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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CCE AND ESD
POLICYACROSS-NATIONAL DESK STUDY BASED ON NATIONAL CASE STUDIES OF POLICY
DOCUMENTS SINCE2008
Jeppe Lsse March 2013
Working Document B
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CONTENTS
Contents ..................................................................................................................................................................................2Abbreviations........................................................................................................................................................................3Summary.................................................................................................................................................................................41. Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................72. Research Framework....................................................................................................................................................8
2.1. Research Approach, Objectives and Scope..................................................................................................82.2. Country Selection...................................................................................................................................................92.3. Research Questions............................................................................................................................................102.4. Strengths and Limitations of the Study......................................................................................................11
3. Findings ...........................................................................................................................................................................123.1. What is the state-of-the-art of ESD and CCE policy across the countries covered by this
study? ...............................................................................................................................................................................13Key findings...............................................................................................................................................................13Analysis and examples .........................................................................................................................................13
3.2. What characterizes the ways in which ESD and CCE policies are shaped?.................................25Key findings: .............................................................................................................................................................25Analysis and examples: ........................................................................................................................................25
3.3. How do current national policies interpret and operationalize ESD and CCE? ........................29Key findings: .............................................................................................................................................................29Analysis and examples: ........................................................................................................................................30
4. Discussion and recommendations........................................................................................................................37References...........................................................................................................................................................................40
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ABBREVIATIONS
CC: Climate Change
CCA: Climate Change Adaptation
CCE: Climate Change Education
CCESD: Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development
DESD: Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
DRR: Disaster Risk Reduction
DRRE: Disaster Risk Reduction Education
EE: Environmental Education
EfS: Education for Sustainability
ESD: Education for Sustainable Development
IALEI: International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes
ILO: International Labour Organisation
SD: Sustainable Development
TVET: Technical and Vocational Education and Training
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNICEF: United Nations Childrens Fund
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SUMMARY
This desk study is conducted at the request of UNESCO in order to provide a knowledge
base to inform the preparation of policy guidelines on Climate Change Education in the
overall context of Education for Sustainable Development. There is a wealth of academic
and policy literature on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), often in
conjunction with the United Nations Decade for ESD (2005-2014), for which UNESCO
serves as the lead agency. Compared to this, Climate Change Education (CCE) is a new and
poorly researched phenomenon. Furthermore, if we look more specifically at the
development of CCE policy, only one international study has previously been conducted
(Lsse et al. 2009). According to this study, which looked at developments until 2009,
CCE had been identified as an important task in many countries, but it was still at a very
early stage and not yet included in national policies. However, four years have passed
since then and it therefore seems reasonable to take a closer look at the recent policy
developments regarding CCE, ESD and the relation between them before developing
guidelines to support further developments in the area.
The purpose of this desk study has been to conduct a cross-national analysis of policy
documents in 14 countries with the specific aims of: 1) providing an overview of emerging
approaches, strategies and priorities in climate change (CC) and sustainable development
(SD) policy on education as well as in educational policy on CC and SD; and 2) identifying
key challenges as well as potentials for an integrated approach to CCESD at the national
policy level.
The key research questions for the overall study, as well as for the national case studies,
have been as follows:
1. What has happened at the national policy level regarding ESD and CCE since 2008?2. Which discourses and educational approaches are expressed by the policy
documents?
3. Which generic and/or specific knowledge, skills, dispositions (attitudes and values)or competencies are highlighted?
4. What has been done to implement the intentions of the ESD and CCE policies inpractice?
5. Which obstacles and potentials are identified and addressed in the policy documents?6. To which extent are the national policies on ESD and CCE coherent or fragmented?
The research approach has been semi-structured, allowing the authors of the national case
studies to explore the unique history and character of ESD and CCE policy developments in
their countries while simultaneously maintaining a focus on the six key issues mentioned
above, each with a large number of sub-questions that might be covered. The advantage of
this approach is that it is more context-sensitive and thus should lead to more valid results
than if the study was conducted on the basis of a rigid general research frame. The
drawback is that the national case studies are not directly and strictly comparable.
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However, they still include a large amount of factual information regarding what has
happened, as well as knowledge-based interpretations of the state-of-the-art.
Fourteen countries have been included in the study, chosen partly on the basis of ideal
criteria of representing different world regions, and national differences in terms of
economy, size, impact of CC and ESD activity level, and partly of pragmatic considerationsregarding where national case studies were possible. This has led to the inclusion of the
following countries:
Canada/Manitoba, Costa Rica, Brazil, Tuvalu, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia,
Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, China, Bangladesh, Denmark, United Kingdom.
The analysis, presenting the findings of the study, is structured in three sub-chapters:
1. What is the state-of-the-art of ESD and CCE policy across the countries covered by this
study?;
2. What characterizes the ways in which ESD and CCE policies are shaped?; and
3. How do current national policies interpret and operationalize ESD and CCE?
For the first of these sub-chapters What is the state-of-the-art of ESD and CCE policy
across the countries covered by this study? the key findings are the following:
(1) Since 2008, many national governments have passed CC policies that alsoinclude CCE.
(2) CCE initiated by CC policy has been linked to education policy, while there are
exceptional cases where CC policy and education policy are completely
disconnected with regard to CCE. Linking CCE to education policy, however,
does not guarantee that CCE is promoted with reference to ESD. The degree of
connectedness between CCE and ESD varies according to the national context.
(3) ESD policy development is most clearly in evidence among those countriesincluded in the study with the most rapidly expanding economies with fewer
new policy initiatives elsewhere.(4) DRR is a key driver of CCE in countries strongly impacted by the effects ofclimate change. In some of these countries DRR is integrated into broader CCE
and ESD policies. Green economy and the need for TVET innovation towards
green skills is another driver of CCE.
(5) Although CC, in recent years, has been a subject for policy making at thenational level, CCE is in general still at a very premature stage, and CCE, as well
as ESD, is faced with a number of roadblocks for implementation.
For the second sub-chapter - What characterizes the ways in which ESD and CCE
policies are shaped? the key findings can be summarized as below:
(1) In general, national governments do not apply regulatory policy instrumentsto implement ESD and CCE. National curriculum frameworks are an exception
in many of the countries.(2) National ESD and CCE policies tend instead to apply softer governance
instruments such as consultations, coordination, facilitation and guidance.
(3) However, these governance instruments seem, so far, too weak to ensure amainstreaming of ESD and CCE.
Finally for the third sub-chapter - How do current national policies interpret and
operationalize ESD and CCE? the key findings are:
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(1) ESD and CCE policies are linked to, or express, different concepts of andapproaches to SD. Some countries maintain the, until now, rather dominant
focus on the nature-society relationship and ecological sustainability, while
other countries have a broader focus on the future of society as a whole.
(2) There is an emerging trend towards focusing CC and SD policies on greeneconomy by interpreting CCE as a means for providing green skills. The
policies and discourses on ESD and green skills are in most countries
remarkably unconnected but there are also examples of efforts to integrate
them.
(3) DRR education is only addressed by some national policies. In some of these ithas a rather narrow focus on climate knowledge and operational instruction.
However, in several other countries the approach seems to be more
comprehensive.
(4) The national strategic policy papers on ESD neither interpret ESD asequivalent with science education nor restrict the educational approach to
prescriptive learning.
(5) The dominant approach to promote implementation of ESD and CCE is tointegrate it into the existing school subjects. There are, however, also examples
of extra- or cross-curricular strategies.
In the final chapter, a number of issues of importance for the compilation of policy
guidelines on CCESD are highlighted. In heading form, they concern:
The challenge of taking account of diversity in national challenges, capacities and
aspirations
The challenge of guiding national policies in times of new governance
The challenge of overcoming marginalization in the policy arena
The challenge of overcoming the gap between soft generic values and hardcore,
concrete economy
The challenge of bringing ESD and CCE together
The challenge of mediating science and local knowledge in CCESD
The challenge of political ideologies
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1.INTRODUCTION
The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014) marked its
midpoint in 2009, and UNESCO developed its strategy for the second half of the DESD,
highlighting climate change, disaster risk reduction and biodiversity as priority themes.
Recognizing that the education sector offers an untapped strategic resource to mitigate
and adapt to climate change, UNESCO established the Climate Change Education for
Sustainable Development (CCESD) Programme in 20101.
The purpose of this desk study is to provide a knowledge base to inform the work of
UNESCO in providing policy advice to Member States on CCESD by exploring what has
actually happened at the national policy level regarding Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE) since 2008. A cross-nationalstudy from 2009 concluded that, despite a call for CCE from several stakeholders, this call
had for the most part not yet resulted in widespread policy initiatives (Lsse et al.
2009). 2 UNESCOs new focus on CCE in the context of ESD, as well as the increasing
international recognition of the importance of CCE (as evidenced, for example, by the
recent launch of the UN Alliance on Climate Change Education, Training and Public
Awareness), provide the impetus for taking a closer look at global developments within
CCE and ESD policy during the last four years.
Since the beginning of the DESD, a large number of reports, articles and conferences have
discussed the concept and principles of ESD, as well as different educational approaches to
implement ESD in practice. However, education does not exist in a vacuum, but is
embedded in societal realities with challenges and opportunities that have to be taken into
account when clarifying potential ways to further advance CCE and ESD. This study can be
interpreted as an integral part of larger ongoing efforts to explore, document and learn
from these challenges and opportunities. This report presents the outcomes of the desk
study of policy documents in 14 countries with the specific aims of:
1. providing an overview of emerging approaches, strategies and priorities in climate
change (CC) and sustainable development (SD) policy on education as well as in
educational policy on CC and SD; and
1 CCESD is by UNESCO interpreted as CCE in the overall context ofESD.
2 The International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) produced a series of reports entitled
Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education in 2009. The IALEI study covered
ten countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, UK, and
USA. The 2009 IALEI study did not include any question on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction
and technical and vocational education and training.
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2. identifying key challenges as well as potentials for an integrated approach to
CCESD at the national policy level.
The study is conducted primarily to inform the work of UNESCO to produce a set of
guidelines to support the development of CCE and ESD at the national level. However,
hopefully, a wider dissemination of the cross-national analysis as well as the nationalcase-studies will also inspire ongoing reflection, from the global to the local level, on the
roles, challenges and potentials of education in relation to climate change and sustainable
development.
After the executive summary, the report is structured in three chapters. In the next
chapter, the research questions, methodology and design of the study are presented,
including reflections on its strengths and limitations. The third chapter contains the
findings of the cross-national analysis regarding the six research questions that have
guided the study. Finally, in the fourth chapter, a number of general issues, identified in
the cross-national analysis, are discussed, and recommendations concerning the
development of UNESCO guidelines on CCESD are presented.
2.RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The study has been conducted as a desk study consisting of: 1) 14 case studies of national
policies on CCESD based on identification and analysis of strategic policy documents; and
2) a cross-national analysis based on these national case studies.
Sustainable development is an essentially contested concept open to different
interpretations. Furthermore, it is a generic concept including many different areas and
issues. Education is also a complex concept referring to different types and levels of
learning efforts. CCE is a new area that might either be interpreted and approached within
the scope of what, until now, has been perceived as ESD, or outside the framework of ESD.
For this reason, researching how ESD and CCE are expressed and related in policy might
easily become a huge and highly challenging task.
2.1.RESEARCH APPROACH,OBJECTIVES AND SCOPEOn the one hand, this study approaches data collection and analysis in an explorative
manner in order to identify how ESD and CCE are interpreted and approached in national
policy. On the other hand, it cannot examine in detail all policies related to every aspect of
SD and every area of education. In order to adapt the study to the available time and
resources, the data collection has been focused on general strategies from 2008 and
onwards addressing ESD and CCE from the national ministries responsible for (i) SD
policy, including CC policy and (ii) education policy, respectively.3
3 The narrowing of the scope to the period from 2008 and onward was also motivated by the conclusion from
an earlier cross-national study on Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Role of Education,
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studies individually contracted by UNESCO. Through this selection process, the desk study
has covered the following 14 countries:
Europe and North America
- Canada/Manitoba
- Denmark- United Kingdom
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Brazil- Costa Rica
Asia and the Pacific
- Australia- Bangladesh- China- Indonesia- Philippines
- South Korea- Tuvalu- Vietnam
Africa
- South Africa
National case studies are being developed for Dominican Republic and Chile, and will be
included in a cross-national analysis in the future.
2.3.RESEARCH QUESTIONSThe key research questions guiding the study in general as well as the national case
studies were as follows:
1. What has happened at the national policy level regarding ESD and CCE since 2008?2. Which discourses and educational approaches are expressed by the policy
documents?
3. Which generic and/or specific knowledge, skills, dispositions (attitudes and values)or competencies are highlighted?
4. What is done to implement the intentions of the ESD and CCE policies in practice?5. Which obstacles and potentials are identified and addressed in the policy documents?6. To which extent are the national policies on ESD and CCE coherent or fragmented?
A framework for the national case studies included a large number of questions to each ofthe key questions (Lsse, 2012). Due to the restricted time and resources, responses
were not expected to all these questions but only to those that made sense when analyzing
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the collected national policy documents. Furthermore, the framework also proposed a
structure for the national reports (ibid). 5
During the study it was decided to supplement this framework with a request to structure
the national analyses in a way that made it clear how, on the one hand, SD and CC policies
have addressed education and skill development and, on the other hand, how education
and skill policies have addressed SD and CC. This was due to an interest in supporting the
cross-national analysis of the sixth research question. Furthermore, to support the cross-
national analysis, each of the national reports was condensed in a single-page national
sheet with one column for the context and one for each of the six key research questions.
2.4.STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDYObviously the applied approach has consequences for the cross-national analysis. The aim
has not been to generalize the recent global development of CCE and ESD from a limited
number of cases but rather to gain a robust knowledge on and contexualized
understanding of the processes, dynamics, challenges and potentials in a diverse array of
countries that might provide helpful insight to reflect on and conceptualize as part of the
preparatory work on CCESD guidelines.
The strengths of this study lie in its scope. It provides a broad overview of the current
situation and developments regarding ESD and CCE in countries of varying size and
representing each and every continent. Despite the breadth of the study, attention must be
drawn to the limitations regarding the global perspective. A number of areas and cultures
are notably missing, not least USA, Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Japan the Middle East
and huge parts of Africa. It is therefore important to be aware that there might be other
approaches to ESD and CCE policy than those covered by this study.
Furthermore, it is important to stress that breadth usually stands in opposition to depth,
and indeed, a relatively wide-reaching short-term study such as this cannot fully take into
account complexity and depth of the field it covers. Firstly, focusing solely on national
policies only provides a certain degree of insight into the governance character of the
policy processes. We have chosen this limitation because the aim is to inform guidance of
national policies and the governance perspective is therefore included, but only in terms
of the role of the national state. However, it is important to be aware that policy today in
this area includes activities between many stakeholders. Secondly, even national policies
are not single-layered but include processes from overall policies, to strategic documents
and action plans for specific areas, to guiding documents and activities. Quite different
interpretations of issues can very well exist between these levels. We have chosen to focus
on strategic documents but have also tried to identify and include official documents fromthe lower levels of the policy hierarchy. Thirdly, by applying a semi-structured
methodology we have tried to prevent overly rigid frameworks for the national case
studies in order to explore the specific character of the ESD and CCE policy developments.
5 The pilot studies of CCESD in South Africa and Tuvalu were conducted before this desk study and have, for
that reason, been designed differently. However, they include information of relevance for this study.
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However, this allows bias regarding how the involved researchers interpret and apply the
guidelines, collect documents and conduct their analysis. Furthermore, the cross-national
analysis implies another layer of selection and interpretation of the material included in
the national reports which may also influence the validity of the outcome. In order to
counter-act this, the authors of the national reports have received and commented upon
an earlier draft of this report. It will also be discussed at an Expert Consultation on
Guidelines on Climate Change Education in the context of ESD, 8-9 April 2013, at UNESCO
Paris and reviewed by researchers from the involved countries.
When presenting the findings in the next chapter, references will primarily be made to the
national reports in order to make the links between these reports and the cross-national
analysis transparent and also to faciliate the reader to access a more comprehensive
explanation of the often rather brief passages based on these reports. While the reference
list for this report is kept rather short. by consulting the national reports, it is possible to
find extensive references on which the findings of this report are based.
3.FINDINGS
This chapter presents the findings of the cross-national analysis. It addresses the six key
research questions originally posed, but the logic of the presentation does not simply
correspond to each of these questions. The findings will be presented in three sections in
order to inform and guide the deliberations on the draft guidelines on enhancing climate
responses through education.
The three sub-chapters answer the following questions:
1. What is the state-of-the-art of ESD and CCE policy across the countries covered
by this study?Have there been new developments during the last four years? Is
education addressed in CC/SD policy, and, if so, how is it addressed? Is CC/SD
addressed in education policy, and, if so, how is it addressed? Are there linkages
between CCE/ESD policy making in the education community and CC/SD
community?
2. What characterizes the ways in which ESD and CCE policies are shaped? Do
national policy efforts promote a mainstreaming of ESD and/or CCE, or do they let
ESD and/or CCE remain marginal? What roles does the national policy play? What
kinds of policy instruments are applied? Is ESD and CCE policy developed
and conducted by the national government as top-down processes, or does itinclude interaction and cooperation with stakeholders? In the latter case, what
roles do the governmental institutions play as part of such multi-stakeholder
policy processes (governance)?
3. How do current national policies interpret and operationalize ESD and CCE? Is
CCE incorporated into ESD and/or ESD transformed by CCE? To what extent is
CCE, and perhaps ESD, influenced by recent trends towards aligning climate
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change adaptation with DRR and recent emphasis on the transition to a green
economy as a means to achieving SD (particularly in the context of Rio+20)?
3.1. WHAT IS THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF ESD AND CCE POLICY ACROSS THE
COUNTRIES COVERED BY THIS STUDY?The IALEI cross-national study from 2009 concluded that CCE up to this point was in a
very premature state with almost no policies or clarifications of the relation between ESD
and CCE (Lsse et al. 2009). What has happened since then? We have looked at some of
the same countries, but also at a number of other countries, to clarify whether there have
been formulated new policies on CCE and ESD in these countries since 2008. To this end,
we have deliberately looked for SD and CC policies on education as well as education
policies including SD and CC.
KEY FINDINGS
1. Since 2008, many national governments have passed CC policies that also include CCE.2. CCE initiated by CC policy has been linked to education policy, while there are
exceptional cases where CC policy and education policy are completely disconnected
with regard to CCE. Linking CCE to education policy, however, does not guarantee that
CCE is promoted with reference to ESD. The degree of connectedness between CCE and
ESD varies according to the national context.
3. ESD policy development is most clearly in evidence among those countries included inthe study with the most rapidly expanding economies with fewer new policy initiatives
elsewhere.
4. DRR is a key driver of CCE in countries strongly impacted by the effects of climatechange. In some of these countries DRR is integrated into broader CCE and ESD
policies. Green economy and the need for TVET innovation towards green skills is
another driver of CCE.
5. Although CC, in recent years, has been a subject for policy making at the national level,CCE is in general still at a very premature stage, and CCE, as well as ESD, is faced with
a number of roadblocks for implementation.
ANALYSIS AND EXAMPLES
3.1.1. Since 2008, many national governments have passed CC policies that also
include CCE:
According to the IALEI study, CCE policy until 2008 was requested but not incorporated
into regular strategic policy documents (Lsse et al. 2009). This is not the case anymore.
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The increased awareness of CC-risks has pushed several governments to develop policy
strategies in order to cope with CC. And this, in turn, has driven the development of CCE.
Two examples:
The Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009 explicitly directs the Department of
Education to integrate climate change into the primary and secondary education
curricula and/or subjects, such as, but not limited to, science, biology, civics,
history, including textbooks, primers, and other educational materials, basic climate
change principles and concepts (Fernandez & Shaw, 2013: 1). In response, the
Department of Education issued a standing order entitled Reiteration of Related
Implementing Guidelines on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk
Reduction at the School Levels, directing schools to revitalize the various programs
and projects on DRR and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) (ibid: 7). Various
memorandums have also been released to support the standing order, such as
Department of Education Memo 276 series of 2010 which orders the integration of
CCA and DRR with Environmental Education into elementary and high school
curricula. (ibid: 7) This introduction of CCE into the school curriculum is one of the
activities under the Knowledge and Capacity Development strategic priority in the
National Climate Change Action Plan 2011-2028 prepared by the Climate Change
Commission. The national report on CCESD in the Philippines concludes that the
outlook for CCE here is promising due to a very conducive enabling environment
in terms of legal and policy bases and institutional frameworks at the national,
regional and local level (ibid: 12-13).
The Bangladesh CC Strategy and Action Plan was compiled in 2008 and revised in
2009. It has six pillars among which one concerns research and knowledge
management. Actions in relation to this pillar are about Establishment of a centrefor research, knowledge management and training on CC which, among other
things, should develop training programs for high and mid-level officials of the
Government, NGOs and private organizations/associations and provide training in
collaboration with research centres and universities. CCE policy is at a very early
stage in Bangladesh and this centre should be seen as a first step towards building
the capacity for it (Habiba et al., 2013: 12). Furthermore, in 2010 the Government of
Bangladesh finalized the National Plan for Disaster Management, which also
includes an action agenda for 2010-2015: Design and implement a national training
strategy aimed at building knowledge and understanding of CC and disaster
management roles and responsibilities of key players at all levels as per standing
orders (ibid).
CCE in CC policies in other countries:
Costa Rica: A National Strategy on CC was decided in 2009 and a national
organization was established to be responsible for the implementation. It is
coordinated by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications, but
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the Ministry of Public Education is part of it as well in order to implement ESD and
CCE (Hori & Shaw 2013: 7).
Brazil: In 2009 a joint forum entitled Sustainability, Energy Efficiency and
Environmental Education: a challenge for educational institutions and society
was co-organized by the Ministry of Education and the Council for Economic and
Social Development of the Presidency of the Republic. The following year, the
Ministry of Environment launched a special document on Environmental
Education (EE) and Climate Change (Trajber, 2013: 12).
China: In 2012 Chinas State Council released the 12th Five-Year Plan for Energy-
Saving and Emission Reduction and in the same year Chinas National Report on
Sustainable Development was published. Education is included in these CC and
SD policies, although the concepts of CCE are not explicitly used in any national
policy or plans (Han 2013: 11-13).
South Africa: A White Paper, setting the parameters on how CC should be
addressed, was approved in 2011. It includes CCE as one of these parameters
(Lsse, 2013b: 1).
Indonesia: The National Action Plan for DRR 2010-2012 acknowledges education
as one of the priorities (Mulyasari & Shaw, 2013: 10).
Vietnam: Since the National Target Program in Response to CC was approved by
the government in 2007, a number of other CC policy documents have been
approved and included educational aspects. In 2011 The Ministry of Education
and Training launched an Action Plan of Education Sector in Response to CC (Tong
& Shaw, 2013:2-4). Furthermore, in 2012 a National Action Plan for DRR
education was issued (ibid: 11).
