Contributions of the American Bahá'í Community to Education for Sustainability

Abstract

UNESCO, the lead agency for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), calls for faith organisations to play a role in assisting societal transition towards sustainability through education for sustainability (EfS). However, the interface between sustainability and spirituality, and the insights that faith organisations can provide to efforts to build more sustainable societies, has received little explicit consideration in the broader international institutional EfS discourse. This paper is based on a case study exploring the perspectives and experiences of the American Bahá'í Community as it has engaged with sustainability and EfS frameworks over the past four years. The study found that the faith organisation considers spiritual education and education that develops critical-thinking skills as essential and interconnected aspects of educating for sustainability, and that its perspectives may beneficially be incorporated into the EfS discourse.