The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit

The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit is based on the idea that communities and educational systems within communities need to dovetail their sustainability efforts. As communities develop sustainability goals, local educational systems and programs can modify existing curricula or create new programs to reinforce those goals.

The ESD Toolkit has proven to be effective for many audiences including national and provincial ministries, non-profit organizations, universities and colleges, teacher educators, school administrators, teachers, municipalities, and government officials. Although the ESD Toolkit w a s written for a North American audience, it has proven useful in countries and communities around the world.

The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit will help schools and communities develop a process for creating locally relevant and culturally appropriate education. This Toolkit is based on the idea that communities and educational systems need to dovetail their sustainability efforts. Ideally, local educational systems can reorient existing curricula to reinforce local sustainability goals.

The ESD Toolkit is an easy-to-use manual for beginning the process of combining education and sustainability.

The ESD Toolkit has eight major components:

An introduction to sustainability.
A description of the major thrusts and components of education for sustainable development and a method of bringing ESD to the school level.
A discussion of 12 major issues that have slowed the progress of ESD.
A case study of the Toronto Board of Education's community consultation and subsequent curriculum revision that indirectly addressed ESD as a result of the citizens' visions and desires.
A description of management techniques for initiating change in schools.
A brief description of public participation methods for including the citizenry in community decisions regarding sustainability and ESD.
Exercises to help schools and communities to understand sustainability, create sustainability goals, reorient the curriculum to address sustainability, and initiate change within an educational system.
Links to other Web sites on sustainability, education for sustainability, historic United Nations documents, and communities that have developed sustainability plans.