This consultation is a follow up to the 2004 India-Sri Lanka Sub-Regional Workshop on Education for
Democracy, Pluralism, and Tolerance. (APCEIU 2005)
Sub-regional Workshop during 2003-2005
• 2003 March 23-28, in Beijing, China, in cooperation with China UNESCO NC
& UNESCO Beijing Office. 32 participants, North East Asian countries. Focus
on Sustainable Development in North East Asia
• 2004 November 1-7 in Sri Lanka &November 8-9, 2004 in India, Sri Lanka,
India and Maldives, with Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka, GTZ, and Mysore
University in India
• 2005 December 15-17 in India, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Maldives,
Afghanistan, with Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka, GTZ, and CIIL in India
In 2006 Asia-Pacific Teacher Training Workshop will be held in Iran in June, in collaboration with Ministry of
Education in Iran, Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, other related educational institutions, National
Commissions for UNESCO in Afghanistan, Turkistan and Pakistan.
3. Asia-Pacific Expert Workshop (UNESCO Funds-in-Trust)
As a 2006 Korean government Funds-in-Trust project for educational development in the Asia-Pacific
region, the Experts Workshop on Education for International Understanding (EIU) will take place in the
UNESCO member states of the Asia-Pacific region. To promote and implement education for
international understanding towards a culture of peace in the Asia-Pacific region, APCEIU has been
organizing an annual Training Workshop on EIU in the Asia-Pacific region since 2001. In line with its
continuing efforts to bring together teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and educational
policy makers from different countries of the region for the development of content and pedagogy of EIU
towards a culture of peace, this programme is particularly designed to provide EIU related experts with
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opportunities to revisit EIU and ESD in the region, to share their experiences in terms of educational
policy, curriculum development, educational programme and reading materials related to EIU, and to
enhance their networking at the institutional level. It is expected that strategies to integrate their
specialization and fields of expertise into EIU and ESD in their countries and in sub-regions will be made
so that EIU and ESD can be systematically and continuously promoted with special regards for local
contexts throughout the region.
• Dates : August 22-25, 2006
• Venue: Penang, Malaysia
• Participants:
EIU experts, teacher educators, teachers, curriculum developers and other
EIU related researchers
• Main Contents:
- Revisit the conceptualization of EIU/ESD and the linkage between EIU and ESD;
- Situational analysis and assessment of EIU/ESD in the region;
- Development of strategies to promote EIU/ESD in the region.
• Collaborating Organizations:
- UNESCO Bangkok Office;
- Education faculty of University and teacher college etc
- Curriculum development institutes and training institutes;
- Civil society organizations related to EIU/ESD;
- Other UNESCO Field offices.
4. Development of EIU Educational Materials
1) Learning to Live Together: Teacher resource book
Since its establishment in August 2000, one of the problems that APCEIU faced was the lack of teacher
training materials and meeting the practical needs of teachers in the Asia Pacific region. Such materials
are basic to the development of EIU curricula in the schools.
First several experimental Korean language textbooks on EIU, which are being used by teachers of “EIU”
(now an optional course) and by some social science teachers in Korean schools were produced.
In 2004, APCEIU published a resource book for teachers for the Asia-Pacific region Learning to Live
together, this book provides a conceptual and practical resource for Asia-Pacific teachers and teacher
educators in educating for international understanding toward a culture of peace. To facilitate a more
focused approach, the resource book is also oriented to the needs of teachers and teacher educators
responsible for teaching social studies, geography, history, civics, and related social science areas. The
overall approach is integration, not teaching EIU as a separate subject or topic. Hence, it is the teachers’
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esponsibility to identify appropriate entry points for introducing EIU in their syllabus or course outlines.
This book consisted of the following six main themes: a) Living with Justice and Compassion, b)
Dismantling the Culture of War, c) Living in Harmony with the Earth, d) Promoting Human Rights and
Responsibilities, e) Building Cultural Respect, Reconciliation and Solidarity, f) Cultivating Inner Peace.
(APCEIU, 2004)
Further more APCEIU in collaboration with UNESCO Bangkok office is going to publish a EIU/ESD
Training Modules throughout designing and practicing training Modules on 5 th Asia-Pacific experts
Workshop and Training Workshop. It is expecting to guide teachers and teacher educators from Asia-
Pacific region to carry out their own trainings. (APCEIU 2005)
In 2006 APCEIU in collaboration with UNESCO Hanoi Office; curriculum development institutes and
training institutes; civil society organizations related to EIU, other UNESCO Field offices is going to
survey and research on the need for EIU in post-conflict countries; To provide resources especially
designed for teachers and students in the Asia-Pacific region, APCEIU is going to publish or translate
teaching and learning materials into local languages based on situational analysis and assessment and to
disseminate educational materials that teacher educators, school teachers and other educational experts
can apply to their own educational settings.(APCEIU 2006)
2) Supplementary educational materials
In 2005, APCEIU has developed peace story books for children and youth in the Asia Pacific region. These
peace stories were written in various local languages of the Asia pacific region, rediscovering their own
values transmitted in their own traditional stories and promoting the values related to peace, equity,
sustainability, cultural diversity, human rights. Through peace story development, APCEIU identified a way
to meet the challenges, and to promote and revitalize the cultures and languages in education, and to work
pro-actively in the interests of endangered languages, cultures and traditions as well as addressing the
complex contemporary pressures, problems, and paradoxes of a globalised world.
In 2005 APCEIU offered five fellows from India, Indonesia, Iran, Tonga and Uzbekistan, selected from
applicants from the 46 UNESCO Member States in the Asia and the Pacific region. UNESCO-APCEIU
Fellowship Programme was designed for the promotion of Education for International Understanding (EIU). It
aimed to provide teachers, teacher educators and other related individuals with opportunities for researching
and developing educational/reading materials for children and youth in the Asia-Pacific Region in their mother
languages.
During the stay of fellows in Korea, fellows wrote their peace stories and further their stories through
discussions with other fellows. Peace stories covered cultural diversity and intercultural understanding, peace
and equity, human rights and sustainable development. The title of each peace story is as follows; The Sky, the
Cloud and the Earth (Mr. Suresha), My Earth My Life (Ms. Sulistyowati), Bam Earthquake (Mr.
Razavikhosravaninejad), We Can Try (Ms. Fine) and Tolerance Wordbook (Mr. Djuraev). These stories will be
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published this year in the fellows’ mother languages: Kannada (Indian), Indonesian, Persian, Tongan and
Uzbek.
UNESCO-APCEIU Fellowship Programme is in its initial stage. However, APCEIU wishes to collaborate
with teachers, teacher educators and other related individuals in this region to promote a Culture of Peace
by developing and disseminating educational materials on EIU (peace stories) for children and youth. The
process of globalization may have brought together peoples of the world like never before, but it has
come at a great price. Cultural traditions or cultural heritages that have evolved over thousands of years
are being systematically eroded, fragmented, often to the tune of big business. But we need to explore
ways to empower young people to discover their own values and cultures, to explore their own innate
creativity and to participate fully in the life of their own communities. Through this programme, we are
going to build new links between culture and the educational system so as to ensure full recognition of
culture and the arts a fundamental dimension of education for all (UNESCO 2002), develop artistic
education and stimulate creativity in educational programmes at all levels. (APCEIU 2005)
Development of educational materials during 2004-2005
• Learning to Live Together: Teachers’ Resource Book on EIU
• Objective: to introduce EIU concepts and teaching modules
• Target: teachers for their use in classrooms
• Subsections: “Dismantling the Culture of War”, “Living with Justice and Compassion”,
“Living in Harmony with the Earth”, “Promoting Human Rights and Responsibilities”,
“Nurturing Intercultural Understanding and Solidarity”, “Cultivating Inner Peace”
• Peace Story in the Asia-Pacific Region: UNESCO-APCEIU Fellowship Programme
• The Sky, the Cloud and the Earth (Mr. Suresha), in Kannada
• My Earth My Life (Ms. Sulistyowati), in Indonesian
• Bam Earthquake (Mr. Razavikhosravaninejad), in Persian
• We Can Try (Ms. Fine) in Tongan
• Tolerance Wordbook (Mr. Djuraev) in Uzbek.
5. Related Activities
1) International Symposium: Peace and Sustainability
APCEIU marked its fifth founding anniversary with a three-day Symposium in Seoul, Korea on August
25-27, 2005 under the theme of “Partnerships for Peace and Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific.” The
symposium sought to strengthen partnerships to promote conditions for Peace and Sustainable
Development and strengthen itself as a regional centre for the building of local capacities in the Asia-
Pacific Region.
Fifteen leading international figures in peace education and sustainable development addressed the
symposium and participated in working group discussions on the two themes of APCEIU’s work with
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partners in the Asia-Pacific region. There were two keynote speakers: Dr. Carl Lindberg, Chairman of the
Swedish National Commission on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development,
who spoke about Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and Dr. Konai Thaman, professor of
Pacific Education in the University of South Pacific and UNESCO Chair of Teacher Education and
Culture, who highlighted teacher education for a Culture of Peace. Plenary sessions were organized
around separate discussions on three major issues: Peace Education for International Understanding,
Education for Sustainable Development, and Partnerships for Peace and Sustainability in the Asia-
Pacific Region.
