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The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany: a ‘Gestaltungskompetenz’‐based model

for Education for Sustainable Development

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DOI: 10.1080/13504620500526362

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 Environmental Education Research

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The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany: a

‘Gestaltungskompetenz’‐based model for
Education for Sustainable Development

Gerhard de Haan

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‘Gestaltungskompetenz’‐based model for Education for Sustainable Development,
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 Environmental Education Research,
Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 19–32

The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany:

a ‘Gestaltungskompetenz’-based model
for Education for Sustainable
Development
Gerhard de Haan*
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Free University Berlin, Germany

Environmental
10.1080/13504620500526362
CEER_A_152619.sgm
1350-4622
Original
Taylor
102006
12
Gerhardde
sekretariat@institutfutur.de
00000February
and
& Article
Francis
Haan
(print)/1469-5871
Francis
Education
2006
Ltd Research
(online)

This article aims to describe the German BLK ‘21’ Programme (State—Federal States Commission
for Educational Planning and Research Promotion [BLK]) which supported the introduction of
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into schools from 1999 to 2004. Its political basis,
conceptualisation, implementation and results are described. Furthermore, the article gives an
overview of the growing international significance of ESD and its perspectives in Germany.

As part of the concept of ESD, this programme was developed in a participatory

approach by scientists of the Free University Berlin together with stakeholders of
participating Federal States. Note: the use of ‘we’ in the text refers to the various
contributors to the BLK ‘21’ programme.

The background
A syllabus should only include knowledge that has existed in the world for at least
twenty years—this was the firm conviction of the educator Friedrich Paulsen when
discussing the necessity of reviews of syllabus in 1900. In comparison, a hundred
years later, education for sustainable development has entered curricula at an extraor-
dinarily rapid pace. After all, ‘sustainable development’ has only been formulated as
a normative framework for politics, economy and society since the 1980s.
The reasons for propagating sustainable development are twofold: the numerous
and increasingly observed phenomena of the ecological crises (growing since the

*Erziehungswissenschaftliche Zukunftsforschung, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 9, D-14195

Berlin, Germany. Email: sekretariat@institutfutur.de

ISSN 1350-4622 (print)/ISSN 1469-5871 (online)/06/010019–14

© 2006 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13504620500526362
 20 G. de Haan

1960s), on the one hand, and the critique of the unjust distribution of opportunity
among humans in the world today, on the other. These two critiques of the extinction
of species, pollution levels, the consumption of non-renewable resources, the unfair
distribution of the Earth’s riches and the fewer opportunities that nations and people
in the so-called Third World have to develop go hand in hand with the fear that
conditions are more likely to worsen in the future than improve. Thus, according to
Agenda 21 (United Nations, 1992), a double strategy is needed: on the one hand, we
must secure the natural bases for human life; on the other hand, we should not
renounce economic prosperity in the process, for this would dramatically limit the
opportunities for developing nations to attain an improved standard of life and
prosperity for everyone.
So far, we have worked intensively on strategies that offer a way out of the trap of
injustice—that is, on a risk-laden prosperity based on consuming and destroying
nature, and the necessity of economic and social development. The solution is
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sustainable or future-compliant or even long-lasting environmentally just develop-

ment. Since the 1990s, numerous conferences, strategy papers and resolutions have
declared sustainable development to be the major principle and guideline for policies,
at the international and European levels, and at various political levels in Germany.
In Germany, the principle of sustainability was secured ‘as a state objective’ in the
Basic Law in 1994 (BMU, 1997, p. 10).
Despite a general consensus over the model of sustainability, a highly controversial
debate rages over concretizing objectives, formulating priorities in acting, and
developing strategies. Should the first priority be to maintain biodiversity, halt climate
change and reduce consumption of resources, should the priority be to achieve a
balance between poor and rich countries, or is economic development more
important since it creates the conditions for more prosperity? Should we even ask
such questions, or should we immediately insist on a balance? And can such a balance
exist? The scientific and political differences in these questions are considerable, and
few substantial integrative concepts exist (two exceptions are the following:
Kopfmüller et al., 2001; Coenen & Grunwald, 2003).
Despite all the differences about formulating the essential postulates and rules for
sustainability, one thing stands out—in general, discussions about strategies for
sustainable development regard the following question as significant:
To what extent are societies in the position to cope with the sweeping and far-reaching
transformation that the concept of future-compliant development demands? That this
cannot be accomplished without a far-reaching modification in the human way of life,
without a major shift in our dominant patterns of production and consumption, and with-
out a new orientation in planning and decision-making processes—and worldwide—is one
of the most widely shared fundamental insights in the sustainability debate. (Kopfmüller
et al., 2001, p. 33)

