EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESD); AN EXPLORATION INTO ITS EXISTING REALITIES, WITH EFFICACY TESTING OF A MODEL ESD MODULE

Education for sustainable development is a dynamic perspective that includes a new approach to education that encourages people of all ages to shoulder responsibility for forming and enjoying a sustainable future. There is increasing international appreciation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as an important part of quality education and a key enabler for sustainable development. This paper has attempted to understand the sustainability consciousness of high school students from a government school in the district of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, along with testing the efficacy of an experimental ESD module prepared by the researchers. This pre-experimental research study was conducted with a sample size of 60 students aged between 14 to 17 from 10th grade, and is based on primary, pre and post intervention data collected using a Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire designed by Niklas M. Gericke, Jelle Boeve-de Pauw, Teresa Berglund, and Daniel Olsson, as part of the project, “Evaluating effects and success factors related to ESD implementation in Swedish schools”. For the purpose of analyzing the data, and testing the hypotheses, both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used. Paired Samples T-Test, Independent Samples T-Test, One-way Anova, was facilitated to understand the difference in awareness level of students on sustainable development, based on various variables. After data collection and data analysis done according to the requirements of a quantitative study, the findings portray, that there was a statistically significant difference, between the before and after scores on the awareness level of students on sustainable development. The results from the pre-intervention (M=163.65, SD = 21.49) and post-intervention (M = 186.25, SD = 23.49), p = 0.000 indicate, that designed ESD module by the researchers, has been empirically proven to be effective. This was due to the implementation of the experimental ESD module. Despite the sustainability consciousness being low as per what is required for a sustainable community, the implementation of ESD with the help of a specially designed, culturally appropriate module, can in fact contribute to significant change in the awareness level and attitudinal change in the minds of the generation of tomorrow.