Education for sustainable development: an emergent discourse for multi-sector learning and action partnership

Bob Offei Manteaw

doi:10.7273/000005775

As the discourse of sustainable development or sustainability begins to gain roots, both in the political and social arenas, it has become clear that people need to know and understand its full implications in order to be able to take the necessary actions around issues of environment, economics, and social justice. Sustainable development is, therefore, an educational issue; one whose cause must be championed by all knowledge-related institutions such as schools, businesses, and civil society. The significance of the concept and the urgency it requires in reversing our unsustainable present as epitomized in climate change, issues of health, poverty, violent conflicts, HIV/AIDS, inequality between and within nations is unquestionable, yet not many people seem to recognize this need. As an emergent international discourse, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) challenges humanity to explore new and creative visions of teaching and learning approaches that provide logical responses to our currently interconnected and interrelated global predicaments. Against the background of current neoliberal and capitalist discourses as they relate to educational policies and practices, the study proposes multi-sector learning and action partnerships as a response to what is described in the study as the new epistemic challenge. In this regard, businesses are invited into partnership learning activities that underscore the interconnectedness of life s different systems economics, environment, society, and culture. In doing so, the emergent business practice, popularly known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) is critically explored to establish its potential as an avenue to align CSR activities as they relate to education to the broader principles of education for sustainable development. In the end, the study asks: How can businesses learn from doing unusual business, and how can schools and society learn from such partnerships for social and ecological transformation? The study also explores the cultural dimensions of education for sustainable development against the belief that different notions and worldviews on development human progress in different cultures inform different approaches to educational thinking and practice. Ghana and the United States are used as international comparative cases to understand how people s different development aspirations guide and direct their educational planning for sustainable development. The underlying question for this comparison is: How can a global approach to education for sustainable development be possible when people in different cultures and regions have different understanding and approaches to development?

Education for sustainable development: an emergent discourse for multi-sector learning and action partnership

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