Education for sustainability in primary technology education

Abstract

This chapter focuses on integrating education for sustainability (EfS) into technology education in primary schools in New Zealand and Australia. The curricula of both countries have featured technology education as a learning area since the late 1980s and early 1990s (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014a; New Zealand Ministry of Education, 1993). The development and use of technology is a key part of life in today’s society. For students, studying technology at school can develop their thinking about and engagement with technology and its role in society, and provide them with access to technology-related careers (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2007). Technology education involves a focus on design, innovation to solve problems, and enterprise. It incorporates technological knowledge and practice and develops an understanding of the nature of technology. Because technology is a distinctly human-oriented activity, it has social (including ethical and political), cultural, economic and environmental dimensions. It is this multidimensional nature of technology education that provides clear opportunities to integrate it wiThefS. Technology and the development of society are closely linked. Technological developments have enabled us (human beings) to dramatically expand our natural capacities, allowing us to fly, move fast, gain greater physical power, farm other species, and expand the number of our own species beyond the carrying capacity of our environment. These developments mean that today we have significant influence over much of the natural and physical world.