How Is Community Education Contributing to Sustainability in Practice?

Overview & Synopsis

Making progress toward a more sustainable world will require education programs that foster informed, empowered, and just societies and opportunities for lifelong learning. Non-formal community education is an important component of lifelong learning and is crucial to raising awareness, building partnerships, and influencing action to engage people in working for sustainability. The article presents a critical overview of current trends in community education practice and programs in Australia, and discusses their contributions to environmental and sustainability outcomes. Rather than focus on a comprehensive review of community education literature, this article presents a snapshot of the current context upon which community education practices are built and reviews programs in the areas of Community Action, Social Marketing, Interpretation and Education of Communities of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds. Realigning existing funding opportunities, building the capacity of facilitators and supporting more innovative and participatory approaches to community education are needed if existing education programs are to make a significant contribution to sustainability practice.