CONTEXT OF THE PRESENTATION

1
CONTEXT OF THE
PRESENTATION   The main part of the findings and
conclusions presented below was collected in 2003
within an international project coordinated by
Borrowed Nature Association (Bulgaria). It was
aimed at making an evaluation of the current
status, needs and potential of the EE and ESD in
the countries of Southeastern Europe (SEE)
through elaboration of a questionnaire-based
survey and a review to support the work of the
Kiev Ministerial Conference2003, as well as the
future EE and ESD strategies and activities in
the SEE Region.   In this aspect the survey
eexamined the state of school education in ESD
issues, with focus on EE components, since such
data was scarce of even missing for some regions
of the continent. Despite the expiry of this
particular project, part of the conclusions are
updated with new information in 2004 and even
2005. The following 5 SEE countries are covered
by the survey Albania, Bulgaria, FYR
Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia Montenegro The
project outcomes were targeted at the needs of a
number of direct beneficiaries, such as
Ministries of Education, Ministries of
Environment, Governmental agencies, Local
educational and environmental authorities, ESD
and particularly EE experts, Teachers active in
Environmental, Civic and Global Education, NGOs
active in the education field and/or environment
and/or social issues    
2

• Changes in the five SEE countries covered by the
  survey
• A period of transition toward
  democracy and market economy.
• Global changes in
  all spheres of social life.
• Rebuilding and
  restructuring the social tissue.
•  
• The processes of interrelations between Man and
  Nature, i.e. between society and environment
• are getting more and more important !
•  
• The growing role of the environment is not always
  reflected in the process of elaboration of new
• educational targets in the formal schools.
  Nevertheless, ESD gradually becomes part of the
• educational strategy in all SEE countries. Its
  flagship is definitely the EE, which in the same
• time obtains broader scope because of the ESD
  comprehensiveness (see Ch. III.14 of the ESD
• Strategy). ESD in these SEE countries is realized
  in the context of general educational reforms
• expected to deliver an education built on the
  principles of democracy. These reforms are
•  
• systemic applied to all components and
  emphasizing on the following aspects quality,
• equity and efficiency
• continuous focusing on the valorization of
  the actual results and ensuring the

3

• The most important development in the formal
  education reform is the promotion
• of the idea of Education for Sustainable
  Development (ESD). The outcomes of the WSSD in
• 2002 (Johannesburg) underpin the need to
  integrate the sustainable development into
• education systems at all educational levels in
  order to promote the education as a
• key agent of change. This major statement is also
  a core idea of the ESD Strategy and
• must be in the focus of any practical actions
  during the UNECE Decade of ESD!
• The notion sustainability must become a
  natural part of everybodys life and thus must be
  
• included in regular schooling of children and
  youth as a compulsory part of their education, as
  
• well as in training activities and as a part of a
  life-long learning process.
•  
• ESD should be based on an integrated approach to
  economic, social and environmental
• development. Only this way the EE, civic
  education etc. can find their proper place!
•  
• ESD demands a shift of the educational culture
  towards a more integrative, process-oriented
• and dynamic mode, emphasizing on critical
  thinking, lifelong learning and public
  participation.
•  
• Traditional teachers training and studies
  should be revised and sophisticated in order to
• include aspects of sustainable development and
  consequent training with the aid of new

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• So, the ESD can neither be limited to the classic
  topics of EE climate change, biodiversity,
  nature conservation, environment, health,
  resources, waste etc., neither to civic education
  and other fields of the new education system.
  Therefore
•  
• ESD must not only prepare the young people for
  life, but it is a life-long process which must
  directly affect all generations
•  
• ESD must become an integral component of all
  public policies, especially those concerning
  education, environment and economy
•  
• At school level the ESD cannot be circumscribed
  as one single new subject, nor can it be given
  preferential status within any certain subject
• Being interdisciplinary and cross-boundary from
  European point of view, the time-scale required
  for ESD is a long-term one. We can hardly expect
  the ESD Decade to bring the process to its end.

