Clean Techn Environ Policy (2006) 8: 3137 DOI 10.

1007/s10098-005-0026-3

O R I GI N A L P A P E R

Antonio A. Martins Teresa M. Mata Carlos A. V. Costa

Education for sustainability: challenges and trends

Received: 15 October 2004 / Accepted: 14 September 2005 / Published online: 12 January 2006 Springer-Verlag 2006

Abstract There has been increasing recognition of the critical role of education for sustainability (ES). This article addresses the subject of ES through all the levels of formal and non-formal education, including basic education, university, organisations (private and public) and lifelong learning. The challenges and implications of eectively incorporating sustainability concepts and principles through all the levels of the education system are presented and analysed. Examples and suggestions are presented and discussed, taking into account the interactions, needs and objectives of people and society.

Introduction
In the past decades it became clear that moving towards sustainability requires changes in the way of life of those living in developed countries. The present consumption and production patterns of developed countries also aspired by those in developing countries is generally recognised as unsustainable. Since the publication of the Brundtland Report Our Common Future (WCED 1987), the concept of sustainable development came into focus and has increasingly gained attention at international, national, local, public and private levels. Since then, several organisations have been involved in research and development of measures and strategies to provide long-term ability for nature and human beings to survive and prosper together, as well as to guide planning and policy making in the transition to sustainable development.

A. A. Martins (&) T. M. Mata C. A. V. Costa Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200 465 Porto, Portugal E-mail: amartins@fe.up.pt Tel.: +351-91-4784483 Fax: +351-22-5081674

Notions of sustainable development and sustainability have been used in the growing literature and policy debate with dierent meanings and interpretations (Pepper 1998; Sathiendrakumar 1996). Although the conceptual and the operational content of the terms have been closely contested and redened all denitions have to do with a set of core ideas, including: living within the limits, understanding the interconnections among environment, economy and society and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities (Mebratu 1998; Mitchell 2000; Ferreira et al. 2003). Although sustainable development touches all aspects of human life, in this article the discussion is restricted to the questions of education for sustainability (ES). Nowadays it is recognised that ES can help change the attitudes and behaviour of people as consumers, producers and citizens to carry out their collective responsibilities and duties. In 1975, UNESCO rst recognised the importance of environmental education in the Belgrade Charter. In 1997 the Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education, held in Tbilisi, dened the following general objectives for environmental education: raise awareness and sensitivity on environmental problems; gain knowledge and basic understanding of the environment and associated problems; change attitudes, values and motivation to actively participate in environmental protection and improvement; acquisition and development of skills to identify and solve environmental problems; participation of all social groups and business players. The Rio conference in 1992 adopted sustainability as the fundamental principle to support the development of mankind at all levels. Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992) restated the importance of ES and the need for considering all social, economic and political aspects of sustainable development. There was a change in focus from environmental education to ES. Besides the protection of the natural environment, ES includes also the interrelations between the social and economic spheres. As shown in Fig. 1, the current and most consensual approach to sustainable development reects the idea

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that it can only be achieved through a broad understanding of the three dimensions: economic, ecological and social aspects of society and nature. The key concept of sustainability is the integration of these three domains, corresponding in Fig. 1 to the shaded region. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Tbilisi Declaration on Environmental Education (1977) the Thessaloniki Conference on Environmental Education (1997) put forward a declaration for adoption by all governments.1 This declaration states that progress on ES is still not fully explored and that much work remains to be done. The declaration points out the need for integrating and coordinating eorts of governments, NGOs, local communities, nancial organisations and other groups, in a number of key areas, including the change of behaviour and lifestyle, consumption patterns and the way that the natural environment is seen and dealt with. This declaration stresses that to achieve sustainability one needs to increase people awareness about aspects like poverty, economic development, democracy and peace. It calls for a reorientation of the formal and non-formal education as a whole towards sustainability. Also, it points out that the current status of aairs still lags far behind the objectives and goals set by Chapter 36 of Agenda 21. Vargas (2000) argues that to achieve sustainable development the reconciliation of competing cultures must be obtained. In particular, the midway between global competition, consumerism and strict environmental protection must be found. Industry and consumers need to use natural resources and products more eciently. Cleaner production principles and technologies need to be adopted by companies. Market pressure, competition, lack of incentives and recognition from customers are diculties companies need to face when implementing better practices. Other diculties facing action towards sustainability are directly related to the educational system. Most of the time the courses oered are limited in scope and do not reect the interrelations between the various aspects of sustainable development. The subject of ES requires a strong commitment from society and between generations beyond any political and economic time scales (Crofton 2000; Jansen 2003). In this article the current status of ES is discussed, with an emphasis on the limitations of existing approaches. The challenges and implications of eectively incorporating sustainability concepts and principles in all levels of formal and non-formal education are presented and discussed. Although in this article the discussion and analysis of ES issues are based on the current situation in developed countries, some conclusions and suggestions can be further extended to developing countries.