Through the symposium, APCEIU was able to formulate a new agenda for building partnerships to
enhance capacities in the fields of EIU and ESD in Asia and the Pacific Region. The symposium affirmed
the role of teacher educators as an important target group for APCEIU’s strategy for action to maximize
the multiplier effect of its work. In addition, training of groups--related government officers, educators
and teachers--from each country, rather than individuals, was seen as a way to build up ongoing support
and promote implementation in the home country. To measure effectiveness of training programmes,
APCEIU should put more emphasis on evaluating the impact on participants’ practices in their home
countries, and developing case studies of successes and obstacles in different countries. As particular
focuses in developing and reinforcing regional partnerships, APCEIU will create new relationships with
UNESCO cluster offices, Ministries of Education, universities especially faculties and schools of
education, teacher training colleges, and teachers’ unions.(APCEIU 2005)
In 2006 APCEIU is going to organize international symposia and workshops on human rights and
sustainable development in hopes to enlarge and deepen the themes of EIU, and to support the objectives
of the “UN World Programme for Human Rights Education (2005-2014)”. APCEIU will sponsor an
international symposium under the theme: “Comparative Approaches to Intercultural Understanding and
Human Rights Education.” The symposium will aim to provide a venue for the exchange of inter-regional
experiences and to identify an effective strategy for promoting EIU. It is scheduled on October 25-27,
2006 in Seoul, Korea, and EIU experts, teacher trainers, policy makers, Human Rights Education experts
and officers, experts from UN-related organizations in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe and Latin
America, and other EIU stakeholders etc are expecting to attend at this symposium.(APCEIU 2006)
2) Asia-Pacific EIU Policy Meeting
To fulfill its role as a regional centre, APCEIU should meet the needs of field research to make EIU
policies relevant to different situations across the region with particular attention to conditions of conflict,
social development and EIU development at the local level. Accordingly, APCEIU conceptualized an EIU
policy meeting to formulate a strategic policy based on national and sub-regional situations and to foster a
balanced development of EIU in the Asia-Pacific region. To ensure that the initiative produces substantial
outcomes, APCEIU is launching a 3 year project that will carry out a situational analysis in the 46
UNESCO Member States of the region. The results of the field researches will be brought to attention at
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the Consultation on Developing EIU Policy. In 2006, the field researches will be conducted in Central
Asia where the APCEIU network is relatively weak. These research activities will lay the groundwork for
the envisioned policy meeting, and reflections on the findings will guide the agenda for the meeting.
During this project, it is expected to collect basic information on the current situation of EIU in the
countries, comparative analysis on EIU to set the agenda for implementing EIU in accordance with
existing developmental levels of EIU in different parts of the region, and finding an effective policy for
enhancing EIU. (APCEIU, 2006)
3) Strengthening of EIU Information Infrastructure
Mindful of the great cultural diversity among UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific region,
APCEIU has been building a foundation to enable and support mutual learning, sharing, and exchange of
information, ideas, and materials generated in the practice of Education for International Understanding.
In response to requests from teachers, teacher educators and SangSaeng readers, resource books and
recent issues of SangSaeng have been converted into on-line files and published on APCEIU’s English
and Korean websites. In recognition of the linguistic diversity in the Asia-Pacific region and in order to
disseminate EIU information more easily and widely, APCEIU has developed content in Chinese, Persian,
and Tamil.
APCEIU expects that its management of the Multi-Media Centre will contribute substantially to
promotion of EIU in the region, advance UNESCO’s goal of Information for All, and help preserve and
encourage appreciation for the region’s rich cultural and linguistic diversity. (APCEIU 2006)
III. EIU/ESD from teacher education perspective
1. Concept: EIU /ESD
1) Conceptual Framework of EIU/ESD
• Replacing structures of militarization with structures of peace)
• Living with compassion and justice (sharing resources, promoting equity)
• Promoting human rights and responsibilities
• Practicing intercultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity; cultural respect
• Living in harmony with the earth; sustainable development
Advocates of a critical and holistic EIU agree wholeheartedly that EIU is not just the content or what is
taught and understood. Equally important is how it is taught, viz. the pedagogical principles embodied in
the teaching-learning process. EIU takes place in multiple dimensions in integrated frameworks
worldwide. Educators have applied what they consider appropriate and effective methodologies and
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procedures, being mindful of specific local or indigenous social and cultural conditions. Nevertheless, in a
universal context, some common pedagogical principles could be considered relevant in educating for
international understanding.(Toh, Sween Hin, 2004)
Educating for a culture of peace requires a holistic understanding and interlinking of the issues of
militarization, human rights, economic and social injustice, care for the planet earth, harmony with others,
and personal peace. Holistic Understanding means looking into inter-relationships between and among
different problems of misunderstandings, peacelessness, conflict and violence in terms of root causes and
resolutions. Micro level conflicts like personal alienation, apathy, crimes of peace and order may be rooted
in macro level problems of poverty and unequal distribution of wealth and resources. It is therefore essential
to draw a learner’s understanding of various conflicts into a holistic framework. (Toh Swee-Hin, 2004) A
strong indicator of peaceful pedagogy is that it stirs hopefulness, a faith that ordinary peoples can exercise
commitment, and courage in transforming their realities. (Toh Swee-Hin, 2004) Educating for a culture of
peace must help learners go beyond describing symptoms of conflicts and violence in their immediate
contexts.
2) Contents
• The purpose of the workshop is for teachers/ teacher educators as educators to get sustainability
integrated into education. One of the things that can be done is to see the solution. For example
if the question is asked, ‘What are some of the things we would have, if we had sustainability?’
Then the answers would probably be there would be enough food, education, security, safety,
peace, equity, clean water, friendly and cooperative atmosphere, no severe climate change, no
pollution, no poor people, less natural disasters, and less consumption. There would be for
example, partnership, respect for each other, and thinking into a brighter future.
• The question to ask here is how to teach people about ESD and EIU? Do they have the same
vision? How to involve others in education for sustainable development (ESD), sustainable
futures and the decade of education for sustainable development (DESD) is part of the challenge.
