DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

Curriculum for Development Education and ESD
Jin Onuki
Lecturer
Institute for International Development
Takushoku University
This paper will examine the lineage of development education curricula that haveengaged global issues to date, and present an organized summary of their results andissues. The examination will then extend further to new developments suited to an era
concerned with sustainability.
Section 1 will examine three of the results achieved by curriculum research fordevelopment education. Development education has been taken as a field of learningthat raises questions about the form development ought to take when viewed from a
global perspective that is in coordination with movements in the international
community. A curriculum for comprehensive learning has been established accordingly.
Section 2 will examine issues of curriculum suited to today's era, when questions arebeing raised about sustainability. The interrelationships with official curriculum
guidelines will be clarified. The new educational guidelines assign the formation of asustainable society as a topic for study, and the matter of how to put these guidelines
into actual practice is an important question.
Section 3 formulates the concept of "learning that digs into the local and connects it to
the world" and proposes a general framework for the aims, content, methods,
evaluation, teaching unit structure, and other such aspects of such learning.
Education for sustainable development (ESD) and development education (DE) havethe “D” of development as a common element. This is one reason for viewing them asapproaches to education that can be considered to be extremely similar in theirconsideration of forms that better development should take and the ways to connect
those visions to actual practice. In actuality, however, practice that connects the local
and the global is difficult to achieve. Attention is therefore given to clarifying theconcept of actual practice in development education while considering what forms
learning in that area should take.
1. Learning from the history of development education curricula(1) Development education that reflects movements in the international community
Development education is an approach to learning with a global perspective that arose
1DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Centerin the context of the late 1960s, when north-south disparity became an issue. A lookback through its history shows how closely it was connected with movements in theinternational community to explore ways of dealing with the problems of poverty, theenvironment, welfare, and other such issues involved in development.
A focus on movements in the international community related to sustainable
development, in particular, shows how the international community has problematized
the desired form of development, which is accompanied by environmental destruction
on a global scale, ever since the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment and The Limits to Growth by the Club of Rome in 1972. Efforts wereconsequently made to popularize education that explores solutions to the issues
involved. Early ground-breaking efforts in this regard must include the UNESCO"Recommendation Concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation
and Peace and Education Relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" of
1974, and the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987. The former situated efforts toaddress global issues as education for international understanding, and the latterclarified the definition of sustainable development.
The lineage of curricula for development education has three main constituents that
predate today's curriculum research. When arranged in order of the years that theirresults were announced, it becomes apparent that their results emerged approximately
every 10 years.
The Development Education Curriculum Study Group (1982-1984) that is the first ofthese main constituents was active during the middle period of the above
ground-breaking activity. It clarified various problems involved in development. The
second was the Development Education Study Group (1994-1996). In light of theconcept of sustainable development, and reflecting the exploration of solutions to the
problems carried out in the international community during the 1990s, the concept ofdevelopment necessarily became broader. The third was the Curriculum Study Group(1998-2000). Exemplifying learning for resolution of issues resembling the issues
involved in sustainability today, this body proposed study that would find connections
from what is close at hand to the world at large.

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DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

Table 2-1. Movements in the international community and development education
1972

1974

Main international conferences andother such movements
Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth
United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment (Stockholm)
UNESCO"Recommendation
Concerning Education for International
Understanding, Cooperation and Peaceand Education Relating to Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms"

Development education curriculum inJapan

Development Education Curriculum
Study Group (1982-1984):
Structure, objectives, instructional
material for learning about development
problems
1987
1990
1992

1994

1995
1997

Brundtland
Commission,"Our
Common Future"
World Conference on Education for All(Jomtien)
UnitedNations
ConferenceonEnvironment and Development (Rio deJaneiro)UnitedNations
Conferenceon
Population and Development (Cairo)

Development Education Study Group(1994-1996):
Reconstructionofdevelopment
education

United Nations Summit for Social
Development (Copenhagen)
UNESCO Hamburg Declaration on
Adult Education
UNESCO Thessaloniki Declaration
COP3 "Kyoto Protocol"
Curriculum Study Group (1998-2000):
Approaches and topics of development
education

2000
2002
2005

World Education Forum (Dakar)
United Nations Millennium Declaration
World
Summiton
Sustainable
Development (Johannesburg)
UNESCO International Implementation
Scheme for the Decade of ESD
Comprehensive ESD Curriculum Study
Group (from 2006):
Learning that digs into the local andconnects it to the world

2009

UNESCO World Conference on ESD(Bonn)(Source: Created by author)