Where a major mental shift is primarily involved, we must encourage the processes
for changing awareness among individuals—and this can only be accomplished
through learning. In this context, major competencies are demanded from the
individual in participating in and self-organising communication and decision-making
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 21

processes, such as independent acquisition and assessment of information, the capacity

for communication and cooperation, and foresighted planning in linked systems.
Therefore, Agenda 21 argues the case for a ‘new orientation in education for sustain-
able development’ in Chapter 36. It claims that ‘in order to be effective, an education
oriented towards the environment and development should focus on the dynamics of
the physical/biological and socioeconomic environment as well as on human (perhaps
also intellectual) development, be integrated into every subject, and use formal and
nonformal methods and effective means of communication’ (BMU, 1997, p. 261).
The double nature of this demand to learn concepts for sustainability-promoting
behaviour and to integrate the participation of individuals into the proposed recom-
mendations leads directly to the concepts of ‘education for sustainable development’.
Since the mid-1990s, ‘education for sustainable development’ has increasingly received
more attention in politics, in Germany and worldwide. Here at this point is where the
BLK programme ‘21’ began with its concept in 1999 (de Haan & Harenberg, 1999).
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Financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and 15 of the 16

Federal States, BLK ‘21’ was a programme of the State—Federal States Commission
for Educational Planning and Research Promotion (BLK). On the basis of the concept
by de Haan and Harenberg (1999) the programme was developed. With a budget of
13 million euros, around 200 schools, 1,000 teachers and 65,000 pupils were involved
between 1999 and 2004. In this programme, concepts, school materials and ideas
were developed about how to transfer the experiences and expand the programme.

The BLK Programme ‘21’

First of all, this programme systematically tests forms of interdisciplinary learning, as
problems of ecology and sustainability can no longer be approached from any single
specialized field of science. Climate change, for example, is considered to be anthro-
pogenous. Climatic sciences as well as social, economic and technical aspects must
be examined together if we are to understand this change and do something about it.
For schools, this means interdisciplinary collaboration among teachers and new
forms of learning for pupils.
Second, the programme tests new forms of participative learning, as sustainable
development can only be realized when we work together. For instance, those who
wish to promote eco-tourism in a particular region, or who wish to ask how to
determine whether a school location has been developed in terms of sustainability,
must contact and work together with the community, its residents, companies and
local organisations. It is necessary to learn communication skills and to acquire
information about regional decision-making structures and practical local knowledge.
Third, the programme involves developing and testing innovative structures. This
can mean students set up their own businesses/enterprises which run along sustain-
able lines (e.g. enterprises selling fair-trade products or booklets and stationary made
of recycled material, and organising repair workshops), they engage in collaborative
projects with non-school partners (e.g. the One World Initiative in the city; collabo-
ration with businesses that offer fair-trade projects), and not least they take on
 22 G. de Haan

demanding projects such as auditing schools from the standpoint of sustainability.

For the process of auditing a school it is necessary to calculate the ecological balance,
develop concepts for reducing energy and water consumption, and integrate the
subject of ‘sustainability’ into the school curriculum in as many areas as possible.

