This research investigates the state of student participation in the Eco-Schools programme in two selected secondary schools located in Spain and the Netherlands. The focus is on understanding the levers of student participation and of the factors leading to a whole-school approach. Engeström's Second Generation Activity Systems Model is used as…

Education and lifelong learning are increasingly being mobilised to address the global environmental crisis and accompanying sustainability challenges. This article discusses the many roles of education about and for sustainable development, drawing on evidence and arguments put forward in the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report,…

An analysis of the literature supporting the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and a sample of its key products suggests that it failed to acknowledge or challenge neoliberalism as a hegemonic force blocking transitions towards genuine sustainability. The authors argue that the rationale for the Decade was idealistic and that…

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce and investigate dialogic interaction as a key element of achieving a transition towards sustainability in people, organizations and society as a whole. Furthermore "sustainability competence" as a potential outcome of such interaction is to be introduced, referring to the capacities and qualities…

Should environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) try to change students' behaviours or should it focus on capacity building and critical thinking? The latter is more likely to lead to a citizenry that can examine new challenges and act wisely. New forms of learning are entering the arena of EE and ESD such as…

In this article, the author talks about a student-initiated Initiative for Transformative Sustainability Education (ITSE) at Wageningen University in The Netherlands which has led to the development of an undergraduate minor called Sustainability-in-Action consisting of four interlinked courses. When formally approved, the minor will be offered…

This article lists the key outcomes and recommendations of Phase I of the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD. Phase I focused on a review of the structures, provisions and conditions countries and regions have put in place in order to facilitate the development and implementation of ESD. The author also touches upon the constraints and…

This study contends that environmental education is being significantly altered by globalizing forces, witnessing the effort to convert environmental education into education for sustainable development. This internationally propagated conversion can be challenged from many vantage points. This study identifies anomalies that have arisen as…

This contribution provides an "outside" commentary on several of the articles provided in this special issue on environmental education and education in the context of sustainability in Denmark and Sweden. Although there is no uniform position or shared single outlook expressed in the articles in this special issue, there are some…

World wide, policymakers are looking for ways to use education and communication strategies to create a world that is more sustainable than the one currently in prospect. They often find themselves trapped between instrumental (behavior change) and emancipatory (human development) uses of such strategies. This study sheds light on this apparent…

Claims that environmental education in a postmodern world will have to be sensitive to the ill-defined nature of emerging key concepts such as biodiversity and sustainability. (Author/CCM)

It is higher education's responsibility continuously to challenge and critique value and knowledge claims that have prescriptive tendencies. Part of this responsibility lies in engaging students in socio-scientific disputes. The ill-defined nature of sustainability manifests itself in such disputes when conflicting values, norms, interests, and…

This paper presents a research project that investigates the values and uses of biodiversity. It was jointly investigated by the Wageningen Agricultural University and the University of Utrecht. The study engages a research-based stepping stone procedure for curriculum developers and educators in the (re)designing of teaching and learning in both…