ESD is not about sustainable development but for SD. It is understood that we do not have all the
answers, but we can look at the social/cultural/environmental and the economic aspect of the
problem. How can the movement from ‘pollution’ to ‘non-pollution’ be facilitated?
• How is change brought about? Learning as sustainability is about everyday actions with our
children, reflecting on what we are doing. It’s about creating a learning community, and
promoting change in ourselves. Two things have to be kept in mind: learning to change and
attitude to change. The attitude to change is a process by which to mentor the process of change.
3) Process of EIU/ESD
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-Capacity building: From the perspective of EIU/ESD, it is necessary for learners to build their capacity
at various levels. EIU/ESD can not just give knowledge about the peace and conflicts issues. EIU/ESD
should include so far the feelings, compassion, knowledge, skills, values and actions. To transform the
society toward a culture of peace, it is necessary for learners to transform their own mind, and behaviors and
to develop their skills. Of course the cognitive part of EIU/ESD such as knowledge can not be ignored.
Furthermore EIU/ESD is also providing opportunities for learners to interact and to make commitments for
transformation of the society. In short EIU encompasses feelings, thinking, and doing of learners such as
emotion, ration and action. In this regard Educational materials /methods should have variety, for example
all kinds of arts is essential for promoting EIU/ ESD. All kinds of arts, including poems, stories, literature,
music, films, theaters, sports is very useful educational inputs, inspirations and instruments for applying EIU
and ESD in the field or into practice, since we are seeking to build a culture of peace, to join our hands,
hearts, minds and spirits for both individual and societal transformation.(UNESCO’s Manifesto 2000:
www.unesco.org/manifesto2000) in a spirit of interdependence and global solidarity.
-Transformation: To transform the learners as peace makers or peace builders, the actions and the
commitment of participants is very important from the EIU/ESD perspective. So the workshop for
EIU/ESD gives the opportunities for the participants to perform cooperative tasks such as role plays on
certain social issues, or making visual arts together. The participants can express their own feelings, and
ideas while drawing the pictures, taking role plays and dancing together etc. They can also understand
each other and develop their skills how to communicate with others, and how to express their feelings or
ideas during their cooperative performance of their own tasks. It can result as well the creativities or the
potentials of participants can be developed and inspired.
- Value formation/ reformation: Through intensifying modernization or globalization, the western life
style has been introduced to the Asia-Pacific region. Individualism is part of these global trends. Under
the circumstance, it is hard generally to manage how to spend whole time from early morning to late
nights together with others from different cultural backgrounds. It is necessary to liberate education from
the constraints that help reinforce the hegemonic values and life styles such as the legacy of the scientific
bias of western thought. As Teaero commented in his paper, “Emancipation here refers to freedom from
previous injustices inherent in earlier teacher education programs that featured the subjugation of studies
of indigenous educational ideas to western ones. Such emancipation would culminate in freedom from
ignorance of our own indigenous educational ideas and reclamation of an important part of our cultural
heritages.”(T. Teaero, 1999, P.39)
-Daily practice; In this sense daily exercises of EIU/ESD in daily life at all aspects, for example, even
eating and sleeping is very critically reflected. EIU/ESD can not be practiced somewhere else. Therefore
it can be taken sharing the rooms with others and foods, or cooking together during the workshop as a
part of EIU/ESD. While sharing the food, or sharing the accommodations, the participants can learn to
live together with others, and to learn the values such as tolerance, dialogue, cooperation, harmony, and
solidarity etc. Respect is a value or an attitude that we hold towards both ourselves and others, when our
heart and mind is open and flexible to accepting ourselves for who we are, and to accepting others for
who they are, no matter how different they may be. Respect is acknowledging that you and others are
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unique and worthy individuals, who have the same needs and share equal rights to have these needs met
equitably. With daily practice at all aspects of life, the people can transform their minds and behavior, and
can be fully equipped with skills and knowledge. Based on peaceful minds, behaviors, and hands of every
person, the society can be changed peacefully.
EIU/ESD
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Value
• Action
• Commitment
• The topic of transformation is very important.
• Models of transformation need to be explored.
• We need to analyze and evaluate the need for change.
• We need to participate and reflect on our own participation.
• Changes can be long, dramatic, and within ourselves, whilst at the same time it is important to not
forget about our own heritages. This is where the tension arises between the traditional and the
modern.
• We need to see how to integrate positive change into our daily lives.
• The starting point would have to be from facts in our countries. There is a need to
identify the link between our activities and our values, and start from our own
realities.
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(a) Learning Outcomes Matrix- Children
(APCEIU 2005)
Themes Know Do Be
Culture
Respect
Appropriate
Greetings,
Drivers – Culture
Sawasdee (Good
Morning)
Experience
acceptance
appreciation,
respect/sensitivity
Peace
How to live
together, aware of
conflict/violence
Stop fighting,
problem
solving,
negotiation,
compromise
Forgiving,
Apologizing,
sharing/giving
Equity
We are
unique/different in,
socio- economic
background, ability
After the others,
fund rising, respect
to all people, skills
to put yourself into
other‘s shoes
Be accepted
Caring/Sensitivity,
be
generous,
sharing/giving
Human
Rights
Basic Knowledge on
the Rights of the
Child
Respect their
rights to speak up
Not selfish, protect
others
Sustainable
Development
Over Consumption,
Pollution, waste,
knowing others,
share planet,
Future thinking
Planting, look for
animals, less waste
etc, recycling
Caring, stewardship
(b)Learning Outcomes Matrix- Teachers
Themes
Cultural
Respect
Knowledge &
Understanding
Diversities and
differences,
our own culture
Factual not biased/
prejudiced
Impartial
Own culture
Others
Reasons for beliefs
and values
Thinking
Process
Compare &
Contrast,
think
critically on
one’s own
society
Critical
Skills
Sharing your culture
listening to others,
communicating
Group discussion
skills
Ability to motivate
Ability to vary
presentation i.e.
