Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

March 21, 2025 by Teachers Guide

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD),Prioritizing the development of cognitive domain competencies over those of the socio- emotional and behavioural domains will increase effectiveness…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Prioritizing the development of cognitive domain competencies over those of the socio- emotional and behavioural domains will increase effectiveness. The foundation for the other two domains is provided by the cognitive domain. Knowledge, critical thinking abilities, and social skills can all contribute to the foundation that attitudes and actions need (Vilmala et al., 2022). As a result, ESD now seen as a necessary component of high-quality education. The development of sustainability competences can be supported by all educational settings. Including non-formal and informal learning environments and preschools through higher education (Saqib et al., 2020). ESD is a comprehensive and transformative approach to education that takes into account the learning environment, pedagogy, and content.

In order to support participation, self-directed learning, problem-orientation, collaboration, and the linking of formal and informal learning to the development of key sustainability competencies among learners, it should create learner-centered, interactive teaching and learning environments as well as action oriented, transformative pedagogy (Cebrián et al., 2020). As a result, the foundation of this type of learning is strategic planning that supports lifelong learning, collaboration, diversity acceptance and recognition, individual reflection and values, integrative understanding, responsibility and faith in others, and the creation of learning communities dedicated to the common good. Medrick (2013).

1.2 Pedagogical Approaches to ESD

As was previously mentioned, the curriculum, application of pedagogical approaches, assessment, and development of pertinent learning outcome. All of which thought of as methods of teaching the learning process—are what ensure ESD. As a result, as previously said, this study is literature-based, with the researchers extracting the conclusions and summaries by careful examination of earlier, updated studies. Thus, following an analysis of earlier research, the researcher attempted to list some of the key ESD educational strategies that most frequently used.

1.3 Lifetime Education

According to the notion of lifelong learning, learning is a continuous process that does not end with formal schooling in early childhood, when children can receive factual knowledge. At all ages, in all kinds of settings (formal, casual, and nonformal), learners ought to be inquisitive (Marouli, 2021).

1.4 Collaboration and Social Learning

Social learning, also known as collaborative learning, is based on the notion that people learn best when they engage with other people. When people collaborate to study, their combined knowledge and abilities surpass what any one person could ever accomplish. Instead of being purely theoretical, participatory learning became more beneficial. In order to explore, analyse, understand, and apply concepts and practices, learners actively collaborate with peers, classmates, community members, and others (Evans, 2019).

1.5 Problem Based Learning (PBL):

Another pedagogical strategy that is predicated on the notion that learning happens when students encounter real life situations is called problem- based learning (PBL). Real-world challenges enable students to apply their knowledge, exercise critical thinking, and recognise its applicability, which can lead to increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes (Martín-Garin, et al., 2021).

1.6 Experiential and Active Learning

The focus of experiential and active learning is on the learner’s personal accountability for their own education. It may motivate the student to participate actively. According to Michel (2020), this method advances the growth of the critical thinking abilities required to address sustainability-related concerns. Because learning becomes a process of discovery and students are more actively involved in the process, it is also known as the approach of learning by doing (Cebrián et al., 2020). Additionally, it promotes students to actively participate in creating meaning, interpreting information, and applying it as opposed to passive learning, which assumes that students will internalize and recall the material in essentially its original form (Allen, 2018).

2. Critical Pedagogy

Another strategy that can improve learning outcomes and move education towards sustainability is critical pedagogy. The goal of critical pedagogy’s inception in Latin America was to enable marginalized groups to change the sociopolitical realities in which they found themselves. This method placed a strong emphasis on knowledge transformation, requiring students to think critically, carry out research, and produce new information.In order to help students acquire a critical consciousness and plan the pedagogical praxis for social transformation, Freire (1998) underlined the importance of enlightened educators as agents of social change. They are in charge of establishing engaging, dialogic, participative, and thought- provoking learning environments that inspire learning and get students ready for socially transformational action.

2.1 Dialogue Education

Adult learning is the target audience for dialogue education. The underlying premise of this technique is that adults will learn best when it comes to their own life experiences, since they have had enough life to engage in meaningful discourse with anyone.

2.2 Transformative or Transformational Learning

Transformational learning, another name for transformative learning, is an approach to education that focuses on how individuals interpret their experiences in life. This approach is a development of constructivism, which holds that each learner creates their own meaning by fusing new and prior information (Darling-Hammond L, 2007). Taimur (2020) states that learning is more than just memorization; it entails “becoming critically aware of one’s own implicit assumptions and expectations and those of others and assessing their relevance for making an interpretation as the highest level of learning.”

2.3 Design Thinking Methods and Learner-Centered Instruction

Constructivist education clarifies that learning is a socially constructed process of knowledge development. According to Biggs et al. (2022), Learner’s construct knowledge by building on what they already know through their own activities. Teaching is about involving students in active learning and expanding their knowledge based on what they already know, not about imparting information. Students learn in the context of their own experiences, and for them to be engaged in the material, it must be meaningful and relevant to them (either because it relates to what they already know or will be useful to them in the near future.

This method aids in preparing students to act, make wise decisions, grow into responsible, independent individuals with an awareness of their local, national, and global surroundings.

2.5 Apprenticeships and Internships

Experiential learning takes place when students operate in real-world organisational settings outside of the classroom. Students can put their newly acquired information to use in this situation (Seatter & Ceulemans, 2017).

2.6 Research Based Learning

Learning that happens when students work in groups or alone to answer research topics and solve research problems by conducting primary or secondary research (Wamsler, 2020).

2.7 Writing Intensive Learning

Learning that takes place while creating a thorough essay. In order to gain insights and understandings, it may incorporate critical thinking, academic writing, and reflective activities (Marouli, 2021).

3. Conclusion

Developing leaders and future generations who can aid in the creation of a sustainable society is the goal of ESD. Another name for these influential people is “sustainability citizens.” In order to develop these leaders, ESD must give students the chance to create, evaluate, and act with a great deal of autonomy and self-determination. Since sustainability involves self-control, imagination, tolerance, acceptance, and accepting responsibility, ESD plays a part in helping students develop their “dynamic qualities.”

Therefore, learning that can uncover a subject’s depth and effect a pragmatic shift—that is, a move from a transmissive learning method to a transformative learning environment—is necessary for ESD. A paradigm shifts results from transformative learning because it helps students comprehend who they are, how they relate to other people, and how the natural world works. Furthermore, in order for learners to improve their essential ESD abilities and be able to ensure and promote sustainability both now and in the future, competency-based approaches are required. These abilities include the following: