Thirtieth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Sustainability and education are being increasingly linked and attention is shifting towards creating an environmentally sensitive future generation. Academic literature does emphasize the importance of environment education for building a sustainable future but as UNESCO 2021 report points out, in practice education is failing to provide adequate socio-emotional skills and action-oriented competencies to learners for them to adapt, act and respond to environmental crises which the present and future hold for us. The current study presents lessons from three successful educational initiatives from Gujarat India: KEDI- Vadodara, Anandshala – Whaghodia and Urhashala - Sabarkantha. These initiatives represent locally-driven, participatory programs that aim at creating a culture of sustainability through acknowledging the global importance of environmental conservatism and climate action. We examined these cases with an objective to draw insights about pedagogic philosophies and practices in the field of environmental and sustainability education that respect young people’s agency, acknowledge their role as global citizens and at the same time are sensitive to their lived realities. The analysis reflects the following best practices – 1) Co-designing the program with learners and schools 2) Respecting the indigenous knowledge, practices and cultural resources and use them in program development 3) Including elements of fun, wonder and serendipity 4) Making learning experiential 5) Sharing the impact with the community. Based on our findings we argue that a long lasting global action for environmental conservation rests on a culture of sustainability which should be developed through education right from the early formative years of a child.