Bureaucratic exercise? Education for sustainable development in Taiwan through the stories of policy implementers

Abstract

Despite eight years of strong national support, Taiwan’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has generated limited enthusiasm for sustainable development, and is even turning some policy implementers into ESD skeptics. In one of the first attempts to study the work of policy implementers within Taiwan’s ESD initiatives, this study examines links between national policy and practice in educational settings. Drawing on interviews with thirty policy implementers and about seventy hours of observation in the field, we found that Taiwan’s nationwide ESD program has failed to prompt meaningful actions that address unsustainable development. Moreover, the government’s instrumental approach to promoting a system-wide ESD program in the face of inaction on sustainability concerns in other sectors risks reducing this work to a symbolic, or bureaucratic exercise. Consequently, people’s attention has been drawn away from searching and collectively reflecting on the deep leverage points for a sustainability transition. These findings have important implications for future initiatives aimed at reforming education policy and implementing mandatory ESD curricula.

Keywords:

• Education for sustainable development
• sustainability
• Environmental Education Act
• environmental and sustainability education
• education policy
• policy implementation

Acknowledgements

We would also like to show our gratitude to the research participants for sharing their perspectives and experience with us during the course of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 At K–12 level, various topics centred on ESD, such as climate change, sustainable energy, gender equality, and human rights, are highlighted as essential cross-curricular issues (Ministry of Education, Taiwan; 2017). In other educational settings, the content of the four-hour course is not prescribed by the government. The policy implementers decide the content of their ESD course.

2 Candidates can apply for certification if they have a graduate degree in environmental science or related fields or extensive research or teaching experience in environmental and sustainability education. Another process to be certified by EPA is to receive 80 hours of training, pass a written examination, and a formal interview.

3 Examples of related ESD policy texts include the ‘Environmental Education Act’, the ‘Basic Environmental Law’, Taiwan’s Agenda 21 (NCSD 2004), National Environmental Education Action Plan 2016–2019 (EPA 2014), and several school-based regulations, such as the ban on using disposable tableware at K–12 schools and the official targets to reduce the use of electricity, gasoline, water, and paper in the public sector.

4 Participant names in this article are pseudonyms.