active-passive
Values &
Attitudes
Respect each
other,
Friendliness,
Open
mindedness,
Tolerance,
Equality,
Compromise
Respect others
Practice
tolerance
Acceptance
Action
Policy making
from school to
broader contexts.
Having community
associations
setting up networks
Role model
Practice every day
Study own culture
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Peace
Equity
Human
Rights
Sustainab
Develop
(APCEIU 2005)
To be able to interpret
Peace.
To explain the
necessity for peace.
To know the different
understanding of
peace.
Awareness of the
consequences of war.
Teaching the role of
media teachers need to
be aware of media
issues.
To know they have to
give equal
opportunities to
students. Awareness of
the definition of
equity and equality.
Being aware of
different social status
in the society.
Being aware of ethnic
groups (gender) in
own countries.
To know people who
can really help
connection/
authorities.
Solidarity, factors
threatening peace.
Different matters to
develop peace
More than ‘absence of
war’
Awareness
of ,UDHR, CRC,
Constitution of the
country,
Remedy
Resources are
Limited,
Impact of
development,
Social, economic,
political aspects,
interrelated,
futuristic.
Eco system
political,
economics, social,
natural, cultural
Compare
and contrast
Peace and
War
Conflict
situations
Critical
Positive
Critical
Thinking,
Reasoning
reasoning,
evaluation,
critical
thinking
living together,
solving problems,
peacefully,
Speaking and
presentation
Skills
analyzing and
finding solutions.
analyzing the
students’
backgrounds to know
how to provide
equity in the
classroom.
Analysis on
Problems
Reasoning, Justify,
Identify,
Bringing
rights into daily
life, problem
solving
Analyses,
evaluate,
Justify, seeing a
whole picture
Analysis
Introduce
Understanding,
respect each
other,
non-violence,
equality
Respect others
Practice
tolerance and
acceptance
Respect, Love,
Compassion,
Freedom,
Responsibility,
Acceptance,
Tolerance
Share,
Cooperate,
respect nature,
think
positively; be
fair, care;
be responsible,
Tolerance,
Respect
Appreciation
of nature,
social and
cultural norms
Finding ways to
solve post conflict
problems.
Set up
peace clubs.
Distribute info
pamphlets on
peace.
To involve students
in activities to
promote equity.To
involve parents in
school gatherings
to make them
aware of the need
for equity.
Study inner peace
Study conflict
Integrate into
the curriculum.
Run seminars,
Case study
Integrated into
the curriculum
and cocurricular,
Field
Trips
Work with
NGO’S
Study the ecosystem
and factors
affecting it
2. Methodology
1) Knowledgeable about Methodologies
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• Is aware of the trainees’ background and their respective abilities
• Varies pedagogy to suit trainees and different learning styles
• Uses interesting methodologies
• Uses a participatory learning process
• Involves all participants
• Models good principles and provides clear examples of sustainability e.g. doesn’t waste paper
2) Knowledgeable about Contents of Training
• Provides relevant information
• Has clear and effective materials
• Has good content knowledge and core competence
3) Supportive of Learners
• Creates a positive learning atmosphere
• Encourages positive thinking
• Provides learners with positive responses
• Is encouraging
• Appreciates learners’ attempts
• Some of the Professional Groupings that can be audiences for Training Programmes are:
• School Teachers
• Curriculum Developers or Advisors
• Administrators/Policy Makers/ Advisors
• Teacher Trainers
• NGOs/Community
4) Learning Process
• We have to start changes within ourselves, we can also use learning styles and methodologies to
effect further change in education. The APNIEVE model of knowing, understanding, valuing,
and acting is a useful teaching tool.
• The way different people (males, females, adults, and children) learn is different. Indigenous
people also have a different way of learning, mostly through kinesthetic ways.
• Learning for change happens best when there is a safe and conducive learning environment
supported by different and creative teaching methods. It is useful to ponder on the way you
yourself learn and connect your own issues to the world. We all have different styles but our
styles may not be the way learners learn, so all different styles have to be covered in learning
activities.
• The teachers’ own experiences can be used to encourage change with students. Some teachers
use first-hand experience, some use assessments by students and teachers, and other teachers
place the learning responsibility on the students. Students need to understand, and care about
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what teachers are saying to them and then they have a reason to change. Youth learning more
about their culture can be done by getting information and wisdom from local people.
