Education in the Sustainability Development Goals (2016-2030), sustainability in the education

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) accepted the Sustainable Development Goals (2016-2030) for mankind, including 17 Goals and 169 Targets. Sustainability is understood in its widest sense, considering society and economy as equally important pillars, as environmental safety. Fulfilment of these aims needs active and prepared participation of future generations, hence education of these tasks is inevitable. In the paper, a reasonable classification of the Goals is provided, which is missing in the document. This classification sorts the 17 Goals into five groups: Primary needs of humans (Goals 2, 3, 6 and 7); Equality between humans (1, 4, 5 and 10); Efficient, sustainable production (8, 9, 12 and 13); Landscapes in danger (11, 14 and 15) and Worldwide cooperation (16, 17). Goal 4 is devoted to education with 10 Targets, whereas eight further Targets of six Goals literally mention education or synonyms. Having them briefly presented, the paper critically notes those Targets, where education is also requested, but not mentioned by the document. There are also recommendations on how to teach sustainability in the various secondary school subjects. Reversely, examples are also provided to convince the Reader about possibility and usefulness of applying sustainability to support practically all school subjects and to develop key competences by selected aspects of sustainability. In the Appendices, there are global and European indicators, to be used in education of and by sustainability.