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Sustainable Education

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The concept of sustainable education is based on the terms sustainability and education. The term “sustainability” is derived from the Latin word sustinere and the term “education” from the Latin word educatio. The former is a model of thinking in which the quality of life is improved through balancing the environment, society, and the economy (Jeronen 2013). The latter refers to an activity or process for acquiring or sharing knowledge or skills, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and intellectually preparing oneself or others for life (Thesaurus 2021). Many of today’s challenges require a veritable shift in thought and behavior to support sustainable living. According to Stephen Sterling (2008), the necessary cultural change can be achieved through sustainable education (SE). He defines the concept as:

a change of educational culture, one which develops and embodies the theory and practice of sustainability in a way which is critically aware. It...

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Jeronen, E. (2022). Sustainable Education. In: Idowu, S., Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Del Baldo, M., Abreu, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02006-4_237-1

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