Education for sustainable development (ESD) is an important feature of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), being explicitly mentioned as part of SDG4 dealing with education. While ESD needs to be embedded in all levels and types of education, its conceptualisation and implementation have been particularly driven by academics and the higher education institutions (HEIs) they work in. The Taillores declaration, The Green Campus movement and the UNESCO supported competencies for sustainable development but a few of the many international developments can be seen in this area. However, these international activities also run the risk of embedding conceptions and approaches arising from developed countries that ignore the traditions and cultures of developing countries, countries which themselves may have a diverse set of traditions and cultures. In addition, the nature and scale of the HEIs within any country provide yet more diversity to account for when looking at the principles, policies and practices they might adopt. Myanmar is one such developing country with a population of diverse cultural backgrounds that has also been subject to a distressing political and socio-economic history. This paper reports on the findings of a doctoral study that used models form the literature to help investigate what graduates from Myanmar HEIs and key informants saw as important for the sustainable future of Myanmar, what activities and approaches HEIs could be used to integrate ESD into their work, and what educational policy and practice changes within Myanmar's HEIs would be necessary to achieve a more sustainable future for Myanmar.

Authors:
Andy Lane, The Open University, United Kingdom
Rachel Slater, The Open University, United Kingdom
Bo Bo Lwin, The Open University, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Bo Bo Lwin is a PhD candidate from The Open Univerity (UK). He is interested in the role of universities/colleges' engagement in integrating ESD.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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