Fig. 1 General accepted model for sustainability

Challenges and needs of education for sustainability

One can distinguish four main levels of learning depending on the age of people involved, objectives and subjects learned (see Fig. 2). These four levels of learning can be divided into basic education, university, organisations (private and public) and lifelong learning. The basic education level includes the elementary, high and vocational schools. The university level includes graduate and postgraduate courses. The organisations level includes institutions and companies. Lifelong learning includes self-learning through life experience or non-formal learning. In the current educational system, nishing the basic education is mandatory. After nishing basic education students can go to a university or enter the employment market. The basic education and the university levels correspond to formal education, characterised by well-established subjects and the purpose of giving the students the skills and knowledge essential for them to be eective and productive members of society. The organisations and lifelong learning levels correspond mainly to nonformal education in which case the choice of subjects and schedules depends on the needs and objectives of organisations and society. In these four levels, dierent strategies to ES should be considered depending on the objectives, restrictions and characteristics of the learners. In the next sections, the current situation of ES, the needs and challenges facing the four levels of the educational system are identied and discussed in detail. The basic education level Elementary, high and vocational schools are of fundamental importance as a means of developing behaviour and comprehensive views of the surrounding environment. Since it is crucial that the younger generation becomes more aware of the fundamental facts of sustainability, these subjects need to be integrated into their mandatory subjects. For example, how to recycle and separate domestic wastes by type can be learned in light of the need to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources and to reduce the environmental impact generated by their production.

1 Its full text can be seen at the URL: http://www.mio-escde.org/ Thess/declar_en.htm.

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Fig. 2 Educational system with the dierent levels of learning

In many cases, the observation and study of the surrounding environment and other activities, such as model learning, games and visits, provides an interesting context for students to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and values concerning sustainability. These studies of the surrounding environment may include direct observation, analysis, research and discussion between students and teachers, critical thinking, problem solving and sensitivity development to the dierent environmental aspects and the relations between environment, economy and society. It is quite important that during their basic studies students should be able to prot from experiencing a school environment that respects sustainability. It is an opportunity for training by living. The complexity should naturally follow the progression of the students and the specialisation of the subjects, according to the students objectives. The basics of ecology can be introduced in this level of the educational system, with an emphasis on the interrelations between the human being and nature, considering the future role of the students in society. Students should develop a sense of responsibility towards the environment. The advantages of developing correct behaviours can be presented to students, but much more important is to make them understand the ideas supporting the subjects they learn. This way they will teach older generations, namely their parents and families what they have learnt, and will motivate them to behave similarly. One can say that behaviour breeds behaviour. This strategy can be the most eective way to change the minds of people and their attitudes towards sustainability. Special attention should be given to the teachers as the quality of ES depends on their capacity to balance the trade-os between giving the students the theory or the ability to observe, analyse and make decisions by themselves concerning the environment. Teachers need to take into consideration the dierent and particular

