To sustain something is to strengthen, develop, support or fix it to enable it to keep going and we can apply the idea to anything – an idea, object, machine, enterprise, organisms and their living and flourishing or the whole planet. The focus of our 20th edition of Life Magazine is on the ides of learning to sustain ourselves – our living and our flourishing, and learning to sustain our environment for the generations of people who will come after us. Our intention is to explore how these two ideals might be productively combined through education and lifwide learning.
The concept of sustainability in the context of maintaining healthy planet and flourishing humanity, emerged in the early 1980’s when Lester Brown the founder of the Worldwatch Institute argued we have a responsibility to pass on to our children and grandchildren a world as healthy and with as many opportunities as we inherited. The idea of ‘sustainable development’ was first used in a report by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 19871 framing the idea in these terms, ‘humankind has the ability to achieve sustainable development to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.(1)
Sustaining anything as complex as the world and all its ecosystems and inhabitants is the most complex and profound of all ’wicked problems’(2) The Earth and all the systems of life it supports is complex. Left to its own devices it will, given sufficient time, adapt and regenerate regardless of the forces it is subject to. It might take millions of years but that is the time scale of planetary renewal.
Sustaining anything as complex as the world and all its ecosystems and inhabitants is the most complex and profound of all ’wicked problems’(2) The Earth and all the systems of life it supports is complex. Left to its own devices it will, given sufficient time, adapt and regenerate regardless of the forces it is subject to. It might take millions of years but that is the time scale of planetary renewal.
Sustainable development is the political global project born in our era through which global leaders are attempting to galvanise the world in coordinated action to secure the future for mankind and all life on the planet. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)4 initiated the process of educating the planet for a different future establishing 17 goals including a quality education for everyone.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development(5) provides new impetus for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Education is seen as the foundational building block for achieving all the sustainable development goals. Goal 4 target 4.7 makes explicit the key learning for sustainable development that education is expected to provide.
A recent UNESCO report ‘Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development’(6) synthesises the current state of play. ESD is very much a product of policy-makers and policy-drivers at the global, national and institutional levels: working together they are trying to effect fundamental change in our educational ecosystems. Such policy driven activity reflects the importance that global leaders place on changing the worlds educational ecosystems to support the enterprise to educate and persuade the whole of humanity that we have to take seriously the threat of destroying our own existence as a species through the progressive modification, degradation and destruction of our environment. To comprehend the urgency, global scale and complexity of this challenge just dip into the book of infographics produced by the Nederlands Environmental Assessment Agency(7).
But human beings have not left the Earth alone. Ever since we came into existence we have interfered with our environment to make it more hospitable and accommodating of our needs and desires. But these acts of interaction and interference have now caught up with us and in the Anthropocene – the latest geological epoch framed by humans we are witnessing the emergence of conditions that are harmful to our very existence and to the sustainability of the planet as we know it. Earth’s biological and social systems are increasingly stressed through the many demands a rapidly increasing population make on it.
Many of the resources we depend on are finite - when they are gone they will not be replenished. Natural and man-made disasters drive population movements on scales that destabilize societies. Human activity is changing the physical environment beyond all recognition and altering the climate in ways that will cause even more instability. The only thing that is certain is that we have created a future that is even less certain for our children and grandchildren. This state of being at the edge of chaos provides the context for our exploration of how we might use education as the means to educate a world into a more sustainable and more stable future.
Many of the resources we depend on are finite - when they are gone they will not be replenished. Natural and man-made disasters drive population movements on scales that destabilize societies. Human activity is changing the physical environment beyond all recognition and altering the climate in ways that will cause even more instability. The only thing that is certain is that we have created a future that is even less certain for our children and grandchildren. This state of being at the edge of chaos provides the context for our exploration of how we might use education as the means to educate a world into a more sustainable and more stable future.
One thing has become abundantly clear, sustaining mankind and our planet cannot be achieved by technological solutions, political regulation or financial instruments alone. We need to change the way people think and act but changing the way a global society thinks and acts in order to sustain the Earth which supports all our ecosystems, not just the ones we inhabit!, is a huge challenge and a key moral purpose for the world's education systems. A number of articles in this issue reveal the nature of this ‘global wicked problem’2,3 and how world leaders and oganisations are trying to lead us into doing something about it – all are agreed that education is central to developing global awareness of the issues and changing behaviours in ways that help tackle the multitude of related problems.
