1.1 The UN sustainable development goals

Goal number four [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] of the UN (United Nations) SDGs concerns the provision of quality education to all young people. Within goal four (SDG 4), Target 4.7 focuses on education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship and states that:

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

(UN, 2023)

This course focuses on how educational establishments can act to do their part and facilitate their students to develop the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. It is about exploring sustainable pedagogies that encourage learners of any age to develop the critical skills and ways of learning and being that will help them to flourish in a future that is changing so fast, and in complex ways that are often impossible to predict.

Some will say discussions about sustainability require an understanding of the meteorological science behind climate change, the biology and psychology behind demographic changes or the computing science behind Artificial Intelligence. These might be considered to be part of ‘teaching sustainability’. It is true that foundational knowledge is necessary but what is perhaps more important when knowledge is ‘2-clicks’ away in our digital (or post-digital – Tagg and Lyons, 2022) world, are critical, reasoning and problems-solving skills. Living sustainability requires these skills and also a keen sense of social justice.

  Reflection

Timing:

Reflect on what you think about when you think about sustainability, and also on what you currently see as likely sustainable pedagogies.

 Make a note of your thoughts in the box below.

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In 2018, Riekmann set out a list of key competencies that UNESCO affirm education for sustainability should develop. Those areas are given below, along with some student outcomes that may indicate a student has developed those competencies.

Table 1  UNESCO’s key competencies for sustainability

CompetencyA student who displays this competency can… 
Systems thinking
  • recognise and understand relationships
  • analyse complex systems
  • consider how systems and embedded within different domains and scales
  • deal with uncertainty

 

 

 

 

Ways of working

Anticipatory (future thinking)
  • understand and evaluate multiple outcomes
  • create their own visions for the future
  • apply the precautionary principle
  • assess the consequences of actions
  • deal with risks and changes
Critical thinking
  • question norms, practices and opinions
  • reflect on their own values perceptions and actions
  • take a position in the sustainable development discourse
Strategic
  • develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainable development at the local level and further afield

 

 

 

Ways of practicing

Collaboration
  • learn from others (including peers, and others inside and outside of their institution)
  • understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others
  • deal with conflicts in a group
  • facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving
Integrated problem-solving
  • apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainable development problems
  • develop viable, inclusive and equitable solutions
  • utilise appropriate competencies to solve problems
Self-awareness
  • reflect on values, perceptions and actions
  • reflect on role in the local community and global society
  • continually evaluate and further motivate actions
  • deal with feelings and desires

 

 

Ways of being

Normative
  • understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions
  • negotiate sustainable development values, principles, goals and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions
(Riekmann, 2018, p. 44)

In this next activity you are asked to look at these competencies and consider how your teaching (or awareness of teaching) in your context is already, or could progress to be designed to develop these competencies.

Activity 1.1  How might the UNESCO competencies be developed in students?

Timing: Allow around 30 minutes
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2a.  Post a brief summary of your thinking under the Activity 1.1 forum discussion. It is suggested this is no more than one or two paragraphs.

b. Read and comment on at least two posts from other people, expressing on how their ideas have added to your thinking.

  Explore

If you wish to know more about UNESCO’s key competencies, read:

  • Riekmann, M. (2018) ‘Learning to transform the world: key competencies in Education for Sustainable Development’, Chapter 2 in Leicht, A., Heiss, J. and Byun, W. (eds) Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ ark:/ 48223/ pf0000261445.

In the next section you are asked to start to consider who is responsible for helping students develop competencies for sustainable development.

1 Why discuss sustainable pedagogies?

2 Sustainable pedagogies and educational curricula