Tomorrow Today

[

] 87

From activists to the inclusion of ESD

in the education system: progress and

challenges still to be faced

Pierre Varcher, Vice President, Swiss Commission for UNESCO

ducation for sustainable development (ESD) was born

out of a joining of forces between groups and individuals

sensitive to environmental issues, and those concerned

mainly with promoting fairer human and social development.

Switzerland has been fortunate in having networks of activists

in both of these areas at an early stage.

On the one hand, a trend in thinking on environmental education

had already developed in the 1970s, creating a group that held rela-

tively consistent views on the subject of ecology. The debates that

followed the publication of the report of the Club of Rome

contrib-

uted to raising awareness in Western public opinion on questions

concerning the limited supply of natural resources and the risks

of unbridled economic growth. As a result of the ensuing process

of reflection that highlighted the impact of ecological factors on

what appeared to be a world system, the defenders of environmental

education advocated a method based on the transmission of knowl-

edge about ecology, followed up in a second phase by an open

discussion on much broader issues concerning the relationship of

individuals with the natural world in an industrial society.

On the other hand, we have seen the emergence of an activist

stream of development education oriented towards developing

countries. Arising in the late 1960s from a growing political aware-

ness brought about by the Biafra Crisis (1967-70) or the Viet Nam

War (which reached a turning point in 1966), this form of develop-

ment education came to replace the idea that decolonisation was

just another topic to be included in geography and history curricula.

Consequently, it sought to highlight issues of dependency in relation

to economic structures and connections between the development

of industrialized countries and developing countries. At the same

time, supported particularly by the church as part of the struggle

against apartheid and racism generally, education programmes were

devised to develop the ability of all individuals to become politically

active in a spirit of mutual respect.

Later, the activity of the

Forum Suisse pour un seul Monde

, founded

in 1982, which presented itself as a group of ‘partners in thinking,

discussion and action’, encouraged the spread of the idea of global

education and even influenced similar groups in neighbouring coun-

tries. Global education was intended to be a pedagogical response

to the economic globalization, which was threatening to transform

culture, schools and education as a whole. This pedagogical reaction

was geared towards introducing a model of social justice, and took

up the ideas of giving a voice to the oppressed, promoting intercul-

tural dialogue, and seeing development as a challenge

as much for the North as for the South.

These two activist streams were not only active in

non-formal and informal education (youth groups, for

example) but also in formal education, in providing

resources and education aids for teachers. Then, during

the 1980s, as in many other countries, the promoters of

both environmental education and development educa-

tion became aware that they needed to broaden the

scope of their respective causes. They realized that, for

greater effectiveness and consistency, their individual

struggles needed to be linked under the banner of ESD.

These activists, many of them volunteers, undoubt-

edly created the melting pot for ESD in Switzerland,

and their work endures in all the individual initiatives

of convinced and committed teachers and associations,

which still form the nucleus of ESD activism. For

instance, a number of establishments are launching

school-based Agenda 21 processes or thematic projects,

and associations continue to offer their services in

proposing targeted activities for school classes.

Towards official recognition of ESD

These activists were quick to get involved at a politi-

cal level with the aim of having ESD recognized as a

priority throughout the education system. Gradually,

the federal offices concerned (Environment and Swiss

Agency for Development and Cooperation) have taken

over from private institutions in building the foun-

dations that had been supplying ESD resources and

promoting educational activities.

But the inertia of the education system created

some resistance, and the UN Decade of Education

for Sustainable Development (DESD) has been the

first opportunity to have ESD officially recognized at

national level.

The sustainable development strategy adopted by the

government (federal council) recognizes education as

one of the ten priority areas. Within this framework,

the Swiss Commission for UNESCO is trying to encour-

age the development of concrete initiatives, for instance

by recognizing projects in the fields of non-formal and

informal education, in particular.