5) Whole school approach: Supporting change
• If a need for change is identified in the whole school or whole school community, there is a need
to agree on the necessary values to support the change. Many more places are now having
whole-school approaches. Using their expertise, need to work to change attitudes and values in a
whole school community so that everyone can live more sustainably
• In today’s world, there is a need to love and show compassion to all people and life to be able to
live together. Spirituality is important and is the same. We can live sustainabley and in peace if
we combine the development of heart with information and take action based on it. This way we
can bring about change.
• We cannot say to others do something and then practise something else ourselves. People need
to identify the need to change. They need to know what they will get and how they will benefit
from it.
• Awareness raising of the need for change is the first thing to be done. Life is not sustainable as it
is, so there is need for change. We need to see how change will affect our lives. We need to
explore the ways of making better change, and consider the people’s feedback from the change.
3. Managing
1) Planning
• What is the purpose of the training?
• What concepts/ideas/knowledge/feelings/actions should teacher/trainers experience?
• What process will be used for the training?
• How will the training be delivered?
• Who is the intended audience?
• How many people will be involved?
• What length will the training be?
• Where will the training be held?
• What facilities will be needed?
• How much can be spent on this training?
• Who can help with the training?
• What resources and materials will be needed?
• Who will support the training?
• What needs and expectations does the target group have?
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• What expectations do authorities/governments have?
• How can the training be evaluated?
• How can the starting session be really motivating?
• What is the best way to provide people with good orientation?
• Whether to deliver training sessions in teams or individually?
• Whether the process can be transformative or transmissive?
2) Principles
• Training Sessions usually take the form of:
- Introduction
- Presentation
- Practice
- Evaluation
- Conclusion.
• Training session should also be based on sound learning principles e.g.,
• Participatory
• Known to unknown
• Engaging the whole person
• Active and experiential
• Relevant and meaningful
• Using questioning and inquiry
• Empowering the learner to action
• Directed towards specific outcomes
• Transforming of values
• Showing sensitivity
• Inclusive and democratic.
3) Effective Management skills
• Starts with an “ice-breaker” to introduce participants to each other
• Clarifies expectations
• Sets the norms of the group (i.e. agreed operational procedures)
• Organized
• Manages time well, both personal and length of sessions.
• Stays on time, and keeps to time
• Has time limits, time frames for each activity
• Does what they will say they will do
• Provides a way of evaluating the effectiveness of the training.
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4) Evaluation: What can be considered?
• Methodology - having diversity
• Input on linkage of peace and EIU/ESD
• Process of organizing a workshop
• Input on the concept of EIU/ESD
• Addressing similarities of the existing problems in the world
• Sharing examples
• Need to train about attitudes
• Stick to the time frame
• More explanation needed on the whole school approach, what it is and how to apply it in our
own contexts
• The facilitators should have been more involved in the group work, at least to ‘get the ball
rolling’
• More clarification on some of the instructions
• Resource persons could have provided the relevant materials beforehand
• Need more spirituality in the workshop
• Need some more time to know each other
4. Role of Teacher
1) Role of Teachers
• Be aware of the situation and serve local needs
• Teach according to local needs
• Be equitable in treating students so that children can see a positive role model
• Act as a facilitator to bring out discussions on all of the perspectives on the conflict
• Respect all students’ beliefs and opinions
• Develop and implement a local and a central curriculum
• Increase students’ understanding of the ‘real’ world
• Provide support to other represented groups
• Engage in equity actions
• Provide books and an inclusive curriculum for classroom learning
• Encourage the education for girls so they get in to school and stay
• Continue own learning
2) Expectation
Personal Traits
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•Works from the heart
•Is enthusiastic and energetic
•Has a positive personality
•Is adaptable/flexible
•Is sensitive to trainees needs, (situational/needs analysis)
Good Communication skills
•Is a clear speaker
•Is a good listener and builds on what the trainees’ say
•Plans well in advance; has lesson plans
•Provide clear and meaningful instructions
•Steer the discussions to the themes (synthesis)
•Link back to the objectives
•Be good at summarizing the point and issues
•Ask the right question at the right time
3) The status of teachers:
• Teachers have a low status in a society
• low salaries
• less opportunities of being promoted
• a life-long job within four walls (hard to get out and make changes)
• low involvement in the bigger society
• low expectations of their role
• an inability to set a good image in the society
• not enough qualifications.
4) What support needed?
• Teach a curriculum of respect, acceptance, harmony, tolerance, and equity
• Develop quota systems
• Need more input on the learning strategies, resources and monitoring
• Need more input on the integration of the concepts to our own contexts
• More information regarding the rights issues
• How to involve students
• Need more on linking and integration.
• More information on identifying the solutions.
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5. Localization/Contextualization
In promoting a Culture of Peace, there is a growing need for Education for International Understanding.
This region’s great diversity means that capacities and needs are quite varied, each dependent on national
situations and contexts. The challenge is to identify and develop different approaches that are responsive
to varied needs and circumstances.
1) Localization and Contextualization of EIU/ESD: Regional Diversity; Identity by its diversity of
culture, language, religion and socio-economic system, there is a growing need to identify effective ways
to further promote EIU, various collaborative initiatives have been taken at local school, national,
regional and international levels
2) Sustainability will look different in different countries. In future, we could ask participants to bring
issues from your own countries and to discuss them, whether the issues are about ESD, change or critical
thinking. ESD is about transformation. Transformation is change. Critical thinking is about reflecting
about where we are now, and what we can do better.
