In Scotland, ESD and learning for sustainability are core foundations of its 2005 SD framework, Choosing our Future (part one) (part two) (part three). Its strategies for action include integrating ESD into the formal school curriculum as a central outcome for student learning (through its “AmbitiousExcellentSchools” and “Curriculum for Excellence” programmes) and working with the Scottish Funding Council to identify best practices in higher education. It published an SDAP for education in 2006. SD is one of the Scottish Government website’s featured topics, and there is a dedicated DESD page that lists the government’s actions on ESD and the DESD.
Scotland has taken action to produce a DESD-specific strategy, Learning for our Future, and is the only devolved administration to publish a strategy for the Decade. Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) is the lead organization for curriculum development in Scotland, and has through its Sustainable Development Education Liaison Group (SDELG) and their work on the DESD strategy established a “first wave” of actions being taken during the first five years of the DESD. These include curriculum review, support for expanded Eco-schools participation, school estate modernisation, and the creation of supporting materials for teachers. Also, a 2005 research study for the SDELG, Sustainable Development Education: an international studyis part of Scotland’s input to the DESD, and aims to establish the nature of curricular arrangements in selected countries, and to produce a digest that will inform both the SDELG and others, and guide future work in sustainable development education in Scotland.
Actions in Scotland also included rollout of a Schools Global Footprint project into its schools. LTS also conducted a Sustainable Secondary Schools Project in 2005 to explore the ways in which Scottish secondary schools could engage with ESD.