Surely a task for LIfewide Education is to develop awareness and deeper understandings of this important issue so that we can begin to explore the ways in which concepts and practices of lifewide learning and ecological perspectives on learning and practice might contribute to the educational moral purpose of helping people sustain themselves through long and often disrupted learning lives, while protecting and sustaining the environment they inhabit for future generations.
Lifewide learning and education encourage a holistic approach to learning and personal development and view learning as an ecological phenomenon. They encourage learners to appreciate themselves as actors in and on the world, to appreciate the resources they draw upon and consume in order to learn and achieve the things they value, and to recognize and value the effects the world has on them. Understanding the ideas of ecology, development, sustainability and resilience in a fast changing and disruptive world are therefore key concepts for the lifewide learner and for educators and institutions who encourage and facilitate such learning.
Surely a task for LIfewide Education is to develop awareness and deeper understandings of this important issue so that we can begin to explore the ways in which concepts and practices of lifewide learning and ecological perspectives on learning and practice might contribute to the educational moral purpose of helping people sustain themselves through long and often disrupted learning lives, while protecting and sustaining the environment they inhabit for future generations.
Lifewide learning and education encourage a holistic approach to learning and personal development and view learning as an ecological phenomenon. They encourage learners to appreciate themselves as actors in and on the world, to appreciate the resources they draw upon and consume in order to learn and achieve the things they value, and to recognize and value the effects the world has on them. Understanding the ideas of ecology, development, sustainability and resilience in a fast changing and disruptive world are therefore key concepts for the lifewide learner and for educators and institutions who encourage and facilitate such learning.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
(ESD) is commonly understood as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all. ESD aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development (UNESCO).
This requires quality education and learning for sustainable development at all levels and in all social contexts including Higher Education. It means including key sustainable development issues and goals into teaching and learning practices. For example, learners should be made aware of such issues as poverty alleviation, peace, ethics, responsibility in local and global contexts, democracy and governance, justice, security, human rights, health, gender equity, cultural diversity, rural and urban development, economy, production and consumption patterns, corporate responsibility, environmental protection, natural resource management and biological and landscape diversity.
ESD means viewing our educational institutions and systems as living dynamic eco-social systems dedicated to the formation and development of knowledge and the encouragement and support of people's learning so that both individuals and the societal ecosystem as a whole cannot only be sustained but flourish.
ESD requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development.
Lifewide education encourages a more ecological approach to learning with the goal of enabling learners to develop themselves through all their experiences while at university so that they can sustain themselves through a lifetime of dealing with challenges and disruptions that they cannot begin to imagine8. Ultimately, universities have a moral responsibility to not just prepare learners for entry to the job market, they must enable learners to prepare themselves for the rest of their lives. Lifewide Education believes that adopting an educational approach that embraces the idea that a person’s learning and development is an ecological phenomenon involving themselves as whole creative beings interacting with their material and non-material world, provides a productive way of engaging with the ESD agenda. It aligns well with Daniel Wahl’s proposition(3):
‘It is time for designers — and all humans are designers to some extent — to think out of the box and assume responsibility of the effects or their actions’
Stephen Covey gets to the heart of the matter through his habit of making particular and considered choices. ‘Between stimulus and response there is a space and in that space lies our freedom to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and happiness.’(9) In the choices we make lie the means of sustaining ourselves and the world. The central proposition where sustainability is concerned is choosing to respond to a particular stimulus in a way that considers the wellbeing of others and future generations, not just our own wellbeing. At the heart of sustainability is a bigger purpose than ourselves. This is where education for sustainability plays an important part in informing the decisions we make about what we choose to do and what sort of person we chose to be. Lifewide Education argues that we can enhance our ability to respond by seeing our own practices as ecological deeply connected to the material and biological world and the people in it in ways that only we can see and appreciate, and which only emerge in the course of our actions.
(ESD) is commonly understood as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all. ESD aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development (UNESCO).