IV. Conclusion
1. Strategy
Readdress sustainability to the existing subject or faculty/ initiatives
• Mainstreaming
• Multiply Impact of any initiatives
• Synergy - Cross linkages within UNESCO
- Institutional partnerships
2. Tasks for Teacher Education
• Conceptual framework of EIU/ESD in the region: Widening and deepening EIU/ESD
• Promote Inter-continental dialogue on EIU/ESD
• Integrated efforts for Research on EIU/ESD, Development of Education Materials, Teacher
Training
• Linkage UNESCO’s Strategy Plan on Education especially ESD with EIU
• Setting up EIU Teacher Training Methodology that reflects local conditions of sub-regions
• Promote Inter-sectoral, Inter-subject collaboration on EIU/ESD to find reference of EIU/ESD
with other existing discipline and to enlarge perspectives of EIU towards whole society
• Develop Tool Kit (Concept, Educational Approach, Model Module)
• Provide practical Education Materials to Teachers and non-formal sector educators
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• Strengthen partnership and network among different institutions related to teacher education
institutions, educational faculties, teacher colleges etc
3. Recommendations by Teachers/Teacher educators
1. Need to providing guidebook on ESD and EIU
2. Provide the tools for supporting people through the change process in own setting
3. Produce a ‘training manual’
4. Need to transfer information on EIU/ESD to other media such CD or memory sticks/card.
5. Set up a network with exiting subjects areas, faculty, Institutions in the region, sub-region and own
countries.
6. Need to share best practice/ cases / sample practical activities / lesson plans/ /experience with other
countries on EIU/ESD.
7. Support to follow up the teachers or trainers’ initiative
8. life long training / more trainings
9. Need to work together with community /society/ adults/ students
10. Encourage teachers to listen /learn and challenge own assumptions and paradigms.
Reference
APCEIU (2006), Action Plan in 2006
APCEIU (2005), Report on 5 th Asia-Pacific Training of Trainers Workshop, 20-29 September 2005
APCEIU (2005), Report on 5 th Asia-Pacific Experts Workshop, 17-19 May 2005
APCEIU (2005), Annual Activity Report 2005
Jennie Teasdale & Robert Teasdale (2004), Indigenous Australians and Reconciliation, UNESCO-Asia-
Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding, Learning to Live Together, Hanul Company,
December 2004
Joy de Leo(2004) Respecting and Appreciating my own Culture and that of others, UNESCO-Asia-
Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding, Learning to Live Together, Hanul Company,
December 2004
Samuel Lee(2003), History and Philosophy of Education for International Understanding, Education for
International Understanding in the era of globalization, Hanul Company, December 2003
Sookhee Kwak (2004), Interactive Learning and Sharing, Sangsaeng Autumn Winter, No 11. Asia Pacific
Center of Education for International Understanding, 2004
Toh, Swee Hin (2004), Conceptual Framework, UNESCO-Asia-Pacific Center of Education for
International Understanding, Learning to Live Together, Hanul Company, December 2004
UNESCO (2002), Arts Education in the Pacific Region: Heritage and Creativity, For Education in the Arts
and Creativity in Primary and Secondary Schools, Document based on the conclusions of the Regional
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Conference on Arts Education Nadi, Fiji, 25-29 November 2002
T. Teaero (1999), “Re-placing Oceania Roots in our Teacher Education Programmes: a critical appraisal
of the roles of indigenous educational ideas” in Direction, Vol 21, no.2. December, 1999, Institute of
Education, USP, Suva, P 25-45.
Http//: www.unesco.org/manifesto2000
Contact Info: Sookhee Kwak, APCEIU Email: sukikoak@apceiu.org
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UNESCO Expert Meeting on
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):
Reorienting Education to Address Sustainability
1 – 3 May 2006
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Tentative agenda
May 1
8:30-9:00 Opening by Molly Lee, Coordinator of APEID
9:00-10:30 Session I: Environmental and Economics perspectives of ESD by Shuichi
Nakayama, John Fien, Lawrence Surendra and Zinaida Fadeeva
Chaired by Derek Elias
10:30-10:45 Tea/coffee break
10:45-12:00 Discussion
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:30 Session II: Social and Culture perspectives of ESD
by Toh Swee Hin, Joy De Leo, Chan Lean Heng and Jeff Plantilla
Chaired by Lawrence Surendra
14:30-14:45 Tea/coffee break
14:45-16:00 Discussion
May 2
9:00-10:30 Session III: Teacher education and ESD
by Rosalyn Mckeown, Konai Thaman and John Fien
Chaired by Molly Lee
10:30-10:45 Tea/coffee break
10:45-12:00 Discussion
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:30 Session IV: Discussion on the relationship of ESD with other education
initiatives Chaired by John Fien
14:30-14:45 Tea/coffee break
14:45-16:00 Session V: Guidelines for reorienting existing education to address
sustainable development
