REPORT OF UNESCO EXPERT MEETING ON - APCEIU

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
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