5

• The ESD is an action through education and
  education through action.
• It requires
•  
• -      Teaching understanding, observing and
  proceeding with care and attention
•  
• -      Emphasizing on values, knowledge, skills,
  ideas, emotions, motivation
•  
• -      Bringing together the proposals and
  component elements of possible future
•  
• -      A sense of adventure and involvement in
  the learning process (as opposed to the
• passive transmission of knowledge)
•  
• -      Methodological, didactic and
  organizational innovation involving all
  educational
• providers working on projects in a spirit
  of true, open-minded research, crossing
• over boundaries and laying down the
  foundation for new relations between all
• subjects
•  
• -      Changes in the traditional concepts of
  teaching and learning

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• When evaluating the ESD situation in SEE, we were
  looking at
•  
• ?         Official documents in the field of
  Global Education.
• ?         Ongoing educational transformations in
  the given SEE-country throughout
• the last decade.
• ?         Functions of the Ministries of
  Education and the existing educational
• policies in the field of ESD. The
  National Coordinators had to find answers to
• questions like
• ?         Availability and status of National
  Standards for ESD in the given country?
• ?         Availability and status of any National
  Strategy and/or a relevant
• Action Plan for ESD in the given
  country? Have any practical steps been
• undertaken in this direction?
•          Curriculum analysis.
•          Educational materials and methods.
  
• In-service and pre-service teachers
  training.
•          The role of the NGOs.
•          Existing good practices.
•          Analysis.

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Educational developments   The SEE countries
under review do not represent a homogenous
region, especially from the point of view of
social transformations and hence the educational
developments. Some of the differences have
appeared due to the uneven social processes in
the last ten years   ?         Serbia and
Montenegro (which formerly had the most developed
system for EE before 1990s) only now are
entering a period of educational reforms and are
preparing accompanying changes in the field
of EE and further on to ESD as a whole.
  ?         Albania and FYR Macedonia have to
overcome the heritage of the past and to
change the basic functional parameters of their
educational systems.   ?         Romania and
Bulgaria not only are at the doorstep of
accession to the European Union, but (at
least on paper) have incorporated to a higher
degree the modern ideas and practices into
their education systems. But a lot remains to be
done!   Nevertheless, for the needs of analysis
we have to say that these differences between
SEE countries are rather quantitative and cannot
overshadow the fact that their educational
systems are going through some similar
developments. Such a process provides
opportunities for a legitimate use of the
comparative approach.      
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Common characteristics of the educational systems
in each of these five SEE countries   -   An
ongoing process of transformation of the
educational systems -   Very uneven process of
educational changes due to a lack of
resources   -   Very high dependency on ideas
and resources from the Western countries   -   No
t a thorough educational reform, but rather a
mechanic connection between some elements
of the communist model and new educational ideas.
  -   There is much more search for national and
European identity in the field of
education, than for some kind of regional or
post-communist identity based on the
challenges posed by the same background and
problems.   -   Everywhere the notions of
democracy, autonomy and equal opportunities
are introduced into the legal framework of the
educational systems.  
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We have to stress that up to date only in Romania
the EE has been officially declared a national
priority, which is a good prerequisite to the
ESD development. This must be achieved in all SEE
countries! But apart of all the positive
structural, institutional and value changes, the
educational systems do remain very centralized.
Everywhere the role of the Ministry of Education
is crucial in the management of educational
changes.   The teachers throughout the region
observed still do not possess real autonomy of
decisions. On the other side, the parents and,
respectively, the local community and the NGOs
are not yet real educational partners of the
government. In addition, there is a lot of
resistance against deep educational reforms and
transformations.  
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• Strengths 1
•  
• ?      Introduction of EE into the curriculum,
  ensuring the necessary background for
• the promotion and realization of ESD framework
  docs National ESD Strategies and
• Standards
• ?      Elaboration of education materials,
  improvement of school textbooks with
• ESD elements
• ???????Growth of the scientific capacities for
  curriculum development of ESD
• ???????Thousands of initiatives and activities in
  schools for cooperation with NGOs
• at local level
• ?       Introduction of teachers training
  focused on the methodology
• and content of ESD

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• Strengths 2
•  
• ?       Extracurricular activities
• ?       Introduction of new interactive didactic
  methods
• ?       Focusing on the interdisciplinary
  character of the ESD and on its connections
• with the everyday reality and the local community
  life
• ?       Some partnerships within the government,
  and between the government
• and NGOs
• ?       Presence of some NGOs who address the ESD
  at community and school levels
• for changing the behavior and attitudes of
  pupils, students, parents and all
• community members.

