scholarly journals Education for Sustainable Development Barriers

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Helen Foley

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is seen as fundamental in the shift to realising sustainability. Unfortunately, the integration of ESD, especially in higher education is poor. An important question therefore is, what are the barriers preventing the integration of ESD? This paper explores key barriers preventing the integration of ESD. Additionally, it is emphasised in this paper that the dominant social paradigm fundamentally shapes and reinforces ESD barriers. It is argued here that addressing ESD barriers, particularly the dominant social paradigm, is fundamental to the integration of ESD. Within the context of anthropogenic climate change, resource overuse, water stress and wealth inequality, addressing ESD barriers is now imperative.

Author(s):  
Mohamed Jama Madar ◽  
Mustafa Din Bin Subari ◽  
Shadiya Mohamed Saleh Baqutayan

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a global initiative towards transforming education for sustainability. The integration of SD into the education portfolio is considered to be an important approach that ensures strategic alignment of higher education with SDGs. A document review was used to identify and discuss the difference between transmissive and transformative education in relation to SDGs and in the context of Somali education. In this trajectory, it is expected that the concept of ‘‘transformative education is likely to become more common to meet the emerging social, economic and environmental issues, yet practical challenges remain in Somaliland HE sector. The roadmap towards addressing transformative education for sustainability is not included in the Somaliland national portfolios; particularly ESD has not been presented. In this regard, this paper proposed a generic framework that spotlights the integration of HEIs and the national development goals (NDGs) in Somaliland. Meanwhile, developed and developing countries are prioritizing structural transformation in their HEIs that are tailored to national and regional development programs. Consistent with the Rio + 20 outcomes, the authors analyzed the concept of the ‘‘sustainable university’’ and identified the fact that it is practically divided into three interrelated and complementary categories, namely social-, environmental-, and economic-oriented university in pursuit of actualizing SD. The paper recommends major reforms in the education sector including availing investment portfolios for R&D, renovation of education goals and transforming universities for sustainability


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