This requires quality education and learning for sustainable development at all levels and in all social contexts including Higher Education. It means including key sustainable development issues and goals into teaching and learning practices. For example, learners should be made aware of such issues as poverty alleviation, peace, ethics, responsibility in local and global contexts, democracy and governance, justice, security, human rights, health, gender equity, cultural diversity, rural and urban development, economy, production and consumption patterns, corporate responsibility, environmental protection, natural resource management and biological and landscape diversity.
ESD means viewing our educational institutions and systems as living dynamic eco-social systems dedicated to the formation and development of knowledge and the encouragement and support of people's learning so that both individuals and the societal ecosystem as a whole cannot only be sustained but flourish.
ESD requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development.
- Human sustainability in teaching: includes elements such as resilience, wellbeing, emotional intelligence and the role of personality and gender as a teacher
- Educational sustainability: comprehends open pedagogies, our legagy as a teacher, engagement with communities and society, and lifelong and lifewide learning (including digital capacity)
- Social and environmental education: gathers these issues within each ecological environment and with reference to our contribution to society as educators
Lifewide education encourages a more ecological approach to learning with the goal of enabling learners to develop themselves through all their experiences while at university so that they can sustain themselves through a lifetime of dealing with challenges and disruptions that they cannot begin to imagine8. Ultimately, universities have a moral responsibility to not just prepare learners for entry to the job market, they must enable learners to prepare themselves for the rest of their lives. Lifewide Education believes that adopting an educational approach that embraces the idea that a person’s learning and development is an ecological phenomenon involving themselves as whole creative beings interacting with their material and non-material world, provides a productive way of engaging with the ESD agenda. It aligns well with Daniel Wahl’s proposition(3):
‘It is time for designers — and all humans are designers to some extent — to think out of the box and assume responsibility of the effects or their actions’
Stephen Covey gets to the heart of the matter through his habit of making particular and considered choices. ‘Between stimulus and response there is a space and in that space lies our freedom to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and happiness.’(9) In the choices we make lie the means of sustaining ourselves and the world. The central proposition where sustainability is concerned is choosing to respond to a particular stimulus in a way that considers the wellbeing of others and future generations, not just our own wellbeing. At the heart of sustainability is a bigger purpose than ourselves. This is where education for sustainability plays an important part in informing the decisions we make about what we choose to do and what sort of person we chose to be. Lifewide Education argues that we can enhance our ability to respond by seeing our own practices as ecological deeply connected to the material and biological world and the people in it in ways that only we can see and appreciate, and which only emerge in the course of our actions.
This learning, like all learning, must begin at home - we first learn the ecology of family and be supported and enhanced through primary school when we learn the social ecology of interacting with people who are not our family in an environment that is not our home. School (primary and secondary) is the Place where young learners could be introduced to the ecology of the natural world through an imaginative ecological education(10). It is also the context in which they develop an appreciation of issues relating to sustainability and participate in their personal projects around the theme of sustainability. In tertiary education, learners might explore sustainability issues relevant to their discipline but they might also be encouraged to see learning and practice through an ecological paradigm. Embracing the lifewide dimension of learning, development and action through a lifewide curriculum (11) would provide learners with the maximum affordance for engaging with the world and for developing, through their interactions the knowledge, values and attitudes necessary to sustain themselves and the world.
We explore these ideas more thoroughly through a collection of writers and articles in Lifewide Magazine #20. You can join our exploration of what all this means for lifewide education by reading the magazine, sharing your views and experiences of supporting ESD and offering additional perspectives.
Norman Jackson
Commissioning Editor
We explore these ideas more thoroughly through a collection of writers and articles in Lifewide Magazine #20. You can join our exploration of what all this means for lifewide education by reading the magazine, sharing your views and experiences of supporting ESD and offering additional perspectives.
