Page 117 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

100 I. Bormann

Evidence-based methods have since reached the field of education for sustainable
development. The discussion is centred on how to best investigate and communicate
sustainability development, which competences learners can acquire in the context
of ESD (Transfer 21a 2007; Bormann and Haan 2008), which competences teachers
should have when ‘teaching’ ESD (UNECE 2009), which ‘sustainable’ character-
istics educational organisations should possess (Transfer 21b 2007; Breiting et al.
2005) and how ESD can be anchored in the educational system (Wals 2010; Tilbury
2009; UNECE 2007; for sustainability indicators see Davidson 2010).

Measurability of Education

Reality exists without systematic empirical observation. And it resists any definite,
quasi-ontological meaning (Meyer-Drawe 1999: 329). Thus, in trying to observe
‘reality’ there is a tension between an explanandum – a thing needing to be explained
– and its explanans – a set of claims that will explain what needs to be explained. In
terms of monitoring education, there is a tension between the phenomenon of edu-
cation, which takes place every day, formally, non-formally and informally, and its
social constitution, a more or less commonly shared understanding of what educa-
tion is, e.g. in the form of definitions, descriptions, models or indicators.
The term education is used both normatively (Tenorth 1997) and descriptively and
thus definitions or descriptions of the concept include a number of different connota-
tions, such as
• Input: this indicates an institutional orientation – how much money is invested
into the education system? Education appears as a ‘regulated task’.
• Processes (concerning both educating and being educated): this is a time-
oriented understanding – how is education organised, how much time is spent on
particular subjects etc.? Education appears here as ‘organised appropriation’.
• Output and outcome: this is a results-oriented understanding – what abilities,
skills, knowledge and competences have been acquired or achieved? Education
appears as a ‘product’.
Depending on the emphasis given to these diverse connotations, the functions
attributed to education might range from something that refers to the individual, to
an anthropological concept or to an understanding that considers education to be a
task of educational institutions and organisations.
The explanandum education is thus indisputably a complex phenomenon,
which has a variety of persons or groups responsible for it as well as diverse
persons or groups to which it is addressed. The term education does not seem to
classify the phenomenon in a distinctive, proper manner. Rather it mirrors the
need for reflection on the content of education, which needs to be accounted for,
as well as deliberation on the adequacy of the available resources and tools to
measure it.