Contributions of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to Quality Education: A Synthesis of Research

Abstract

This research is a synthesis of studies carried out in 18 countries to identify contributions of education for sustainable development (ESD) to quality education. Five common questions were used for the interviews in each country to solicit education leaders and practitioners’ views on the outcome and implementation of ESD. The analysis revealed that major themes repeated across the 18 studies, showing that ESD contributes in many ways to quality education in primary and secondary schools. Teaching and learning transforms in all contexts when the curriculum includes sustainability content, and ESD pedagogies promote the learning of skills, perspectives and values necessary to foster sustainable societies. The research also identified the need to integrate ESD across all subjects, to provide professional development for teachers to ensure ESD policy implementation and to adopt ESD management practices to support ESD in the curriculum in order to broaden ESD across countries.

Nurturing Environmental Education at the Tertiary Education Level in China: Can Mobile Augmented Reality and Gamification Help?

“…Participants valued such an integration because they thought it could develop their reflective thinking skills and benefit their language learning process. This finding lends support to previous research that reported the development of students' cognitive knowledge and reflective thinking skills in similar practice [51].…”

An Analysis of Transformation of Teaching and Learning of Japanese Schools that Significantly Addressed Education for Sustainable Development

“…In an international comparative study, Laurie et al (2016) stated that ESD was best implemented when issues were addressed in multidisciplinary ways and across curricula. When collaborating on interdisciplinary projects, multidisciplinary approaches enable teachers to learn about curriculum content in areas outside of their specialty.…”

“…This reflects the fact that most of the Japanese ESD schools are primary, and so many of the study topics and materials that they select are from their school district and local area, which is the most meaningful geographical frame for young children. Laurie, Tarumi, McKeown, and Hopkins (2016) carried out studies in 18 countries to identify contribution of ESD to high-quality education. One main question posed by their research was, ìHow can ESD promote innovation in the teachingñlearning conceptual framework?î…”

Critical case-studies of non-formal and community learning for sustainable development

“…Hedefalk et al 2014), primary education (e.g. Green and Sommerville 2015;Laurie et al 2016) and secondary education (e.g. Laurie et al 2016).…”

“…Green and Sommerville 2015;Laurie et al 2016) and secondary education (e.g. Laurie et al 2016). The topic of sustainability in higher education even has its own journal, 1 which is entering its 19th volume in 2018, as well as an international handbook dedicated to it (Barth et al 2015).…”