Tuvalu: After extensive consultations and a national symposium on CC in 2011,
seven thematic goals were developed. It was followed by the Tuvalu CC policy plan
in July 2012. In this plan, goal 2 concerns CCA and DRR: Improving understanding
and application of CC data, information and site specific impact assessment to
inform adaptation and DRR programmes (Young, 2012).
UK: Especially after the change of government in 2010, SD policy has shifted
towards a strong focus on CC and transition towards a low carbon society and a
green economy. This overall strategy has resulted in a number of policy
documents on CCE or with CCE as an integrated part. These have been issued by
the CC and SD departments as well as by departments responsible for education
and skill development (Lsse, 2013c: 2-3).
South Korea: In 2010 the government passed The Framework Act on Low Carbon,
Green Growth and released The National Strategy for Green Growth and Five
Year plan for Green Growth. In 2012 The Presidential Committee on Green Growthsigned a joint memorandum of understanding on Green Growth Education (GGE)
with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and thirteen other public
agencies (Sung 2013).
Australia: While education at the national policy level is largely absent from
broader policy on climate change issues, the Council of Australian Governments
National Strategy for Disaster Resilience from 2011 offers education a more
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central role. Education is here highlighted as one of the six key roles of
governments in strengthening the nations resilience to disasters (Rolls, 2013a: 6).
Denmark: CC policy contains a minor initiative on raising public awareness
(Lsse, 2013a: 2).
3.1.2. CCE initiated by CC policy has been linked to education policy, while there are
exceptional cases where CC policy and education policy are completely
disconnected with regard to CCE. Linking CCE to education policy, however, does
not guarantee that CCE is promoted with reference to ESD. The degree of
connectedness between CCE and ESD varies according to the national context.
In some countries, the push from CC policy has led to the development of CCE without any
connection to ESD. Examples of this can be found in Bangladesh and Tuvalu, both
countries characterised by not yet having established ESD policies or structures. This can
be partly attributed to the fact that Bangladesh and Tuvalu are least developed countries
(LDCs) which need to prioritize Education for All (EFA) goals rather than ESD agendas.
Furthermore there might be cases of CCE policies within non-formal education that are
disconnected from educational policy. The data only sporadically covers non-formal
education. An example of disconnectedness in this area can be found in Denmark, where
the CC policy includes an initiative on raising public awareness about CC without any
relation to the Ministry of Education and ESD (Lsse, 2013a).
In most of the countries, some kind of cooperation has been established on CCE between
the SD/CC policy and the educational policy. This trend has two strands: (i) a delegation of
responsibility on CCE to an educational ministry/department, or (ii) embedding of CCE
within an existing ESD policy.
In some cases this takes place as a delegation of responsibility. The CC policies and
strategies cover all policy areas, including education, but delegate the responsibility to
develop and implement the CCE policy to ministries of education. In the Philippines, a
national CC Act has led to a number of CCE promoting initiatives from the Department of
Education, In the UK a governmental shift caused a change of SD policy towards CC and
green economy, and the subsequent CC policy has delegated responsibility to
governmental departments responsible for education and skills policy to play their parts
to support this overall CC policy (see 3.1.2).
In other countries, the connection between the sectors has been established on the basis
of an already established ESD policy to which CCE has been related. Examples of such
explicit relations can be found in Costa Rica, Canada/Manitoba, South Africa, China, Brazil
and Vietnam. These cases also show that the relations between CCE and ESD can be
stronger or weaker depending on the national context.
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In Costa Rica, policy and structures for implementation of EE, and later ESD, were
established before 2009. When the Costa Rican government passed its National Strategy
on CC in 2009, the responsibility for CCE was assigned to the Ministry of Education which
integrated CCE in its strategic framework for implementing EE and ESD (Hori & Shaw
2013: 8). In a similar way, CCE is not highlighted as a specific area, but is included as a key
theme of ESD in Canada/Manitoba (Rolls, 2013b: 4; 13).6
In South Africa, the governmental White Paper on CC Policy is explicit on the relation
between ESD and CCE: CCE should be part of the broader framework of ESD and should
equip South African citizens to reorient society towards social, economic and ecological
sustainability (Government of the Republic of South Africa, 2011). The South African
case, however, also shows that the integration is still at the level of intent as the cross-
departmental organizational structures have not yet been established (Lsse, 2013b: 1).
The situation is rather similar in China. Although CCE on the strategic level is expected to
be carried out under the umbrella of ESD (Han 2013: 13), and the CC/SD and educational
area of policy share the overall focus on socio-economic development (Han, 2013: 25),
there remains a gap when it comes to the more specific action plans. The gap is not only
organizational but also discursive. While the national SD and CC policies focus on
improving public understanding and behaviour on CC and SD issues, the educational
policy targets innovation towards quality education, approaching ESD and CCE as
integrated parts of the quality education agenda (ibid).
In Brazil a National Plan on Climate Change from 2008 was intended to make the Ministry
of Education responsible for the promotion of sustainable educating spaces and
sustainable schools. However, in a later version of this plan, clear links to EE and ESD
were replaced by a general request for promoting the dissemination of information,
education, training and public awareness of climate change (Trajber, 2013: 10; 17).
Vietnam deviates from the above mentioned examples in that there exist good
organizational structures to coordinate CCE and ESD efforts. At the same time, CCE is not
simply integrated into ESD. The overall Vietnamese SD strategy and the Vietnam Agenda
21 policy are coordinated with the national ESD policy (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 6-7). In a
similar way, the National Target Program in Response to CC has involved the Ministry of
Education and Training (MOET) and delegated the responsibility for the CCE approach
and action plan to MOET (ibid: 8). Furthermore, the Action Plan for DRR education from
2012 emphasizes that the implementation of DRR education will be carried out in
6A quote from the website of Manitoba Education illustrates how it is perceived as one ESD theme among
others: Education for Sustainable Development involves incorporating key themes of sustainable
development such as poverty alleviation, human rights, health and environmental protection, climate
change into the education system. ESD is a complex and evolving concept and requires learning about key
themes from a social, cultural, environmental and economic perspective and explores how those factors are
inter-related and inter-dependent (http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/esd/).
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accordance with CCE and ESD (Tong & Shaw, 2013:11). MOET promotes ESD and CCE in
an interlinked manner, yet CCE is not embedded within ESD. Rather, ESD and CCE are
conceived as mutually supportive and complementary strands (ibid: 14).
3.1.3 ESD policy development is most clearly in evidence among those countriesincluded in the study with the most rapidly expanding economies with fewer new
policy initiatives elsewhere.
While CCE, in almost all countries, has been addressed in national policies since 2008, ESD
has not had the same attention at the policy level. One plausible explanation for this might
be that CCE is a new area of policy while ESD policies, at least in some countries, have
been the subject of policy initiatives in the previous years. An example of this is Costa
Rica, where the Ministry of Public Education, in coordination with the Ministry of
Environment, Energy and Telecommunications, developed a strategic framework for
environmental education back in 1994 that later became the platform for implementation
of ESD. In relation to the DESD, a national commitment was established in 2006 (Hori &Shaw 2013: 2-4). Today CCE is incorporated into these already existing policy
frameworks. Other countries involved in this study with a similarly long tradition for EE
and/or ESD are South Africa: (cf. Feinstein et al. forthcoming; Lsse, 2013b: 1),
Denmark (cf. Lsse et al. 2009; Lsse, 2013a), Brazil (Trajber, 2013: 4), Canada (Nazir
et al., 2009), Australia (Chambers, 2009; Rolls, 2013a: 1-2) and the UK (Lsse, 2013c: 1).
In Bangladesh (Habiba et al., 2013) and Tuvalu (Young, 2012), meanwhile, ESD and CCE
have only recently become a subject for policy.