inuences on developing an understanding of sustainable development and implement strategies for integrating this subject into school curricula. The main interaction at the basic education level is with society itself and it is felt mainly through the denition of the relevant subjects taught. In most of the developed countries the main subjects at the elementary and high school level are dened directly by the national and regional departments of education. Therefore, changes can occur through lobbying, pressure from citizens, NGOs, professional organisations and others. When nishing the basic education, a signicant percentage of students enter the employment market. Therefore, they need to have a good understanding of the problems related to sustainability, in order to apply them in their work place and everyday life. Normally the analysis of subjects related to sustainability is not mandatory or there is a lack of time to teach these subjects due to the vast range of other mandatory subjects. Also, specic objectives are not dened for ES, the teaching materials are often unavailable and teachers are improperly prepared. Most of the time there is a tendency to stress only some aspects of sustainability instead o all its aspects for a sound comprehension of the problem. Therefore, introducing an interdisciplinary approach into teaching and research became more important to address these increasingly complex problems. Teachers need to have training and specic knowledge on the problems and questions of sustainability. The training of teachers on the questions of sustainability is an essential part of this process and should take into account their dierent backgrounds and education. The subject of ES needs to be an important part of their formal learning and training process, since they will introduce it to their students. Besides the training of teachers it is fundamental to develop teaching materials and modules, which can improve the situation of dealing with sustainability in an intercultural context. Another issue that requires special attention is how to evaluate the existing or new programs of ES. Evaluation procedures are needed to assess the progress and eectiveness of the school programs on ES, their results and benets, in order to improve them. For example, the percentage of students enrolled in environmental and recycling clubs or the number of initiatives for waste minimisation and cleaner production are measures of the success of ES. In many situations the evaluation of ES is dicult because the key questions, objectives and best strategies to reach the goals are complex and not properly dened. Also, it involves changes in the behaviour and habits of people, which are very hard to measure. Several activities and associations exist for dealing with the problems of teaching ES in the basic education level. An example is the Eco-schools association, which consists of a group of schools, mostly elementary schools from European countries, engaged in teaching environmental and related problems. The teaching

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materials, tools and learning activities for teachers and students have been developed and made available for free (http://www.eco-schools.org). Meetings and competitions between schools are organised mostly at the national level to promote the exchange of experiences and ideas between professors and students within the elds of ES. Other schools are encouraged to adapt these teaching materials or even to develop new activities according to their social and economic context. Since cultural diversity makes it difcult for the teachers to approach sustainability concepts, the various cultural perspectives and aspects should be considered in the elaboration of teaching materials (Ferreira et al. 2003). The university level Universities play a central role in the development of knowledge, including a large number of graduate and postgraduate courses, such as engineering, sciences, architecture, law, management and economics. Due to this large range of disciplines and backgrounds, dierent approaches need to be considered to include the main aspects of sustainability in the university curricula in a coherent way. A multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach is also needed because sustainability encompasses several technical and scientic areas (Crofton 2000; Vargas 2000; Painter 2003). Most of the people at university receive little education about sustainability and environmental issues unless they were specically involved in the subject or personally interested. For example, few academic programs explain how cleaner production concepts can be integrated into engineering practices, services, marketing, management and design. Concepts like pollution prevention, waste minimisation and cleaner production have not been a required component of the academic curricula in engineering courses and others (Boyle 1999). Also, there is a need for including the subject of sustainability in the legal, social and economic sciences. Normally in these sciences the radical changes that sustainable development implies are not discussed, such as the consumers habits and behaviours and the way society measures social and economic development. Most of the graduate and postgraduate courses include many mandatory subjects and little time is available to consider new subjects to be taught like sustainability. However, there is always the possibility to embed them directly into the curricula (Filho 1997; Crofton 2000; Van Berkel 2000; Springett and Kearins 2001). For example, in process design the selection among dierent options should take into account their environmental impact evaluation, the use of cleaner technologies, and whenever possible social and economic aspects. Also, in the design of a new product, besides prot maximisation, all life cycle stages and the environmental impacts generated must be analysed and accounted for (Gutierrez-Martin and Huttenhaim 2003).

