Background

In November 2014, the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was launched at the “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Conference on ESD” in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, to build on the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade of ESD and create new momentum for action. GAP’s goal is to generate and scale up action in all levels and areas of education and learning to accelerate the progress towards sustainable development. GAP has five priority action areas to allow for strategic focus and partnerships, namely:

• Advance policies
• Enhance learning and training environments
• Build the capacities of educators and trainers
• Empower and mobilize the youth
• Accelerate the implementation of sustainable solutions at the local level

As the leading agency for ESD, UNESCO coordinates the global implementation of GAP. In this context, UNESCO designed the new initiative, “Today for Tomorrow: Coordinating and Implementing GAP on ESD.” Funded by the Japan government and in cooperation with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), the project will focus on implementing the five GAP priority action areas aided by effective global coordination.

Rationale

Educators and trainers are powerful agents of change who can deliver the educational response to advance sustainable development. But they must first acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to support the transition to a sustainable society.
Teacher education institutions (TEIs), teacher educators, and teachers have a wide-ranging influence on policies and practices in education and development and hold key responsibilities for delivering quality education in all levels. ESD in teacher education should help reorient the community, revisit the priorities of programmers, and rethink methods to make education relevant and responsive to today’s global challenges.

Objectives

The Sub-Regional Workshop on ESD for TEIs aims to:

• Develop the capacity of lead TEIs to mainstream ESD in their programmes and institutions to increase the number of teachers who are appropriately qualified to deliver ESD
• Train lead TEIs to handle in-country workshops using a set of training workshops for deans and educators from selected TEIs so they too can integrate ESD concepts and principles into their curricula and teaching and learning practices
• Expose lead TEIs to ESD implementation in selected schools through field study visits funded by public-private partnerships (PPPs)
• Develop the capacity of participating TEIs for ESD review and process change monitoring

Methodology

The project methodology has five main components, namely:
Relevant content: Lead trainers learned to integrate critical issues such as climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and sustainable consumption and production (SCP) into teacher education programmes.
Effective methods: Lead trainers learned to design teaching resources that are interactive and learner centered; enable exploratory, action-oriented learning; and steer teaching from being transmissive and authoritarian to becoming transformative and participatory.

Learning environments: Trainees encouraged to rethink learning environments—physical, virtual, and online—to include sustainability principles in their management and inspire learners to act towards attaining sustainability.
Essential competencies: Lead trainers received support in defining learning outcomes and promoting the learning of core competencies that contribute to the development of sustainable societies such as critical and systemic thinking, collaborative decision making, and taking responsibility for present and future generations.

Field visit: Lead trainers will be exposed to successful ESD programmes in the Chang Rai Educational Service Area.

Programme

Education is pivotal in achieving sustainability. Its changing landscape necessitates conscious and concerted efforts among stakeholders in the academe. A number of ways can be done to equip the students with deeper understandings on the multifaceted role of education for sustainable development (ESD).  One of which is the conduct of in-country workshops to ascertain transformative education by infusing ESD concepts in the Teacher Education Curriculum (TEC) thereby producing graduates who are equipped with competencies that address sustainability.

The proceedings of the in-country workshop held in Cebu City, Philippines last November 20-22, 2017 speaks of the dedication of the organizers from SEAMEO and UNESO and that of the select Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) of the Philippines.

LEAPS

Five TEIs positively responded to the in-country workshop invitation by sending their ESD focal persons to Harolds Hotel in Cebu City, Philippines. SEAMEO’s Deputy Director, Dr. Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela, discussed about the urgency to address the gaps transformed as priority areas- advance policies, enhance learning and training environments, build the capacities of educators and trainers and empower and mobilize the youth, with the Philippines identified as pilot ground for environmental concerns.

It was also stressed that teachers are powerful agents of change who can deliver the educational response to advance sustainable development through their wide ranging influence on policies and practices, in orienting the community, on developing solutions. It is noteworthy to point out that the first in-country workshop/ ESD training among South East Asian countries happened in the Philippines.

