perspectives and values of the society thus functioning as guidance and motivation in seeking a sustainable livelihood. 19 The Toolkit suggests that reorienting the curriculum should be at a balance between“ looking forward to a more sustainable society with looking back to traditional ecological knowledge. Indigenous traditions often carry with them the values and practices that embody sustainable resource use. While returning to indigenous lifestyles is not an option for the millions of urban dwellers, the values and major tenets of indigenous traditions can be adapted to life in the 21st century.”
After having stated that, we have to point out that this doesn ' t mean adding more to the already full curriculum. On the contrary, by reorienting the curriculum and deciding what is out-of-date or does not contribute to sustainability and reworking the traditional approach to include contents relevant to everyday life, we will only make education more effective and lifelong.
Linking ESD with the mandate subject curriculum
Another way of integrating ESD into the mandate subject curriculum is to try and link between the topics. Global sustainability provides engaging context for teaching core subjects. It is also important to keep in mind that collaborating formal, informal and non-formal education will produce the best results( Gotenburg Recommendations).
Before continuing further, we would like inform that we do not want this part to be too prescriptive. Since subject curriculum for all countries within Europe are not exactly the same, this part should be treated as a guideline or ideas used in integrating ESD in core subjects. Teachers or Educators should therefore feel free to check their own subject curriculum and rework it. See also appendix for more ideas from the eight different partner schools.
Art: Integrating ESD to art is easy. Educators together with their students can use Art to communicate or express ESD message or issues that have application beyond the country ‟ s border. Intercultural understanding and mutual respect for other human beings can be taught in the form of art to students of all age groups. As we all know art encourages critical thinking and when this is combined with ESD the outcome can be remarkable. Students can, depending on their age, use handicraft techniques and tools as well as ecofriendly materials to explore, create and present different topics within ESD.
Workshops can be organised, where pupils create workbooks / portfolios where they share their ideas, views, reflections and experiences in the form of drawings, paintings and even literature( cross-curriculum activity together with ESL, Mother- tongue education and even modern languages like French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc.).
Another idea is to create a“ trash to treasure” exhibition, organise Christmas workshops of recycle material, etc. Depending on the age of the pupils, it is possible to organise drawing competitions where pupils draw the ecological footprints of things they use or eat, such as
19 Education on Sustainable Development Toolkit. U N E S C O, Education for Sustainable Development in Action Learning & Training Tools N ° 1, October 2006. Any reference to this publication will be within brackets and as Toolkit.
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