Education For Sustainable Development

Education For Sustainable Development

It is evident to everyone that planet Earth is facing ongoing adversities that endanger all forms of life. Among these, climate change stands out as the most critical, dominating discussions in international forums as efforts are made to find effective solutions to this existential threat. One of the most prominent solutions proposed is “sustainable education,” or education for sustainable development. Hence, in this featured article, we will explore the role of education in achieving the sustainable development goals.

The significance of education in the development of nations is widely acknowledged, as it serves as the primary and most crucial step towards guiding any country towards regional and international prominence. We can see this exemplified in countries like Germany and Japan.

After the humiliating defeat and comprehensive destruction they faced in World War II, both nations managed to embark on paths of growth and development in recent decades. This success can be attributed to their emphasis on both general education and vocational/technical education.

Perhaps the impact of the above can be seen in the widespread trust placed in products manufactured in Germany or Japan, ranging from cars and heavy machinery to electronics and petrochemicals. Consequently, both economies have secured permanent positions among the world’s top 10 most powerful economies, despite their limited natural resources.

However, in the midst of this global pursuit of advancement and progress, we realized too late the dire consequences. Individual and collective human activities had severe negative impacts on the environment and the life forms dependent on it. Humanity found itself obligated to find solutions to address these impacts, not only for the sake of the environment but also for its own survival.

Therefore, the concept of “sustainable development” emerged as the cornerstone of policies and strategies for all countries, aiming to ensure development for current generations while safeguarding the planet’s sustainability for future generations, granting them equal opportunities for growth and prosperity. Consequently, societies are urged to transition towards sustainability.

The significance of education lies in its profound influence on shaping the values and perspectives of young people, as well as in developing their skills and providing them with the necessary tools for appropriate living. Through education, the principles of sustainable development can be instilled from an early age, thus shaping the present and future of nations.

Education plays various roles in promoting sustainability. For instance, educating women and girls can effectively contribute to reducing population growth, a fundamental challenge in achieving sustainable development goals. However, the relationship between education and sustainable development holds deeper implications, which we will explore in the following lines.

Importance of Education

Life has become more complex, demanding individuals to acquire a multitude of skills to secure employment. It is noteworthy that according to UNESCO, equipping children in developing countries with basic reading and writing skills before they leave school can significantly transform many societies for the better.

Moreover, UNESCO estimates that if all adults complete secondary education, 420 million people could escape poverty. However, the benefits of education extend beyond poverty alleviation; it enhances quality of life, expands job opportunities, and provides numerous other advantages.

The aforementioned points appear logical and intuitive, as education fosters many crucial aspects in young people, achieving various goals at both individual and collective levels. The following points summarize the importance of education.

First, Education Develops Problem-Solving Skills: Education molds an individual’s mindset and teaches how to make decisions. This involves nurturing critical and logical thinking skills, which prepare children for adulthood and the responsibilities it entails. Consequently, a good education equips individuals to make informed decisions and helps them address various societal challenges or plan optimal ways to support their families.

Second, Self-Reliance and Empowerment: The ability to read, write, and perform basic mathematical operations is inherently empowering. When a person can read, for instance, they gain access to essential information, and possessing literacy skills fosters self-reliance and confidence. This empowerment is even more pronounced in individuals with a good education.

Third, Promoting Equality among Individuals: A well-structured educational process plays a significant role in promoting equality. In the acquisition of knowledge, there is no room for discrimination based on race, gender, religion, social class, or level of intellect. Education fosters maturity and awareness, enabling individuals to accept others and respect differing opinions. Therefore, it is not surprising that many experts, both locally and globally, agree that education substantially contributes to achieving societal peace.

Fourth, Individual Financial Stability and Security: An individual’s income is often closely tied to their level of education and the quality of education they have received. Worldwide, we observe more job opportunities for those who have completed high school, obtained a degree, diploma, or are pursuing postgraduate studies. Higher education levels typically correlate with higher salaries and a more secure standard of living.

