Leading for sustainability

Education for sustainability and educational leadership are the two faces to my research. Although there are differences between the concepts of environmental education and education for sustainability they are often confused. Environmental education deals with awareness raising and encouraging behaviour change to support environmental management and conservation. On the other hand, education for sustainability recognises the transformative role of education, while implicitly referring to intergenerational equity, ecological sustainability and the fair distribution of resources. Leadership is also a term fraught with confusion and misinterpretation. Two common perspectives are definitions of leadership as a matter of influence and of leadership as a skill. Sustainable leadership represents a shift to capture and merge contemporary leadership theory with the international pressure for sustainability through education. Four key concepts; understanding sustainability, imagining the future, building relationships and taking action are identified as essential for embedding education for sustainability in this educational setting.