Key understandings that surmised are the following:

• ESD allows every human being to acquire the KSAV necessary to shape a sustainable future.
• ESD requires far-reaching changes in the way education is often practiced today.
• There is a need to contextualize ESD in the Philippines.
• ESD is a framework for sustainable future.
• There is a need to capacitate TEIs as focal persons gained an in-depth understanding of ESD concepts, principles and practices
• TEI’s through its faculty members to develop projects and trainings in the pre service education.
• It is a constant challenge, for everyone to ensure that education of today adequately contribute to sustainability, by seriously looking at ESD integration principles and concepts in the TEC.
• It is about the planning of today that makes tomorrow sustainable.
• The participants gave their views on their confidence of understanding ESD as an essential element for pre-service teacher training and that their institution is committed to ESD integration
• Environment was identified as the top concern for all and that the biggest challenge is to make connections between academic and societal issues so they become visible to the students.
• As ESD provides a vision of sustainability, it must be at the heart of teaching-learning practice.
• There is a complexity and an urgency to address the issues as these are about life.
• One can address the problem of ESD from where we are from and from an understanding of how much of the things we learned are still relevant today.
• Two of the gaps in the Decade of ESD (D-ESD) have been internalized- the absence of clearly articulated ESD strategies and policies, the lack of educator competencies and the need to institutionalize ESD to ensure strong political support on its implementation on systemic level.
• Through ESD, students are empowered to take informed decisions, to imbibe lifelong and holistic learning to transform themselves and the society.
• ESD integrated dimensions cover economic, social, environmental, political and cultural as reflected in the sample HOPE framework. More than the concept and practice are the integrated contexts that make ESD distinct.

Along with the many salient points shared on ESD was the sharing of the practices and policies distinct in each TEI; carefully identifying which are ESD-driven and which are simply an offshoot of outreach and livelihood projects. The projects include Cebu Technological University’s (CTU) Paglaum, Bohol Islands State University’s (BISU) Green Village Program, University of San Jose Recoletos’ (USJR) Win on Waste, Cebu Normal University’s (CNU) E-HELP, and Philippine Normal University’s (PNU) ACTLIFE and Green Environment. Common entry point of ESD is on environment and agriculture.

The situation analysis of ESD integration in the Philippines provided the participants with the direction to look at the framework’s dimensions on how these are clearly articulated in their projects. The introduction of the conceptual framework for ESD integration and the completion of the ESD Lens Review proved that teachers in the TEIs are centrally involved. Using an “action research” approach to ESD integration, each TEI representative described their university’s significant ESD initiative/s for the group to identify what can be done and what can be strengthened. A 30-minute interactive sharing cemented the participants understanding of ESD. All this time, the concept of ESD is in each university but was not identified as ESD. The labeling must speak of ESD’s rich contribution to the bigger arena. Closely akin to this is the creation of the link between the identified extension services to pre-service TEC, making the ‘methods’ as best for learning ESD.  ESD should not be seen as extension; it should not be happening outside the university for it must, firstly, be reflected in the teachers’ syllabus. The challenge is how to deliberately place and integrate ESD in the teaching and learning processes.

Teachers as frontliners can innovate as long as the minimum requirement of the program is met and it takes courageous leaders to act on initiatives. In integrating ESD, top management is involved. Henceforth, ESD must be reflected in the teachers’ course outcomes, in the program outcomes and in the crafting of university attributes. It was underscored that commitment to develop among the students the competencies be made explicit in the syllabi if change has to happen.

