I am an English teacher teaching young learners (under 12) English in an educational institution in Taiwan. Before I studied the MA course, Educating for Sustainability, in the University of Manchester, I had never paid attention to sustainability issues in my daily life. Moreover, I had no idea about the importance of EFS (Educating for Sustainability). Teaching sustainability was totally new for me as the curriculum we had in Taiwan did not focus on this area. Thus, I did not understand why language teachers should teach sustainability and what and how it might influence the young learners in my context. Read more

‘Sustainability’ is not an unfamiliar word for most Chinese people. Since the Sustainable Development Strategy was put forward in the 1990s, this word has often appeared in the news, television and government reports. However, it is rarely presented from the people’s daily life and their behaviors. The main reason for the problem is that the platform of building the value of sustainability has been marginalized for a long time in Chinese education system (Xu, 2013). Science courses, which are designed to foster people’s scientific and environmental worldview in their early years, have been neglected by most people for many years in China. Read more

In the past, I thought environmental sustainability meant to do more recycling; however, listening to lectures on sustainability has provoked a change in my thoughts and led me to think more deeply about the subject. Sustainability, as I understand it, is the ability to meet current needs without infringing on the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Gruenewald, 2003). Sobel (2004) also supports the idea that sustainability goes beyond the necessity of environment.

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