Case Studies in Education Policy for SDG 4.7
This section will help policymakers at national and sub-national levels to explore specific country and state policies aiming to integrate SDG-related content and skill-building within their education curricula and classroom-based implementation, including Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development.
Taking a broad view, UNESCO's report "Integrating Action for Climate Empowerment into Nationally Determined Contributions" outlines 6 key areas where countries should focus their action toward empowering citizens to address climate change, including education, training, public awareness, public access to information, public participation, and international cooperation. Focusing specifically on the education sector, UNESCO's report "Education for Sustainable Development: A Roadmap" outlines priority action areas including, policy, curriculum, teacher training, youth empowerment, and local action. For a global comparative review of country level progress toward integrating climate change education, this UNESCO Review of 100 countries explores country integration of climate change education into national curricula and teacher training, as well as discussion of teacher views on their readiness to integrate climate change education into their teaching, and examples of best practices. This report highlights the types of inter-ministerial collaboration needed for climate education integration into the curriculum.
The below examples of existing country-specific policies include discussion of the aims and implementation approaches of the policies, analysis of gaps, and recommendations for further success.
California's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum
The model curriculum was adopted by the State Board of Education for K-12 on March 18, 2021. Armstrong (2020) notes that Indigeneity is a social construct and should be accessible to all. Indigenous knowledge is adapting and learning from nature into human practices. Thus indigenous knowledge which is very place based is for all and forms the foundational guiding principles to make decisions that are best for the communities (Armstrong, 2020).
In a similar vein, the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for the State of California will be based on ethnic groups and will provide a historical account of marginalization resulting from power systems. This background is important for all students with varied backgrounds. It will help marginalized communities to see themselves as a part of the main narrative of the country. The curriculum is based on four foundational disciplines: African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies. The focus on the experiences of these four disciplines provides an opportunity for students to learn of the histories, cultures, struggles, and contributions to American society of these historically marginalized peoples which have often been untold in US history courses. Given California’s diversity, the California Department of Education understands and knows that each community has its own ethnic make-up and each demographic group has its own unique history, struggles, and contributions to our state. The curriculum also attempts to question the institutionalized systems of advantage, causes of racism and other forms of bigotry including, but not limited to, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, xenophobia, antisemitism, and Islamophobia within our culture and governmental policies. Educators can create and utilize lessons rooted in the four foundational disciplines alongside the sample key themes of (1) Identity, (2) History and Movement, (3) Systems of Power, and (4) Social Movements and Equity to make connections to the experiences of all students.
The course will equip students with the tools to promote understanding as community members in a changing democratic society and will help to raise social consciousness and strengthen democratic institutions.
Armstrong, J. (2020). Foreword. In Prioritizing Sustainability Education: A comprehensive Approach. Edited by Joan Armon, Stephen Schoffman, Clara Armon. Earthscan Routledge.
Environmental Education in India
In the late 1980s, the National Curriculum for Elementary Education, developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), had for the first time systematically infused environmental issues in national textbooks (Sonowal 2009 in Iyengar & Bajaj (2011). Although the National Policy on Education of 1986 acknowledged the importance of Environmental Education, it was not a mandatory subject in the formal schooling system until December 2003, when the Supreme Court of India ordered that “green curricula” be taught in all 28 states of India (Sonowal 2009 in Iyengar & Bajaj (2011).
In 2004, NCERT held a nationwide curriculum review, which laid the foundation for the most recent National Curricular Framework (NCF), published in 2005 (NCERT 2005), in which EE figured prominently. Both the life sciences and the social sciences included environmental issues and, more specifically, a “habitat and learning focus group” was formed to work on issues relating to EE. The 2005 NCF document promoted a more holistic concept of ESD, in which natural resources, socioeconomic factors, local cultural perspectives, psychoemotional
influences, global and national peace, and economic development are engaged to address environmental issues and promote better citizenry.
The 2005 NCF document suggests that “science be placed in the wider context of the learner’s environment, local and global, enabling him/her to appreciate the issues at the interface of science, technology and society, and equipping him/her with the requisite knowledge and skills to enter the world of work” (NCERT 2005, 48). The framework integrates environmental science with science and social science in the primary classes. In the upper primary classes, it calls for learning scientific principles through familiar experiences and hands-on design of simple technological units and modules, while at the secondary level, science is approached as a “composite discipline,” which includes environmental science.