Since sustainability places great emphasis on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, one can envisage graduate courses in which students receive basic training in a range of disciplines regardless of the specic content of their course. The ability to work with people from dierent backgrounds must be developed. It may involve the interaction between dierent academic departments in colleges and universities, and the collaboration with outside partners, like other universities, companies and industry (Crofton 2000; Jansen 2003). This will ensure that future generations are open-minded specialists who are able to interact with their counterparts in other disciplines. Practical training through research is also an essential element when learning the various aspects of sustainability. New forms of training, which move beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries, are needed, aimed at providing world-class targeted interdisciplinary teaching at university level. A practical example is the Erasmus University Ph.D. Program (Baas et al. 2000) that allows people from dierent backgrounds to attend it regardless of whether they have a background in industry or academia. The main themes of the Ph.D. program deal with cleaner production and sustainability, but students can choose research subjects in areas of their personal or of their organisations special interest. In this program most of the classes are taught using an e-learning platform. This process allows students to be engaged in the course just by connecting to the internet at home or at the workplace. Also, the use of the internet and the information and communication technologies facilitates the interactions between people of dierent backgrounds, allowing for a broader range of subjects to be discussed. Other examples of the new information and communication technologies application at the graduate level are the projects of the University of Surrey (Perdan et al. 2000) and of the Politecnico de Milano University (Vezzoli 2003). The rst project consists in the development of learning resources based on new information and communication technologies, with particular emphasis on the use of the internet. Available resources consist of a number of multidisciplinary case studies and supporting materials and are aimed at students in engineering courses. The second project is the result of a collaborative project between some Italian higher education institutions and a governmental department, directed to students of design courses. It is a collection of tools and multimedia presentations, which introduce the students to the questions of sustainable production and consumption from a designers point of view. The organisational level When aiming at a dynamic knowledge-based society, the view according to which education ends when employment begins is not appropriate and productive any more. Knowledge, technology and legislation change so fast

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that the process of learning is essential to workers and organisations to be eective and competitive. One can say that during our lifetime we need to return to school many times. Sustainability is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary eld that requires a dynamic and continuous training to follow the latest developments. The process of education and learning in organisations imply changes in their culture and the way they do business. Normally it occurs in response to pressures of society or changes in the perception and comprehension of environmental problems. The relationship between companies and society is presented in Fig. 3. Figure 3 shows that both sides, organisations and society, interact with each other in dierent ways. Companies and other organisations are more concerned with complying with environmental legislation rather than anticipating it by incorporating cleaner production and sustainability principles into their operation and practices. They usually try to improve their environmental behaviour in response to pressures from society. On the other hand, society inuences companies and organisations through laws, regulations, judicial pressure, consumer pressure and competition, forcing them to change the way they do business, their corporate culture and values. Also, society judges company activities relating to environmental management, marketing and publication of environmental reports. To change their behaviour and culture towards sustainability, organisations will need properly trained professionals. Sustainability, as a new and dynamic eld, represents a golden opportunity to attract a larger number of young and skilled people to pursue a career in this eld (Hale 1995). However, the admission of novice people by companies is normally a very slow process. Another possibility for the organisations, which is usually much faster and more eective, involves the direct training of their collaborators. Usually the topics of internal training strongly depend on the objectives, ambitions, time availability and needs of both the collaborators and their organisation. Most of the time these subjects are much specialised. During this training it is important to include subjects related to environmental protection and sustainability. This way, collaborators acquire competences in this area and will be more aware

Fig. 3 Interrelations between companies or organisations and society

of their company environmental performance and how they can act to improve it. For example, if an organisation intends to implement an environmental management system according to the ISO14001 international standard, internal training for the collaborators and other members of the organisation as well as training for the representatives of other companies in the supply chain are required for a successful implementation. For the professional and vocational training of technicians employed by organisations or for experts who are about to enter the workforce, the ENVIROCARE tool can be used (Coakley 2003). This is a multimedia educational CD-ROM developed as a result of the European Commissions Leonardo Project. The main objective is to allow workers to gain some background in subjects related to the environment, like cleaner production and environmental management. The CD-ROM is available in various languages and is free of charge. It includes several case studies based on real situations, which can be analysed and discussed by students with the assistance of an instructor previously prepared. Study materials for students and for instructors are both available on the CD-ROM. Sustainability oers great opportunities for organisations to realise incremental and substantial innovations. At the same time it leaves many organisations vulnerable to the risk of not recognising their potential early enough and eventually they lose competitiveness. The absence of a strong culture in companies and organisations in elds such as environmental protection and sustainability may be a crucial factor along with unfavourable framework conditions for innovation. This could result from the fact that most of the people in business and industry have never learnt about sustainability (Boyle 1999). In todays world, the intensifying competition and the environmental regulations, which become more and more stringent, require a proactive approach. Possible measures include collaborators training, cooperation with other companies and organisations mainly in the transfer of technology and training of workers. If there is a commitment to change the way organisations operate the results can be more eective. In their quest to be competitive, companies need to innovate and to develop new products and processes (Beard and Hartman 1997). Sustainability should be seen as the core value of the company corporate culture and understood as a longterm commitment between their stakeholders, shareholders, suppliers, customers and society in general. The questions discussed above are valid either to the private and the public sector organisations. However, as the question of sustainable development places itself at the central stage in the economic, social and political spheres, governmental institutions have a vital role to play. Besides changing the way they operate, they have an important contribution to the implementation and promotion of sustainable development policies. These goals can be fullled in dierent ways: through marketing and awareness campaigns, vocational training,