The richness of the presentations of the TEIs practices allows each to come up with a context-specific ESD framework. The synthesis of situational analysis facilitated by Dr. Robbie Guevarra made the contextualization clearer. It was clearly emphasized that ESD has to be useful and not just to be visible by embedding the principles and concepts in the curriculum of pre-service teachers, making ESD not an end point but a continuing journey in education. Constantly, each has to reflect on the interrelationships of economic, methods, context, curriculum, institution, and framework in conceptualizing and implementing ESD in each university. The entry point may vary but the idea of ‘interrelationships and visibility of the elements’ should be eminent in the framework.

It was also underscored that the elements are not to be taken as prescriptive, rather, as a lens that can be used to strengthen the extension projects with a touch of local and community realities. Crucial to the implementation are the leaders’ awareness of ESD, governing policies and availability of resources, and the articulation and alignment of ESD to SDGs.

Active participation was also observed among the participants during the Appreciative Inquiry Workshop employing the 4D Cycle, facilitated by Dr. Ethel L. Abao, the dean of the College of Teacher Education of CNU. As a methodology, it highlights on what is there, not on what should have been there just like a circuit breaker that stops negative thinking. Going through the stages, it was clear to the participants the kind of future they envisioned and the steps to be undertaken to materialize their dream. There was an interactive exercise of identifying assets and capabilities. (Please see Appendix E for the AI workshop template.

Highlights of the TEI Presentations
CNU       :              EHELP Program
CTU        :              LAMBO
PNU-V:                 Twist of Zest
BISU       :              SEEA-Banacon
USJR      :              WOW (Win on Waste)

Feedback and Comments from the Presentations:

Assessing the nature of the projects, Dr. Guevarra gave his feedback and comments, to wit:

• revisit the extension project and situate them vis-à-vis the  ESD framework presented
• clearly identify the elements present in the project
• maintain collaboration in and out of the campus by empowering the pre-service teachers as resource speakers in the community
• sharpen the focus to identify and label what has been done and how ESD can be embedded in the curriculum
• tell the story as ESD project and as a TEC-focused project
• MOU/MOA can be forged to ensure collaboration from stakeholders in identifying local issues
• learn to deal with sustainability issues even if we are not comfortable discussing about them
• consider not only health issues but also that of economic interest of the area
• discuss hard issues with the students, explain well to allow them to make informed decisions around the issues
• know that analyzing environmental concerns are good starting points
• give the students a safe space  in the classroom for them to discover and discuss society’s hard issues
• always mobilize the students to engage in ESD by making the purpose clear on the perspective of the students

The presentations shed light on the reality that the heart of ESD are the real issues in the community. ESD is about decision making toward an action, embedding it in the lives of the students making it part of their system. Furthermore, Dr. Ushio Miura shared about the global ESD initiatives emphasizing the fact that sustainability is not an end but a continuous journey where teachers play key roles in transformative education and the the importance of having a ‘teacher professional network for ESD was stressed by Dr. Agnes Valenzuela on SEA-ESD initiatives.

The first half of the third day of the in-country workshop was spent in the material recovery facility in the University of San Jose Recoletos in Basak, Cebu City where the participants were welcomed with the presentation of their Win on Waste  (WOW) program. Debriefing and action planning followed in the afternoon. (Please see the attached action plan per TEI.)

In recognition of education for sustainable development (ESD) as essential elements for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in doing so, the concepts of ESD are vital to be mainstreamed in school curriculum, contents, practices and policy planning, while the teacher educators and school leaders have been playing a significant role in the implementation and achievement of ESD in the institutional levels. For that reason, Faculty of Education, Souphanouvong University, with the financial support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), conducted a workshop on “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for Lao Teacher Education Institutions” on 18-20 December 2017 in LuangPrabang Province, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).

