Abstract:

Very important issue today is how to sustain our planet’s resources, while developing wealth and well-being for a growing population. The answer lies in the concept of sustainable development (SD). The Brundtland Commission used the term sustainable development to denote a development strategy that meets the needs of the present without endangering future generations. Sustainable development contains of ‘three pillars’: environment, society and economy.

At the Second World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) convened in Johannesburg in 2002, the potential of education was recognized as having a major role in realisation of a ‘vision of sustainability that links economic well-being with respect for cultural diversity, the Earth and its resources’. During the last few decades the world communities have agreed upon addressing sustainable development through international treaties. As a result, education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been launched to cope with sustainability. It is a call for change in the way of educating people and ourselves with the purpose of ensuring a sustainable future. To understand the challenges the educational community faces and the progress it has made to overcome them, the goal of education for sustainable development is to redirect education in order to presents sustainable development as a way to modify individual and societal lifestyles toward protecting the environment and achieving social equity. Focus is on integrating values, activities and principles that are inherently linked to sustainable development into all forms of education and learning to help in a change in attitudes, behaviours and values to ensure a more sustainable future in social, environmental and economic terms.

Considering the importance of sustainable development, the article reviews the literature about education for sustainable development. The paper highlights and updates the problem of sustainable development due to its importance in the overall social and economic development. It also emphasizes the importance of sustainable development in shaping economic policy and achieving social welfare, and relates it to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and key European policies. In addition, the importance of education for sustainable development and the different attitudes in previous research on education for sustainable development are examined.

The aim of the paper is to determine the importance and specific issues regarding the education for sustainable development. In addition, the research is been done in order to evaluate the views of students of the university study programme Management of Sustainable Development on the environmental, social and economic elements of sustainable development, as well as to gain knowledge about their daily habits and sustainable behavior. The research was conducted in 2022, and the research results are processed using descriptive statistics.

The conclusion of the paper makes recommendations for the design of future educational programs from the field of sustainable development and opens opportunities for further scientific research.

Keywords:

Education for sustainable development, sustainable development goals, management of sustainable development.