Education For Sustainable Development And Primary School Curricula: A Complex Triangle (original) (raw)

2007, Geographiedidaktische Forschungen, vol. 42, p. 58-65

The aim of this theoretical paper is to reflect on the trans-disciplinary nature of EE and ESD. Considering the proper position of this subject in Primary School Curricula, is trans-discipline an advantage or a limit? Recent international literature has underlined the difference between Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (Jickling, 2005; McKeown & Hopkins, 2003; Sterling, 2003), developed the theme of sustainability in higher education (Wals & Jickling, 2002) and defined education as a permanent process (Demetrio, 2003). However, in many cases in Europe, Environmental Education has kept its own undefined position in Primary School Curricula. In fact EE is considered to be a cross-disciplinary subject. This transversal nature might generate some epistemological and methodological confusion. This confusion refers to E.E. issues, goals and didactics, in particular considering the central role played by “best practices”. In Primary School EE is often connected with different subjects, such as Geography and Science, supplied with more solid (and older) epistemological bases. This “limit” might even be considered an advantage, because Geography (of course also Science) could be used as an “external support” to validate EE didactics and objects. Re-reading the International Charter on Geographical Education, some important contributes on geography and epistemology and comparing three National Curricula (the Italian, the French and the English ones), we present a possible way to consider Geography a support for the “external validation”.