When looking at progress in ESD policy since 2009, it is important to be aware of these
different starting points. However, it is notable that the majority of the countries in this
study which have launched new ESD policies since 2008 are neither highly industrialized
countries like the UK and Denmark nor economically poor countries like Bangladesh or
Tuvalu, but some of the recently industrialized countries with strong economic growth.
Examples include China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil.
China:
In 2010 a new national education strategy The National Outline for Medium and
Long-term Education Reform and Development 2010-2020 underscored the
significance of ESD under the section stressing all-round development of students
(Han 2013: 13). Furthermore, The National Environmental Publicity and Education
Program (2011-2015) was developed jointly by six ministries and commissions in May
2011. Also in 2011, the National Committee of UNESCOs ESD Projects in China
produced ESD in China Experimental Manual, providing a comprehensive overview ofthe policy, theory, and implementation of ESD in the country (Han 2013: 13). ESD
policies are also integrated into some district-level education strategies and
action plans.7
7According to Han (2013:15), under the direction of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the Guidelines on ESD in Beijing, the
guidance of the National Committee of UNESCOs ESD Projects in China, and ESD-related policies have been
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Vietnam:
In connection to the DESD, the Vietnamese government established a National
ESD Committee in 2006. This has promoted substantial progress on ESD policy in
Vietnam (Tong and Shaw, 2013: 12). In 2010, The Ministry of Education and
Training approved the first National Action Plan of ESD which initiated several
projects, e.g. Integrating ESD into teacher education and training. Furthermore,
SD issues have been integrated into the National Target Program of Education
and Training in the period 2012-2015, the Action Plan of Education Sector in the
period 2011-2016, and the National Strategies on Education Development in the
period 2011-2020 (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 5, 12).
Indonesia:
The Indonesian governments strategy for educational development from 2010-
2014 emphasizes that education should foster an understanding of the
importance of sustainability and ecosystem balance and an awareness of humans
as members of the wider ecosystem. A joint agreement has been made between
the Ministry of National Education (MONE) and the Ministry of Environment
(MOE) that shifts responsibility for the implementation of ESD from the MOE to
MONE. Now all units of MONE are expected to implement the national policies in
relation to ESD (Mulyasari & Shaw, 2013: 5).
Brazil:
In 2010, the National Congress and the Ministry of Education launched the
Education Development Plan for the decade 2011-2020. One of the guidelines
here is to promote social and environmental sustainability. The same year, the
Ministry of Education launched the Sustainable Schools Program, inspired by a
similar program in the UK (Trajber, 2013: 11, 13).
The identified trend above should be perceived as an indication rather than as firm
evidence. Some wealthy countries have actually passed new ESD-related policies in recent
years. While keeping a holistic ESD framework, these countries seem to come to
simultaneously emphasize skills development in the context of making a transition to
sustainable economic development.
Australia launched a new national action plan for Education for Sustainability
(EfS) in 2009. Although, as something new compared to earlier plans, it stresses
the importance of CCE, the necessity of a holistic EfS approach remains as theframework into which CCE is interpreted. However, also in Australia, CC has
incorporated into some district-level educational strategies and action plans, e.g., Shijinshan District Educational
Development Plan during the 12th Five-Year Plan and Haidian District Educational Development Plan during the 12th
Five-Year Plan .
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moved the focus towards the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon society and
the need to provide the necessary skills for achieving such transition (Rolls,
2013b: 2-3).
In the Canadian province of Manitoba, a report published by the government in
2009, and related to their Sustainable Development Act, expressed a holistic andaction-oriented approach to ESD. Despite this, the focus is on an economic
perspective with indicators demonstrating a more traditional set of educational
values: school readiness, literacy and numeracy, high school and post-secondary
completion rates, and academic achievements and socio-economic status (Rolls,
2013b: 6).
3.1.4. DRR is a key driver of CCE in countries strongly impacted by the effects of
climate change. In some of these countries DRR is integrated into broader CCE and
ESD policies. Green economy and the need for TVET innovation towards green
skills is another driver of CCE.
In countries facing serious challenges from CC, DRR plays a dominant role as a driver of
CCE. The Philippines can serve as an illustrative example of this. Fernandez and Shaw
(2013) report on DRRE in the Philippines:
In its Strategic National Action Plan (SNAP) for DRR, the Philippines pinpoints Education
and Research as a priority program (Reyes, 2011). The program aims to integrate DRR
modules at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels as well as support the training of
teachers on DRR. The goal is to fully integrate DRR into both formal and informal
education in the country by 2015. (Fernandez & Shaw, 2013: 6)
Currently, the DepEd is continuing the implementation of the project on Prioritizing the
Mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction Management in the School System and
Implementation of Programs and Projects as mandated by Department Order 55 series of
2007, which endorses and facilitates the integration of DRR in both structural (i.e., safe
schools) and non-structural (i.e., curriculum) components of the school system. (ibid)
After targeted integration of DRR into Natural Science and Social Studies subjects in one
secondary grade level (i.e., grade 7, first year high school), further integration of DRR into
other grade levels is currently ongoing (Selby & Kagawa, 2012). So, as the example shows,
DRRE is subject for specific policy efforts in the Philippines. Bangladesh and Tuvalu are
other examples, although DRRE is only at a very early stage here (cf. 3.1.1).
There are, however, other countries challenged by CC where DRRE is not approached
independently from other policy efforts, but incorporated into the already establishedframeworks of ESD and CCE. Vietnam, South Africa and Australia can serve as examples of
this.
Vietnam:
The trajectory of CCE deviates from the above mentioned countries in that DRR
has not been a vehicle for CCE; it has instead developed the other way round. The
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World Bank has listed Vietnam as one of the five countries in the world
potentially most affected by CC. The Government of Vietnam has in recent years
approached this actively and, among other things, developed strategic policies on
CCE. In the National CC Strategy from 2011 the role of education is described as
bringing CC sciences into educational programmes; cultivating human resources
in the relevant fields to climate change adaptation and GHG emission reduction;
raising community awareness and involvement in preventive and recovery
activities to disaster; promoting a climate-friendly ways of life and behaviours for
communities; and encouraging people to adopt climate change response activities
(Tong & Shaw, 2013: 9).
Also in the National Climate Change Strategy, the National Target
Program on Energy Efficiency and Conservation from 2012-2015
and in The Action Plan of Education Sector Response to Climate
Change from 2011- 2015, the approach to CCE is described in more
comprehensive ways than as DRR education (ibid: 7-9). However,
this does not mean that DRR is not an issue and addressed by
targeted policies including education. A year after the Action Plan of
Education Sector Response to CC from 2011-2015 was approved; a
National Action Plan for DRRE was issued. Here it is emphasized
that the implementation of DRRE will be carried out in accordance
with CCE and in attaining a sustainable educational development
(Tong and Shaw, 2013: 12).
South Africa:
With the effects of CC, South Africa faces increasingly serious challenges from
water shortages. However, the White Paper on CC policy from 2011 makes CCE an
integrated part of ESD, and DRR an integrated part of the CC strategy. Probably
due to a strong emphasis on ESD as a way of facilitating action oriented social
learning and change, the governmental approach to DRR is not simply about
dissemination of technical instructions, but stresses the importance of
cooperation with existing social agents:
Collaborate with social networks such as community organisations,
NGOs, women and farmers organisations, and the Adaptation Network to
help raise awareness and to transfer technology and build capacity.
(Government of the Republic of South Africa, 2011, p. 24)
Australia:A similar approach to DRRE has been taken by the Council of Australian
Governments in their National Strategy for Disaster Resilience from 2011. Here it
is stated that Knowledge, innovation and education can enhance a culture of
resilience at all levels of the community should contribute to a continual cycle of
learning (Council of Australian Governments, 2011: 8).
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Another driver of CCE is the vision of green economy/growth as an innovative response to
climate change as well as to economic crisis. This involves a focus on innovation of TVET
towards providing the necessary green skills. The UK and Australia offer good examples.
