What is the Role of Education in Sustainable Development?

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Education for Sustainable Development The
Oregon Context

Rosalyn McKeown, Ph.D. Graduated School of
Education
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Oregon the Sustainable State

• What does it mean to educate for a more
  sustainable future?

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Oregon the Sustainable State

• What does it mean to educate for a more
  sustainable future?
• Many organizations around the world are grappling
  with this question.

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The United Nations General Assembly declared
20052014 as the U.N. Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development.
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• UNESCO Guidelines Recommendations
• for Teacher Education to Address Sustainability
• National Education for Sustainability
• K 12 Student Learning Standards
• Washington State Environmental and
• Sustainability Education Standards

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UNDESD defines education for sustainable
development (ESD) as

• Improving access and retention in quality basic
  education.
• Reorienting existing education to address
  sustainability.
• Improving public understanding and awareness of
  sustainability.
• Providing training related to sustainability to
  all sectors of the economy (government, business,
  industry, etc.)

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1st Goal of ESD

• Improving access to and retention in quality
  education
• In 2006 the USA graduation rate was 69. (Can
  the USA be economically competitive if only
  two-thirds of our workforce has a high school
  diploma?)
• According to Silent Epidemic the majority of
  dropouts found classes uninteresting.
• ESD addresses relevancy of K 12 curriculum.

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2nd Goal of ESD

• Reorient existing education to address
  sustainability
• Question How is education for sustainable
  development (ESD) different than the education we
  are currently providing our students?
• Answer An appropriately reoriented education
  includes more principles, skills, perspectives,
  and values related to sustainability than are
  currently included in our educational system.

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Three Levels of Action for Implementing ESD

• Disciplinary
• Whole school
• Educational system

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Level 1 Disciplinary Strengths Model

• ESD is such a large task that efforts from many
  people and disciplines are needed to make
  progress.
• Elements of the Strengths Model
• Every discipline can contribute to ESD.
• Every teacher can contribute to ESD.
• No one discipline should claim ownership of ESD.

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Level 1 Disciplinary Strengths Model Examples

• Mathematics helps students understand extremely
  small numbers (e.g., parts per hundred, thousand,
  or million), which allows them to interpret
  pollution data.
• Social Studies helps students understand
  ethnocentrism, racism, and gender inequity as
  well as to recognize how these are expressed in
  the surrounding community and in nations
  worldwide.
• Language Arts, especially media literacy, creates
  knowledgeable consumers who can separate fact and
  opinion and analyze the messages of advertisers
  and see beyond "green wash.

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Level 2 - Whole School

• Whole-school approaches
• It takes more than information about
  sustainability to make the enormous behavioral
  shift needed for a more sustainable future.
• Schools model environmental, social, and economic
  sustainability in the daily operations of a
  school.
• Sustainability is practiced to reinforce concepts
  taught in the classroom.
• Walk the walk and talk the walk.

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Level 3 - Educational System

• UNESCO identified 5 key aspects of quality
  education at the systems level.
• creates a legislative framework,
• implements good policies,
• builds administrative support and leadership,
• provides sufficient resources, and
• measures learning outcomes

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The Oregon Opportunity

• ESD helps us attain the Oregon High School
  Diploma Essential Skills, especially 5 8.

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Essential Skills

1. Think critically and analytically.
2. Use technology to learn, live and work.
3. Demonstrate civic and community engagement.
4. Demonstrate global literacy.

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Education is our great hope for a sustainable
future. By taking on the important task of
implementing ESD we bring the possibility of a
more sustainable future to our communities and
state.
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References

• Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit
• http//www.esdtoolkit.org
• National Education for Sustainability K-12
  Student Learning Standards
• http//www.uspartnership.org/resources/0000/0062/U
  SPEfSStandards_V2.09.08.pdf

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References cont.

• State of Washington, Office of Superintendent of
  Public Instruction, Environmental and
  Sustainability Education Standards
  http//www.k12.wa.us/curriculumInstruct/Environmen
  tSustainability/default.aspx
• UNESCO Guidelines Recommendations for
  Reorienting Teacher Education to Address
  Sustainability http//unesdoc.unesco.org/imaes/001
  4/00143370E.pdf
• Silent Epidemic Perspectives of high school
  dropouts.
• http//www.gatesfoundation.org/.

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Presenter Contact Information
Dr. Rosalyn McKeown, Associate Professor Portland
State University Graduate School of
Education/ELP P.O. Box 751 Portland Oregon
97207 Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
3200 Email mckeownr_at_pdx.edu