What it is: Education for Sustainability is an approach that equips students not only with knowledge about sustainability, but with the competencies, values, and attitudes needed to act responsibly in a world facing urgent social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Who It's for: These set of resources can support you, whether you teach at LSE or another university, if you are interested in developing education for sustainability practice in the courses you teach. We guide you through values, approaches, pedagogies, and assessment methods to strengthen sustainable learning and teaching for your students.
Why it matters: By promoting ‘education for sustainability’, LSE can prepare students to:
- Understand complexity: recognise the interconnectedness of social, economic, and ecological systems.
- Think critically: challenge assumptions and question unsustainable practices.
- Develop agency: see themselves as actors who can influence positive change and establish a ‘transformational’ role for education.
Sustainability relates to just about everything, so if you think ‘this is nothing to do with me and my subject area’, we can offer some resources and examples on how to approach this (Sterling 2013).
Here are some terms you may have heard:
- education for sustainable development (ESD);
- education for sustainability (EfS);
- education for a sustainable future;
- sustainability education.
They are broadly similar in meaning and in the context in which they are used. But for ease of reference, we will use the term ‘education for sustainability’ (EfS) as this is the one chosen by LSE. The government and international agencies such as UNESCO tend to use ESD.
The integration of sustainability into LSE's teaching and learning experiences has become now a commitment within the Education strand of LSE's Sustainability Strategic Plan, playing an integral role in accomplishing LSE 2030 Priority 1: Educate for Impact (now Education and Social Experience - ESE). Education for sustainability aims to equip students with the skills for perceptive analysis of social issues, aiming to drive progress towards a more sustainable future.