Tomorrow Today

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of ESD learning outcomes could be adjusted by coun-

tries to their own needs. The framework would seek to

bridge the divide between atomised and interdiscipli-

nary learning and could be applied to various situations,

levels and settings of education.

This proposed assessment framework for ESD learn-

ing outcomes could be developed using the considerable

repository of knowledge within the United Nations that

links to learning and education.

The following four United Nations initiatives regard-

ing education and learning could be considered as the

basis for the development of the assessment framework

for ESD learning outcomes.

Assessment framework for ESD learning outcomes:

four elements for consideration

Four pillars of learning: Delors Report

In 1993, UNESCO established the International

Commission on Education for the Twenty-first

Century. Three years later, the commission submitted

an insightful report titled

Learning: the Treasure Within

(also popularly known as the Delors Report) wherein

the authors propose a blueprint for education for the

new century. The report underscores the frequently

stated need for people to “return to education in order

to deal with new situations arising in their personal and

working lives”.

The notion of enhancement of inner capacities and

the concept of learning throughout life to address the

changes that the rapidly changing world presents are

elements that underpin the main recommendations of

the report. To this end, the Delors Report proposes that

all education should be organized around four pillars

of learning:

dual responsibility: first, as leader and second, as implementer of

the decade. In response, UNESCO has developed and put in place

the necessary mechanisms to facilitate delivery on its designated

responsibilities.

The opportunity provided by this publication, under the thought-

provoking title

Tomorrow Today

, encourages the question of how

UNESCO, as an intellectual organization, is preparing for the years

following the end of the decade. UNESCO has already contributed

significantly to ESD within the framework of the decade in terms

of both policy and practice. The momentum created by the DESD

needs to be maintained and the achievements accomplished to

date taken into account in order to achieve the cherished goal of a

sustainable future.

Looking ahead

By focusing on education that encourages the empowerment of both

children and adults, the DESD underscores the central role of educa-

tion as a transformation agent. Transformation in this context refers

to changes in the way people, children and adults alike, interact with

each other and use environmental and ecological resources, with a

view to sustaining them. It also refers to the changes through which

people fashion their lives and actions with the aim of achieving

or contributing to social and economic justice, locally and glob-

ally.

All activities under the DESD framework seek to achieve this

desired transformation. To this end, an impressive body of ESD

programmes, projects and training materials have been developed

within the framework of the decade and some even prior to it.

A central question is how to know whether change has indeed

taken place – and if it has, whether it is really directing us towards

the desired goal of a sustainable future. How do we know whether

we have learnt to think critically or in a systemic way?

Proposing a way to assess the learning outcomes of the ESD enter-

prise could be UNESCO’s contribution for the years to come after

the decade. The development of a global framework for assessment

Education for sustainable development: Learning to ensure a better tomorrow