Competencies and forms of learning

From the beginning, concepts about the relation between education and sustainability
have been based on the international debate about competencies (see de Haan, 1997,
1998, 1999, 2003). Competence-oriented educational concepts focus on output,
whereas conventional syllabuses and didactic approaches focus on input: the latter
raises the question about which subjects pupils should study. By contrast, the output
approach asks what problem-solving strategies, concepts and abilities for social action
they should have. It is only logical to think along these lines. After all, it does not help
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much to define only what children and youth should be taught and not to define what
should be learned. If it is clear what should be learned, then children and young
people, and their parents—as well as the educational administration—can demand
that this knowledge, these skills be imparted. Another advantage is that the learning
content can be relatively freely selected. When skills acquisition, as opposed to retriev-
able school knowledge, is important, students’ choices of content can and should
depend on and vary according to their previous experiences, motivations and local
and individual everyday experiences. This increases pupils’ interest in the learning
content and their acquisition of skills, thereby preventing the mere accumulation of
‘inert knowledge’ (Weinert, 2000).
In this context, education for sustainable development specifically involves the
acquisition of a number of sub-competencies subsumed under the term Gestaltung-
skompetenz (see de Haan & Harenberg, 1999). ‘Gestaltungskompetenz’, or ‘shaping
competence’, means the specific capacity to act and solve problems. Those who
possess this competence can help, through their active participation in society, to
modify and shape the future of society, and to guide its social, economic, technological
and ecological changes along the lines of sustainable development. ‘Gestaltungsko-
mpetenz’ (see the article by de Haan & Seitz, 2001) means having the skills, compe-
tencies and knowledge to enact changes in economic, ecological and social behaviour
without such changes always being merely a reaction to pre-existing problems.
‘Gestaltungskompetenz’ makes possible an open future that can be actively shaped
and in which various options exist. Over the past four years, the concept of ‘Gestal-
tungskompetenz’ has become more differentiated and enriched with examples of
topics and methods. It now encompasses the following eight sub-competencies that
serve as the basis for formulating educational standards:
● Competence in foresighted thinking. The capacity to deal with uncertainty and future
prognoses, expectations and plans characterises the sub-competence of being able
to think beyond the present. It is essential that the future be understood as open
and something that we can help to shape. This attitude underpins the capacity to
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 23

develop different options for action based on present conditions. Through fore-
sighted thinking and acting, we can conceive of possible developments for the
future and identify potential opportunities and risks inherent in present and future
developments, as well as unexpected ones. Creativity, fantasy and imagination play
an important role in this competence.
● Competence in interdisciplinary work. A single scientific field and simple strategies for
acting are no longer capable today of tackling the problems of non-sustainable
development and the need for future-compliant change. These problems can only
be addressed through the collaboration of many scientific fields, different cultural
traditions and aesthetic, cognitive and other approaches. Knowing how to identify
and understand system relations and how to deal appropriately with complexity
requires the development of corresponding skills. These skills can be furthered
through approaching problems in daily life contexts with a problem-solving strat-
egy that opens up opportunities and alternative solutions through drawing on vari-
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ous subject positions and different ways of thinking.

● This calls for interdisciplinary learning. There are two important types of interdisci-
plinarity: first, ‘subject-related interdisciplinarity’—the cooperation of related
fields that typically work with similar methods, conceptual approaches and termi-
nologies; and second, ‘problem-orientated interdisciplinarity’—here, various
specialized fields cooperate in tackling a specific problem that cannot be
adequately approached through one field. Problems are often extremely complex
and can only be addressed through a range of scientific methods, using knowledge
from politics, economics, ethics, geography and so forth. For example, the causes
and effects of climate change cannot be explained and understood from the
perspective of one field alone.
● Competence in cosmopolitan perception, transcultural understanding and cooperation.
‘Gestaltungskompetenz’ means the capacity to identify and localize phenomena in
the context of their global relations and effects. This sub-competence aims at
contextual and horizon-expanding perceptions. Because a single regional or
national perspective is too narrow for orientation in a complex global society, we
must transcend the horizons of our perceptions and judgements and strive for a
global view. This requires that we promote a basic attitude: that of a curiosity
about, and interest in, the experiences and affairs of people from other regions of
the world, and the desire to learn from one another.
● Learning participatory skills. The capacity to participate in shaping sustainable-devel-
opment processes is of prime importance for a future-compliant education. The
reason for this lies with the action focus inherent within sustainable development.
Such concepts are based on the realisation that sustainable development cannot just
be achieved through state intervention, legislation, new technologies and efficient
economies, but requires passive and active support from the population. But
people’s interest in participating in decision-making processes and helping to shape
their world, and not just their leisure time, is growing—at least in our culture: at
the workplace, in civil society. Both are gaining in importance in living an
independent, but empathic life.
 24 G. de Haan

