Education

The United Nations has proclaimed the years 2005-2014 the "UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development". Germany is taking a lead role in implementing this global education programme, with more than 500 projects and initiatives qualifying as "official Decade projects" so far.

Education is the path that leads to sustainable development. Education, it is generally agreed, is the key prerequisite for every individual to acquire the values, knowledge and skills required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation. As the designated lead agency for the promotion of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO is therefore making education and learning the focus of its campaigns for the next ten years. Now it’s up to the individual countries to respond to this global challenge and opportunity.

"We must see education for sustainable development as a lifelong process spanning all fields of life and learning, from kindergarten to schools, to vocational training, the universities, adult education and informal learning, in other words, learning in daily life", says Professor Gerhard de Haan, a leading educationist and chairman of the National Committee set up by the German Commission for UNESCO to oversee the implementation of the UN Decade at national level.

Establishing the framework

Since the Decade was launched, the National Committee – consisting of experts from education, science, culture and the economy, representatives of the Bundestag, the Federal Government and the Standing Conference of Education and Culture Ministers – have approved a National Action Plan for the coming decade. Among other things, the document invites every project and initiative with an interest in the theme to join the "Alliance for the Learning of Sustainability". Experts from the various education sectors have formed working groups with the aim of devising practical measures for action. The working groups address the issues of the Round Table to which the National Committee invites relevant actors from all over Germany each year.

"Official Decade projects"

But the most tangible expression of the Decade’s implementation is accreditation as an "official Decade project". The award is made by a jury appointed by the National Committee.

For these very diverse education projects, "the award helps to boost motivation and is very helpful when seeking new partners", says Ralf Tiehlebein-Pohl, project coordinator of "Living Water!" (Wasser erleben!) A dynamic interactive experience for children which also offers interesting training and development opportunities for adults working in education, this project has helped bring the issue of sustainability in the water sector into many of Hamburg’s kindergartens. It raises pre-school children’s awareness of water as a vital element and encourages them to use it sparingly. Participants in the project, which is run by the "Save Our Planet" environmental foundation, include Hamburg Water Works, Hamburg Museum of Ethnology, a Protestant Church charity, and various environmental organisations.

Margit Knapp-Meimberg, Director of Heidelberg International Comprehensive School, is delighted that her school has also won the award: "The Decade logo forges a strong bond between us – and new teachers joining our staff instantly realise that something special is happening." The School has been working on an eco-audit – a management system which assesses the aims, practical implementation and evaluation of projects and initiatives from an environmental perspective – since 1997. As a result, each class now has two environmental spokespersons, links have been set up with other European schools, and sustainability-related themes have even been incorporated into the curriculum.

Waste and its creative potential

Samuel J. Fleiner, curator of "RE-ART-One", has no doubt that the UN logo has opened up many new opportunities to develop his exhibition. This international exhibition on recycling art and design not only appeals to adults: it also creates a new awareness of waste and ways of dealing with it among children and young people. As part of this process, the exhibition is hosting a series of workshops which offer newcomers to the field an opportunity to work on their own works of recycling art under expert supervision.

At the next meeting of the Round Table the "Alliance for the Learning of Sustainability" will undoubtedly be looking ahead to the second half of the UN Decade with great optimism and determination, especially in view of the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, which will take place in Bonn in 2009. Can Germany maintain the high level of commitment which was so apparent at the launch of the UN Decade and continue to play a pioneering role in implementing the UN Decade? Let’s hope so, for it is an exciting prospect for everyone.