Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

From activists to the inclusion of ESDin the education system: progress andchallenges still to be facedPierre Varcher, Vice President, Swiss Commission for UNESCOEducation for sustainable development (ESD) was bornout of a joining of forces between groups and individualssensitive to environmental issues, and those concernedmainly with promoting fairer human and social development.Switzerland has been fortunate in having networks of activistsin both of these areas at an early stage.On the one hand, a trend in thinking on environmental educationhad already developed in the 1970s, creating a group that held relativelyconsistent views on the subject of ecology. The debates thatfollowed the publication of the report of the Club of Rome 1 contributedto raising awareness in Western public opinion on questionsconcerning the limited supply of natural resources and the risksof unbridled economic growth. As a result of the ensuing processof reflection that highlighted the impact of ecological factors onwhat appeared to be a world system, the defenders of environmentaleducation advocated a method based on the transmission of knowledgeabout ecology, followed up in a second phase by an opendiscussion on much broader issues concerning the relationship ofindividuals with the natural world in an industrial society.On the other hand, we have seen the emergence of an activiststream of development education oriented towards developingcountries. Arising in the late 1960s from a growing political awarenessbrought about by the Biafra Crisis (1967-70) or the Viet NamWar (which reached a turning point in 1966), this form of developmenteducation came to replace the idea that decolonisation wasjust another topic to be included in geography and history curricula.Consequently, it sought to highlight issues of dependency in relationto economic structures and connections between the developmentof industrialized countries and developing countries. At the sametime, supported particularly by the church as part of the struggleagainst apartheid and racism generally, education programmes weredevised to develop the ability of all individuals to become politicallyactive in a spirit of mutual respect.Later, the activity of the Forum Suisse pour un seul Monde, foundedin 1982, which presented itself as a group of ‘partners in thinking,discussion and action’, encouraged the spread of the idea of globaleducation and even influenced similar groups in neighbouring countries.Global education was intended to be a pedagogical responseto the economic globalization, which was threatening to transformculture, schools and education as a whole. This pedagogical reactionwas geared towards introducing a model of social justice, and tookup the ideas of giving a voice to the oppressed, promoting interculturaldialogue, and seeing development as a challengeas much for the North as for the South.These two activist streams were not only active innon-formal and informal education (youth groups, forexample) but also in formal education, in providingresources and education aids for teachers. Then, duringthe 1980s, as in many other countries, the promoters ofboth environmental education and development educationbecame aware that they needed to broaden thescope of their respective causes. They realized that, forgreater effectiveness and consistency, their individualstruggles needed to be linked under the banner of ESD.These activists, many of them volunteers, undoubtedlycreated the melting pot for ESD in Switzerland,and their work endures in all the individual initiativesof convinced and committed teachers and associations,which still form the nucleus of ESD activism. Forinstance, a number of establishments are launchingschool-based Agenda 21 processes or thematic projects,and associations continue to offer their services inproposing targeted activities for school classes.Towards official recognition of ESDThese activists were quick to get involved at a politicallevel with the aim of having ESD recognized as apriority throughout the education system. Gradually,the federal offices concerned (Environment and SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation) have takenover from private institutions in building the foundationsthat had been supplying ESD resources andpromoting educational activities.But the inertia of the education system createdsome resistance, and the UN Decade of Educationfor Sustainable Development (DESD) has been thefirst opportunity to have ESD officially recognized atnational level.The sustainable development strategy adopted by thegovernment (federal council) recognizes education asone of the ten priority areas. Within this framework,the Swiss Commission for UNESCO is trying to encouragethe development of concrete initiatives, for instanceby recognizing projects in the fields of non-formal andinformal education, in particular. 2[ 87 ]