See this older video about  Professor C.K. Prahalad  talking about sustainable development and poverty reducation:

Professor C.K. Prahalad  talking about sustainable development

Climate change and education for sustainable development - 8 recommandations for political initiatives.

Climate change is the greatest public policy issue of our time. If humanity is to respond to the challenges, education has a key role to play in promoting understanding and helping individuals, society and governments to make informed choices.

This is not simply about giving people information, but ensuring that education – and schools specifically – is mobilized to re-orient society towards sustainable practices.

Education is not a ‘magic bullet’ in approaching climate change and sustainability, but without co-ordinated educational interventions, even the best thought through technical policies will fail.

In order to promote such a reorientation the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes has agreed on eight recommendations, informed by the jointly conducted research project and targeted the world’s political decision makers.

Downloade the report with recommandations on policy and approach to Climate Change Education here

8 Climate Change Education Recommandations and ESD:

1 //
Climate change makes sustainable development an urgent priority. Sustainable development is impossible without learning. We are therefore clear that policies which promote Education for Sustainable Development should play a key part in the negotiation of global agreements on climate change policy (COP15)

2 //

Societies need to change radically consumption, production and behaviour patterns to meet the challenges we face. The urgency of climate change policy and sustainable development risks narrowing the role of education to communication of expert-defined advice to citizens. This will be counter-productive in the long-term. We strongly recommend maintaining and implementing the more ambitious aims of Education for Sustainable Development providing people with the com

3 //
ESD will make demands on all of society but schools will play a critical role, through what they teach and how they model sustainable practices. Governments need to ensure that schools are able to play a leading role in Education for Sustainable Development through the way education systems are managed, schools are organized and pupils taught.

4 //
Whole-school approaches are promising: societies need to re-orient schooling towards a stronger emphasis on education for sustainability. In practical terms, this means greater interdisciplinary work, participation in authentic sustainability challenges and interaction with others outside school. We recommend these approaches as a way of integrating Education for Sustainable Development into current educational practices.

5 //
One of the key obstacles to Education for Sustainable Development is teacher knowledge and understanding, because of the lack of pre- and in-service teacher training in Education for Sustainable development. We recommend allocating resources to remedy this: universities should offer Education for Sustainable Development courses for pre- and in-service teachers and governments should implement policies which help all teachers to develop their capacity to implement Education for Sustainable Development.

6 //
Teacher education in Education for Sustainable Development will not change school practice unless resources and time for experimentation are provided and the sustainability is integrated into the curriculum. Thus, policy initiatives in teacher education should be coordinated with support for Education for Sustainable Development at school level.

7 //
Interaction between researchers, teachers, NGOs, public officers and others in the field of Education for Sustainable Development is essential, in order to support knowledge sharing, enhance curriculum development and promote more valid and reliable ways of evaluating ESD. We recommend the establishment of mediating organizations and groups to promote this. Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, which already exist at some places, may serve as models for this endeavour.

8 //
Education for Sustainable Development research needs to be augmented. It should be focused on (1) documenting the state of practice and identifying promising practices, (2) exploring educational outcomes and their evaluation in respect of Education for Sustainable Development, (3) identifying and explaining opportunities and problems of general relevance. As people are influenced by a number of different agents and media, informal and non-formal education is an important field that needs to be studied more thoroughly.

Downloade the report with recommandations on policy and approach to Climate Change Education here

The document was developed for the International Alliance of Leading Education Institute by Jeppe Læssøe, Karsten Schnack, Søren Breiting and Simon Rolls from Research Programme for Environmental and Health Education, The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University.

The state of the art of Climate Change Education as ESD in ten countries world wide.

In this report, we present the results of a cross-national analysis providing a broad international overview of the initiatives taken and the problems involved in achieving the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 here at the midway point.

Based on the findings of research teams from ten different countries spanning six continents, the report also provides a timely survey of the ways in which education can contribute to tackling the challenges of climate change.

This is one of a series of publications resulting from the project ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education’ conducted under the auspices of the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes.

Since the start of the Decade of ESD in 2005, the increasing awareness of accelerating climate change and the potential threats to human existence has led to growing concern for environmental issues.

