3 Ways to Transform Society Through Education
Education prepares the ground where the social institutions spring from. For centuries it has been the main tool in shaping individuals to contribute to the progress of society.
Education informs what skills and ways of behaving are desirable; what subject knowledge is essential to survive in the world; and what principles to apply in order to excel at work. Less emphasized but equally important is the role that education plays in shaping values and norms that in turn inform the community structures we build, and how they contribute to global development.
Education has the powerful ability to create cohesion between individuals and therefore direct the course of progress for a community or nation.
One can undoubtedly say that climate change is one of the key global challenges facing the young generations, which exacerbates persistent issues like poverty, mental and physical health, and injustice and discrimination. With this in mind, it is essential that education aims to transmit knowledge and practices that address these global challenges.
The Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme pilots and oversees projects around the globe that integrate practices and values that promote sustainable living. Through the learnings of these projects, the Programme outlines three ways education for sustainable living (ESL) can bring about sustainable transformation.
1. Center lesson plans and subject teaching around matters of concern
Connecting subject matter teaching to individual actions, real-life local issues, and global challenges is a core component of active learning in ESL. Bringing core concepts of maths and sciences out of abstract theory and into concrete examples allows learners to digest, contemplate and apply such concepts to the world around them. This type of learning provides students with space to critically examine, question, doubt, and understand why and how these concepts are applied in their own environment.
2. Educating for a sustainable future means that all actors and all ages are students
Education for sustainable lifestyles emphasizes that education should focus on social learning and collective processing of knowledge through the school, family, and the communities themselves. When connecting the individual, the local context, and the global picture - learning for a sustainable future becomes something that several actors are engaged in, not just schools.
In Solak Armenia, the SLE partner Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE) brought together agricultural students, experts from the energy research center at the University of Chile, and the local government to develop improvements to the agricultural infrastructure in the region. The group focused on energy-efficient irrigation systems. Partnering Armenian university students with energy experts to brainstorm solutions equips the next generation of decision-makers with the practical knowledge of improving agricultural systems in their country. Bringing students and the local government together opened up streams for learning for both actors with the students providing new ideas and perspectives of progress to government officials.
Learning for a sustainable future is a constant ongoing practice that requires the engagement and curiosity of all actors in society.
3. Education takes place inside and outside of the classroom
Perhaps just as formative as the classroom are the spaces we occupy in our free time. Increasingly for many countries, that time is spent online on social media platforms.
The autonomy that social media provides, with each individual having publishing power, has allowed new narratives to emerge and take space. More diverse representation, voices from minorities, and hobby journalism have made significant impacts to social movements and transformation. Social media is also the space where younger generations harvest their world views from, and where they draw inspiration that forms values and lifestyle choices.
Showing that living responsibly is desirable will be just as important as enabling future generations with the skills to do so. Educators, thought-leaders, sustainable development practitioners should therefore be present in these spaces.