● Competence in planning and implementation skills means the capacity to assess the
resources necessary for an action, and their availability, from the standpoint of
sustainability, the capacity to create cooperative networks and to calculate side-
effects and possible surprise effects, as well as to take the possibility of their occur-
ring into account while planning. A significant factor in developing planning skills
is learning to take into account the rapid changeability and temporary nature of
knowledge relevant to planning. Only in this way can plans and actions be made
‘error-friendly’, and be corrected and revised when new insights appear and when
conditions change. Such learning arrangements draw attention to correlations
between various problem constellations and possible solutions. They thematise
feedback, long-term consequences and delays, and offer a corresponding reper-
toire of methods. Implementation skills reach beyond intentions and plans to
incorporate necessary and actual interests in acting. This competence consists of
the capacity to come up with goals to be immediately pursued and the capacity to
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make decisions that lead from desire to doing. It is important to differentiate desire
and doing from ‘thinking’ in order not to blur the relationships between knowl-
edge, attitudes, intentions and human actions that are so difficult to ascertain
empirically.
● The capacity for empathy, compassion and solidarity. All conceptions for sustainability
aim to promote more justice, always call for a more just balance between the poor
and the rich, the privileged and the disadvantaged, and strive to minimize or elim-
inate repression. Engagement in this area requires competence in transcultural
communication and cooperation as well as a certain empathy, a global ‘we’ feeling.
Education for sustainable development, therefore, aims to develop individual and
collective competence in acting and communicating in the spirit of international
solidarity. It motivates and enables people to work together to find future-compli-
ant solutions to shared problems and to find responsible ways to achieve more
justice.
● Competence in self-motivation and in motivating others. Engaging the concept of
sustainability, making it become alive so as to enable a satisfying lifestyle for every-
day life, requires a great deal of motivation to change oneself and to encourage
others to change as well. Education for sustainable development aims to develop
the motivational drive we will need if we want to lead a fulfilled and responsible life
amid the complex conditions of a world rapidly undergoing globalization. This
requires competence in reflecting on individual and cultural models. But such
competence has always been an objective within the idea of education: the ability
to set yourself and your own culture in perspective and to gain new perspectives by
encountering the strange and foreign.
● Competence in distanced reflection on individual and cultural models. Many of the sub-
competencies mentioned demand from the individual a considerable amount of
ability and self-knowledge, as, for instance, in the case of cosmopolitan perception.
To identify and critically examine one’s own interests and desires, to situate oneself
in one’s own cultural context, or even to take a position in the debate about global
justice requires competence in reflecting on individual and cultural models in a
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 25

detached, objective manner. This involves being able on the one hand to perceive
one’s own behaviour as culturally determined, and to critically analyse societal
models on the other.

We see that high standards have been formulated, and it has often been said that they
cannot be achieved. Apparently, however, pupils in the BLK Programme ‘21’ think
otherwise. We know from questionnaire feedback that, on average, 75–80% of all
pupils believe they have learned how to think with foresight and to understand
complex facts in the context of sustainability, how to work with others as part of an
interdisciplinary team on problems of (non-) sustainable development, and how to
evaluate various solutions to problems.
The orientation towards models of competence corresponds to the principles of
teaching and learning that promote the acquisition of intelligent, interconnective
and application-related knowledge. The programme’s evaluation report identified
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‘learning in meaningful contexts’ as the fundamental principle of BLK programme

‘21’. We gave precedence to the concept of ‘situated learning’ in the programme
(Gerstenmaier & Mandl, 2001). Situated learning is application-related, world-
oriented and self-directed. Situated learning implies the active participation of the
learner. The latest research on learning favours self-directed processes, as self-guid-
ance in the learning process results in more successful learning. For the construc-
tion of knowledge, the environment and arrangements for learning are decisive
factors. We know that competencies are acquired successfully particularly when
learning takes place in context. Further, vast areas of knowledge and behaviour are
context-bound—that is, they are linked to specific situations, problems and fields of
action. Traditional forms of learning that focus on the acquisition of facts rely on
the prominent role of teacher instruction in the classroom. Such conditions place
pupils primarily in a receptive role. Of course, even the teaching of abstract knowl-
edge—that is, knowledge not connected with social learning environments and
complex, everyday problems—can be productive and motivating to children and
young people when it occurs in a manner that they find fascinating. In general,
however, it must be said that the reference that situated learning provides to one’s
own experience makes learning more subjective and this typically produces a greater
motivation to learn. This is of particular importance if the learner is to develop an
interest in the matter. This applies for what is done as well as for how it occurs
(Weinert, 2000).
Situated learning, however, does not have to be regarded as different from
individualising instruction. Rather, inter-linkage is appropriate when adhering to the
principle of ‘learning communities’. In such communities, learning is constituted as
an active collaborative process that is based on shared knowledge and a communal
gain in competence. Active learning is most successful when it includes phases of
examining and reflecting on meta-cognitive strategies (e.g. how did I learn, what was
my individual successful path to learning?).
According to the data from the pupils’ survey, the BLK Programme was also
successful in introducing situated learning: around 80% of the pupils say that
 26 G. de Haan

● the lessons drew on their experiences;

● they were trusted to do many things on their own;
● they learned different approaches;
● the teachers trusted them to do many things on their own.

