Dialogues for Coexistence: Towards a National Strategy for Sustainable Education

The objective of the working group, made up of 13 public and civil society institutions, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to create a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (ESD) through dialogue and networking. Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA) was invited to join. Our Director of Learning, Manuela Méndez, reflects on the evolving conceptual approach to the topic, as well as the value of art and teaching experiences that create disruptive and inspiring practices to think about how to coexist sustainably in the face of the socio-ecological crisis.

The current socio-ecological crisis has led our country to sign international agreements and develop local laws that require addressing complex challenges through education. Some of these international commitments include the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda (1), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Escazú Agreement, all of which call for promoting education that addresses the needs of nature protection, socio-ecological justice, and citizen participation, among other aspects.

Additionally, national laws call for considering socio-ecological gaps, such as those in the Law on Climate Change (21.455), the General Education Law (LGE), and the General Bases for the Environment Law (19.300). However, despite these regulatory frameworks, implementing education that addresses these complex and multidimensional challenges remains an ongoing challenge, which will be addressed through a working group that will collaboratively create the first National Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a complex and broad term. Its origins are linked to environmental education, which from its inception incorporated human dimensions into ecological problems (2). However, it was at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that the term “Education for Sustainable Development” was formally adopted, integrating economic, ecological, and social dimensions. Later, this concept continued to expand during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), coordinated by UNESCO. In the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, Quality Education, was established as a strategic objective to achieve the other SDGs, specifically referring to ESD (3):

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the theoretical and practical knowledge needed to promote sustainable development, including education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and the appreciation of cultural diversity and the contribution of culture to sustainable development.

Today, there are various understandings and approaches to Education for Sustainable Development, which has had a history spanning decades at various global conventions and summits. It is worth noting that there are critical perspectives on the ESD concept, for example, for moving away from the term “environment.” Other conceptualizations used include Education for Sustainability or Environmental Education. At Fundación Mar Adentro, we use the term “socio-ecological education” to emphasize humans as part of nature, highlighting interdependence. However, ESD is a broad term used in different contexts.

ESD promotes learning in connection with areas related to peace, citizen participation, gender equality, human rights, or health, through perspectives that bridge the global and local, putting multidimensionality at the center. This vision has been spread through initiatives such as the Paris Agreement (4), which seeks to take action on sustainable development regarding climate change and the need for adaptation.

Given the urgency of deepening and updating this perspective in a coordinated and situated manner from Chile, and considering the diversity of those involved in these definitions and their scope, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Chilean Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AGCID), in partnership with the Ministry of Education, convened an intersectoral working group (5), where the Agency plays a facilitating and mediating role in reaching consensus.

This is a national initiative based on several international agreements signed by the country, as well as local laws, to which our foundation was invited as a consultative member for our role in socio-ecological learning, framed in programs such as “Docente Activo” and various experiences we generate related to the transdisciplinary value of art, science, and the humanities for nature conservation. We were contacted after a consultancy identified us as a civil society organization playing an innovative role in education.

Thus, we have joined this working group to develop a Sustainable Education Strategy in Chile, where a space for advocacy and voting has been created for the collective development of a document that includes formal, non-formal, and informal education (6), addressing various debates related to the understanding of this subject with its nuances and differences.

Inspiring Experiences

To date, we have also shared experiences with experts from Portugal, where three educational strategies in this area have already been carried out, contributing their vision on the need for active citizenship and communication with civil society and state institutions. Among the key lessons they sought to convey, they highlighted the importance of governance; teacher support and training, valuing the facilitation of resources and materials for education; and encouraging permanent opportunities for common encounters.

Learning from these kinds of practical experiences, even in very different contexts, plants a seed of inspiration for those of us at the table. Inspirations that go hand in hand with listening, mutual understanding, and the realism of assuming the complexity involved in co-constructing the First National Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development.

Progress has been made, as we have already drafted an index that includes an introduction, a conceptual framework, an institutional framework, principles, objectives, actors, governance, and areas of action. Work has also been done on the conceptual framework of the strategy, which involves a historical review of the concept, a broad and consensual definition of ESD, and the development of key themes related to environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions, which are addressed in an integrated and indivisible manner. Currently, work is being done on the institutional framework.

It is worth mentioning that these advancements are part of actions driven at the institutional level for several years. The Ministry of the Environment (MMA) has led the development of environmental education in the country in the non-formal education sector. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) is responsible for incorporating sustainability into formal education. In this regard, the Ministry developed the Framework for Integral Education for Sustainability and Climate Change Adaptation (MEISC) to guide the incorporation of these dimensions into formal education. 

They have stated that “Education for Sustainability is included in a principle of the General Education Law, which recognizes the need to foster respect for the natural and cultural environment, good relations, rational use of natural resources, and sustainability as a concrete expression of solidarity with current and future generations.” In an effort to facilitate the integration of sustainability, climate change adaptation, and environmental education in various types of educational establishments, MINEDUC has also created a sustainability website, where educational material from different ministries and international and national organizations can be accessed.

We see that there is a cross-cutting need, from the regulatory framework to international commitments signed by the country, to deepen the scope of this matter. It is relevant for us to engage with these proposals and drive the support of teachers, with the conviction that they have a key, active, and determining role in raising awareness and taking action for the conservation of nature. This is in consideration of the fact that any strategy of this kind that is put into practice passes through the classroom, one of the crucial spaces for understanding the biodiversity of which we are a part; the causes and consequences of climate change; the need for responsible consumption; the value of circular economy; gender equality; and human rights.

At FMA, we want to share experiences related to ways of putting into practice what often stays in discourse. We refer to transdisciplinary education and the value of art as a generator of knowledge and critical thinking, capable of stimulating divergent perspectives from the body and emotions.

Art plays a very important role in creating possibilities and opening options, also in how to involve people in their multiple dimensions, in the materialization of their work and diversities. At the same time, art must enter strongly into spaces where sustainable education is implemented, enabling emergent intersections in terms of research to address the socio-ecological crisis, since an integration, depth, and holistic perspective is needed, and where art involves freedom of research and action.

Currently, it is urgent to promote training on climate change adaptation topics from the global south, with an emphasis on community work for sustainable education, nourished by artistic practices and participatory methodologies. There are valuable scattered initiatives, so experiences like this working group go in the direction of facilitating interactions that are often fragmented, and it is here, in this convergence, that transdisciplinary knowledge can blossom, allowing us to generate disruptive and inspiring practices to coexist sustainably in the face of the socio-ecological crisis.

References

1. This agenda corresponds to an action plan of the United Nations that includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are 17 global goals aimed at improving people’s lives, protecting the planet, and promoting peace.
2. Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education, Tbilisi, Georgia 1977.
3. Goal 4.7
4. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
5. Where the Ministries of Women and Gender Equality; Environment; Social Development; the National Institute of Youth (INJUV); academic and research centers – such as the Climate and Resilience Science Center (CR2) or the Advanced Research Center in Education (CIAE); civil society organizations; such as Foundation 99; Caserta, Corporación Humanas, and the Collective Action Network for Education, among other actors, participate.
6. It includes family, everyday, and community dimensions, among others.
7. Physical-cognitive-affective-social.