Education for sustainable development (ESD) in the opinion of teachers of classes 1–3

Abstract

Rapid progress that emerged in the twentieth century brought not only the intense economic and social development, but also the numerous threats with a strong and largely traumatic potential, that affects not only the whole society, but also each of its members. While thinking about possible threats it is necessary to mention such as a high rate of unemployment, social differentiation, environmental degradation, destabilizing the system, relativization and/or even depreciation of everyday values and many others. There is a need for a wider debate on the future of humanity and the legacy that we leave to future generations. The social changes we observe in fact also applies to the transformations that take place in our families and in the whole system of education. What is necessary is a new look at the whole systemic education, the forms of training of a man that remains open, informed, critical but also creative; somebody who will prioritize the good of others and respect what we have around us. Such education is part of the concept of sustainable development. In this article we make an attempt to examine the opinions of teachers about the sustainable development. We are obviously aware of the size of the group (which is small), but we hope that the paper will be recognized as a form of contribution to the further exploration of research on the subject.