NCF 2005 recommended that classes 3–5 have a separate environmental science studies (EVS) subject that emphasizes the natural environment, its preservation, and the urgency of counteracting degradation. These themes are important to gain factual knowledge about scientific processes that influence our environment. However, EVS, in the ideal projected by NCERT, should also introduce social issues like poverty, child labor, illiteracy, and gender, caste, and class inequalities in rural and urban areas. The framework mentions that the content
should reflect the day-to-day experiences of children and their lived realities. It acknowledges that the child’s community and local environment form the primary context in which learning takes place, and in which knowledge acquires its significance. The objective is to use education to “provide the necessary perspective on how human life can be reconciled with the crisis of the environment so that survival, growth and development remain possible”
(NCERT 2005, 6). Using the NCF 2005 framework on EE, NCERT developed detailed national syllabi and textbooks. The underlying themes of the NCERT-prescribed syllabi are learning about the environment, learning through the environment (implying a systematic exploration through a variety of activities), and learning for the environment by developing sensitivity toward its protection and preservation (NCERT 2010b). The objectives of EE as stated by NCERT are “the need to focus not only on knowledge but more importantly on generating awareness, developing attitudes, values and skills, and promoting participation and action among children at all levels of school education. By implication, learning opportunities would not remain limited to the classroom alone but extend much beyond it” (NCERT 2010b). To achieve these objectives, the NCERT provided a detailed list of topics to be included in science, social science, and mathematics classes or as a separate compulsory subject that approach the ideals set forth by the ESD framework. Excerpts taken from (Iyengar & Bajaj, 2011).
Here is a good case study on localization of the SDGs in curriculum. A video that explains the process is also available here.
Read more information here-
Iyengar, B., & Bajaj, M. (2011). After the Smoke Clears: Toward Education for Sustainable Development in Bhopal, India. Comparative Education Review, 55(3).
New Jersey's Climate Change Education Integration
Pre-covid, New Jersey’s Governor and the First Lady announced that Climate Education will be integrated into K-12 formal school curriculum. Climate Education will not be a separate subject, but will be integrated across all the subjects, starting with science and followed by social-science. The Department of Education has taken the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) and have mapped all the standards to Climate topics. For instance, for elementary grades science subject, four Climate Education themes have been mapped to NJSLS. They are- Climate/Environment, natural resources, human impacts on earth and global climate change. These themes along with the standards are mapped to science lessons for each grade. The full school year is divided into 3 trimesters with Physical sciences taught in the first year, Earth and Space in second and Life sciences in the third trimester.
A similar process is underway for Social Science followed by other processes. TCNJ, The College of New Jersey is conducting teacher professional development programs along with other prominent non-profits such as Sustainable Jersey for Schools and New Jersey Audubon are holding seminars and panels discussions with lead teachers. With Center for Sustainable Development’s Eco-ambassador program, many youth have organized panel discussions with the First Lady of New Jersey and other lead teachers to put-forward what they would like to learn. Student groups have been formed to create their own lesson plans. Many school district also have the school’s Green Team as a part of the sustainability policy at the district level. The Green Teams are organizing their own Green Challenges and events across the year that involves the schools and the communities. Summers have been used to create lesson plans based on these integrated standards. 2021-22 will be the first year when districts will implement the Climate Education integration plan. There have been delays and each district is taking its own pace based on the level of preparedness.
Read more about how New Jersey organizations are contributing to the new climate change curriculum:
Eco-ambassadors engagement with the First Lady of New Jersey , Tammy Murphy, at the Climate Summit
Explore the New Jersey climate-integrated standards:
New Zealand's Climate Change & Well-being Curriculum
New Zealand is implementing climate change education, activism education, and discussions around eco-anxiety and well-being into curriculum for 11-15 year olds. Learning materials have been developed by the country’s leading climate science agencies. The Climate Change Wellbeing Guide has been developed to provide teachers with background information and tailored resources to help them navigate the delivery of climate change scientific content, whilst maintaining the well-being, or "hauora (Māori philosophy of health and well-being unique to New Zealand)", of students.