Fifth, National Economic Growth: The level of education within a country’s population significantly impacts its economy. Studies show that countries with higher literacy rates are more likely to experience progress in both human and economic development. National economic growth stems from individual economic growth, which is frequently linked to education. For instance, in Canada, 70% of jobs require university-level reading and writing skills.

Sixth, Community Service: Educating future generations is crucial in equipping them with the skills and tools to contribute positively to their communities. Today’s children are tomorrow’s teachers, doctors, scientists, and leaders in both the government and private sectors, whether in service or industry. Therefore, the quality of a nation’s future undoubtedly depends on the quality of education provided to its children.

Considering the six points mentioned earlier, they encapsulate the essence of the sustainable development goals. Education alone plays a pivotal role in achieving several of these goals, particularly the first (No Poverty), the second (Zero hunger), and the third (Good health and well-being), as well as the fourth (Quality education) and the fifth (Gender equality).

SDG 4 (Quality education)

It’s unsurprising to find a dedicated goal to education in the Sustainable Development Goals, as education serves as the primary tool for sustainable societal development. Therefore, we can encapsulate the essence of the fourth goal as ensuring continual learning opportunities, from childhood through adulthood, while also guaranteeing equality and inclusion in education for all demographics. Additionally, it involves providing effective education that equips individuals with relevant skills.

Accordingly, the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (Quality Education) is grounded in three fundamental principles:

Firstly, Education is a fundamental human right and an enabling right: Governments must ensure this right by providing quality learning opportunities to all in a fair and comprehensive manner, making education free and compulsory, without social or economic discrimination. This is because education plays a pivotal role in developing human mentality and promoting the values of tolerance and peace. Here, education refers not only to acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills but also to fostering creative thinking, cooperative skills, and moral virtues.

Secondly, Education as a Public Good: This means that education should be a shared societal goal for which the state bears responsibility. The state formulates and implements public policies, while society contributes its elements to this process, aiming for the best outcomes.

Thirdly, Social Equality: When we talk about equality, we don’t just mean ensuring good education for various groups, but rather a broader notion of social equality. This involves enabling all groups to achieve a better life through access to quality education, not just providing education itself.

Some of you might be wondering now, how can we achieve the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals? But before delving into that, let’s first discuss the seven targets outlined for this goal by UNESCO, and then we’ll explore the means of implementation.

The first target is to provide free, quality, and equitable primary and secondary education for all boys and girls, aiming for effective results by 2030. The second target is Early childhood development and universal pre-primary education, ensuring quality care for children to prepare them for primary education. The third target is to ensure equal opportunities for both men and women to access quality and affordable vocational and higher education.

The fourth target is to equip individuals with the necessary skills demanded by the labor market, enabling everyone to secure decent job opportunities. These skills include problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, individual and collaborative work, and communication and negotiation skills. The fifth target is gender equality and inclusion, by eliminating social disparities in education access, ensuring societal inclusion that guarantees marginalized and vulnerable groups the right to quality education, regardless of religion, race, health status, or wealth.

The sixth target aims to eradicate illiteracy globally, ensuring universal access to basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills, empowering individuals to become self-reliant. The seventh and final target focuses on education for sustainable development, providing the necessary knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development and increasing awareness of sustainable behaviors at both individual and societal levels.

To achieve these seven targets and progress towards achieving the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, we require appropriate means of implementation, as indicated and summarized by UNESCO in three fundamental implementation strategies:

Firstly, Effective Learning Environments: This involves designing educational facilities that consider gender differences, physical disabilities, age groups, and religious backgrounds. Additionally, enhancing the efficiency of existing educational buildings to create conducive environments for effective learning is crucial. A robust and suitable infrastructure for the education sector undoubtedly reflects in its outcomes.

Secondly, Scholarships: This responsibility largely falls on developed countries, which are expected to offer a growing number of scholarships to students in developing countries, particularly the most economically disadvantaged ones. These scholarships aim to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and compensate for deficiencies in educational systems in poorer countries.

Thirdly, Teachers and educators: Teachers are the backbone of the educational system; they uplift and empower, and their absence leads to decline and collapse. Therefore, governments must focus on adequately training and qualifying teachers, ensuring a sufficient number of them across various educational institutions, and providing them with stable and decent livelihoods.

Education and climate change

Education plays a crucial role in addressing the issue of climate change, which is why the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) mandates parties to the agreement to conduct educational campaigns and raise public awareness about climate change. These efforts involve integrating community elements into the campaigns and providing access to information about this existential issue.

Education can inspire people to change their attitudes and behaviors, leading to responsible decisions that promote sustainability. For instance, in classrooms, the impact of global warming can be explained in simple terms, along with teaching behaviors that enable us to address this phenomenon.

The scope of education isn’t limited to schools and universities; it extends to educating parents as well. Parents play a crucial role in raising and nurturing future generations. By fostering awareness of sustainability issues both at school and at home, we ensure that the consciousness and behavior of humanity’s future are shaped in a way that considers its development and sustainability.

Therefore, we can assert that education and climate change are intricately linked in shaping a better future for humanity. Education is no longer merely a tool for transferring knowledge and skills; it has evolved into an essential instrument for raising awareness about climate change issues and promoting sustainable behaviors. By incorporating climate change concepts into school curricula and fostering research and innovation in this area, education can play a crucial role in inspiring students and young people to take responsible and positive actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Undoubtedly, climate change poses a global challenge that necessitates collaborative efforts from governments, companies, communities, and individuals. Hence, educational curricula should encompass information about the effects of climate change and strategies to adapt to and mitigate them across all age groups.

By integrating education into efforts to combat climate change, we can strengthen awareness, solidarity, and motivation to protect our planet and ensure its sustainability for future generations.

It’s worth noting that when we talk about education, we refer to both academic and technical (vocational) education. Unfortunately, many societies tend to overlook the importance of vocational education, and individuals with vocational education often face unfair perceptions. This bias has had a negative impact on the quality of education. Therefore, vocational education is crucial and should not be undervalued.

Importance of vocational education

Technical (vocational) education plays a crucial role in the education system by preparing students with the skills and knowledge needed to enter the workforce quickly and confidently. It focuses on practical applications and the development of specific artistic and technical skills, contrasting with academic studies, which emphasize theories and concepts.

Furthermore, vocational education enhances access to suitable job opportunities for young people, thereby improving living standards, reducing unemployment rates, and meeting the evolving needs of the labor market. Effective vocational education ensures that enterprises and companies have access to skilled and trained workers across various fields, enhancing productivity and competitiveness.

It’s important to note that vocational education offers an alternative path for students who prefer practical, hands-on learning over theory. Thus, fostering interest in vocational education is vital in any society. The misconception that university education is the only viable path must be discarded, and the perception of vocational education as inferior should be changed.

Germany serves as an exemplary model for us in this regard. This European country, renowned for the quality of its industry, recognized the significance of technical education and prioritized it. This strategic focus has had a lasting impact on effectively utilizing the capabilities of the German people by guiding students toward either academic or technical paths based on their abilities and skills.

In general, vocational education is considered a crucial component of the education system, contributing to enhancing economic opportunities for individuals and meeting the demands of the labor market. Moreover, technical education plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainable development by fostering the development of more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable societies.

Through technical education, environmental awareness can be heightened by incorporating concepts of sustainable development and environmental conservation into curricula. This ensures that students integrate environmentally friendly practices and utilize green technology in their respective fields of expertise.

Technical education has the potential to create livelihood opportunities for all segments of society, including youth, women, and minorities, thereby fostering inclusive and equal societies where individuals can secure decent livelihoods. Therefore, it is essential to focus on teaching various crafts, both simple and complex, to tackle unemployment and its associated issues such as poverty and crime rates.

Additionally, technical education can promote the adoption of clean technology and innovation by training students in modern technology and environmental innovations. This will enhance the sustainability of various industrial and service sectors. Ultimately, these efforts will contribute to sustainable economic growth, as skilled labor plays a crucial role in meeting the demands of the labor market and enhancing productivity and sustainability.

In essence, technical education plays a vital, and often overlooked, role in promoting sustainable development by providing the skills and knowledge needed to build inclusive societies. By integrating sustainability concepts into technical education programs, long-term economic, social, and environmental benefits can be achieved for individuals and communities alike.

Challenges of Education for Sustainable Development

Education for sustainable development faces several challenges that can impede the achievement of desired educational goals. It’s important to recognize and address these challenges in order to develop effective solutions. Below, we outline seven challenges facing education for sustainable development:

First, Lack of correct understanding of sustainable development: Many individuals, including teachers, still lack a clear understanding of what sustainability means and why it’s important. This can hinder the integration of “education for sustainable development” into current education systems. To address this challenge, teachers and decision-makers need to gain a clear understanding of sustainability concepts and their significance.

Second, Lack of necessary resources: There’s a noticeable shortage of support allocated to the field of sustainable education, whether in terms of financial or political support. To tackle this challenge, teachers and the education system as a whole must advocate for increased funding and support for education for sustainable development. This involves developing partnerships with organizations and companies that can provide the necessary resources and support.

Third, Integrating Sustainability into Educational Curricula: This challenge can make it difficult for teachers to effectively apply the concepts of education for sustainable development, potentially hindering students’ understanding of the topic’s importance. To address this challenge, it’s crucial to integrate sustainable development concepts into curricula at all educational levels, either by developing new curricula or by updating existing ones.

Fourth, Inefficient Teachers: The lack of necessary training and educational programs related to sustainable development results in teachers struggling to teach sustainable development principles clearly and effectively to students. This is due to a lack of skills and knowledge required for this task. To overcome this challenge, it’s important to implement training programs for teachers that cover the concept of sustainability, how to integrate it into teaching strategies, and what resources are needed to achieve this.

Fifth, Lack of Student Engagement: Many students perceive courses related to sustainable development merely as subjects that need to be passed, while lacking internal motivation and desire to understand the goals of sustainable development and work towards achieving them. To address this challenge, it’s essential to develop educational materials and activities that are engaging and interactive, capturing students’ interest and inspiring them to take action and adopt sustainable behaviors.

Sixth: Lack of Evaluation and Assessment: Having qualified teachers, appropriate curricula, and well-equipped educational facilities may not be sufficient to achieve desired goals. Therefore, continuous and accurate evaluation of educational programs and initiatives is essential. This allows us to determine their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement and development.

Seventh: Weak Collaboration and Partnerships: Inadequate cooperation and partnerships between companies, teachers, decision-makers, and various organizations can hinder the effective implementation of Education for Sustainable Development. This lack of collaboration often results in insufficient resources and support for the educational process. To tackle this challenge, it’s crucial to foster partnerships and collaborations between educators, decision-makers, organizations, and companies that can provide the necessary resources and support.

Sustainability of the Educational Process

In the previous sections of this featured article, we discussed the impact of education on achieving sustainable development goals and how quality education contributes to the progress and growth of nations. However, we must not overlook the sustainability of the educational process itself, including its infrastructure, curricula, and teaching staff.

The sustainability of the educational process can be summarized as the ability to provide an effective and sustainable educational environment for current and future generations. This encompasses various aspects, including environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

First, Environmental Sustainability: This involves using educational technologies and materials that promote environmental awareness and encourage its protection. Transitioning to digital learning through distance learning methods reduces resource consumption, such as energy and paper. Additionally, promoting the use of renewable energy and environmentally friendly building techniques in the design and construction of schools and universities contributes to environmental sustainability.

Second, Social Sustainability: Social sustainability in education is based on several principles. The first is diversity and inclusion, creating an educational environment that welcomes everyone regardless of gender, race, religion, or social background. The second principle is community participation, involving local communities to determine educational needs according to each region’s characteristics and ensuring the provision of quality education. Lastly, promoting social justice in education ensures that all students, regardless of their financial situation, have equal opportunities for quality education.

Third, Economic Sustainability: Economic sustainability in education is achieved through various means. Firstly, investing in education to improve infrastructure, develop curricula, and train teachers to meet the needs of the today’s world. Secondly, investing in types of learning that enhance critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills, essential for future workforce. Additionally, promoting the knowledge economy by encouraging research, innovation, and knowledge transfer through partnerships between universities, governments, and the private sector is crucial.

To achieve sustainability in the education process, it requires cooperation and joint efforts from governments, educational institutions, local communities, and companies. By investing in these three aspects -environmental, social, and economic- we can build a sustainable education system that contributes to achieving sustainable development in the long term.

In this context, we cannot overstate the importance and centrality of the role of the teacher in the educational process. The teacher is not merely someone employed to impart knowledge, but also an educator who serves as an inspiring model, role model, and guide for students. The teacher bears significant responsibility and plays crucial roles in advancing the sustainability of the educational process and ensuring its positive contribution to achieving the sustainable development goals.

Teachers play a vital role in guiding and motivating students to acquire various skills. They transfer knowledge and life experiences to their students while shaping their behavior and personality by instilling ideal values and morals. Additionally, teachers provide personal support and guidance to students, helping them overcome the difficulties they face in their lives. All of these aspects greatly influence the mental and social development of new generations.

In the following lines, Dr. Muhammad Zeyda will delve deeper into the role of educators in shaping our current and future world.

The forgotten aspects about sustainable education.

There is often discussion about achieving sustainable education by advocating for the inclusion of various topics related to sustainable development in school curricula and raising awareness about its issues, particularly the rights of future generations to a good life. However, it’s more crucial to ensure these generations’ right to a quality educational process, not just through awareness. They deserve a good life and a good education within the current educational system. Therefore, what’s more important and urgent is to work towards ensuring the sustainability of education itself, rather than solely focusing on education for sustainable development.

Teaching is way beyond

Many might think that education is solely about teaching students various curricula. However, the term “teaching” is most importantly about guiding and raising new generations with good morals. In other words, teaching should develop bright mentalities and strong resolves that love work, appreciate knowledge, and influence others. Otherwise, the education process will have no influence.

Therefore, I am certain that the wider definition of teaching represents the cornerstone and essential foundation for achieving both development and sustainability. While discussions about sustainable education typically focus on how to integrate sustainability issues into educational processes, it’s important to also work on the sustainability of the educational process itself.

This means our efforts should concentrate on ensuring the sustainability of education both now, by developing it, and in the future, by maintaining progress at the same pace and approach, to provide quality education for future generations.

By improving the educational process, we ensure a sustainable path that instills in students’ hearts, characters, and behaviors from a young age, ideas and cultures related to good ethics first, followed by knowledge, and then sustainable behavior. Through this, we ensure self-learning generations, embracing everything that is good, praiseworthy, scientific, and valid, fostering development and sustainability.

Teachers’ vital role

Certainly, technology plays a significant role in reshaping educational concepts and enhancing its capabilities to align with global developments in economic and social spheres. However, it’s important to recognize that humans are at the core of this transformation, as we are the primary asset upon which nations build their present and secure their future.

We can say that humans are the resources for our world’s development, but when we refer to the term “human resources”, we mean individuals who have received an adequate level of education. These individuals are characterized by a genuine desire to make a positive impact on their work, contribute value to their society, and safeguard the rights of future generations.

If education is the heart and essence of societal growth, then undoubtedly, the teacher is the lung that breathes life into this heart. Therefore, if the aim is to achieve sustainability in education to the fullest extent, we must focus on cultivating generations of educators who will serve as leaders and role models for future generations.

The Earth Guards

In conclusion, I affirm that sustainability of education will only be realized by prioritizing the educational process and nurturing generations of teachers with high morals, sustainable behavior, and valuable knowledge. By doing so, they can become role models who ensure a sustainable educational process.

Finally, we must act now and immediately to gather our efforts towards achieving sustainability in education, as it can significantly boost our chances in winning the battle of climate change, and only then can we truly become the “Earth Guards”.