Background to the workshop

Overarching goal of this ESD-workshop was “to generate and scale up action in all levels and areas of education and learning to accelerate and progress towards sustainable development”.
Objective 1: “to orient education and learning so that everyone has the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes that empowers them to contribute to sustainable development”
Objective 2: “to strengthen education and learning in all agendas, programmes and activities that promote sustainable development”
Objective 3: to strengthen the capacity of Lao Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) on a deep understanding the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that enables them to integrate and institutionalize the EDS into their institutions for sustainability.
Objective 4: to empower the participants’ practical skills, knowledge, concepts of ESD to build their capacity to advance the implementation of ESD into institutions.
Objective 5: to share and exchange experiences in regard to ESD integration among teacher education institutions in Lao PDR whether ESD has been already integrated or not.
Objective 6: to create a network of ESD team within Lao Teacher Education Institutions and beyond, in addition, to become a useful and ongoing platform for sharing opinions concerning ESD in the long-term future.

Key understandings are summarized below:

1. ESD is about to provide learners strong decision ability, responsibility for caring environment, economic development, and justice while respecting diversity of cultures.
2. It is a vital for lifelong learning, and is an essential component of quality education and to transform sustainable society.
3. The participants from TEIs underscored the importance of understanding the concepts of ESD, and practices.
4. ESD should be mainstreamed, integrated and adapted into TEIs’ existing curriculum, and contents to achieve the sustainable development.
5. ESD is interconnected approaches, which is related to economics, politics, society, cultures, lifestyles, and environment.
6. Concepts of ESD are a new thing for the participants from Lao Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).
7. There are no institutional policies and strategies related to the education for sustainable development in almost teacher institutions, therefore, it is needed to formulate policies to link with the global ESD plan.
8. A locally relevant ESD integration framework is needed to developed and adapted into each institutional context.
9. Addressing sustainability is a challenge for TEIs due lack of capable key actors included school leaders, teachers, subsequently its success is limited because of “the absence of clearly articulated ESD strategies and policies”.
10. It is vital for the participants to gain a deeper understanding of concepts of ESD, approaches and practices.
11. There are many activities, which have been organized within TEIs, but not yet integrated into their curriculum, methods, content, and textbooks.
12. New visions related to ESD within TEIs are needed to be created to link to the international concerted efforts since some TEIs’ vision lack a vision relevant to ESD.

Background

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is currently very urgent to be implemented, given the increasingly alarming the local, regional, and global environmental, social and economic quality (UNESCO). Furthermore, the global agreement to achieve 17 goals in SDGs has not shown the results. Therefore, it is necessary to take concrete steps to overcome those problems. Integration the ESD conception into the curriculum of formal and informal education and changing to the ESD paradigms of lecturers, teachers, and students is the strategic way to ensure sustainable development in the future. The role of lecturers and teachers is very important in creating the ESD integrated curriculum and its implementation. The ESD conception can be an integral part of the education process and also community services.

Universitas Gadjah Mada has a long history of community service activities that are always developed dynamically. The integration of the ESD concept in the community service curriculum (Student and Lecture Community Service) can be done since the concept of the UGM community service is already in line with ESD concept, which is also based on the social, economy and environment pillar. UGM is confident that the integration of the ESD concept in the Community Service Curriculum with will accelerate the development of the social, economic and environmental quality. So UGM's goal in community service is empowering people and community to solve the problem comprehensively. Community empowerment based on local resources and education to achieve 17 goals in SDGs. Furthermore, the UGM's experience will be used as reverence by 46 networks of UGM partner universities in Indonesia.

Therefore, one of the initial steps that crucial to be performed is conducting a general echo workshop which will be attended by deans from higher education such as the university that has teacher education and also directorate for community services to synergize the knowledge about the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It is hoped that the dean of each faculty can socialize and discuss the concept of ESD on their workplaces in integrating ESD into academic curriculum and curriculum for community services as the outcome of this workshop.

Goals and Target

The primary goal of General Echo Workshop was to make the invited participants understand the significance of integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) concept into academic curriculum and community services as they are the acknowledged influencer in their area of expertise. The workshop further aimed the following:

1. Increasing awareness of the participants about 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the basic knowledge to reach the workshop’s goal
2. Introducing the Education for Sustainable Development concept in general
3. Understanding the significance of ESD curriculum integration in the university
4. Recognizing the importance of ESD concept in programs of community services
5. Making an action plan to integrate ESD curriculum in each university
6. Developing sustainable agreement to enhance and to implement ESD concept in every action in the university.

