Unesco has been active in the call for new thinking in teacher education.
5 Pillars of ESD (UNESCO)
ESD supports five fundamental types of learning to provide quality education and foster sustainable human development –
- learning to know
- learning to be
- learning to live together
- learning to do
- and learning to transform oneself and society
UNESCO decade for sustaianble development.
The objectives for the DESD are to:
- facilitate networking, linkages, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD;
- foster an increased quality of teaching and learning in education for sustainable development;
- help countries make progress towards and attain the millennium development goals through ESD efforts;
- provide countries with new opportunities to incorporate ESD into education reform efforts.
The document states (p. 29). More basic education as it is currently taught will not create more sustainable societies.
Thus curriculum designers and teacher educatiors must ask themselves, what changes are called for? Then they should propose them and implement them.
UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Vision and Definition of ESD
[30 March 2009]
Unesco suggests that education for Sustainable Development:
– concerns all levels of education and all social contexts (family, school, workplace, community);
– allows learners to acquire the skills, capacities, values and knowledge required to ensure sustainable development
– fosters responsible citizens and promotes democracy by allowing individuals and communities to enjoy their rights and fulfil their responsibilities
– provides essential learning tools and content to allow individuals to survive, to develop to their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning.