Promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Vietnam via non-formal education. Case study: CHANGE's Vietnam Climate Leadership Initiative
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2020
Department
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Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
68
Series
Abstract
Worldwide leaders and organizations have long recognized Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as an effective instrument to support sustainable development. Despite the constant promotion and development of ESD, implementation remains challenging as ever. The situation isn’t any different in the context of Vietnamese education. As a result, the main research objective of this study is to discover opportunities to promote ESD via non-formal education in Vietnam. Researching a case study of a prominent ESD initiative organized by a leading NGO in Vietnam, the author developed four research questions about program contents, implementation resources, participants’ experiences and suggestions for further improvement. The literature review first provides basic knowledge about ESD: definition, different views of ESD, pedagogical approaches and educational contents. In addition, ESD encompasses different forms of education such as climate change education (CCE) to address specific sustainability-related issues. Finally, resources invested in education and measurement for effectiveness are introduced to the discussion to provide insights about the implementation side of ESD. The research context is, naturally, Vietnamese education. ESD remains a low priority in formal education and previous top-down efforts to promote ESD in formal-education have no planned continuity. Therefore, the research context is confined to non-formal education defined as organized learning activities happening outside of the formal education system. Insights about Vietnamese educational system with the focus on non-formal education are presented to clarify the research context. The research methodology and method employed in this study are qualitative research, case study and semi-structured interviews. An interview guideline with a list of suggested interview questions and potential ethical issues was drafted before the interview process and addressed during the process. Regarding the sample selection, both selective and random strategy were employed to guarantee the relevancy and diversity of the data. The data analysis followed a three-step plan (coding, condensation and interpretation). Eight key themes were pre-designed before the data collection process but 21 sub-themes emerged from the data. In addition, over 100 key words and 59 meaning expressions were coded and condensed for further interpretation. The findings of this study provide answers to the four research questions drafted at the beginning. The content discrepancy between textbook ESD/CCE and the case program is easily spotted in the data. Though the case program is heavily resource-dependent, its dependence on different resources varies. In addition, the program has resulted in certain encouraging impacts despite the lack of objective evaluation. Finally, suggestions based on the literature and data were proposed for further improvement.Description
Thesis advisor
Lankoski, LeenaKeywords
education for sustainable development, education for sustainability, climate change education, non-formal education, Vietnamese education