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DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center(2) Learning from the results of the 1980s: The birth of a curriculum for development
education
Development education was introduced to Japan at the end of the 1970s. Just a shorttime thereafter, in 1982, the Development Education Curriculum Study Group wasinaugurated in the National Institute for Educational Research of Japan, and acurriculum for development education was created for the first time in Japan.
<1> Structure of curricula for learning about development problems(1)a. Main objectives of development education
The study group cited the following as two instances of the main objectives ofdevelopment education:∙ To work toward understanding of the aspects of underdevelopment and their causes∙ To foster a stance that seeks to overcome those aspects and pursue the homogeneousdevelopment of human societyb. Structure of curricula
In terms of curricular content, the study group summarized the scope and sequence asfollows:
The scope extends to the nine fields below:
A. Earth
B. Population and national territory
C. Food
D. Resources and energy
E. Livelihood, social, and life problems
F. North-south problems
G. Development problems
H. International cooperation
I. People's ways of life
The sequence consists of the following three stages:∙ Learning objectives for each field of study (intellectual recognition, interest, attitude)∙ Sequence of learning content in light of each developmental stage∙ Implementation (perspective of development education in each teaching unit)<2> Analysis of objectives and instructional material for study of development
problems(2)The next move was to clarify what facts the study group could present regarding the4DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

problems. Core objectives and lower order objectives were defined for each school year,
and work was done to sort out the concrete facts selected for the purpose of achieving
the lower order objectives. The aim was to pursue learning by case studies founded on
concrete facts.
<3> Significance and issues
This precursor curriculum was the first to clarify the fields of study and the sequence ofstudy in development education. What is important is that this effort identified methodsof resolution and international cooperation as the axes of approach in education forinternational understanding that is inclined toward the understanding of foreign culturesand international exchange. Development education is study of the resolution of issues
in the various problems involved with development, and it became established as
education that aims for the homogeneous development of human society. It thenbecame closely identified with school education (social studies), and it places anemphasis on case studies that are based in concrete facts suited to each school year
(developmental stage).
However, the view of development as understanding underdevelopment andovercoming it required reexamination. This is a mode of thought predicated upon
modernization, and it unavoidably tended to frame the concept of development innarrow terms. The associated view of the curriculum placed an emphasis on sequence
as a framework for learning content, and inevitably tended to privilege systematicbodies of knowledge, so the subject was also kept within social studies.
(3) Learning from the results of the 1990s: The reconception of development
At about the decade mark, a Development Education Study Group was inaugurated
within the former Development Education Council of Japan. Reflecting the explorationof solutions to the issues of humankind that took place in the international community
in the 1990s, this presented a diversity in the concept of development. The
understanding of the concept of development and the definition of development
education that were established here have been carried on to this day.
<1> The definition of development education (From basic concept to aims andobjectives)
The study group examined the basic principles of development education andconsidered what the most important concepts were in a more narrowly focused view ofaims and objectives. As a result, fairness and harmonious coexistence were identified as
the essence of development, the root meaning of which was overcoming a condition of5

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envelopment or covering.
The aims and objectives can be summarized as awareness of environmental destruction
and other such global issues (the problems involved in development), at the same timeto think about desirable forms of fair development that allow coexistence, and to fostera participatory stance and capability for moving ahead to realize development so
conceived.
Five key objectives were then proposed as learning objectives for that purpose:∙ The dignity of the human being and respect for the diverse cultures of the world as afoundation for the exploration of desirable forms of development∙ An understanding of the current situation and causes of poverty and north-south
disparity as distortions of development∙ An understanding of how the problems of development are closely connected withenvironmental destruction and other such global issues∙ An awareness of the close connection between ourselves and the problems of mutual
dependence in the world∙ Knowledge of efforts and attempts to overcome problems, and acquisition of attitudes
and capabilities in oneself to participate and cooperate in them
<2> The structure of learning at different developmental stages
The study group structured the above learning objectives according to thedevelopmental stage involved (Figure 2-1).
Field of issue

Awareness of mutual dependence

Poverty, north-south disparity
Global issues
Explorations of solutions

Cultural field

Respect for diversity

Plurality of cultures

Primary school
Lower secondary school
Sympathetic understanding

Upper secondary school
Structural understanding

Figure 2-1. Developmental stages and learning objectives(Source: Development Education Association and Research Center, "What isdevelopment education?" (1998), created by author)

