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Education for Sustainable Development
| “Sustainable Development should be at the heart of all
learning” Extract from the Learning and Skills Council’s Strategy for Sustainable Development – consultation paper |
The term ‘lifelong learning’ invites us to think about the interrelationship between learning events and outcomes in lifetime measures. Global perspectives put the value of lifelong learning into the global context. It is this link that challenges our attitudes, vocabulary, policies and practice as global learners and educators.
Interest in and support for the concepts of ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ and ‘Global Citizenship’ has been building amongst practitioners and policy makers, and 2005 was marked by a remarkable convergence of international and national developments, including the launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 – 2014) and the Learning and Skills Council’s Strategy for Sustainable Development.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aboutus/sd/
These international and national initiatives highlighted the opportunities for lifelong learning practitioners to develop educational responses to issues such as global citizenship, social justice, sustainable development, equality and diversity, human rights and conflict resolution, and in support of this agenda, NIACE, the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) and the Development Education Association (DEA) were pleased to offer the Education for Sustainable Development: From policy into practice conference on 18 November 2005 as an opportunity for practitioners to discuss the emerging The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) sustainable development strategy, debate the international challenges and opportunities presented in 2005 and, with the support of others, begin to translate policy into practice.
Key actions emerging from the conference included:
Education for Sustainable Development E-Group
NIACE, DEA and WEA is pleased to launch a Education for Sustainable Development
E-Group for all those interested in educational responses to issues such
as global citizenship, social justice, sustainable development, equality and
diversity, human rights and conflict resolution. On inviting contribution to the
E-group members are encouraged to consider the following themes for examples of
practice critical observations, questions, updates and information etc. to aid
our mutual learning and take the agenda forward:
 | Adult and Community Learning |
| Arts/ museums/libraries/archives/galleries |
| Higher Education |
| Curriculum development/ Accreditation |
| Local communities |
| Policy, communication and campaigning |
| Schools |
| Vulnerable/ disadvantaged communities |
| Youth |
NIACE has created a list of learning practitioners interested in debating education for sustainable development issues and challenges under the above themes. They can be contacted by joining the Education for Sustainable Development E-Group.
Join the Education for Sustainable Development e-group by clicking on the link below.
| Join Education for Sustainable Development E-Group here |
Conference
On 18 November 2005 NIACE held a conference entitled "Education for Sustainable Development: From policy into practice" The report from the 18 November, which includes a summary of ‘pledges’, made by participants, and key recommendations from practitioners for NGOs, policy makers and funders to listen to can be downloaded from the link below.
| More details on the conference |
Other projects
NIACE, DEA and the WEA are also engaged in a range of similar projects, including: Learning in a Global Society ( www.niace.org.uk/projects/Global/ )
