Education for Sustainable Development in Malaysia's National Curriculum Reformation: A Theoretical Exploration

(doi: 10.14425/00.73.61)

Abstract

This article aims to examine the feasibility and potential of including appropriate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) elements in the National Curriculum Reformation of Malaysia that is set to be introduced in the year 2017. This is done through the proposal of a theoretical approach for understanding ESD fit for Malaysia from an environmental epistemology. To start with, this article outlines dominant ideologies and epistemologies revolving around the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) and focuses on critiquing the underlying anthropocentric tendencies found within. Drawing principally from the ideas of Schumacher (1973), Orr (2004), and Sterling (1992), the article then sets out to examine the ideologies and epistemologies needed to support education reformation that are more environmentally sensitive in nature.