REPORT OF UNESCO EXPERT MEETING ON - APCEIU

(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
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