Materials and structural results of the BLK Programme ‘21’

The programme has produced a number of results that have contributed towards
improving the quality of education for sustainable development (see www.transfer-
21.de). These include: content-related lesson materials, conceptional and
methodological approaches for changing lessons and fostering participative learning,
integrating non-school partners, working in networks, and creating new lesson and
organisational forms (e.g. sustainable companies run by pupils). Since these results
refer to different fields of activity in the form of lesson units, concepts, and process
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and structural recommendations, a whole range of different products has emerged

within the programme, as the following illustrate:

Workshop materials
Schools involved in the programme developed materials on the programme’s various
topics. Agreements were concluded that made it possible to publish nationwide
material for 56 lessons (each between 30 and 80 pages) through the coordination
office in Berlin. In addition, numerous state-specific materials were developed. They
were published in the 21 CD collection ‘Box 21’ at the programme’s conclusion.

Multipliers in the German federal states

Altogether seven multiplier programmes were launched to provide additional profes-
sional development for possible future ‘multipliers’ such as teachers from programme
schools and employees from state institutes and other support systems, with the aim
of generating even more multipliers in teacher training. At the completion of the
programme, at least 100 people throughout Germany had qualified as teachers for the
programme and were not only well prepared to be multipliers themselves, but also
well prepared to teach and support other teachers and stakeholders. The majority of
them have meanwhile found employment along the lines of their new qualification.

Manuals
Handouts were prepared on the major conceptional and structural problems
(collaboration with external partners, legal expertise in relation to pupil companies,
school programme work, designing support systems, school profile, and the school
programme ‘sustainability’). These served to safeguard and to detail comprehensive
aspects of the structure and organisation of education for sustainable development in
schools.
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 27

Curricular components
During the programme, a working group called ‘Framework plans’ (open to every
federal state) was established that comprised members of the coordination office,
several project leaders from the federal states and the programme coordinator. In
March 2003, this working group presented recommendations for preambles and
guidelines for education for sustainable development (Welz et al., 2003). Recommen-
dations for educational standards for education for sustainable development followed
in the spring of 2004.

Internet/magazine/CD-ROM/film
The programme’s Internet presence at www.blk21.de has proved to be an increas-
ingly important instrument for disseminating the programme’s results. Since the
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first workshop materials were offered for downloading, the number of visitors has
dramatically increased. The programme’s Internet presence has been further
expanded for Transfer 21 (www.transfer-21.de), and its electronic newsletter is now
subscribed to by about 1,500 persons and institutes. In addition to the magazine
‘21’ (four issues yearly), a CD-ROM with basic information on education for
sustainable development was developed. So far, more than 2,000 copies have been
distributed. Further, a film has been produced that shows examples from
programme schools. The film, ‘Lernen mit Zukunft’ (Learning with a future), is
distributed nationwide through the Institut für Film und Bild in Wissenschaft und
Unterricht (FWU) (www.fwu.de).

Collaboration/networks
Collaboration with the networks GLOBE and Environmental Schools in Europe has
helped to disseminate the results. Meanwhile, this cooperation is widely thriving and
has been secured by corresponding cooperation agreements. Environmental Schools
in Europe in particular has turned out to be an important dissemination instrument
for many countries. The European-wide campaign on the topics of sustainability has
already started in Germany and is using the results of the programme.

What do pupils learn?