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• Weaknesses 1
•  
• Quite well outlined in Chapter V.5.67 of the
  UNECE ESD Strategy. Nevertheless, the
• list below is identified during our survey in
  2003 and 2004. Many of our findings are
• similar to those in the Strategy
• ?         Legislative gaps and weaknesses in
  the educational laws
• ?         Education is extremely centralized and
  programs are outdated, which
• constitutes a serious obstacle to the
  incorporation of EE at school
• ?         The qualification of teachers is
  generally often inadequate, especially in
• rural areas. Logically, their qualification in
  ESD (and particularly in EE) is not an
• exclusion from this rule
• ?         Lack of clarity in the messages from
  the Government
• (locally-nationally-globally)
• ?         Lack of interdisciplinary training
  know-how (practical teaching methods

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• Weaknesses 2
•  
• ?  Conservative didactic approach
• ?         Low teacher values - ethics and moral
  of teachers is often not meeting the ESD
• values
• ?         Poor motivation for the teachers
  involved in the process - time pressure and
• low salaries affect both the students and the
  teachers
• ?         Teachers engage in disloyal
  competition and don't communicate well between
• each other
• ?         Lack of practical activities in
  classes
• ?         The curriculum is overloaded and does
  not provide students with skills for the
• real life
• ?         The materials and practical guides are
  inappropriate

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• Weaknesses 3
•  
• ?         Lack of coordination between the
  responsible institutions
• ?         Poor media coverage
• ?         NGO activities remain far from the
  requirements of schools
• ?         NGOs are active mainly in the capital
  and in some big cities, but not in
• rural areas
• ?         Low co-operation between schools and
  universities (university students with
• sustainable development backgroundshould be
  encouraged to do their practice in
• kindergartens, primary and secondary schools)
• ?         Poor co-operation of educational
  institutions with the local authorities.

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Conclusions and Recommendations
Part 1 1. What we need first of all is an
officially declared commitment of the national
authorities concerning the ESD.   2. National
Environmental Education Standards have to be
elaborated in Albania, FYR Macedonia and Serbia
Montenegro, before moving further to ESD.   3.
The formal school is (and will remain) the focal
point of ESD efforts. Thats why it is necessary
to provide support for school management,
teachers and NGOs involved in school and outdoor
activities.   4. The research data is very clear
on the fact that the educational materials in SEE
are quite insufficient both as quality and
quantity. We observe a real gap between the
educational materials produced by dozens of NGOs
and the materials published with the direct
support of the Ministries of Education.   5. In
order to endorse ESD, the attitudes and behavior
of all educational actors (pupils, students,
university students, teachers, local authorities,
businesses, media) have to be changed! Of
course, this cannot be done at once, but must be
speeded up!  
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Conclusions and Recommendations
Part 2   6. The development of
community support for ESD is a problem
everywhere. ESD programs and a vital model of
sustainable ESD practice can be realized only
within a pro-active community !    7.
Coordination between the institutions is still a
problem!   8. The dissemination of the good ESD
practices is important, because             -
The ESD is in fact a new idea, which is still not
well known to the conventional
educational audience, and even less (or not at
all) to the general public - The
amount of in-service teacher training is still
very limited           - The process of
dissemination of good practices is an important
step towards awareness-building and
making the ESD legitimate among teachers,
educational managers and
educational authorities.  
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Conclusions and Recommendations
Part 3 9. The environmental developments in
SEE, as a rule, greatly depend on the efforts
and activities of the NGOs. The same is more or
less valid for EE and ESD. If we want to have a
successful ESD Decade in SEE, the governments
must very seriously look at the UNECE Strategy
on ESD, the Framework of the Decade and to
elaborate feasible action plans relevant to the
specific national situations.   10. The
mass-media are in debt to environmentalists and
to the EE. The same is even more true for the
ESD and must be changed.   11. The recent status
of almost complete dependency on foreign aid in
the these five SEE countries, combined with the
absence of real domestic financial support,
should not be tolerated anymore. It is
destructive for the development of ESD policies
in SEE. The governments must start to mind twice
the ESD when calculating the national budgets for
education!   12. The European dimension must be
very high on the agenda.