Norman Jackson
Commissioning Editor
Sources
1 World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future file:///C:/Users/norma/Downloads/our_common_futurebrundtlandreport1987.pdf
2 Rittel, H and Weber, M (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning Policy Sciences Vol 4 155-169
3 Wahl, D,C. (2018) Introduction to the Worldview Dimension of Gaia Education’s course in ‘Design for Sustainability’ Age of Awareness https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/introduction-to-the-worldview-dimension-of-gaia-educations-course-in-design-for-sustainability-1577b7e4f460
4 UNESCO (2014) Shaping the Future We Want: UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) Final Report. Paris: UNESCO.
5 United Nations (2015) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment.
6 Leicht, A. Heiss, J. and Byun, W.J. (eds) (2018) Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development UNESCO Available at:
http://www.sustainabilityexchange.ac.uk/files/unesco_issues_and_trends_in_education_for_sustainable_development.pdf
7 PBL (2017) International Cooperation for the Sustainable Development Goals in 23 Infographics, PBL Nederlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Available at: http://www.sustainablesids.org/knowledgebase/pbl-people-and-the-earth-the-sdgs-in-23-infographics-2017
8 Jackson N J et al (eds) (2011) Learning for a Complex World: A lifwide concept of learning, education and development Authorhouse
9 Covey, S. R. (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Simon and Shuster
10 Judson G (2018) Cultivating Ecological Understanding And Engagement With The World Through Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE) Lifewide Magazine #20
11 Jackson, N. J. (2011) An imaginative lifewide curriculum in N J Jackson et al (eds) Learning for a Complex World: A lifewide concept of learning education and development Authorhouse
Image credits
Diverse peoples cartoon artist Lai Meng-chia
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/photo/2016/07/01/2008135365
Wicked Problems Diagram Original source: CMU Transition Design, Irwin & Kossoff
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/facing-complexity-wicked-design-problems-ee8c71618966
Children caring for the planet artist Ana-Karin Engberg taken from 'Children’s Voices about the State of the Earth and Sustainable Development' A report for the OMEP World Assembly and World Congress on the OMEP World Project on Education for Sustainable Development 2009-2010 July 2010
http://www.omep.org.se/uploads/files/congress_report_child_interviews_-_final.pdf
1 World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future file:///C:/Users/norma/Downloads/our_common_futurebrundtlandreport1987.pdf
2 Rittel, H and Weber, M (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning Policy Sciences Vol 4 155-169
3 Wahl, D,C. (2018) Introduction to the Worldview Dimension of Gaia Education’s course in ‘Design for Sustainability’ Age of Awareness https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/introduction-to-the-worldview-dimension-of-gaia-educations-course-in-design-for-sustainability-1577b7e4f460
4 UNESCO (2014) Shaping the Future We Want: UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) Final Report. Paris: UNESCO.
5 United Nations (2015) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment.
6 Leicht, A. Heiss, J. and Byun, W.J. (eds) (2018) Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development UNESCO Available at:
http://www.sustainabilityexchange.ac.uk/files/unesco_issues_and_trends_in_education_for_sustainable_development.pdf
7 PBL (2017) International Cooperation for the Sustainable Development Goals in 23 Infographics, PBL Nederlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Available at: http://www.sustainablesids.org/knowledgebase/pbl-people-and-the-earth-the-sdgs-in-23-infographics-2017
8 Jackson N J et al (eds) (2011) Learning for a Complex World: A lifwide concept of learning, education and development Authorhouse
9 Covey, S. R. (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Simon and Shuster
10 Judson G (2018) Cultivating Ecological Understanding And Engagement With The World Through Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE) Lifewide Magazine #20
11 Jackson, N. J. (2011) An imaginative lifewide curriculum in N J Jackson et al (eds) Learning for a Complex World: A lifewide concept of learning education and development Authorhouse
Image credits
Diverse peoples cartoon artist Lai Meng-chia
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/photo/2016/07/01/2008135365
Wicked Problems Diagram Original source: CMU Transition Design, Irwin & Kossoff
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/facing-complexity-wicked-design-problems-ee8c71618966
Children caring for the planet artist Ana-Karin Engberg taken from 'Children’s Voices about the State of the Earth and Sustainable Development' A report for the OMEP World Assembly and World Congress on the OMEP World Project on Education for Sustainable Development 2009-2010 July 2010
http://www.omep.org.se/uploads/files/congress_report_child_interviews_-_final.pdf
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