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DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center<3> Significance and issues
The accomplishment of this study group lies in the integration of development
education. The reconception of development made it possible to perceive development
not just as limited in orientation to a one-dimensional modernization, but rather toengage with the problems of modernization head on and to explore visions of what abetter society should be. Development education takes the problems of poverty anddisparity as the axes of its approach, but also became able to explore global issues
while maintaining its close relatedness to such fields as the environment, human rights,
and peace. However, the curriculum was unfinished, and it did not progress past the
point of building a foundation for the next study group.
(4) Learning from the results of the 2000s: The curriculum as comprehensive learning
The next Curriculum Study Group further developed the research performed to thatpoint, and is directly connected with present-day curriculum research. The study groupresponded to the newly formed periods for integrated study by proposing examples of
implementation and instructional materials intended for the actual practice of integrated
study.(3)<1> Transition in the curriculum
The study group first proposed a transition in the curriculum. This transition was
informed by the American John Dewey's child-centered theory of learning. The new
curriculum did not enumerate fields and sequences for the purpose of acquiringknowledge, but rather fully encompassed the aims of learning (objectives), its content,
its methods, and its evaluation. This was the experiential whole of the learning that theteachers organized and the children experienced. The study group placed an emphasison the child-centered process of movement from subject matter to search to sharing,
and asserted the curriculum as an axis of approach.
<2> Development education approaches and topics
The study group put the searching approaches into organized order under 12
representative learning topics.
a. Cultural understanding approach: Children, cultureb. Issue understanding approach: Poverty, literacy, displaced people, genderc. Relationship understanding approach: Food, the environment, traded. Issue resolving approach: International cooperation, resident foreigners, urban
development
Under curriculum implementation as a matter for examination, the study group cited7

DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Centersuch examples as longitudinal connections in school education (primary school tolower secondary school to upper secondary school), coordination between courses andintegrated study, systems for forming teachers into teams, partnership with local
communities, and so on.
The study group further attempted to place topics into a structured framework. The
subjects of poverty, development, and international cooperation were positioned as the
key elements in development education. Then the various issues were ordered in termsof Amartya Sen's concept of deprivation in human development.
<3> Significance and issues
The accomplishment of this study group consisted of giving concrete substance to asystem for development education practice. This was done by advocating transition to achild-centered curriculum and integrated study with topical learning that makes use ofparticipatory methods, promoting coordination between schools and local communities,
and presenting instances of learning that connect what is in the learner's immediate
vicinity to the world. What was assigned importance in the process of searching was
relatedness to the topic (sense of involvement as a concerned party and reality,
relationship with the world, perception and participation).
Given its essential reality, however, a curriculum is no more than illustrative. It isdifficult to verify the extent to which it was put into practice in school education. The
notion of curriculum as an axis of approach, in particular, and the extent to which it candevelop into activity with actual reality through the employment of participatory
methods, is a question that remains to be addressed.
2. Issues of a curriculum addressing sustainability and the new educational guidelines(1) Issues of today in development education curriculum
As a form of learning for issue resolution and international cooperation, development
education has thus grappled with such issues as poverty, disparity, and environmental
destruction, and has proposed a learner-centered participatory learning. The form oflearning has explored what a society of fairness and coexistence might be, and how it
might be possible to engage in desirable development for that purpose.
The development education curriculum has continued to this day with the broadening
concept of development and the consequent comprehensiveness of the concept included
within it. The thing to do, therefore, is to learn from the results achieved to date while
examining the issues with a view to new development that incorporates sustainability.
This will involve, first of all, putting together an organized view of what sustainability
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is, what is of importance in education for that purpose, and how development education
can deal with that need. Specifically, consideration will need to be given to these threepoints: <1> sustainability and global issues, <2> the sense of involvement as aconcerned party (reality) and participation in issue resolution, and <3> achieving
deeper learning in development education.
<1> Sustainability and global issues
Global issues are an absolutely essential study topic for development education. The
aspects of crisis regarding sustainability today include the problem of the destruction ofnatural systems, the problem of the world's energy, the problem of the world's
increasing population, and the problem of epidemic poverty. These are all related one tothe other.
Compound crises like these are clusters of issues relating to sustainability. These havean extreme similarity to the content of the global issues of development education.
Sustainability is at its root a concept that relates in a comprehensive manner to poverty,
human rights, peace, democracy, and other such societal phenomena. As to education
for sustainable development (ESD), in which UNESCO occupies a leadership position,that agency has identified these five urgent problems: the rapidly increasing world
population and changing population distribution; the continuing widespread existenceof poverty; the growing burden on the natural environment; the emergence of conflicts,
violence, and negations of democracy and human rights; and problems with the concept
of development itself.(4)In other words, although ESD is a system of education for the purpose of creating asustainable society, it should not be defined simply within the narrow category ofenvironmental education. Rather, its comprehensive quality must be correctly
understood. In order to realize sustainable development, it is necessary, above all, not to
be indifferent to the fact that the solutions to the problems involving development are
being problematized.
<2> The sense of involvement as a concerned party (reality) and participation in issue
resolution
Development education has continued even now to pose questions about understanding
the connections from the familiar local community (the self) to global issues and to
make changes starting with what is immediately present. However, it has not beenadequate to the task of enacting movement from the local to the global by digging
beneath the surface of what is immediately present and going on to action andparticipation in the local community. Another point is that even though development
education acquired advanced participatory methods, the fact that it dealt with matters in
9DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

