"Indeed, among the most successful programmes are those that avoid the belief that awareness leads to understanding, understanding leads to concern, and concern motivates the development of skills and action. Instead, the key ingredient of success is to start from the questions, issues and problems that concern young people themselves, and to help them develop ‘action competence’ through community-based learning."

Unesco 2002 Lessons Learnt from a decade of commitment

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How is ESD Different?


Knowledge and understanding + Values and attitudes = Action competence?

Knowledge and understanding of issues are a good and important starting point. In order to begin to understand complex issues such as Climate Change or Genetically Modified Organisms, pupils need knowledge and understanding from a variety of subject areas, such as Science, Maths, Geography and History. However, Education for Sustainable Development is also about examining values and attitudes and personal behaviour.


ESD takes learning beyond the classroom. For example, take the topic of waste:
• Can you teach about waste reduction and the importance of recycling if the school as an institution does not implement this?
• Does the school have a purchasing policy to try and buy recycled or recyclable products?
• Does the school suggest ways to minimise waste, both in school and domestically?
• Has the school set up recycling facilities?

Young people are quick to pick up on the fact that adults often do not practice what they preach. This can undermine learning and faith in adults and institutions. The need for a whole school approach is recognised in the HMI / Ofsted report on good practice in ESD:


“Many schools are engaged, to varying degrees, in a range of activities such as waste minimisation, energy conservation and recycling, areas where pupils are able to make a very practical and obvious contribution to sustainable change. However, successful learning occurs best where there is a comprehensive, whole-school approach to these activities which reinforces the sustainable message.“

(Taking the first step forward….Towards an education for sustainable development: Good practice in primary and secondary schools. Ofsted / HMI 2003 www.ofsted.gov.uk)


If the school does not support waste reduction, then an ESD approach might examine the constraints and barriers. Pupils, together with the wider school community, can try to come up with practical solutions, such as carrying out a waste audit or asking the local authority to provide recycling bins. Studying waste can lead to connections with other issues such as health and wealth, as the example of the school in Curitiba given in Section One shows. Also see further examples of waste and sustainability projects in Mumbai and Halifax in the Case Studies.

The challenge of ESD, in taking learning beyond the classroom, is to influence the ethos and management of the school, and even the community beyond. ESD is about developing pupils’ skills and confidence as informed and active citizens learning that they can change things for the better.