Education for Sustainability

This article argues for the implementation of Education for Sustainability (EfS) through the Humanities learning areas in primary education, as together they can deliver powerful knowledge, concepts, skills, values and actions that prepare students to create and participate in a more sustainable future. To overcome barriers to EfS, such as, lack of teacher preparedness, conceptual understanding, enthusiasm and confidence in teaching controversial issues, greater exposure to and experience in EfS not only during pre-service teacher education, but also as continued professional development, is critical to encourage and support teachers in implementing meaningful and transformative EfS practices into their teaching It is widely recognised that establishing a democratic classroom environment and taking a student-centred constructivist approach to teaching and learning strategies, including the cooperative learning, questioning, discussion and an inquiry-based learning model, are the best suited processes and pedagogical practices for EfS.