Towards a Discourse-Based Understanding of Sustainability Education and Decision Making

Abstract

Based on the indeterminate character of the sustainability concept, a procedural and discursive understanding of sustainability decision making and corresponding approaches for education for sustainability (EFS) is proposed. A set of criteria for teaching strategies to promote sustainability decision making, taking into account the demands of deliberative democracy theory, are presented. These criteria (such as reason, complexity management, critical thinking, etc.) are used to argue for an educational approach that involves the development, justification, and weighting of arguments in combination with an instructional tool called Target-Mat. According to a consequent process orientation, structures for arguing or defining sustainability are not given as authorized standards. Suggestions from previous social discourse are only introduced as controversial pairings-for example, different definitions of sustainability. Examples of student decision-making processes are given to demonstrate the potential of the approach to encourage student reflection and cooperative negotiation that engenders a successive deepening of their argumentation. strengthen the general critical reflection of the process. This only takes place when diverse viewpoints of different interest groups (or representatives of such groups) are included in the process. Therefore, deliberation concerns values of participants, but as it is not always clear which concrete interests or arguments are connected to abstract values, these have to be made concrete during deliberation in order to make interests and arguments available for negotiation.Referring to Cohen [33], Chappell summarizes key features as background conditions for deliberative democracy, such as the process relying on a free and independent association for deliberation of equals, no necessary commitment to any belief structure, a transparent relation between the process and the outcome, and the recognition of participants as legitimate deliberators.Having given these conditions as the basis for deliberation, the procedure itself is characterized by the following aspects [37] (p. 25):"Freedom. Members of a deliberative democracy are bound only by the results of their own deliberation, and the fact that decisions are arrived at through deliberation is a sufficient reason to comply with them.Reason. The results of deliberation depend only on the reasons members of the group present for making, defending or opposing a proposal.Equality. Members of a deliberative democracy are both formally and substantively equal.Consensus. The aim of ideal deliberation is to arrive at a consensus. In the absence of a consensus, decisions may be made through voting".

Service-learning in physical education teacher education: a pedagogical model towards sustainable development goals

“…The incorporation of indicators for the development of sustainability competencies is vital for the initial training of future professionals (Meisert and Böttcher, 2019). In this regard, UNESCO (2017) establishes a set of key abilities that people must develop to move with determination and tenacity toward a sustainable development.…”

Knowledge Network for Sustainable Local Development

“…This knowledge about sustainable local development can also be tacit or explicit, taking into account the degree of formalization and the nature of the concepts involved [20]. Finally, this knowledge network is the product of the collective participation, territorial identity and social action of the subjects who address development problems [42].…”

“…Knowledge within the network is produced as a result of the processes of the relationship and integration between sectors based on common objectives, for local development that involves scientists, society, political managers and the production sector, which, through collective action, configure interdisciplinary and trans disciplinary knowledge [14,26,42,59].…”

“…Network Components refers to the empirical or material conditions of the network in terms of its properties and formal resources, understood as any component that adds value, including those pertaining to knowledge about local development, those generated through the implementation of policies or those related to the agency of resources of diverse nature, e.g., scientific, technical or political. The availability of resources establishes inequalities of power and influence in the network, so this is an important aspect to consider in order to maintain social equity and equity in participation [42].…”

Making the Unsustainable Sustainable: How Swedish Secondary School Teachers Deal with Sustainable Development in Their Teaching

“…Rather, it reflects the strength of the confidence in education's ability to get people to think and act differently through knowledge, and the fact that it involves a long-term change process. At the same time, this means that education must address both the plasticity of the sustainable development concept and its inherent criticism of the prevailing order [14]. However, the compulsory school and upper secondary school curricula do not give any clear directive for this purpose, despite the concept's central position in the steering documents [9,15].…”