Sustainable Development (Subject) – Asks and Questions
How do you relate sustainable development with social justice and how do you develop a unit lesson which the content is the relationship between those two concepts.
Social justice is simply defined as an equal opportunity for people to have better life. It is a part of sustainable development aspects, namely social aspect. Social development is central to sustainable development and social justice is central to social development (The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002: Reports from the Scottish Civic Delegation (http://www.scotland.gov.uk). The statement reflects that social justice is a requirement of sustainable development because the existence of injustice, specifically suffered by poor people, contributes to the destruction of environment. In short, socially sustainable development is defined as movement:
‘…. that meet poor peoples’ needs and aspirations while guaranteeing future generations the right to define their own goals and pathways to progress.” (UK’s Department for International Development (DfID)
Lesson on relationship between sustainable development and social justice is conducted by providing student with explanation on sustainable development, including the three main aspects, economy, ecology and social (+ individual). Then, the writer proposes two instructional techniques, specifically to social (justice) aspect: (1) showing the students the fact sheet of poor people who potentially destruct the environment; (2) asking the students to observe/watch (video) the life of poor people/countries (vs. rich people/countries), their attitude and behavior to environment.
How do you distinguish between
1. education FOR sustainable development (SD) vs education IN sustainable development
Simply, Education for SD means education as a means to educate students or people (community) to practice the values of sustainable development under the three main aspects, including economy, social and environment (+ individual). So that, the students or people will have good comprehension and the importance of sustainable development. While Education in SD means education (any subjects) plays its important role to change students’ children’s attitudes, of their values, behaviour and consumption patterns in accordance with principles and values of SD. Also, Education in SD reflects that education has an important role to build condition of sustainable economy, sustainable environment and sustainable social. Specifically, in economy aspect, education should be delivered for people to improve their quality of life in terms of income. Thus, the difference is that Education for SD is intended to share knowledge and practice of SD, while Education in SD is considered that education is needed to achieve the sustainable development goals, in terms of social, economy and ecology.
Education for the Environment means education as a means to educate students or people (community) in terms of principle of environment, including carrying capacity, homeostasis, thermodynamic laws I & II, and so on, so that the students or community aware to the condition of their environment. While, Education in the Environment means education is conducted in the environment, such as outdoor learning. In short, Education for the Environment represent education as a means while Education in the Environment represent education can be conducted in the environment (outdoor learning)