Chaired by Rosalyn Mckeown
May 3
9:00-9:45 Guidelines for reorienting existing education to address
sustainable development (continued)
9:45-10:30 Session VI: Cooperation with UNESCO’s partners in ESD by ACCU,
APCEIU, UNU
Chaired by Derek Elias
10:30-10:45 Tea/coffee break
10:45-12:00 Session VII: Planning for the APEID-APCEIU workshop in August 2006
Chaired by Molly Lee
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:30 Planning for the APEID-APCEIU workshop in August 2006 (continued)
14:30-14:45 Tea/coffee break
14:45-15:30 Wrap up & Closing
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UNESCO Expert Meeting on
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):
Reorienting Education to Address Sustainability
1 – 3 May 2006
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
List of Participants
Australia 1. Mr. John Fien
Innovation Professor of Sustainability
RMIT University, Australia
Cnr La Trobe and Swanston Streets
Melbourne 3000 Australia
Tel: +61 417 747 100
Fax: +613 9639 3412
E-mail: john.fien@ems.rmit.edu.au
2. Mr. Toh Swee Hin (S.H.Toh)
Professor & Director
The Griffith University Multi-Faith Centre,
Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4111
Tel: +61 7373 57053
Fax: +61 7 373 57131
E-mail: s.toh@griffith.edu.au
3. Ms. Joy De Leo
President
UNESCO APNIEVE Australia
8 Old Belair Road, Mitcham
South Australia 5062
Tel: 61 8 8274 1779
Mobile 0416 274 177
E-mail: joyde@chariot.net.au
Fiji 4. Ms. Konai Helu Thaman
Professor of Pacific Education, & UNESCO Chair in teacher
education & culture
The University of the South Pacific, Suva
Tel: +679 3212357
Fax: +679 3308971
E-mail: thaman_k@usp.ac.fj
India 5. Mr. Lawrence Surendra
Environmental Economist
7, Thandava Raya St.
San Thome, Madras 600 004
E-mail: surrender@eth.net
Japan 6. Prof. Shuichi Nakayama
Professor
Hiroshima University of Economics
5-37-1, Gion, Asa-Minami-Ku
Hiroshima-Shi, 731-0192
Tel: +81- 82 - 871 93 54
+81 0 82 278 6437
E-mail: s.naka4301@hue.ac.jp
snakayama@mist.ocn.ne.jp
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7. Mr. Jefferson R. Plantilla
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Centre
(HURIGHTS’ OSAKA)
1-2-1-1500 Bentencho
Minato-ku, Osaka 552-0007
Tel: +81-6-6577-3578;
Fax: +81-6-6577-3583
E-mail: jeff@hurights.or.jp
8. Ms. Zinaida Fadeeva
Associate Fellow
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies
6F, International Organizations Centre
Pacifico-Yokohama
1-1-1 Minato Mirai
Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-0012
Tel: +81-45-221-2317 (direct)
Fax: +81-45-221-2303
E-mail: fadeeva@ias.unu.edu
9. Mr. Masahisa Sato
Consultant,
Education Division
Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Japan Publishers Building,
6 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8484 Japan
Tel: +81-3-3269-4559
FAX: +81-3-3269-4510
Email: education@accu.or.jp
masahisasato@hotmail.com
Korea 10. Ms. Kwak SookHee
Chief, Division of Programme
Education and Training Team
Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding
(APCEIU), RO Korea
50-14 Myung-dong 2-ga Chung-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel: +82 2 774 3933
Fax: +82 2 774 3957
E-mail: sukikoak@unescoapceiu.org
sukikoak@yahoo.com
Malaysia 11. Ms. Chan Lean Heng
Associate Professor
School of Social Sciences,
Science University of Malaysia (USM),
Bata Uban 11800
Penang, Malaysia
Tel: + 604-657 6934 (H)
+ 604-653 2660 (O)
Fax: +604-657 0918
E-mail: lhchan@usm.my
USA 12. Ms. Rosalyn Mckeown
Director
311 Conference Center Building
Center for Geography and Environmental Education
University of Tennessee, USA
Knoxville TN 37996-4134 - USA
Tel: +865 974-1835
Fax: +865-974-1838
E-mail: mckeowni@utk.edu
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UNESCO Asia and Pacific
Regional Bureau for
Education/Bangkok
13. Mr. Sheldon Shaeffer
Director,
920 Sukhumvit Road
Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 391 8474
+66 2 391 0577 ext. 322, 323
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: s.shaeffer@unescobkk.org
14. Ms. Molly Lee
Coordinator,
Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for
Development (APEID)
Tel: +66 2 391 0577 ext. 212
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: m.lee@unescobkk.org
15. Mr. Derek Elias
Programme Specialist
Education for Sustainable Development
Tel: +66 2 391 0577 ext: 161
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: d.elias@unescobkk.org
16. Ms. Tinsiri Siribodhi
Project Officer
Education for Sustainable Development
Tel: +66 2 391 0577 ext: 203
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: s.tinsiri@unescobkk.org
17. Ms. Riikka Vuorela
Associate Expert
Education for Sustainable Development/APEID
Tel: +66 2 391 0577 ext: 209
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: r.vuorela@unescobkk.org
18. Ms. Aya Yokoi
Associate Expert
Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for
Development (APEID)
Tel: +66 2 391 0577 ext: 202
Fax: +66 2 391 0866
E-mail: a.yokoi@unescobkk.org
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