25 / 192
[
] 25
including mathematics, language arts, history and geography. These
guidelines were developed based on actual research and imple-
mentation undertaken in the various institutions. The guidelines
were one of the first publications in the UN Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development (DESD). The TEI programme has
expanded from pure research to actual implementation and has
networks in over 70 countries.
However, the UN itself, in declaring 2005 to 2014 the DESD, added
much needed weight to ESD. An additional ESD-dedicated staff
complement was established within UNESCO and Japan contributed
additional budgetary funds. Now Sweden has come forward with
ESD help and other countries are assisting with ESD-related meet-
ings on topics such as climate change education. The concept of ESD
as a serious matter for ministers of education grew. It was at times a
stand-alone item and an International Implementation Strategy was
developed. Within UNESCO it was also linked to other discussions
such as quality education, the UN Literacy Decade and EFA.
Most DESD activities remain the responsibility of individual
nations; however, interest within UNESCO and other UN agencies
has risen dramatically. The United Nations University programme
of Regional Centres of Expertise and the work of UNEP regarding
Higher Education in Africa are but two examples of the contribution
to ESD by other UN agencies. Countries such as Sweden have held
international ESD conferences and ensured the participation of devel-
oping countries. Even school systems and ministries have held DESD
events and the logo is widely seen.
The DESD has also nurtured the engagement of formal education
experts to address related issues such as teacher competencies for
ESD, an ESD research platform, indicators of success and the role
of ICT. Additional ESD Chairs have been added to address issues
such as higher education, early childhood care and education and
social learning. Outside the Paris offices, the UNESCO field offices
have contributed to regional and national events and projects. In
the historical context, the DESD has been a major event in the road
from Tbilisi to Bonn.
The lessons from Bonn
The midway point of the DESD proved to be another vital step in the
emergence of ESD. Thanks largely to the government of Germany
and the support of Sweden and Japan, UNESCO held a mid-decade
review in Bonn in 2009. The purpose was to find answers to three
major questions:
• What has been accomplished to date?
• What have we learned?
• What priorities still need to be accomplished?
One of the key outcomes was The Bonn Declaration, a document
composed by five elected senior education representatives from each
of the six UN regions. The combined committee of 30 worked for
three days considering each of the three major questions and emerged
with some key priorities for the way forward. The Declaration was
accepted unanimously by the nearly 1,000 delegates at Bonn and
adopted later in 2009 by the UNESCO General Conference.
The Bonn Declaration achieved much, but perhaps the overarching
understanding of the concept and importance of ESD extending into all
regions of the world will be its greatest contribution. Many senior educa-
tion officials spoke of the lack of clarity of the concept of ESD when
they arrived but when they understood that ESD was the outcome of
the education system itself, the progress really began. As a result, the
Declaration stresses the need for senior education leaders
to receive much needed professional development and
coaching in ESD. The Declaration calls for the engage-
ment of teacher education institutions and collaboration
between ministry officials, TEI and local school jurisdic-
tions to reorient existing schools. Participants realized that
while individual schools and school leaders are essential, the
overarching policies regarding what is taught, what is exam-
ined and reported and what kind of buildings are erected,
etc. are also crucial. There is much to learn.
Informed choices for the future
This learning continues on many fronts. Following on
from the idea of embedding ecological wisdom in our
cultural DNA, it is important that we continue to learn
and understand how to do this. The framework that
ESD provides to reorient education systems (which
have largely been designed to promote widespread
development) towards the new vision of sustainable
development is tremendously useful. From embracing
a newly emerging vision to embedding it in our cultural
DNA is a huge but necessary leap. It means pursuing
the reorienting of formal education, not only from a
content perspective but also modelling sustainability in
our teaching praxis and valuing it in both our funding
priorities and assessment/reporting schemes.
No historical context is complete without a glimpse
into the future. If we are to truly learn from EE and the
other adjectivals as recommended in Chapter 36, we
must learn to comprehend the complexity and priority of
the forms of ESD that must eventually develop. The great
emerging issues of climate change, biodiversity collapse
and social/cultural clash are complex and will require the
collaboration of the social as well as the natural and phys-
ical sciences if we are to comprehend and to act upon
them. However complex, ESD is a priority that we need
to address. We must look at how our societies are shaped
and then figure out a way to empower societies world-
wide to make informed choices as to what is needed and
how reorientation is to take place. ESD did not, does not
and should not call for one world view or ideology.
As well as understanding what ESD is, we must also
be clear regarding what to call it. We have learned
from EE of the problems of the limitations of priority
of adjectivals within the formal education system. We
have learned not to talk about sustainability education
if we want to engage the whole education system. We
have also learned that world leaders require informed
engagement and action from their institutions. Hence
the term education ‘for’ – rather than education ‘about’
or education ‘and’ – sustainable development.
Those who considered and wrote Chapter 36 over those
four years saw the need to engage the world’s education,
awareness and training systems as tools to help cultures
achieve their sustainability aspirations. ESD represents a
learning and sharing process rather than an indoctrina-
tion process. It is a process of learning with purpose and it
should include a critical understanding of the limitations of
sustainability and its anthropocentric goals.