Education for Sustainable Development module (ED50051)

Our world is facing complex social, environmental and economic challenges. These are leading to unsustainability and threatening many species, including humans.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) offers a long-term solution to these challenges.

It is both a vision and a practical approach to education. It aims to raise people’s awareness of unsustainability. It also aims to inform individual and collective actions in support of justice and sustainability.

To implement ESD effectively, educators need a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of sustainability issues, processes and outcomes related to ESD. They also need the skills to engage in the practice of ESD.

This module will support you in building a strong theoretical understanding of ESD. It will also allow you to develop the competencies needed to implement it in your role. These competencies will be of use to you whether you are a teacher, curriculum designer, educational leader or policy maker.

What will you learn?

In this module, you will:

• learn about the three dimensions of sustainability. These are social, economic and environmental. You will also learn how they interact with each other.
• learn the ways ESD can be implemented across early childhood, primary, secondary and higher education
• learn the key processes involved in teaching for sustainability. You will also learn the ways to assess sustainability learning
• cover the major challenges educators face when trying to implement ESD in practice

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

• reflect critically on the theories behind ESD. You will be able to explore both local and global perspectives, principles, teaching methods and assessment strategies
• build the skills and confidence to teach sustainability. You will be able to do this through integrated, cross-disciplinary content. This will give you the ability to enable learning experiences that support holistic learning
• apply innovative and future-focused thinking to understand wider societal and educational challenges. You will also be able to respond with meaningful and creative actions

Assignments / assessment

• 3,000-word essay (75%)
• A mind map / concept map (25%) 

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

The module is delivered online over 17 weeks. The learning and teaching will consist of the following:

• live online sessions including content-based discussions
• Individual and group activities
• Discussion boards
• Online Q & A sessions 

Self-driven study time will include:

• asynchronous module materials to work through at your own pace
• reading and completing associated tasks
• engaging with a wide range of online materials to support self-study
• writing and working towards final assessment
• peer-to-peer learning opportunities