Education for agenda 2030: What direction do we want to take going forward?

Abstract

In the field of education, the concept of environment and sustainable education, and the use of some terms in this field, have developed since their beginning. The United Nations Agenda 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) gives some clues about and opportunities to reflect upon which concepts and directions to take in the field of education towards promoting sustainability. This paper addresses the issue of the currently fragmented concepts in relation to environmental and sustainability education, and proposes a more comprehensive vision to better advance the path towards education and sustainability. This paper: (1) addresses the main historical milestones in the construction of the concept of environmental education and education for sustainable development; (2) analyzes the issue of which direction we should take within the framework of education in the era of the SDG Agenda 2030, taking emerging concepts such as learning for sustainability and sustainable education as references; and (3) proposes a holistic approach, described as education based on values. We conclude that a new integrative approach inspired by the education based on values concept, and integrating other concepts, will help to better conceptualize sustainability in education, as explained in the proposed model.