It is clear today that our sustainability crisis cannot be solved by the same kind of education that helped to create it. Although we have more people than ever before enrolled in educational programmes, the level of ecological illiteracy is alarming. Most of the educational systems are not preparing people how to contribute to a sustainable society and future.

For education to play a transformative role in steering society towards sustainability, it will need the capacity to create ecologically literate individuals. Such a person will have the knowledge necessary to comprehend interrelatedness, understand how complex systems work, and an attitude of care or stewardship towards the natural world.

There is a growing consensus around the world that innovation and transformation of our educational systems is going to be one of the most important priorities to help resolve our current ecological crisis.

Sustainable living and sustainable development requires a very different kind of thinking and approach compared to how and what most children today learn.

The EFS programme supports the transformation of the educational systems by embedding key eco-system principles into the educational system and fostering collaboration, synergy and exchange between subjects, disciplines, activities, people and their organisations.

Learning is change process that extends beyond formal educational boundaries. Learning for sustainability is required at every level of society as an ongoing commitment to the development and applications of our capabilities and care for our world and future.

Through the EFS programme we support schools to become a Learning Community through a ‘learning-by-doing’ and ‘enquiry based’ approach. Representatives from each of the stakeholders (students, teachers, management, non-teaching staff, parents) are engaged throughout the programme for their input and feedback to achieve whole school support. Teachers and students receive training, among others, in systems thinking, ecological literacy, stewardship, learning & development for EFS, dialogue, ecological footprint analysis, and climate change.

The overall vision and commitment of the programme is for schools to demonstrate that learning for sustainability is an ongoing process that takes place at every level in the school system, and is not limited to the classroom or the students. Through collaboration with partners and networks outside the school system, students and teachers learn how to contribute to the formation of learning networks for sustainability.