New book reimagines education for sustainable development for all audiences
What does lifelong practice mean Education for Sustainable Development? How can initiatives be community-focused and reach non-traditional settings?In a new book co-edited with Radhika Iyengar and Ozg KaradagResearch Scholar at Columbia Climate Institute Sustainable Development Centerresearchers detail evidence-based approaches to improving education for sustainable development across disciplines, communities and age groups.
Chapters are devoted to topics such as citizen science, youth empowerment, community education, and GIS mapping, Rethinking Education for Sustainable Development: Research, Policy and Practice For educators, researchers, and program managers around the world.
We spoke with Iyengar and Karadag about the process of creating the collection, what makes it unique, and what they hope to accomplish with publication.
Radhika Iyengar (left) is director of education at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development. Ozge Karadag (right) is a public health researcher at the Center for Sustainable Development. Together they edited a new book, Rethinking Education for Sustainable Development: Research, Policy and Practice.
How is this book put together?
Radhika Iyengar: During the severe phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education sector has begun to rethink the many ways in which education is delivered in and out of schools. This book reflects how education can be reimagined for sustainable development.
Ozg Karadag: It took a long time to brainstorm, conceptualize and prepare the proposal. We invited colleagues of varying experience to contribute, and it took us over two years to get everything right. We feel this book is unique because it brings together educators’ real-world experience and practical tips rather than a theoretical text.
What is your purpose in writing this book?
Keygen: Book Summarizes Decades of Climate Education Efforts in the U.S. climate school and Earth Institute. We have many scientists and social scientists from health, education and the natural sciences coming together to rethink what education for sustainable development should look like in the next 10 years. It paves the way for a more holistic and inclusive education with equity and sustainability at its core.
The vision of the book is to find a way to meet the requirements of the United Nations sustainable development goals. It demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary work focusing on justice and sustainability through a variety of methods – citizen science, GIS mapping, community dialogue, games using the logic of farmers’ insurance, storytelling and art. Never before have we seen such a wide and broad range of ESD topics in one book. All chapters are like tried and tested case studies, reaching out to policy makers and will be widely accessible to a wide range of stakeholders. We emphasize that every sustainable development issue is inherently cross-sectoral and thus requires an intersectoral strategy to understand the problem and find a solution.
This book really defines how ESD can be a powerful strategy for climate resilience and adaptation.
OK: We believe this book will be useful to educators, educational program managers, researchers, and others interested in ESD at all levels from K-12 through university, and educational programs in non-formal and community settings. These chapters reflect the authors’ practical experience through different educational interventions.
Rethinking Education for Sustainable Development: Research, Policy and Practice Published by Bloomsbury Academic on November 17, 2022.
Chapters of this book highlight efforts in many different parts of the world, including India, Nigeria, and the United States. How do you balance the generality of such initiatives with the need to tailor educational efforts to country-specific frameworks?
Keygen: Education is very contextual, and “educational solutions” cannot be taken out of context. However, when we studied ESD through the case studies presented in the book, some key principles emerged: data-driven policy development, community-centredness, greening of careers at the community level (e.g. County level, agricultural extension workers, community health workers). In addition to classroom learning, ESD should include neglected non-formal and informal settings; for example, community-based programmes, agricultural settings, informal learning through storytelling, etc.
OK: There are general principles that apply to all educational programs. For example, we all know that community-engagement approaches and interactive teaching methods make a difference in all settings, but educators need to tailor their programs to the cultural, social, and other local needs of their communities.
Another central theme of the book is the importance of lifelong learning and “K-Gray education”. Can you talk about what this means for ESD and some of the ideas raised?
Keygen: There are many movements in the international education discourse to integrate climate education and education for sustainable development into formal education. But according to these case studies, there are plenty of farmers, community health workers and teacher trainers who are also learning about sustainability. Currently, this is done on an ad hoc basis. The book provides examples of how ‘green’ learning through the lens of sustainability has found its way into various industries. Examples include games and weather indexes for farmers, geospatial data for storytelling, citizen science as a methodological tool for college students, and more.
What are some ways to more effectively engage local communities and keep them at the center of these educational programs? What are the challenges of doing so?
Keygen: Decentralizing learning as a one-way flow from researchers is key. Researchers need to learn from the community. There are several case studies in the book, where most of the learning takes place at stakeholder meetings and midway meetings, as suggested by the literature and suggested by the community. For example, how to use education to develop child-centred community resilience programs, develop health education interventions for schools, and integrate climate science research into policy and practice. All of these approaches have a large field learning component to advance thinking on the topic. Being community-centric requires a lot of relationship building and time.
OK: The book suggests many ways to build trust through open data, games, community education, stakeholder meetings, and community engagement methods. When engaging communities in education programs, empowering those communities is also important to the long-term viability of the programme.
What other important things would you like to emphasize to your readers?
Keygen: Silos of discipline do not lead to sustainable solutions. The pressing climate and public health crisis is linked to many other global challenges, and researchers have a huge responsibility to learn from across disciplines and a wealth of community knowledge to prepare for the years ahead.
OK: Our educational work should equip children and young people with the knowledge, skills and values they need to use in the real world, while empowering them, building their resilience and promoting their mental health and well-being.