UK:
The UK governments Low Carbon Transition Plan National Strategy for Climate
and Energy from 2009 - was followed up by the Department of Energy and
Climate Change, who published Meeting the Low Carbon Skills Challenge a
Government response in December 2010. The following quotes express the
approach to CCE:
A skilled workforce is essential if we are to meet our carbon targets and
realise the significant economic opportunities of the transition to a low
carbon and resource efficient world.
For businesses to succeed in this green economy they will need peoplewith the technical and managerial and leadership skills to develop and
exploit both existing and new markets. We need to equip people and
businesses to return the economy to sustainable growth, increasing
employment, raising incomes and supporting an improved quality of life.
(Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2010)
Australia:
The endorsement of the Green Skills Agreement by the Council of Australian
Governments in December 2009 and the publication of the National VET Sector
Sustainability Policy and Action Plan (2009-2012) by the Ministerial Council for
Vocational and Technical Education made green skills promotion a key part of
CCE at the same time as it applied a broader approach than the one applied in the
UK. The purpose of the Australian agreement is outlined as follows:
The Australian and state and territory governments understand that
decisive action is needed to support Australias transition to a sustainable,
low-carbon economy. Australia can continue to prosper while making the
changes required to reduce the impact of climate change. However, the
transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy will involve changes to
how we do things individually and collectively, the ways we live, work and
do business, and the mix of what we do in our economy. These changes
will require new skills, the application of existing skills to new
technologies and practices, and new ways of thinking, working and doingbusiness across all areas of the economy and society. (Council of
Australian Governments, 2009)
In China, ESD is regarded as the framework for CCE, but there are also CC policy
documents indicating a shift towards a green economy approach. In general, CC policy is
approached as part of a SD policy aimed at achieving a balance between economic
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development and sustainability of the environment and society (Han 2013; 13). The 12th
Five-year Plan approaches this by applying the concepts of green development and
green economy and The Guidance on Promoting the Development of the Secondary and
Higher Vocational Education, issued by the Ministry of Education, suggests that the
transformation of economic development to a green economy contains new missions for
the Chinese VET system (Han, 2013: 15).
As mentioned in 3.1.1., the government in South Korea has a strong focus on Green
Growth which also includes Green Growth Education (GGE). It seems that this initiative is
not restricted to TVET but for example also includes elective courses on Environment and
Green Growth in the middle and high school curriculum (Sung, 2013: 2). This new policy
on GGE has caused some confusion in relation to earlier policy initiatives on ESD (ibid: 3).
With the discursive turn in global policy towards green economy partly prompted by
Rio+20, a TVET-oriented green skills approach to CCE would not be surprising. However,
among the countries covered by this study, it is only in UK, Australia, China and South
Korea that this approach has gained a footing until now.
3.1.5. Although CC, in recent years, has been a subject for policy making at the
national level, CCE is in general still at a very premature stage, and CCE, as well as
ESD, is faced with a number of roadblocks for implementation.
As described in 3.1.1., CCE is on the policy agenda and has been made a part of general
climate as well as education strategies in several countries during the last years. As most
of the examples from the national studies show, CCE policies until now are at a very
general and intentional level. In some of the countries, CCE and ESD policy also includes
more concrete action plans, programs and initiatives (e.g. Vietnam, Philippines, SouthAfrica). However, there are several challenges ahead that need to be addressed if the
intentions are to be translated into practice. Like earlier studies of ESD (Wals, 2009; Gross
& Nakayama 2010), some of the national studies behind this study have identified a
number of roadblocks on the path from the level of good intentions towards
implementation of ESD and CCE.
Impediments to CCE and ESD implementation8:
Lack of elaboration of national policy to concrete national action plans, curricula
frameworks and guidelines: Cf. China (Han, 2013: 25), Costa Rica (Hori & Shaw
2013: 16), UK (Lsse 2013c: 4).
Fragmentation, lack of coordinating bodies (between national policy bodies;
between national and sub-national levels; and between agents at the regional and
local levels): Cf. Philippines (Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 12), Indonesia (Mulyasari
8 This issue is only covered by some of the national studies.
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& Shaw, 2013: 14-15), Costa Rica (Hori & Shaw, 2013: 16-17), Bangladesh (Habiba
et al., 2013), China (Han, 2013: 25), South Africa (Lsse, 2013b:1), Brazil
(Trajber 2013: 16; 18), South Korea (Sung, 2013: 3-6).
Lack of implementation mechanisms, division of work and responsibilities: Cf.
Vietnam (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 15)
Lack of systematic monitoring and evaluation, and lack of research support: Cf.
Philippines (OCD: 2011), Costa Rica (Hori & Shaw, 2013: 16), , Vietnam: (Tong &
Shaw, 2013: 15), Brazil (Trajber 2013: 14, 17)
Budgetary constraints, and capacity of the education sector to implement thepolicy: Cf. Philippines (Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 12), Indonesia (Mulyasari &
Shaw, 2013: 13), Vietnam: (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 15).
Tensions between ESD and the exam-oriented system: Cf. China (Han, 2013: 8).
Tensions between the multi-dimensional content of ESD and CCE and theexisting mono-disciplinary curricula: Cf. Vietnam (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 15).
Overloaded curricula: Cf. Bangladesh (Habiba et al., 2013: 15), Vietnam (Tong &Shaw, 2013: 15).
Lack of knowledge and engagement among key agents:
o General lack of understanding of ESD and CCE among stakeholders: Cf.China (Han, 2013: 25-26). South Africa has faced the same shortcomings,
but a new Teacher Education Development Programme represents a
concerted effort to stakeholder cooperation in order to address this
roadblock (Mosidi, 2012).
o Lack of ESD-related subjects or topics in teacher education: Cf. China(Han,
2013: 26), Philippines (Selby & Kagawa, 2012), Brazil (Trajber, 2013: 14)o Lack of knowledge among environmental officials: South Africa (Mosidi,
2012: 33)
o Lack of engagement to use TVET structures for green skills: Cf. SouthAfrica (Lsse, 2013b: 2).
o Lack of supporting curriculum document to assist teachers, guidelines andmaterials: Tuvalu (Young, 2012: 26), Bangladesh (Habiba et al., 2013: 15).
Uneven development of ESD and CCE: In China, differences between developed
and less developed regions of China, as well as between basic education and
higher levels of education are observed (Han, 2013: 26). In Brazil governmental
initiatives involve a large number of schools but still the school-based EE policies
do not reach the totality of schools, engagement is voluntary and dependent on
state, municipal and schools political will (Trajber, 2013: 14).
Necessity of exploring the use of new media: Philippines (Fernandez and Shaw
2013: 11).
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These barriers are still an important part of the state-of-the-art, not only for ESD but also
for CCE. Furthermore, they are obviously important to address in providing guidance for
national CCESD policies.
3.2. WHAT CHARACTERIZES THE WAYS IN WHICH ESD AND CCE POLICIES ARE
SHAPED?
While the first sub-chapter (3.1.) focused on whether something has happened in CCE and
ESD policy since 2008, this sub-chapter will look at what characterizes the CCESD policy
that has been developed in this period. What kinds of policy approaches and policy
instruments have been applied to promote CCE and ESD?
It is a premise of this study that national policies play a crucial part in the promotion of
CCESD. However, this assumption has been contested as some nations delegate theresponsibility to state, regional or local levels of policy, or approach policy as a
governance process together with a multiplicity of stakeholders rather than as a matter of
top-down regulation (Feinstein et al., forthcoming). For this reason it makes good sense to
take a closer look at the approaches taken in the national CCE and ESD policies. As already
indicated in the introduction to this chapter, the following questions will be answered in
this sub-chapter: Do national policy efforts promote a mainstreaming of ESD and/or CCE
or do they let ESD and/or CCE remain marginal? What roles does the national policy play?
