An in-depth literature review of the evolving roles and contributions of universities to Education for Sustainable Development

Transition to sustainability is a search for ways to improve the social capacity to guide interactions between nature and society toward a more sustainable future and, thus, a process of social learning in its broadest sense. Accordingly, it is not only learning that is at issue but education and educational science, of which the latter is about exploring the preconditions of and opportunities for learning and education—whether individual or social, in formal or informal settings. Analyzing how educational science deals with the challenge of sustainability leads to two complementary approaches: the ‘outside-in’ approach sees the idea of sustainability influencing educational practice and the way the relationship of learning and teaching is reviewed, theoretically as well as within the social context. In an ‘inside-out’ approach, an overview is given of how educational science can contribute to the field of sustainability science. An examination of the literature on education and sustainability shows that, while sustainability features prominently in one form or another across all sectors, only little work can be found dealing with the contributions of educational science within sustainability science. However, as sustainability is a concept that not only influences educational practices but also invites disciplinary contributions to foster inter- and transdisciplinary research within the sustainability discourse, the question remains as to how and to what extent educational science in particular can contribute to sustainability science in terms of an ‘inside-out’ approach. In this paper, we reconstruct the emergence of education for sustainable development as a distinctive field of educational science and introduce and discuss three areas of sustainability research and throw into relief the unique contribution that educational science can make to individual action and behavior change, to organizational change and social learning, and, finally, to inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.

Learning for change: an educational contribution to sustainability science

/pdf/ecology-community-and-lifestyle-outline-of-an-ecosophy-arne-5borcejlmo.pdf

ECOLOGY, COMMUNITY AND LIFESTYLE. Outline of an Ecosophy (Arne Næss, David Rottenberg)

This paper reports on a systematic literature review of policy research in the area of environmental and sustainability education. We analyzed 215 research articles, spanning four decades and representing 71 countries, and which engaged a range of methodologies. Our analysis combines quantification of geographic and methodological trends with qualitative analysis of content-based themes. Significant findings included temporal spikes in published policy research occurring in the mid-1970s, late 1990s, and after 2005, as well as geographic under-representation of Africa, South and Central America, Eastern Europe, and North and West Asia. The majority of articles reviewed were non-empirical; empirical articles overwhelmingly focused on teaching and learning directives, rather than exploring the complexity of policy development or enactment. We conclude our analysis by describing key research gaps as highlighted by the review and propose directions for moving forward policy research in environmental and susta...

Environmental and sustainability education policy research: a systematic review of methodological and thematic trends

This article explores the problematic tensions between schooling and environmental education in the United States, with a special focus on the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Today in the United States, this powerful federal legislation dominates the discourse and practice of schooling, and works against the aims of environmental education in many ways. The article is divided into three parts. First, it reviews the recent discourse of achievement and accountability in general education, as exemplified by the No Child Left Behind Act. Second, it describes the impact of achievement and accountability discourse on environmental education by outlining two responses from environmental educators to the general climate of schooling: 1) accommodation or ‘playing the achievement game’; and 2) resistance or ‘changing the rules’. Third, it explores how related tensions between nationalistic federal education policies and the sweeping global challenges suggested by the United Nation’s Decade of Education for Sustai...

Oil and water still: how No Child Left Behind limits and distorts environmental education in US schools

This article presents and discusses some results of the authors’ analysis of international and national institutional documents related to environmental education from the 1970s to the present day. The aim of the study is to present a critical characterization of how environmental education is conceptualized and introduced through the ongoing worldwide educational reform movement. The results presented in this article highlight the influence of the globalized and globalizing international political program for sustainable development on national educational proposals. The shift from the previous institutional discourse related to environmental education towards a more explicit economicist view of the world is discussed. The purpose of this article is to stimulate discussion about some of the foundations upon which educational policies and other national initiatives related to environmental education rest, and to introduce elements that could enrich their conceptual and ethical dimensions.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/pfie.2005.3.3.5

Influence of the Globalized and Globalizing Sustainable Development Framework on National Policies Related to Environmental Education.

The UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Program (1975-
1995) provided impetus for developing, legitimizing, and institutionalizing
environmental education. More recently, UNESCO was mandated by the
United Nations to carry out a worldwide shift towards education for sus-
tainable development. As international organizations’ recommendations
and guidelines often act as beacons for the conception and implementation
of national formal and nonformal education programs, it is necessary to
critically appraise their content. Our hermeneutical analysis of United
Nations documents concerning environmental education, which is now sub-
sumed to sustainable development, highlights an instrumental view of edu-
cation, a resourcist conception of the environment, and an economicist view
of development. Such a worldview needs to be discussed.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ842780.pdf

Three Decades of International Guidelines for Environment-Related Education: A Critical Hermeneutic of the United Nations Discourse

L’impulsion fournie par les conferences et les documents de l’UNESCO-PNUE pour legitimer, institutionnaliser et developper l’education relative a l’environnement (ERE) est certes remarquable. Les propositions qui en emanent agissent encore en tant que balises pour concevoir et mettre en œuvre des programmes et des projets dans les differentes regions du monde. En raison de l’importance d’un tel appui et d’une telle influence internationale, il convient d’examiner la teneur de ce discours formel et d’engager une discussion critique a cet effet. Les principaux resultats de notre analyse montrent que dans les propositions internationales liees a l’ERE, l’education est generalement consideree comme un instrument au service de la protection de l’environnement, qui a son tour, est generalement associe a un ensemble de problemes de gestion des ressources, que le developpement permettra de resoudre ; quant au developpement lui-meme, il est mal defini ou encore il est principalement associe a une croissance economique soutenue. Outre une discussion sur les principaux aspects de ce discours, cet article met en lumiere certains elements qui sont generalement negliges dans les propositions internationales : il s’agit de points de vue complementaires ou divergents. L’etude que nous avons menee s’avere particulierement pertinente au regard des reformes educatives qui s’operent actuellement dans de tres nombreux pays.

/pdf/environnement-et-developpement-la-culture-de-la-filiere-onu-4nom1u8atz.pdf

Environnement et développement : la culture de la filière ONU

Este articulo presenta algunos de los resultados del analisis de documentos de instituciones internacionales relacionados con la educacion ambiental (EA), desde la decada de 1970 hasta ahora. El objetivo del estudio es presentar una caracterizacion critica de la forma en que la educacion ambiental se ha conceptualizado e introducido a traves del movimiento de la reforma educativa en curso a nivel mundial. Los resultados presentados en este trabajo destacan la influencia del programa politico internacional globalizado y globalizador para el desarrollo sustentable en las propuestas educativas nacionales. Se analiza el cambio en el discurso institucional previo relacionado con la educacion ambiental rumbo a una vision economicista mas explicita del mundo. El objeto de este trabajo es estimular el debate sobre algunos de los fundamentos en los que descansan las politicas educativas y otras iniciativas nacionales relacionadas con la educacion ambiental, y presentar elementos que podrian enriquecer sus dimensiones conceptuales y eticas.

Renée Brunelle

Papers

Influence of the Globalized and Globalizing Sustainable Development Framework on National Policies Related to Environmental Education.

Three Decades of International Guidelines for Environment-Related Education: A Critical Hermeneutic of the United Nations Discourse

Environnement et développement : la culture de la filière ONU

Educar para el debate. Políticas nacionales y educación ambiental

Environnements, cultures et développements [Éditorial]