the faraway world also placed a limit on what it could do, because there was an
unavoidable tendency to diverge from modes of search imbued with the kind of realitythat comes from involvement as a concerned party.(5)In other words, development education to date has employed the approach of movingfrom learning about the realities of the world to posing questions about what we should
do and be, and the approach of moving from what is immediately familiar around us toperceive connections with the world, following both approaches in parallel. However, it
has not been a form of learning that digs beneath the surface of problems in
immediately familiar surroundings as though they are truly one's own problems, andestablishes connections from them to the world. No matter what, the focus remained on
the problems of the world.
Today, importance is being placed on the approach of digging beneath the surface ofthe local community and drawing connections out to the world as a third approach.
Questions are being posed about how development should be pursued in the local
community, and what is to be learned from it. This constitutes learning that involves
actual participation in real problems of development, and at the same time, precisely
because this is the age of globalization, it is able to find issues that resemble the real
phenomena of the world. Problems with development have become clearly visible inJapan today, as well, and it is important for us to discover the problems of development(poverty, disparity, regional decline, multiculturalism, environmental destruction, foodand farming problems, etc.) that exist in our own regions.
To end there and go no further, of course, would be to only partly realize development
education. Development education proceeds from that point to learn about problems
involved with development in the world, to notice connections, and to proceed, throughunderstanding that is accompanied by sympathy, to explore the interrelatedness of theworld while reevaluating one's own way of life. This may seem to be taking the longway around, in terms of development education as practiced so far, but this is a case of
haste making waste, and this can be considered what establishes development
education in Japan. The value placed on participation here is also a quality thatconnects with citizenship education, and this is likely to foster global citizenship in
ESD as conducted in development education.
<3> Achieve deeper learning in development education
Development education has always continued to raise questions about what constitutes
true development in contrast to the economically oriented view of development.
However, there are still issues with its structural understanding in its pursuit of global
issues. Already in the 1980s, at a round table discussion held by the former
10DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

Development Education Council of Japan, Toshiro Kanaya had stated that "The greatest
problem as an educational activity has to do with the fact that intellectual study of suchmatters as understanding developing countries and the circumstances of poverty is
being attempted in the schools, and there is a good quantity of material available.
However, that learning goes no farther than current circumstances, and it is unable topush to the point of learning what the essence of the north-south problem is"; and "It
can take up the aspect of phenomena, but it isn't good at pursuing structural problems.
This is the biggest issue involved in promoting development education."(6)As things are today, there is a structural homogeneity between world issues and local
issues because this is a global age, but it is important to deepen the structural
understanding of that kind of learning. What it should pursue is the balance or tradeoff
between globalization and a sustainable society, and the question arises of how andwhether this learning problematizes the essential reality of the capitalism anddemocracy that are the premises of society.
The methodology of future pursuit should focus on system thinking, which goes from
relationships among elements that are parts of the whole to the whole itself. What is
important is not to stop with the analysis of simple events (phenomena or incidents),
but rather to engage in ways of perceiving and thinking about things that see throughthem to underlying patterns and structures.
(2) The new educational guidelines and ESD
The aim of education is to form the individual human being, and it must also foster thecapabilities and attitudes that will address our issues in a comprehensive manner andcooperate in their resolution. In this case, the question that arises will be how to create
learning that will overcome the obstacles raised by actual fact so as to acquire sufficient
basic knowledge and make effective proposals as to what such education ought to be.
The support for ESD in Japan today can be found in the new educational guidelines thatwere thoroughly revised in 2008. What should be noted is that the word "sustainable"
has been included in lower secondary and upper secondary curricula. Although it is true
this is treated as a supplementary activity under such main principles as fostering thestrength for living on a secure foundation of academic ability, the ESD perspective has
been included as an important item in the general provisions, and the formation of asustainable society is declared to be related to how things should be, how people should
live, coexistence in society, and other such concerns in every subject area. The
formation of a sustainable society was made a learning topic for school education fromthat point forward. It is also connected with the strength for living, which places value
on people's qualifications and capabilities for finding issues themselves, learning about
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them and thinking about them themselves, judging them objectively, and finding better
solutions to problems, as well as on academic ability (problem-solving ability) in the
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
In addition, a 10-Year Implementation Plan for Education for United Nations
Sustainable Development was formulated at the conference with concerned ministries
and agencies in 2006. This implementation plan can be considered to provide guidance
for access to content relating to the formation of a sustainable society according to the
new educational guidelines. The education issues cited by the plan are intergenerational
equity, interregional equality, gender equality, social tolerance, poverty reduction,
environmental conservation, protection of natural resources, and an equitable, peacefulsociety. It assigns importance to the priority topic of incorporating environmental
consideration into social and economic systems while also pointing out the necessity
for incorporating issues involving the environment, development, peace, and humanrights in a comprehensive manner.(7)This program assigns priority to ecological concerns, but that does not mean the otherconcerns are given short shrift. Ecology alone is not treated as the culmination of the
program, which rather encourages learning that can deal comprehensively with multiple
interrelated issues.
(3) Basic matters of concern regarding ESD
The first matter that should be noted in the practice of education that pursues thecreation of a sustainable society is the definition of sustainable development.
One widely recognized definition, by the World Commission on Environment andDevelopment (the Brundtland Commission), says that "Sustainable development isdevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs." This has two terms, of which the first
relates to intergenerational equity (environmental accommodation) and the second
relates to intragenerational equity (social justice). In actual practice, whether and how
these two are dealt with becomes a question. The commission proposed eight major
issues for sustainability of development (population and human resources, food security,
species and ecosystems, energy, industry, urban problems, management of collective
property, and conflict and environmental degeneration).(8)The Brundtland Commission definition in effect represents the world's official position,
but it is also ambiguous enough that it can be taken to grant official authorization tosustained economic development. It should not be overlooked, however, that the largest
part of the Commission's report was devoted to discussion of the issues that must be
resolved in order to realize sustainable development.
12DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