What kinds of policy instruments are applied? Is ESD and CCE policy developed
and conducted by the government as top-down processes, or does it include interaction
and cooperation with stakeholders? In the latter case, what roles do the governmental
institutions play as part of such multi-stakeholder policy processes (governance)?
KEY FINDINGS:
1. In general, national governments do not apply regulatory policy instruments toimplement ESD and CCE. National curriculum frameworks are an exception in many of
the countries.
2. National ESD and CCE tend to apply softer governance instruments such asconsultations, coordination, facilitation and guidance.
3. However, these governance instruments seem, up to now, too weak to ensure amainstreaming of ESD and CCE.
ANALYSIS AND EXAMPLES:
3.2.1. In general, national governments do not apply traditional regulatory policy
instruments to implement ESD and CCE. National curriculum frameworks are an
exception in many of the countries.
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Traditional normative and economic regulatory policy instruments are generally not
applied to implement ESD and CCE. There is one exception from this. Some of the
involved countries have integrated ESD and CCE in their national school curricula.
Examples of this can be found in Denmark (Lsse 2013a: 2-3), Costa Rica (Hori & Shaw
2013: 10), Philippines (Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 5), South Africa (Lsse, 2013b: 1),
Tuvalu (Young 2012)9, UK (Lsse, 2013c: 8), Vietnam (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 13-14),
China (Han, 2013: 19) and Brazil (Trajber 2013: 13; 17).
Vietnam deviates to some extent from this general picture as the government here has a
rather top-down regulatory approach to ESD and CCE. The Ministry of Education and
Training (MOET) has primary responsibility, collaborating with other ministries, local
departments of education and training and other organizations. Its activities are
supported by funding from the state budget and it monitors and evaluates the
implementation of ESD and CCE regularly (Tong & Shaw, 2013).
In the UK, CC policy is also partially implemented as top-down regulation with delegation
of responsibilities, including demands in terms of expected outcomes and evaluation(Lsse, 2013c: 4).
3.2.2. National ESD and CCE tend to apply softer governance instruments such as
consultations, coordination, facilitation and guidance.
The national ESD and CCE strategies are primarily interactive and process oriented. This
can take different forms.
One approach is to establish contact with relevant state and non-state agents, and invite
them to consultation. For instance, in Indonesia a planning workshop was organized to
discuss a new national strategy on CCE with participation of diverse government
departments, the private sector, education institutions, NGOs and UN organizations(Mulyasari & Shaw, 2013: 12). Similarly, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and
Training held a workshop in March 2011 on Sharing experiences and strengthening
cooperation on climate change education as an initiative to implement the action plan of
education sector response to climate change (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 4). Other examples can
be found in Denmark (Lsse et al. 2009) and UK (Lsse, 2013c: 6).
In a more comprehensive approach, not only do the national governments invite
stakeholders to participate in hearings or other types of meeting, they also either take the
role as mediators or coordinators of an ongoing dialogue and cooperation on promotion
of ESD and CCE, or provide structures for this. An example of this can be found in the
Philippines:
At the national level, there is a Coordinating Council for ESD made up of: 1)
Department of Education 2) CHED Teacher Education Institutions, 3) Technical
9 According to Young, a new curriculum framework including ESD and CCE was prepared and
should have been issued at the end of 2012.
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Education System Development Agency (TESDA), 4) Local Government Units, 5)
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and 6) NGOs.
(Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 5)
In Canada/Manitoba, ESD is a multi-stakeholder process involving government,
educational institutions, civil society and the private sector. Not least the NGO Learningfor a Sustainable Future (LFS) has played a significant role in the development of ESD in
Canada. In partnership with the federal Department of the Environment and Manitobas
Department of Education and Department of Advanced Education and Literacy, LSF has worked to
establish provincial and territorial ESD working groups. These working groups involve
representatives from regional and federal governments, educational institutions, non-formal and
informal learning organisations, NGOs, the private sector, teacher associations and other
stakeholders. Not only are these working groups active within their own jurisdictions, they also
cooperate under the leadership of the pan-Canadian ESD Canada network. (Rolls, 2013b: 10)
In Indonesia, the ministries for education and environment collaborate, and there is also
established collaboration with other agents, e.g. about teacher training. In addition, an
Education Consortium named Kalimamtan University Consortium is initiating theestablishment of regional networks for capacity and institutional building in relation to CC
as part of Indonesias participation as pilot country in UNITARs CC: Learn Pilot Projects
(2011-2013) (Mulyasari & Shaw 2013: 11-12).
In Denmark, economic support was in 2009 the year Denmark hosted UNFCCC COP15
given to the establishment and a three year running of a national network of agents
working with ESD. The network was approved as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) by
UNU-IAS and connected to the global RCE network. However, in this case, it was
governmental support to stakeholder knowledge sharing rather than a governance
network with governmental departments actively involved themselves (Lsse 2013a).
As a third type of governmental process support, several governments offer consultative
guidance, information, courses and materials to promote ESD and CCE. This role is
reflected in a positioning paper Adapting to Climate Change, published by the Australian
Government in 2010:
Individuals and businesses can only take effective action to adapt to climate change
if they are well informed about its potential impacts and risks. It is in the interests of
businesses and individuals to invest in the specific information they need to assess
and manage their risks from the impacts of climate change. However, there is little
incentive for them to invest in basic knowledge that may be of limited benefit to
them but of broader public benefit. Governments have a role to play in filling these
information gaps, including by providing better public information (such as high
quality climate projections) to build understanding and better inform decision
making across both the public and private sectors (Department of Climate Change,
2010: 8).
Another example, coming from Brazil, illustrates similar process supporting efforts, but in
this case targeted at the school education area. Here the Ministry of Education has
conducted initiatives to include EE and CCE in mainstream educational events. It has also
initiated the program Lets Take Care of Brazil through Schools which since 2003 has
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organized several National Children and Youth Conferences on EE and CCE issues with a
large number of schools as participants (Trajber, 2013: 4-7).
Other examples of this type of governmental process support are described in the reports
from the Philippines (Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 6), Costa Rica (Hori & Shaw 2013: 11),
UK (Lsse, 2013c: 6), Vietnam (Tong & Shaw, 2013: 4), China (Han, 2013: 12-15), andSouth Korea (Sung, 2013: 2).
3.2.3. However, these governance instruments seem, up to now, too weak to ensure
a mainstreaming of ESD and CCE.
The choice of policy instruments does not tell everything about how strong or weak the
national policy efforts are with regard to promoting the implementation of CCE and ESD.
It is not possible on the basis of this desk study to evaluate the governmental efforts.
However, the national reports include some examples indicating the strengths or
weaknesses of the governance activities. It has already been partly addressed in 3.1.5 on
roadblocks for implementation. Among them was fragmentation/a lack of coordinating
bodies.
In some countries, for example Bangladesh and Tuvalu, coordinating and supportive
structures have not yet been established. In other countries, such structures have been
established or supported by the government, but only on a minor scale with few
stakeholders involved and/or with few resources allocated. An example of this can be
found in Denmark where the government, as mentioned in 3.2.2., has supported a RCE-
network, but also a national homepage for ESD in schools as well as some science
extension institutions that also work with ESD. CCE is partly covered by these mediating
institutions, but they are too weak in the overall context of the whole educational system
and in terms of the ambition to mainstream ESD and CCE,. In China, the government
supports CCE and ESD projects at the lower levels and they are also to some extent indialogue with NGOs as well as the private sector. However, the involved national-level
institutions function within their own jurisdictions without any executive body taking
charge of planning, coordination or monitoring and evaluation of ESD and CCE as a whole
(Han, 2013: 22-23). In Costa Rica the Ministry of Public Education is part of cooperation
between national level and inter-institutional organizations involved as members of
sector councils, established by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and
Telecommunications. However structures for coordination and knowledge exchange
between ESD and CCE agents have not been established (see 3.1.5).