After four years, students in the BLK programme ‘21’ know very well what ‘sustain-
ability’ is. An evaluation of the programme (Rode, 2005) was conducted in three
phases. The concept, the implementation and the results of the programme were
systematically evaluated by using standardised questionnaires. We asked 1,564 pupils
from schools involved in the BLK programme whether they understood the term
‘sustainable development’. We also gave them various terms defining sustainable
development and asked them to choose in order to test their understanding. Only
about a fourth of those asked were not sure they knew. Outside these schools, we find
 28 G. de Haan

quite a different picture. For three-fourths of German pupils, parents and teachers,
‘sustainability’ is still a ‘foreign’ word, according to the representative study on envi-
ronmental awareness from the year 2002 (see http://www.empirische-paedagogik.de/
ub2002neu/indexub2002.htm).
However, if phrases such as ‘environmental protection’, ‘climate catastrophe’,
‘generational contract’, ‘global justice’, ‘eco-tourism’ and ‘fair trade’ are mentioned,
then even pupils outside the BLK programme can associate it with something. For
10- to 12-year-olds, animal and environmental protection are on the top of the list
when they answer the question of what they would actively support. This active
interest in ecology decreases among 13- to18-year-olds, but ‘engagement for the envi-
ronment’ in this group still ranks number three after family and the fight against
drugs—followed, incidentally, by a strong interest in achieving more justice in the
world and a stronger sense of community (Zinnecker & Merkens, 2002). And when
young people are asked what should be important and valued in the future, the asser-
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tion that we live in an egoistic society and that today’s youth are egoists is believed by
the top three responses: willingness to help, human warmth and social justice.
In other words, although children and young people in Germany often know very
little about the concept of ‘sustainability’ per se, their attitudes, values and interests
increasingly appear to coincide with ideas such as the need to achieve greater inter- and
intra-generational justice, consume fewer resources today, or not strain the ecological
system to the extent that the ability of future generations to lead a good life is endan-
gered. There appears to be a growing understanding of, and a positive response to,
sustainability as an important concept that embodies the idea that there’s a need to
achieve a balance today between poor and rich countries, and between poor and rich
people; that economic prosperity should be linked to efficient methods of production
and eco-friendly processes of manufacturing goods; that sustainability is about reduc-
ing energy consumption and using renewable energies; and about intelligent forms of
mobility and an environmentally friendly lifestyle. In other words, in Germany, the
subject of sustainability finds great resonance among children and young people.
The pupils in the BLK programme ‘21’, though, are far ahead of other children and
youth because they know more and can make better use of opportunities for taking
action: three out of four pupils are better able to assess whether products and services
are ‘sustainable’. More than two-thirds believe they can convince others of the necessity
of sustainable development, and more than 75% have learned what they themselves
can do to promote sustainable development—according to the results of our final study.

Growing international significance

An Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study on
key competencies and comprehensive educational objectives reveals the significance
that the topic of sustainability has for the future. The OECD study is significant since
OECD conducts the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) stud-
ies (Deutsches PISA-Konsortium, 2001) and sets international standards for future
developments and comparative studies. Three comprehensive educational objectives
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 29

are identified in the OECD study that should guide every curriculum development:
human rights, democratic structures and orientation towards criteria for sustainable
development. These objectives provide a normative basis for the framework for the
life of the individual and society.
Thus, basic principles of human rights, democratic value systems, and postulated objec-
tives of sustainable development (i.e., integrating environmental protection, economic
well-being, and social equity) can serve as a normative anchoring point for the discourse
on key competencies, their selection, and development in an international context.
(OECD, 2002, p. 26)

Education for sustainable development has already assumed an important role in

discussions about the acquisition of future-compliant competencies, according to the
international studies TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study),
PISA and PIRLS (The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study). This
becomes apparent when one looks at the PISA study’s definition of scientific literacy:
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Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify scientific

questions, and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make
decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human action.
(OECD, 1999, p. 60; cited in Deutsches PISA-Konsortium, 2001, p. 198)

This definition formulates a specialised understanding of literacy that is embedded

in general interdisciplinary educational objectives by referring to the social, economic
and ecological contexts from which it acquires its legitimation (see Deutsches PISA-
Konsortium, 2001). This understanding of scientific literacy corresponds with an
interpretation—referring here primarily to the ecological dimension—of the educa-
tional objective of ‘Gestaltungskompetenz’. Numerous lesson and task examples
from BLK programme ‘21’ schools concretise this understanding of scientific liter-
acy. In Module 1 ‘Interdisciplinary Knowledge’, many lesson sequences have been,
and are being, worked into schools’ internal spiral curricula that are devoted to the
principle of the subject-related networking of knowledge from different school
subjects. They also systematically promote cumulative learning in this area. The tasks
developed in schools and the competencies they foster are clearly based on OECD
concepts. Thus, we can conclude that education for sustainable development is a key
component in modern, internationally pioneering educational conceptions whose
dissemination and anchoring can be promoted and supported in many ways.
Not least of all, the United Nations has proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2014
as the decade for ‘Education for Sustainable Development.’ This decade is to
provide an impetus for innovations in every educational area. As a result, in the
summer of 2003, the German UNESCO Commission passed the ‘Hamburger
Declaration’, a 10-point programme for the decade, which acknowledges the BLK
programme ‘21’ as a significant building block for the decade, and calls for a
transfer programme (see www.unesco.de/ [Category: Resolutions; accessed 13
September 2004]). The environmental ministers’ conference in November 2003
took favourable note of the ‘Recommendations for Environmental Education and
Education for Sustainable Development’ issued by the BLK Working Group for
 30 G. de Haan