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among others. Normally they have to follow a strategy planned by the central government and with dierent objectives depending on the level of action: local, regional, national or international. An example is the European Union (EU) that set sustainable development as a fundamental goal. Each country has to promote sustainable development at the national level, taking into account international treaties such as the Kyoto protocol and at the regional level, for example through the increase in production and use of renewable energy and the protection of the environment. The level of lifelong learning Lifelong learning is a means through which people get to know about their world and is guided by their needs or interests. It is related to the acquisition of knowledge outside formal education. People have more control over what and how they learn, and can choose to learn in an appropriate and supportive environment (Diduck 1999). This learning process is often undervalued, overlooked and poorly understood, because it takes place outside the classroom and many times there is no expert teacher involved in the process and the knowledge gained is hard to measure. As the world moves from an industrial society to an information society, learning during our whole life, as children, adolescents, young adults and older adults is becoming fundamental. People are spending more and more time learning, not just in classrooms or during work, but also at home, after work and on weekends. Surng the internet, participating in discussion groups, watching nature, documentaries on television, listening to the radio, visiting museums or reading newspapers, magazines and books, are experiences encompassing what is known as lifelong learning. This is an ecient and eective way of learning, since it is self-directed, voluntary and guided by a persons needs and interests. Lifelong learning is essential for sustainable development since it makes possible to encourage people to engage them in these subjects from children to adult age. Simple principles and concepts of sustainability can be introduced, as for example, by hands-on science experiments and demonstrations or simply by participating in public debates. Anecdotal evidence shows that the likelihood of learning more easily depends largely on the ability of school teachers, parents and the media to communicate the pleasure of nding things outas it has been put by Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. The mass media may have a large positive impact on ES. The question is how to present the necessary information to people. When properly done, some documentaries, talk shows or commercials on television can mobilise people to better understand environmental problems and how we can solve them, e.g., describing how to separate domestic solid waste for recycling (Clover 1996). For example, the Inter-Nordic Internet course for regional and local ocials and practitioners

takes advantage of the new information society and the internet (Strandberg and Brandt 2001). The course is aimed at people with dierent backgrounds, including teachers, students, journalists and managers. The main topics of this course include discussions about the principles and concepts of sustainability and how they relate to society, the economy, technology and the environment.

Conclusions
In this article the current status of ES is addressed and discussed through all the levels of formal and non-formal education, including basic education, university, organisations and lifelong learning. Formal education systems are very slow to change and their reorientation may take a long time to give results. Non-formal education is capable of delivering new information, approaches and methods for teaching and learning more easily in a shorter period. However, both formal and non-formal education are essential for securing a sustainable future. Although an integrated educational system would be the optimal approach to ES, until present no public or private educational system can claim to possess that characteristic. The lack of integration between the various levels of the educational system and the non-existence of a coherent and adequate approach to ES are some of the main problems identied. Also, a reorientation of the education system is needed. One needs to encourage the implementation of new courses and/or subjects in this area both in academic curricula and professional training. Teachers have to be trained and must acquire specic knowledge on the problems and questions of sustainability. Besides the training of teachers it is fundamental to develop teaching materials and modules, which will improve the situation of dealing with sustainability in an intercultural context. Also, introducing a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach into teaching and research is becoming more and more important in order to be able to address the increasingly complex problems and also because sustainability encompasses several technical and scientic areas. In the future, environmental literacy will be a basic skill in a sustainable society, independent of the background, level of education or professional activity of its members. Sustainability must be at the core of the academic curricula and will require a lifelong and worldwide commitment at all social and economic levels.

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