Although there are good examples of progress, both regarding development of national
school curricula with CCE and ESD elements and regarding coordination and other typesof governance and process facilitating structures, the overall impression from the national
reports is that the efforts seem too weak to ensure a mainstreaming of ESD. It should,
however, be stressed that this impression is still only based on the analyses of policy
documents and that a deeper study of the relationship between policy and CCE and ESD
practice is needed to evaluate the extent to which CCE and ESD are marginal or
approaching the mainstream.
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Whether CCE and ESD will remain marginal or will be mainstreamed is an issue that
relates to the next sub-section on how national policies interpret and approach ESD and
CCE, not least because these interpretations and approaches might, or might not, connect
to the current foci of global and national policies.
3.3.HOW DO CURRENT NATIONAL POLICIES INTERPRET AND OPERATIONALIZE ESD
AND CCE?
There are strong historical connections between EE and ESD at the same time as their
similarities and differences have been heavily discussed (see, for example, Jickling, 1992;
McKeown & Hopkins, 2003; Stevenson, 2006). As climate change, in a narrow sense, is an
environmental issue, but at the same time influences all other grand challenges of the
world, and thus also relates to sustainable development in a broader sense than
environmental sustainability, it is indeed interesting to look at how CCE policies relate, or
do not relate, CCE to ESD. The IALEI cross-national study from 2009 concluded that therelationship was still very open but also that, rather than CCE being incorporated into and
empowering ESD, it might instead revitalize an instrumental and behaviour modification-
oriented approach that ESD has otherwise gradually moved away from (Lsse et al.
2009). So what has happened since then?
For this part of the desk study, the questions raised were as follows: Are ESD and CCE
related to each other in national policies and, if yes, how? Is CCE incorporated into ESD
and/or ESD transformed by CCE? To what extent is CCE, and eventually ESD, influenced by
recent trends towards aligning climate change adaptation with DRR and recent emphasis
on making a transition to a green economy as a means to achieving SD?
KEY FINDINGS:
1. ESD and CCE policies are linked to, or express, different concepts of and approaches toSD. Some countries maintain the, until now, rather dominant focus on the nature-
society relationship and ecological sustainability, while other countries have a broader
focus on the future of society as a whole.
2. There is an emerging trend towards focusing CC and SD policies on green economy byinterpreting CCE as a means for providing green skills. The policies and discourses on
ESD and green skills are in most countries remarkably unconnected but there are also
examples of efforts to integrate them.
3. DRRE is only addressed by some national policies. In some of these it has a rathernarrow focus on climate knowledge and operational instruction. However, in several
other countries the approach seems to be more comprehensive.
4. The national strategic policy papers on ESD neither interpret ESD as equivalent withscience education nor restrict the educational approach to prescriptive learning.
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5. The dominant approach to promote implementation of ESD and CCE is to integrate itinto the existing school subjects. There are, however, also examples of extra- or cross-
curricular strategies.
ANALYSIS AND EXAMPLES:
3.3.1. ESD and CCE policies are linked to, or express, different concepts of and
approaches to SD. Some countries maintain the, until now, rather dominant focus
on the nature-society relationship and ecological sustainability, while other
countries have a broader focus on the future of society as a whole.
The concept of SD has been defined in several hundred ways (Dobson 1996). So which
discourses and approaches to SD are the national policies on ESD and CCE based on?
Although this study does not include a discourse analysis, one distinction in approaches
can be observed.
Only a few national ESD and CCE policies apply a narrow approach to SD with a focus on
the environment and ecological sustainability. In Indonesia, ESD has been developed in
cooperation between the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Environment,
and is aimed at creating change in the mindset, attitudes and behaviour of
environmentally cultured human (Mulyasari & Shaw, 2013: 12). Also in the Philippines,
the approach is focused on the environment. The strategy of the Department of Education
is to continue to strengthen CCE as part of the already established EE policy and by using
the existing language of EE (Fernandez and Shaw 2013: 8).
Also Canada/Manitoba belongs to this category of countries. However, strikingly, here abroad approach to SD is being set aside in favour of an environmentally-centred approach.
A public consultation process, currently underway towards updating 1997s Sustainable
Development Act with a new Green Prosperity Act, indicates this move towards
marginalizing the social dimension of ESD:
The new act will still encompass the three pillars of sustainable development (the
environment, society and the economy), but will shift focus towards environmental
sustainability. This will ensure the environment is recognized as the foundation of
society and the economy and is given due weight in all decisions. One proposed
name for the new act is the Green Prosperity Act. The name is proposed to take
the current use of the term sustainable development and bring it into a context that
reflects the current and future direction of government, which is to create a green
and prosperous society (Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship, 2012: 4).
Several of the other countries apply more comprehensive approaches that make SD, more
or less, an issue of coping with the grand societal future challenges. In Costa Rica, a
National Commitment on DESD has led to an elaboration of the already existing strategy
and structures for EE towards a trans-disciplinary approach that incorporates EE into
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poverty reduction, economic dynamism and gender equity (Hori & Shaw 2013: 4, 16).
Similarly, in Brazil, they have a long and strong tradition for EE approached as a
comprehensive, critical, participatory and emancipatory project aimed at promoting
ethics, aesthetics and citizenship towards a socially and environmentally sustainable
society (Trajber, 2013: 4; 13; 15). South Africa has for historical reasons a similar focus on
societal development as a whole, and SD and ESD are oriented towards social dimensions
of sustainable development (Lsse, 2013b).
Approaches to SD and ESD are also influenced by national development as measured by
Human Development Index (HDI). In very high HDI countries covered by this study
(South Korea, Australia, Canada/Manitoba, Denmark and the UK), CC encourages
strategies for a low carbon society, approached as green growth. (cf. 3.3.2). In China and
Vietnam, characterized as medium HDI countries, ESD is linked to the issue of access to
education and the Education for All/Quality Education agenda. In this context, in China
and Vietnam, as in many developing countries, ESD is connected to a reorientation of the
educational system under the heading of Quality Education (Han, 2013: 21; Tong & Shaw,
2013: 12). For example, in China, The National Education Outline 2010-2020 viewsquality education as a major strategic theme for Chinas educational reform and
development during the period 2010-2020. It identifies the goals of the education reform
in China as promoting equal access to education, improving education quality and
boosting SD capacity (Han, 2013: 21).
3.3.2. There is an emerging trend towards focusing CC and SD policies on green
economy by interpreting CCE as a means for providing green skills. The policies and
discourses on ESD and green skills are in most countries remarkably unconnected
but there are also examples of efforts to integrate them.
In the global policy arena, e.g., at the Rio+20 summit, the concepts of green growth and
green economy have come to be emphasized as a means to achieving SD. The global
financial crisis and pressure to find ways of coping with the effects of climate change are
probably some of the important dynamics behind this discursive shift. What does this
mean for the discourses on ESD and CCE? The ILO-Cedefop study on Skills for Green Jobs
from 2011 concludes that most countries still do not have a policy strategy for providing
the necessary skills for a green economy (Streitska-Ilina et al. 2011). This is also the case
in the countries involved in this study. If we look at those countries that have begun to
address the need for skills for green jobs, skills development policies tend to be decoupled
from ESD discourses, policies and practice.
In the UK, the ambition to respond to CC by creating a low carbon society hasresulted in several policy initiatives to promote green TVET. While the former
government placed emphasis on a programme for Sustainable Schools with a
broad ESD approach, the current government has its focus on green skills which it
approaches as a matter of providing the necessary Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) qualifications for the labour market
(Lsse, 2013c: 3-5).
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The same lack of policy integration can be found in Denmark, where TVET has
included green elements for many years. Nevertheless, TVET is conspicuous by its
absence from