The unfortunate fact is that recent UNESCO reports contain fewer portions addressing
the issues. The International Implementation Scheme for the Decade of ESD (2005),
however, presents three areas of issues relating to sustainability in ESD: environmental
issues (the water problem, the waste problem); social issues (employment, humanrights, gender equality, peace, human security); and economic issues (poverty reduction,
corporate responsibility and accountability). It also proposed certain cross-sectional
issues (HIV/AIDS, migration, climate change, urbanization), and also positions ESD as
an activity supporting efforts to educate and resolve issues for all people.(9)The purport, therefore, is that the mission of ESD (put into practice in development
education) is to grapple with the issues of society (local communities and the world)and engage in the practice of education that will produce better change.
3. Toward a curriculum that "digs into the local and connects it to the world"(1) Curriculum design proposals (aims, objectives, content)
Lessons have been learned from the history of the development education curriculum,and issues of relevance today have been put into order, but there is the question of how
to delineate the conceptual framework of a proposed new curriculum that is suited to anage of sustainability that problematizes sustainability. The question of what change thatis good for sustainability might be, and how such change might be possible from a
global perspective, are topics for curriculum design. ESD as practiced here underdevelopment education will be defined as "Learning that leads to knowing the current
circumstances of comprehensive issues relating to sustainability through the process ofdigging into the local and connecting it to the world, thinking about what sustainable
development should be, and seeking ways of realizing a recycling society (local
community and world) where people can live together in fairness."(10)<1> Aims and objectives
The aim of the curriculum is the formation of a sustainable society (formation of arecycling society where people can live together in fairness). This is to addresscomprehensive local and global issues relating to sustainability, and in so doing tofoster attitudes and capabilities that are able to participate in change oriented toward
creation of a sustainable society. Those capabilities and attitudes are also implicated in
the formation of global citizenship consciousness.
In the process of that search, the academic abilities that will be of importance inmoving from sympathetic understanding to achieving a deeper, structural understanding
are the knowledge that forms their foundation, the skills of thinking power, analytical
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power, and so on, and the attitude that includes change by means of objective
perception.
<2> Basic principles
The central concepts that relate to the aims and objectives of development education
are fairness and coexistence. Coexistence includes coexistence with nature(recyclability). The keywords for ESD curriculum content in the practice ofdevelopment education are fairness, coexistence, and recyclability.
<3> Content
The fields that constitute ESD include the environment, development (poverty), humanrights, peace, and other such fields in a comprehensive manner. Clusters of issues areclosely interconnected, and we are connected to every issue as our own affair, not as theaffair of others. The content systems are not so much systems of knowledge as they aresystems of problems in the sense of clusters of local and global issues.
The systems of problems have appeared in the learning objectives of the development
education curricula described to this point. Those five fields of learning and examplesof the teaching units (topics) involved will be presented here with awareness of theperspective of sustainability.
∙ Diversity of cultures (In considering sustainable development, respect for the dignityof the human being is taken as a presupposition, and the diversity and richness ofcultures are understood) → Children, Culture∙ Reduction of poverty and disparity (Knowing the current circumstances of poverty
and disparity to be found at every location in regional society, and understanding theircausal relationships) → Poverty, Literacy, Refugees, Gender∙ Interrelatedness of global issues (Understanding the close relationship between the
problems involved in development and global issues such as environmental
destruction) → Food, the Environment∙ Connections between the world and ourselves (Understanding the global connectionsin issues, and becoming aware of the ways local and global issues are related to us
directly as our own affair, not as the affair of others) → Trade, Resident Foreigners∙ Measures we take (Knowing the efforts and attempts made to overcome the issues
involved in sustainability, and fostering the capabilities and attitudes that enable
participation) → International Cooperation, Urban Development<4> The perspective of the curriculum in actual practice
The curriculum is penetrated throughout by the perspective of "learning that digs into
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the local and connects it to the world." The search for the local is precisely what makes
for a learning activity that has a sense of involvement as a concerned party and ofreality. As it is today, the local and the global are interconnected, so that issues of thelocal community are issues of the world, and issues of the world can be taken as issuesof the local community. The importance assigned to the local community also
corresponds to the principle of local action that has been current since the United
Nations conference (World Summit) in 1992. There are also possible prospects oflearning whereby the construction of local autonomy and society on the model of a
distributed network, and other such activities for resolution of local issues, are precisely
what connects to the resolution of issues in Japan and the world.
The ESD activities that are practiced in development education, taken as learning that
goes from the local to the global, should be advanced with an emphasis on thefollowing five perspectives:○ Digging into the local: Pursue the current circumstances of the local community as
though one's own problem○ Connect up with people: Reconnect people with people and people withorganizations and give rise to the collectivity of the local community○ Connect up with history: While learning the wisdom of people who went before,
depict your own futures○ Connect up with the world: Become aware of the connections with the world, andgive rise to collectivity with the world○ Participate: Propose solutions to local issues and become a major actor for socialchangeThe main point here is to address issues in the local community, build up rich humanrelationships, learn the history of the area, and overcome issues while obtaining
everyone's participation. In this way, the local community becomes vibrantly alive, andthe connections of autonomy and coexistence with other areas and the world are
realized.
The following kind of learning activity has been cited by UNESCO as a means ofconnecting the local community with the world. Figure 2-2 shows nine major world
problems, and the learning starts by drawing lines to connect those problems that are
related, then going on to consider the reasons involved. The drawing of lines is
continued until all the connections in the figure have been exhausted and theconnections are examined. For this learning, the world problems are further considered
and concrete examples given in terms of the local level, and actions are taken at the
local level to lead toward the resolution of those problems.(11)
Learning activity of this kind constitutes understanding of the connections between the15

