Education for Sustainability (EfS)
Also known as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
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See the SOSI summary page describing Education for Sustainability here (100KB PDF)
2nd Annual National Sustainability Education Week: November 8-12, 2010
To view the Oregon Governor’s proclamation for the 1st Annual Sustainability Education Week, click here
Why Educate for Sustainability?
Our students deserve an education that provides them with the attitudes, skills, values, perspectives and knowledge necessary to understand and successfully manage the many interconnected global systems and changes facing us today.
In the short term, students find this education more relevant and engaging which increases learning. Ultimately,
- EVERY organization needs all employees to have this education to help them support a sustainable future.
- EVERY citizen needs this education to be able to contribute to a sustainable society.
The K-12 system must provide the foundation.
What is Education for Sustainability?
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Education for Sustainability (EfS) utilizes the entire education system to provide students with the attitudes, skills, values, perspectives and knowledge they need in order to transform our societies to achieve a sustainable future.
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Every academic subject contributes to education for sustainability.
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A sustainable facility and practices contribute to Education for Sustainability too, providing a living laboratory in which students can deepen their understanding of sustainability.
Without this, students learn through observation that although such practices make sense in theory,they are not valued enough to actually implement. -
It integrates environmental, economic, and social issues.
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It is based on local needs, but recognizes that fulfilling local needs often has global consequences.
- Note that education about sustainability is just one aspect of this; to understand the concept of sustainability (and often focuses on UN-sustainability).
Sustainability Education Is-
- Integrative
- Multidisciplinary
- Inside and outside of the classroom
- Linked to content standards in multiple areas
- Highly motivating to students
But it might not be every one of these things all the time.
It may include, but is not only-
- Environmental Education
- Science education
- Social Studies
- Advanced or enrichment curriculum
- An add-on module
It is NOT based on a particular political bias
How Do We Educate for Sustainability?
The effort of providing an education for sustainability must be pursued at many levels. This includes the individual school staff person, an entire school or a school district, all the way to the state and national Department of Education. No single entity or discipline can do it by themselves. There is no “right” way to begin.
The following strategies can be utilized to provide sustainability education.
- Educate about Sustainability itself, and related topics, as their own subject via short or long units.
- Use aspects of Sustainability as the context for teaching any or all subjects.
- Offer Sustainability topics as the basis for student projects.
- Implement sustainable practices in the classroom and school.*
* Based on a model from Facing the Future (facingthefuture.org)
Well-recognized teaching pedagogies such as place-based education, service learning and experiential learning are all effective options for delivering sustainability education.
The ULTIMATE GOAL is: That the elements needed to provide education for sustainability are integrated into teaching and learning at the district level, and delivered via all the strategies included above.
Some sustainability content is typically present in existing curriculum and it’s helpful to conduct an audit to identify what’s already there, and what’s missing. An EfS framework should guide the effort, such as the Cloud Institute core content areas.
(http://www.sustainabilityed.org/education/cloud_institute_framework.php), or the Education for Sustainability Standards from the US Partnership for Sustainability Education.
To enable schools to provide Education for Sustainability we must:
- Provide professional development for educators and other school staff.
- Provide educators with resources and curriculum to teach for sustainability, and integrate them into the foundation of the school and district education program.
- Integrate Education for Sustainability into pre-service education through colleges of education.
- Ensure that state standards incorporate the needed elements to educate for sustainability.
- Recognize the contribution of a sustainable school facility and practices to student education.