Page 122 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

9 Communicating Education for Sustainable Development 105

term ‘progress’ as an indicator (de Vries 2001; Goulet 1992). In extremely simpli-
stic and general terms, an indicator or a system of indicators designates something
that yields conclusions about another thing that cannot be directly observed. In con-
trast to this very broad understanding of indicators (e.g. Fitz-Gibbons and Tymms
2002), there is another, more narrow definition, which requires that indicators be
validated in order to obtain reliable statements about real or simulated develop-
ments and on this basis to take political measures (e.g. Kaplan and Elliott 1997).
At the latest since the 1980s when findings from research on how scientific knowl-
edge is put to use in practice, there have been critics who would like to ‘demystify’
such a position with the empirically based argument that scientific knowledge gained
through standardised methodologies is much less able to be integrated into political
or institutional actions than was once assumed (Beck and Bonß 1989).
But for a number of years a trend toward ‘indicatorisation’ in the area of ESD has
been observed. In the late 1990s indicators began to be developed for use in ESD
and have since been developed for a number of different contexts, addressees and
purposes.
While these criteria are intended for use on the meso-level, i.e. in educational
organisations, the indicator set of UNECE is oriented towards governments. Its 48
qualitative and quantitative sub-indicators operationalise the six goals formulated in
the UNECE strategy together with the UNESCO (UNECE 2005; UNESCO 2005).
This strategy is meant to encourage the countries of the UNECE region to integrate
ESD in their educational systems. The indicators in contrast are meant to support
observation of the progress made in implementing them (UNECE 2005: §6; Tilbury
2009; Pigozzi 2010).
The ESD indicators currently being used differ in a number of ways from those
developed for and used in general educational systems monitoring. This is espe-
cially due to the fact that ESD is a modernisation concept that is cross-cutting and
does not yet have a completely institutionalised identity and as such can still be
considered something new.

Communication About ESD

There are certainly sceptical voices about the legitimacy of ESD. One criticism is
that ESD lacks a grounding in educational theory, and is, in contrast, rather politi-
cally driven or instrumentalised. Although elaborated long before ESD became an
issue in scientific research, remembering Klafki’s concept of critical-constructive
didactics still seems a helpful orientation. In the 1960s Klafki undertook to reclassify
general education by identifying topics, or so-called ‘key problems of the epoch’,
that should play a central role in modern general education. These topics or key prob-
lems range from the question of peace to the consequences of technology, equal
rights and democratisation to the environment. Dimensions and problems of sustain-
able and unsustainable development can certainly be integrated into this complex.
A confrontation and discussion on these inter- and transdisciplinary topics should
not lead to ‘only’ a material education, i.e. the acquisition of canonised subject matter,