Schooling for Sustainable Development Across the Pacific

Environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) are asserting their growing role in curricula around the world, yet how deeply embedded are they in the learning systems of the Pacific nations? Building on an earlier analysis in China and Taiwan, this volume expands its purview to examine the quality and extent of environmental and sustainable development education in a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including China itself, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. As well as offering detailed national analyses provided by Asian-Pacific academics and professionals, this work includes examples in the US and Canada and an introduction that assesses the contrasting challenges and positive commonalities among diverse education systems.

The chapters reflect leading-edge practice, innovation, and depth of experience and at the same time as detailing locally relevant and culturally appropriate strategies they also provide clear models and strategies for expanding the application and influence of education for sustainable development elsewhere. In doing so, they mirror the global nature of environmental issues as well as the local nature of the solutions.

John Chi-Kin Lee is Vice President (Academic) and Chair Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. He also serves as the Changjiang Chair Professor and Director of Asia-Pacific Institute of Curriculum and Teaching Studies (APICTS) at Southwest University, China. His research interests include geographical and environmental education, curriculum studies, teacher education and school improvement. His edited volumes include (with Michael Williams) Environmental and Geographical Education for Sustainability: Cultural Contexts (Nova Science: New York, 2006) and (with Michael Williams) Schooling for Sustainable Development: Chinese Experience with Younger Children (Springer: The Netherlands, 2009). He is the author, co-author and co-editor of more than twenty books, including the edited books Research on Education for Sustainable Development in Cross-Straits, Hong Kong and Macao (Guangzhou Education Press: Guangzhou, China, 2011) and (with Huang Yu and William H.T. Ma) Design and Implementation of School-based Environmental Education: Towards sustainable development (People’s Education Press: Beijing, 2010).

Rob Efird is the Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Seattle University. His fieldwork research and peer-reviewed publications focus on the areas of Chinese environmental education and contemporary Sino-Japanese relations.