 

Expected Results of the Workshop

The expected result of the workshop is to enhance the understanding of all participants about the significance of integrating the Education for Sustainable Development concept into our academic curriculum. The world has 17 Sustainable Development Goals that we’ve known it as Global Goals. These goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoyed peace and prosperity and planned to be successfully achieved in 2030. But of course, for achieving the SDGs, it requires the partnership of governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens alike to make sure we leave a better planet for future generations.
Thus, we can see the urgency of our society to learn, understand, and work together to reach the targets set out in SDGs. This General Echo Workshop is designed to give the basic understanding about Education for Sustainable Development for all the participants as they were all coming from the academic background. They are all expected to embrace all that they got from the workshop, transfer, and implement them in their institutions.

Participants

The workshop was well attended. There were 38 participants in the workshop from Day 1 to Day 2 while the workshop was planned only for 23 participants. The participants were invited from representative facilities of five clusters (Social and Humaniora, Science and Technology, Agro, Medical, and Technical) in Universitas Gadjah Mada, also from five universities of education in Yogyakarta, and Office of Education, Sport, and Youth for High Education in Yogyakarta. They were all Deans and the head of the invited institutions since we were expected that they would start to implement the goal of this workshop to integrate the ESD concept in their faculty or institution.

Changes in Education for Sustainable Development
Among Selected Cambodian Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs)

At first, the notion of ESD appeared new to Cambodian Teacher Education Institutions. Nevertheless, the past and current practices at Cambodian TEIs are relevant to ESD concept. The leaders of those TEIs had just become realized that some activities were called ESD. However, TEIs need to mobilize the concept of ESD throughout whole institutions. Such an action would help increase both teacher educators and teacher trainees’ awareness of ESD. For example, although introduced to the National Institute of Education in 2013, ESD did not appear to be widely discussed among policy makers and teachers alike. Nevertheless, what UNESCO Cambodia office did was train the teacher trainers and teacher trainees about the concepts of ESD in general and how the concepts can be integrated in the high school curricular, particularly in the lesson plans that the teacher trainees prepare for their classes. Whether or not it was actually implemented and how exactly it was implemented at the school and classroom levels upon the teacher-trainees’ graduations were little known.

In 2017, however, selected teacher education institutions’ representatives from Cambodia, namely Faculty of Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh and National Institute of Education, were invited to receive a week-long training on ESD, especially on how the concepts can be spread further through teacher educating programs and teacher educators themselves.

After the workshop on ESD in Chiang Rai, the selected representatives were encouraged to cascade the knowledge to other local teacher training institutions within Cambodia with some funding provided by UNESCO Bangkok, SEAMEO, and the Government of Japan. Then, the Faculty of Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh realized the original idea from the workshop in Chiang Rai to organize the in-country ESD workshop in collaboration with Teacher Training Department, MoEYS and National Institute of Education. The workshop aimed at building capacity of teacher education institution leaders and teacher educators in ESD and inspiring them to initiate and implement ESD concepts at their institutions. The capacity building workshop was conducted in Kampot province, a small seaside province located in Southwestern of Cambodia.

The key targets in the in-country workshop were leaders and teacher educators from Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), National Institute of Education (NIE), Teacher Training Department (TTD), Phnom Penh Teacher Education College (PPTEC), Takeo Regional Teacher Training Center, (TRTTC) and Kampot Provincial Teacher Training College (KPTTC). 30 participants from those institutions attended the workshop and developed their action plan to spread ESD concepts further.

Launching of ESD workshop among teacher trainers in Kampot Province, Cambodia

Demonstration of how everything is connected in the world and in ESD training