Abstract
This chapter establishes the overarching context for the book and provides a conceptual framework for education for sustainable development (ESD) within the realm of formal education in the United States and Canada. The authors describe some of the current global challenges along with those more specific to the education community. ESD is tied to the basic purposes of education as well as the concept of quality education, which is the major concern of ministries of education and school boards and districts. This chapter describes the features of sustainable development and the four thrusts common to education for sustainable development efforts around the world. Short descriptions of each chapter are provided along with comments about the interrelationships between the chapters.
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Notes
- 1.
Achievement in higher education is often denoted by degrees: associate after 2 years of study, bachelors after 4 years of study, masters after about 6 years of study, and a doctoral degree after about 8 years.
- 2.
Agenda 21 is the official document of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also called the Earth Summit, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive blueprint for action to be undertaken globally, nationally, and locally by organizations of the UN, governments, and major groups.
- 3.
The term adjectival education was coined by the late John Smyth. It refers to any subfield of education that uses education or studies in their name. Over 100 adjectival educations exist.
- 4.
Character education takes many forms, but generally addresses the characteristics of individuals such as respect, honesty, kindness, etc.
- 5.
The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the twenty-first century. It is the result of a decadelong, worldwide, cross-cultural dialogue on common goals and shared values. http://www.earthcharter.org
- 6.
ESD research does use quantitative data, especially for advocacy with sectors of the education community that require or prefer numeric data.
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McKeown, R., Nolet, V. (2013). Education for Sustainable Development in Canada and the United States. In: McKeown, R., Nolet, V. (eds) Schooling for Sustainable Development in Canada and the United States. Schooling for Sustainable Development, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4273-4_1
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