In December this year, the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference (the 15th annual Conference of the Parties) will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here Ministers, officials, experts and NGOs from 189 countries will discuss and try to reach an agreement on how to tackle the challenge of climate change. The question is whether the role of education will be included in these negotiations, and, if so, which concept of and approach to education this will entail? There are certainly good reasons for providing the delegates and the global mass media with qualified suggestions of the role education might play.

The booklet covers the following themes of special relevance for Climate change education and education for sustainable development:

• Theme 1: Interpretations of ESD
• Theme 2: Climate Change and Education
• Theme 3: Structural conditions regarding ESD
• Theme 4: Barriers related to development and implementation of ESD/CCE
• Theme 5: Research in ESD and Climate Change Education

Download the climate education report here

Climate Change and Sustainable Development:
The Response from Education
CROSS-NATIONAL REPORT
By Jeppe Læssøe, Karsten Schnack, Søren Breiting and Simon Rolls
(Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark)
http://dpu.dk/RPEHE and http://edusud.dk 2009

Reports on Education and Climate Change from 10 countries worldwide.

Edcuation and Climate Change – The function of Education for Sustainable Development

Get the ten national reports about Education and Climate Change as ESD here with this link:

Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education CLICK HERE

- As an all-in-one publication for free download from The International Alliance of Leading Education Institutions – a think-tank on education.

The individual National Reports about Climate Change and Education -and of Education for sustainable Development (ESD)

Below you will find links to the individual National Reports dealing with the issues of the project.

Australia
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD in Australia here to see the report from  Australia (AUS)

Brazil
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD  in Brasil here to see the report from  Brazil (BRA)

Canada
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD in Canada here to see the report from  Canada (CAN)

China
Click for Climate change Education and ESD in China here to see the report from  China (CHN)

Denmark
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  Denmark (DEN)

Korea
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  Korea (KOR)

South Africa
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  South Africa (RSA)

Singapore
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  Singapore (SIN)

United Kingdom
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  United Kingdom (UK)

USA
Click for Climate Change Education and ESD here to see the report from  USA (USA) ]]> http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=63 0 http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/?p=55 http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/?p=55#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:00:12 +0000 admin http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/?p=55

Invitation to deal with Global Climate Change and Education during the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009

Invitation to high profile seminar during COP15 in Copenhagen about Climate Change Education:

Can education change the climate?

Date 11.12.09

Time
09.00 – 17.00

Place:
The Danish School of Education, Tuborgvej 164, 2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark

Conference website

Registration for the seminar on ESD and Climate Change Education during COP15

The Danish School of Education (DPU) and the Climate Panel at Aarhus University will host a conference in relation to the COP15 conference.

The conference on 11 December 2009 will be the last of five conferences about the importance of involvements of stakeholders such as NGO’s, journalists, local policy-makers, business etc.

The aim of this conference is to emphasize the importance of public involvement and education as well as the communication between experts and the public for the implementation of any climate policy

Read Interview with Professor Jeppe Læssøe from the Danish School of Education at Aarhus University: The climate crisis calls for a new educational era

Programme of Climate Change Education Seminar during COP15

9.00 – 9.30
Registration incl. coffee amd tea

9.30 – 9.40
Welcome
Pro-vice chancellor Søren Frandsen, Aarhus University

9.40 – 9.50
Introduction to the themes of the conference
Dean, Professor Lars Qvortrup, DPU, Aarhus University

9.50 – 10.50
Opening address 1:
Why we disagree about clima change
Professor Mike Hulme

Michael Hulme from the Schhol of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia has recently written the book ‘Why we disagree about clima change: Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity’.

10.50 – 11.15
Break: Coffee and tea

11.15 – 12.30

Part I
Climate change education as education for sustainable development

Introduction on the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) and the joint project Climate Change and Education: The Response from Education
Dean, Professor Lars Qvortrup, DPU, Aarhus University

Climate change and the need to re-think education
Dean, Professor Chris Husbands, Institute of Education, University of London

Recommendations and promising practices. Eight recommendations from IALEI to policy decision-makers and five examples of promising practices.
Professor Jeppe Læssøe, DPU, Aarhus University

12.30 – 13.30
Lunch

Press conference with

* Dean, Professor Lars Qvortrup, DPU, Aarhus University
* Dean, Professor Chris Husbands, Institute of Education, University of London
* Professor Jeppe Læssøe, DPU, Aarhus University

13.30 – 16.00

Part II
Climate communication: A weapon in the fight against climate change?

