The 10th APEID International Conference
Learning Together for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainable Development
6-8 December 2006
Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
Question: Should young people be responsible for the future of our society, culture and environment?
I believe that we are as young as we feel, and age should not be a criterion for, or a barrier to, our responsibilities to our families, society and the environment. But the generation gap is real, and misunderstandings and differences of opinions are common between the young and old.
If indeed young people should be held accountable for our future, as should all members of the global community, how can we encourage and engage their involvement? John Fien’s paper on Young People and the Environment focuses on the relationship between young people and sustainable development, and raises some key issues for consideration.
Curriculum reform and implications for teacher education in light of the findings from the paper may be a topic you would like to explore and present at the 10th APEID International Conference, Learning Together for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainable Development. The closing date for abstracts has been extended to 1 September 2006.
Authors of accepted abstracts will present their papers to an international audience of policy makers, administrators, educators, researchers, other experts and students from multi-disciplines. The papers will also be posted on APEID’s website for further dissemination.
Please submit your abstract online at www.unescobkk.org/education/apeid/conference.
Register now. If you sign up by 1 September 2006, you qualify for the early bird registration and benefit from a significant reduction of the registration fee! The fee covers all Conference activities, including:
? Attendance of all sessions
? Conference materials
? Lunches and refreshments
? Welcome dinner
For online registration or further information about the Conference, please go to http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=4276 or email apeidconf@unescobkk.org.
The overall goal of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is to integrate the principals, values, practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. The basic vision of the DESD is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
UNESCO International Implementation Scheme of ESD 2005
Conference Secretariat
UNESCO Bangkok
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110 Thailand
---------------
Young People and the Environment
John Fien, Innovation Professor for Sustainability, RMIT University, Australia
When we talk about conserving our environment for future generations, exactly who is responsible for ensuring that our children, and other children who will be born in the years to come, will have a future that is sustainable?
John Fien’s paper on Young People and the Environment explores the environmental attitudes of young people and reflects upon the implications for curriculum reform in secondary schools in the Asia and Pacific region during the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The paper concludes that young people are aware of, knowledgeable and concerned about a wide range of local, national and global environmental problems. Interestingly, they also believe that it is possible to have both a healthy environment and a prosperous economy, but do not seem to have a sound understanding of the relationships among social, economic and institutional frameworks, and ecological degradation and sustainability. Nonetheless, while young people expressed a strong desire to improve the environment, few have shown active environmental citizenship or a willingness to work for environmental protection in the future.
School curricula need to change so that young people are able to explore the many ways in which current systems can be adapted to support sustainability, in which current lifestyles reflect these systems, and in which their own actions can contribute to a sustainable future. As a focus for education, sustainable development requires new concepts for thinking about the world, new attitudes and values for making ethical judgments about the state of the environment, and alternative propositions for enhancing its sustainability. Students have to learn how to resolve problems, develop and evaluate visions of alternative futures, and actively work in and with the community on problems that are of significance to them.
Reforms to curriculum and pedagogy can help empower teachers to take responsibility for planning learning experiences to enhance the capacities of students to participate effectively as members of civil society in the interests of sustainable development. However, successfully inducting teachers into the new roles requires recognition that educational change is multidimensional. Reorienting education towards sustainability is a process of educational reform and innovation. Individual countries, education systems, schools and teachers will need to reflect critically on the suggestions for curriculum and pedagogical reform and the more significant second-order changes to national priorities, educational goals and approaches to curriculum development, implementation and evaluation and to interpret and focus them for action in national and local contexts.
John Fien’s paper can be downloaded from http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esd/documents/workshops/kanchanburi/fien_young.pdf
Learning Together for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainable Development
6-8 December 2006
Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
Question: Should young people be responsible for the future of our society, culture and environment?
I believe that we are as young as we feel, and age should not be a criterion for, or a barrier to, our responsibilities to our families, society and the environment. But the generation gap is real, and misunderstandings and differences of opinions are common between the young and old.
If indeed young people should be held accountable for our future, as should all members of the global community, how can we encourage and engage their involvement? John Fien’s paper on Young People and the Environment focuses on the relationship between young people and sustainable development, and raises some key issues for consideration.
Curriculum reform and implications for teacher education in light of the findings from the paper may be a topic you would like to explore and present at the 10th APEID International Conference, Learning Together for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainable Development. The closing date for abstracts has been extended to 1 September 2006.
Authors of accepted abstracts will present their papers to an international audience of policy makers, administrators, educators, researchers, other experts and students from multi-disciplines. The papers will also be posted on APEID’s website for further dissemination.
Please submit your abstract online at www.unescobkk.org/education/apeid/conference.
Register now. If you sign up by 1 September 2006, you qualify for the early bird registration and benefit from a significant reduction of the registration fee! The fee covers all Conference activities, including:
? Attendance of all sessions
? Conference materials
? Lunches and refreshments
? Welcome dinner
For online registration or further information about the Conference, please go to http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=4276 or email apeidconf@unescobkk.org.
The overall goal of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is to integrate the principals, values, practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. The basic vision of the DESD is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
UNESCO International Implementation Scheme of ESD 2005
Conference Secretariat
UNESCO Bangkok
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110 Thailand
---------------
Young People and the Environment
John Fien, Innovation Professor for Sustainability, RMIT University, Australia
When we talk about conserving our environment for future generations, exactly who is responsible for ensuring that our children, and other children who will be born in the years to come, will have a future that is sustainable?
John Fien’s paper on Young People and the Environment explores the environmental attitudes of young people and reflects upon the implications for curriculum reform in secondary schools in the Asia and Pacific region during the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The paper concludes that young people are aware of, knowledgeable and concerned about a wide range of local, national and global environmental problems. Interestingly, they also believe that it is possible to have both a healthy environment and a prosperous economy, but do not seem to have a sound understanding of the relationships among social, economic and institutional frameworks, and ecological degradation and sustainability. Nonetheless, while young people expressed a strong desire to improve the environment, few have shown active environmental citizenship or a willingness to work for environmental protection in the future.
School curricula need to change so that young people are able to explore the many ways in which current systems can be adapted to support sustainability, in which current lifestyles reflect these systems, and in which their own actions can contribute to a sustainable future. As a focus for education, sustainable development requires new concepts for thinking about the world, new attitudes and values for making ethical judgments about the state of the environment, and alternative propositions for enhancing its sustainability. Students have to learn how to resolve problems, develop and evaluate visions of alternative futures, and actively work in and with the community on problems that are of significance to them.
Reforms to curriculum and pedagogy can help empower teachers to take responsibility for planning learning experiences to enhance the capacities of students to participate effectively as members of civil society in the interests of sustainable development. However, successfully inducting teachers into the new roles requires recognition that educational change is multidimensional. Reorienting education towards sustainability is a process of educational reform and innovation. Individual countries, education systems, schools and teachers will need to reflect critically on the suggestions for curriculum and pedagogical reform and the more significant second-order changes to national priorities, educational goals and approaches to curriculum development, implementation and evaluation and to interpret and focus them for action in national and local contexts.
John Fien’s paper can be downloaded from http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esd/documents/workshops/kanchanburi/fien_young.pdf