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local community and the world. This is study that uncovers the global mutual
dependence that connects our problems with the problems of the world in thepresent-day context of globalization, or likewise the similarities in the global
difficulties that we face together, and perceives them as structural mechanisms.
It is important to take the perspective of human development when grappling withconnections between problems of these kinds. The human development perspective
reconceptualizes development in a comprehensive manner, and attaches importance tomultiple facets of development, such as health (average life expectancy at birth),
education (level of education achieved), income (per capita real gross domestic
product), and so on, and it includes economic development. This is the locus of the
struggle involved in attaching importance to welfare indicators while coming to termswith economic development. Learning that extends to these kinds of oppositions will
no doubt develop into learning that probes into sustainable human development.

Global warming

Population
Low social andeconomic position of women

Poverty

Military expenditures

Loss of biodiversity

Disease and malnutrition

Industrial pollution

Unequal consumption

Figure 2-2. Nine major world problems(Source: UNESCO, Learning for a Sustainable Future)(2) Examples of the application of connecting from local to global (method, evaluation,teaching unit structure)<1> Local studies, PLA, and action research as methods
The methods for digging into the local to be introduced here are local studies, PLA, andaction research. They also contain evaluation within themselves (for details, see
16DEAR / Development Education Association and Resource Center

Chapter 4).
Local studies (of the type known as jimotogaku) is a method that originated in Japan,
and it searches through local communities in order to once again recover theconnections with people and with the bounty of nature that used to exist as a matter ofcourse in our local communities. Here, rather than demanding something that does notexist, the important thing is to search for what does exist, thus to rediscover andrevitalize the local community.
PLA stands for participatory learning and action, which derives from the participatory
rural appraisal (PRA) that is a participatory development in developing countries. Local
residents become the actors, conduct studies, and search out the local community.
The specific methods include, for instance, local map making (walk through the areaand make a map of it, in doing so discovering distinctive local features and issues);
seasonal calendars (check local life rhythms, in doing so discovering distinctive
characteristics and issues in local life); diagramming of social relationships (express
relationships with social organizations and groups, in doing so discovering distinctive
features and issues of social relationships); ranking local community issues (come up
with local issues together and focus in on the issues that should be addressed); anddiagramming of cause and effect relationships (think about the cause and effectrelationships and solution measures for a specific problem, and image the results from
implementing those measures).(12)Action research involves going out in the local community to study and analyze it,
discover local issues, and create resolution measures. It is a practical application of theabove PRA participatory development method to school education. Specifically, itconsists of the following five steps:(13)a. Specification of the problem: Gather oral reports about a problem, make a map of it,
and assign an order of priority
b. Study and analysis: Conduct a variety of research on the problem, conduct studies,and diagram it for analysisc. Plan: Refine a proposal and set up plans for programsd. Action: Take action in the form of a project for improving the circumstances
e. Evaluation and review: Conduct self-assessment and challenge the problem again, or
shift to a newly discovered problem<2> Teaching unit structure of ESD practiced under development education
The question here is, what kind of framework can be delineated for the purpose of
pursuing the local community and the world in a comprehensive manner?
Basically, this begins with walking through one's own town and looking at it. Even for17