Sustainable Development (BLAK NE). These recommendations also propose a

transfer of the BLK programme ‘21’ (www.umweltministerkonferenz.de/protokolle/
61umk.pdf [accessed 13 September 2004]).

What comes next? Transfer

From the beginning, the goals of the BLK programme ‘21’ have been ‘integration into
the everyday school routine’. As a result, an effort was made to operate the programme
in a manner such that it could have a broad effect and could be incorporated into
existing structures.
Since August 2004, a transfer programme has been in effect. The programme
designed for the next four years has the following goals:
(1) Expansion by integrating 4,500 schools (including schools from both primary schools
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and schools at lower and upper secondary level) within four years. This would
reach around 10% of schools in Germany. This figure is realistic because in around
30% of schools in the German federal states, schools are already required to
develop their own school curriculum (local school curriculum, which acts as a
general guideline for school life) with integrating the sustainability issue into this
curriculum. It is also realistic because in some federal states (e.g. Hamburg) and
some regions (e.g. Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony) more than 10% of the
schools participated in the campaign ‘Environmental Schools in Europe’.
(2) Developing lasting advice and support structures. The goal is to firmly establish
support, advice and management structures. Existing structures, and those
currently being developed, are considered as sufficient for advancing and
supporting the desired number of schools at a high quality level. However, these
systems must be optimised during the transfer through continuous professional
development including a process of concurrent reflection over tasks and goals
with respect to the principles of education for sustainability.
(3) Extensive training for multipliers. The model programme trained multipliers in
various aspects of sustainability. The goal was to systematically and extensively
train a group of people during the transfer so that they could confidently convey
in professional development programmes the topic of education for sustainable
development in all three dimensions: thematically, methodically, as well as the
innovative structures of cooperation connected with it (such as working with
non-school partners).
(4) Expansion to primary schools and full-time day schools. Between 1999 and 2004,
the model programme concentrated on the secondary school levels I and II.
However, considerable implementation gaps exist in primary schools in
general, although the interest in sustainability at this school level is extremely
high. Moreover, from a developmental psychological and didactic standpoint,
it makes good sense to begin with education for sustainable development at as
early an age as possible. The expansion to full-time programmes or full-time
day schools in quite a few federal states has produced a clearly identifiable,
 The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany 31

but as yet uncultivated, field for the topics, methods and forms of action in
education for sustainable development. These gaps are to be filled during the
transfer.
(5) Achieve transfer through integration into teacher education. By collaborating with
universities and state institutes, teacher education is to be used in all three phases
of the transfer. This is necessary where education for sustainable development as
an interdisciplinary field with its own specific goals, content and methods has not
been sufficiently integrated into professional development programmes and other
specialized education.
The transfer programme began on 1 August 2004 and the federal government and
the federal states have invested 10 million euros. We are all aware that we have set
ourselves some very ambitious goals. But we are confident that this money is better
invested in the transfer of education for sustainable development than in, say, another
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60 metres of German autobahn.

Note
The quotations in this article from reference works in German are the translations of the authors of
the article and/or the Editors, unless otherwise indicated.

Note on the contributor

Gerhard de Haan is professor of Education at Freie Universität Berlin (since 1991). He
is chair of the National Committee of the UN-Decade: Education for Sustainable
Development in Germany (since 2004) and his main research emphases are: general
educational studies, cultural history, education for sustainable development.

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Other related websites:

http://www.empirische-paedagogik.de/ub2002neu/indexub2002.htm (accessed 7 November 2005)
http:/www.transfer-21.de (accessed 7 November 2005)
http://www.umweltministerkonferenz.de/protokolle/61umk.pdf (accessed 7 November 2005)
http://www.unesco.de/ Category: Resolutionen (accessed 7 November 2005)

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