(Re)thinking education for sustainable development: A capability approach

Abstract

Education for sustainable development (ESD) should be taken as a ‘capability’ for facilitating and enhancing further learning rather than simply utilised as a topic of learning. • Sen’s capability approach (Sen, 1999) suggests that ESD is in itself a capability that can be used by educators in the development of sustainability education. • Developing the capacity for ESD is a crucial component of sustainability learning that must address the relational complexity that is inherent in sustainability decision making and the trade-offs often encountered. • Wider frames of reference and perspectives are important in sustainability thinking in managing public debate and democratic engagement and acceptance. • Sustainability education needs to create an ‘evaluative space’ in order to consider how one set of actions in a particular domain impacts upon other domains in order to generate greater consensus in the solving of complex sustainability problems, which can play an important role in influencing and recalibrating these spaces. • An ‘evaluative space’ provides an important forum for critical thinking development and helps develop the competencies required for independent, creative and critical thinking in sustainability education in both business schools and across other disciplines.