DESD we can? Learning our way out of unsustainability

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DESD we can? Learning our way out of
unsustainability

• Arjen E.J. Wals

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www.chrisjordan.com
426.000/day
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A Very Brief History

• Nature Conservation Education
• (?1900 - ?1970) green focus, primary schools
  connecting with, appreciating, valuing,
  protecting nature
• Nature Environmental Education
• (?1970 - 1992) green and grey focus, primary
  secondary, adults changing citizens
  environmental behaviour
• Education for Sustainable Development
• (?1992 - present) sustainability focus, teacher
  training, vocational, higher education, life-long
  learning, non-formal, social learning) capacity
  building for sustainability

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Question
Is ESD able to turn the tide, and how can we
know?
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We need a radical change in the ways we think
and act in particular in terms of education and
training (Koïchiro Matsuura)
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An ESD Lens (2)

• Integrative not only the ecological and the
  environmental, not only the present, not only the
  local, not only the human world
• Critical - questioning continuous economic growth
  and consumerism and associated lifestyles
• Transformative exploration of alternative
  lifestyles (e.g. voluntary simplicity), values
  and systems that break from existing ones that
  are inherently unsustainable

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How do we know?

• Not everything that can be measured counts, and
  not everything that counts can be measured (A.
  Einstein)
• If your only tool is a hammer, everything starts
  looking like a nail (A. Maslow)

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Use of indicators for ESD implementation - purpose

• To set benchmarks for assessing current and
  future progress
• To promote learning from each other in and
  in-between countries (rather than to promote
  ranking and comparing)

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• Sample key finding DESD review
• ESD National Coordinating Bodies
• Established in most countries reporting (79 out
  of 97).
• Some variance between regions.
• Little information available about their
  effectiveness/functioning.

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• Sample key finding DESD review
• Meaning matters
• Contextual differences, lead to different
  interpretations of ESD
• Relationship ESD and other educations needs to
  be articulated
• Public awareness of ESD appears low

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Issues

• Need for adaptation to local circumstances and
  realities
• Process leading up to the reporting is crucial
• Value of the reporting highly depends on the
  quality of the data
• Learning and reflexivity are more important than
  ranking and accountability
• The importance of meaning and meaning-making

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Outcome-based assessment Comparing Ranking Evidenc
e
Process-oriented Collaborative learning Reflexivit
y
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Closing thoughts

• ESD ? SD
• Insights from post-normal science needed
• Towards post-normal governance
• Avoiding disjointed learning
• Capacity building for learning-based ME

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