13.30 – 14.30

Opening address 2:
Bill McKibben, co-founder and director of www.350.org, co-founder of International Day of Climate Action

14.30 – 15.00
A journalistic perspective
Journalist Andrew Revkin, The New York Times

15.00 – 15.30
A political perspective
Professor Andrew Jamison, Aalborg University

15.30 – 16.00
Panel discussion and closing remarks

16.00 – 17.00
Reception

Registration for the seminar on ESD and Climate Change Education during COP15

More info about the COP15 seminar on Education, information and Climate Change Click here

ESD is of great relevance for our young children's future - which resources will be available for them and how they can share them? Future generations should be in our mind all the time when we work with sustainable development in schools - but not in a moralistic way! Copyright: Soren Breiting/www.azFOTOS.com

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a rather new field of education. We can see it as an innovative kind of future education for schools linking the child’s development with the future challenges of society.

I don’t think that education for sustainable development is just another buzzword forgotten in a few years. From a global perspective as well as a local perspective we have to direct education toward what will be truly useful for each child and for each society in the future.

To have a fulfilling life should be within reach for all children whereever they are born. In too many parts of society and of the world children grow up in hazardous environments with very poor conditions for basic requirements and bleak prospects for their future.

Education for Sustainable Development is derived from the Brundtland report’s focus on Sustainable Development (SD). The Brundtland report requires fundamental changes in the society and its institutions, in politics and in our individual family life styles. Economic development cannot be separated from social development and a concern for the environment.

ESD for child development

Educational research can tell us a lot of how to make use of education for sustainable development for child development.

The most important fact might be that ESD is an excellent frame for the empowerment of children. When we respect each individual child for its ideas and opinion, and at the same time bring the child into challenging learning situations we facilitate empowerment of the child.

Developing self esteem and empowerment goes hand in hand in education for sustainable development. A proper self esteem is such an important part of successful child development.

Another important fact is that ESD is a productive frame for meaningful learning. Opposite to rote learning and the acquisition of facts without much understanding meaningful learning situations help the child to engage fully in the teaching. By working with real problems the child can develop much better understanding of concepts and skills from the schools core curriculum in a meaningful context. The key to that is the opportunity to use and reflect on these ‘traditional’ ingredients of classic schooling in the meaningful contexts derived from the focus on sustainable development.

Education for sustainable development and schools

Some schools have focused on the beautification of their school environment. This might help the school’s prestige in the local society but it isn’t helpful for education for sustainable development unless it happens as the students’ project.

Similarly some schools have put a lot of emphasis in making the school buildings more ‘green’ with solar power panels, recycling systems, water conservation measures and tree planting around the school. Again, such initiatives are only valuable for the learning of the students if they are planned as student projects. You cannot evaluate the quality of a school’s work with education for sustainable development from a picture of the school.

Concerning a better approach to ESD, headmaster and teachers should ask questions like: – How can we challenge students’ thinking on the future and how to make use of parts of the core curriculum in a meaningful way in combination? – How can we teachers cooperate to create stimulating activities and plan the teaching in such a way that the self-esteem of the students will benefit from it? – How can we help students to investigate local people’s concern for the future and how to make sense of such results? – How can we help students to try to make a difference according to their wishes and visions?

Education for sustainable development will gain increasing publicity as the picture of environmental degradation, energy shortage, climate change, increasing poverty mixed with increasing wealth and the overall picture of globalization becomes more evident.

We cannot blame our children for these issues but it is our duty to educate them to be able to cope with such complex and controversial issues and to live a decent life with a belief that it is possible for everybody to make a difference to the better.

Soren Breiting

This article was orignally published here : Education for Sustainable Development for Child Education and Schools