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workshops in the classroom, it is important for learning to be accompanied by somesense of reality. Therefore, we write the heading "Problems of Development in the
Local Community" on a sheet of simili paper and examine how to understand the things
that come up, what sustainable urban development is, and how the connection with theworld can be seen.
Considering the actuality of local community study in school education, it may be more
realistic to follow a process that proceeds in stages. That is, proceed from local
community surveys centered on the keywords of local community, issue, andparticipation, and go to learning that broadens the perspective on those matters to theglobal, centered on the key phrases of internationalization of the local community,
discovery of global issues, and local communities connected with the world.
When looking at the world as a whole, it is possible to obtain an ordered view of thestructural pattern of a vicious cycle in the environment, for example, by approaching
through an opening like the following:
A: Vicious cycle of environmental deterioration in an advanced country as an opening:
Vicious cycle of use of large amounts of natural resources and energy, economic
growth, and environmental deterioration<Advanced country>

Economic growth(Mass production → mass consumption)

Large amounts of natural
resources and energy

Environmental deterioration(Pollution and large amounts of waste)<Developing country>
Political, economic, and other problems and environmental deterioration(Vicious cycle of poverty, population growth, and environmental destruction)
Global economic activity and environmental deterioration

Figure 2-3. Example of structural pattern of environmental vicious cycle(Source: Created by author)
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B: Vicious cycle of environmental deterioration in a developing country as an opening:
Vicious cycle of poverty, population growth, and environmental deterioration
A+B: World's connections as an opening: Connections by means of large amounts ofnatural resources and energy, global economic activity, etc.
What unfolds from this, first of all, is a search for the sustainability of our society. For
example, the questions of how to realize renewable energy or society on the model of a
distributed network in order to achieve local autonomy are pursued. Next,
interconnected with this kind of pursuit, we seek to gain a vision of the world that
includes ourselves.
4. Summary
The circumstances in which we find ourselves today, when viewed from the perspectiveof sustainability, place us in a transitional era. This is not limited just to problems of the
global environment and of resources and energy. The current circumstances ofinternational finance and other aspects of international politics, the international
economy, and so on, are being put into question.
The development education curriculum has addressed global problems to date by taking
poverty and disparity as the main axes of approach. Today, in an era that raises thequestion of sustainability, new curriculum developments to deal with a more global
world are demanded. If they are named ESD and put into practice under development
education, then the learning involved will, through the process of searching that digs
into the local and connects it to the world, know the current circumstances regarding
issues that impinge on sustainability in a comprehensive manner, think about what form
sustainable development should take, and seek ways to realize a recycling society (local
community and world) where people can live together in fairness. The true core oflearning under globalization will unfold together with the sense of actual first-person
involvement that is interlocked with the local community and the world.
Development education as it has been and as it will be contains within itself areexamination of the concept of development itself. To intend to move towardformation of a sustainable society is to pursue a vision of what form should be taken by
a recycling society in which people can live together like human beings. What is
important is to question the desired form of development. Further, it is to deepen theunderstanding of connections and linkages between ourselves and the world.
The learning of development education was originally accompanied by study that19

