What school organization can do for education for sustainable development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) complements traditional environmental education. It takes a three-pronged approach by looking at the ecological, social, and economic sectors, their context across time, and how they affect the world at every scale. This teaching technique encourages students to think and open discussions using a pluralistic approach – bringing together diverse perspectives – and act for sustainable development. The purpose of any educational pedagogy or topic is to affect change and realize an outcome. However, many circumstances affect a school's ability to produce its desired result. Though ESD has been studied at length, there has been little to no research about the way a school's structure and systems impact the effectiveness of ESD. The researchers in this literature review sought to determine how a school's organization can help achieve the specific goals and outcomes of ESD.

The researchers collected resources for this literature review in two ways. First, they searched databases for peer-reviewed articles on ESD, environmental education, and/or citizenship education, which also included information on the school administration and organization for primary or secondary schools. Second, they used online search engines and reviewed school handbooks. For the most part, the resources included in the study were written between 2000 to 2019, but some sources written before 2000 were included because of their extensive contribution to the field of education effectiveness. The researchers reviewed a total of 46 sources written in Dutch and English. Each source was screened for common phrases linked to previous researchers' findings that indicated a specific set of 11 criteria for successful school organizations with EE or ESD programs. After multiple rounds of critical review, the researchers classified the phrases into two conditions and six themes that resulted in a framework for the organizational characteristics of successful ESD schools.

The two foundational conditions the researchers discovered that characterized effective ESD schools were strong leadership and school resources. Strong leadership refers to the ability of the school leaders to be proactive, reward positive behaviors, and establish a shared vision. School resources included efficient planning, effective operation systems, and sustainable buildings and grounds. For example, school leadership that intentionally designs its curriculum structure and enrichment activities to create space for ESD principles can alleviate the burden for educators to embed ESD into their curricula. Effective schools also developed interdisciplinary teams of teachers so the pluralistic and holistic principles of ESD could be practiced when collaborating. Finally, schools with green infrastructure and other sustainably designed spaces model tangible outcomes of ESD.

In addition to the two conditions of strong leadership and school resources, six general characteristics of successful ESD schools were highlighted. 1) The schools encouraged open dialogue and creative communication. Encouraging open dialogue and communication allowed for information flow in a pluralistic manner. 2) Schools supported their teachers. Because of this, teachers and leaders alike felt comfortable and were able to work more effectively together and with other schools and organizations. 3) All employees were brought into the decision-making process, allowing for a more democratic approach. 4) A shared vision was created which was important because there are many interpretations of ESD and ways principles can be implemented. 5) The effective ESD schools were adaptable. When internal or external changes arise, school organizations can adapt either by adding or replacing pieces of their operational mission, values, or processed. 6) The school's employees truly felt that their ESD teaching methods can and will positively affect their students. Researchers concluded that these two conditions and six characteristics are interconnected and make up effective school organizations that practice ESD.

There are limitations within this literature review. The researchers admitted that this review was not intended to be exhaustive. The conclusion is a conceptual framework for effective school organization for ESD rather than an outline of how to implement each element in a school. Although the interconnection of each element that contributes to an effective ESD organization was identified, those relationships themselves were not explored further. Further, the researchers only reviewed researched published in Dutch and English, thereby limiting the possibility of insights from research written in other languages.

This literature review serves as a reference for educators and school administrators to understand the principles of effective school organizations and how they can be observed in practice within the organization. This framework could also be adapted into a tool to help measure ESD outcomes. Ultimately by using this framework of two conditions and six characteristics, schools can encourage more sustainably minded students who think holistically, consider diverse perspectives, and act in the best interest of the environment.