EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: INTERNATIONAL SURVEYS ON CONCEPTIONS AND POSTURES OF TEACHERS

Résumé En

Education for a Sustainable Development (ESD) is more and better im-plemented around the world. We first define the competences in ESD, in-cluding values and practices that can sometimes strongly differ from those of teachers. Recent inquiries show significant differences among the teach-ers' conceptions on ESD, linked to their disciplines, with difficulty to consider the three dimensions of ESD (economical, social and envi-ronmental). Other more qualitative research approaches identified several teachers' postures, as more or less neutral, interventionist or critical. ESD includes human rights as equality of all the human beings independ-ently to their gender, ethnic group, religion or sexual orientation. To ana-lyse teachers' conceptions on environment and on human rights, a large survey has been done in 24 countries, showing strong differences among these countries. In the less developed ones, the teachers' conceptions are more anthropocentric, reveal less awareness of the problematic limit of re-sources in our planet, and less reticence to use GMO (genetically modified organisms). These teachers are more fervent believers in God, deeply prac-tising religion. They also agree more than others with propositions as: "It is for biological reasons that women more often than men take care of housekeeping", or with statements justifying racism or homophobia. These points illustrate that some socio-cultural traditions may hinder values which are relevant components of ESD (e.g. some of the universal human rights).