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revolved around the question of what is truly important to a human being. That is aconcern with a mode of being in which people, communities, and nature can live
together. This verges very closely on an ethics of sustainability. Here is a learning that
pursues values that do not center only on modernization and material prosperity.
Hisashi Nakamura was already making astute observations about the "poverty" ofJapan's economically developed society 20 years ago. The society in which we had
supposedly gained material freedom was lacking in relatedness, had lost its
generous-spirited diversity, and was circulating dismantled physical substance, all ofwhich contradicted the vitally animated "prosperity" that should have been.(14)Digging out the issues of the local community as a cooperative activity, making
connections with other people, and learning from traditional knowledge (local wisdom)
while looking over notions of what a sustainable society should be would, no doubt,
help us achieve a vital society and lead to the creation of desirable linkages with theworld. Activity of this kind makes each of us as individuals more human, more
empowered, and leads us toward a future in which we will all build a sustainable
society and rich interrelations of local communities and the world.
[Jin Onuki]
Notes(1) Development Education Curriculum Study Group, Kaihatsu mondai gakushu karikyuramu no kozo [Curriculum
Structure for Learning about Development Problems] (National Institute for Educational Research of Japan, 1983).
(2) Development Education Curriculum Study Group, Kaihatsu mondai gakushu no mokuhyo to kyozai no bunseki[Analysis of the Objectives and Instructional Materials for Learning about Development Problems] (National
Institute for Educational Research of Japan, 1984).
(3) Haruhiko Tanaka, "Kaihatsu kyoiku to karikyuramu" [Development Education and Curriculum] in Haruhiko
Tanaka, et al., eds., Ikiiki kaihatsu kyoiku [Lively Development Education] (Development Education Council ofJapan, 2000), pp. 7-13.
(4) Osamu Abe, et al., trans., Jizoku kano na mirai no tame no gakushu [Learning for a Sustainable Future][Japanese translation of UNESCO, Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future] (Rikkyo University Press,
2005), pp. 3-4.
(5) Yuji Yamanishi, "Kore kara no kaihatsu kyoiku to chiiki" [Development Education and the Local Community from
This Time Forward] in Yuji Yamanishi, et al., eds., Chiiki kara egaku kore kara no kaihatsu kyoiku [Development
Education from This Time Forward as Described from the Local Community] (Shinhyoron, 2008), pp. 4-15.
(6) Development Education Council of Japan Round Table Discussion, "Kaihatsu kyoiku no hirogari o motomete"[Seeking to Broaden Development Education], Kaihatsu kyoiku [Development Education] No. 15 (Development
Education Council of Japan, 1995), p. 3.
(7) Cabinet Secretariat, ed., "Waga kuni ni okeru 'Kokuren jizoku kano na kaihatsu no tame no kyoiku no junen'

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jisshi keikaku gaiyo" [Outline of the Implementation Plan for the "United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development" in Japan] (2006, http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokuren/index.html).
(8) World Commission on Environment and Development, Chikyu no mirai o mamoru tame ni [For the Protection of
the Earth's Future] [Japanese translation of Our Common Future] (Fukutake Books, 1987), pp. 28-29, 66-70.
(9) UNESCO, United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014, International
Implementation Scheme (2005), p. 7.
(10) ESD is also translated into Japanese as "jizoku hatten kyoiku" [sustainable development education], but what is
important is to realize learning that questions the "desired image of development," bearing in mind that the original
sense of "development" is "overcoming a closed-in state."(11) Abe work in note (4), pp. 9-11.
(12) Haruhiko Tanaka, "Enjo" suru mae ni kangaeyo [Let's Think Before We "Help"] (Development Education
Association and Resource Center, 2006), pp. 61-79.
(13) Roger Hart, Kodomo no sankaku [Children's Participation], Isamu Kinoshita, gen. ed., IPA Japan, trans.
(Hobunsya, 2000), pp. 90-106.
(14) Hisashi Nakamura, Yutakana ajia, mazushii nihon [Prosperous Asia, Poor Japan] (Gakuyo Shobo, 1989), pp.
2-6.

From ESD Development Education Curriculum Study Group of the Development Education Association andResource Center (Specified Nonprofit Corporation), ed., Kaihatsu kyoiku de jissen suru ESD karikyuramu – chiiki ohorisage, sekai to tsunagaru manabi no dezain [ESD Curriculum Implemented in Development Education: Designfor Learning that Digs into the Local Community and Connects with the World] (Gakubunsha, 2010), pp. 20-39.

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