Formal and informal
education have followed a similar pattern by focusing on individual actions rather than
more strategic, and overtly political, developing a coherent social movement around
sustainability. Pressure groups campaign for changes in the curriculum, but what is
missing is a systematic engagement in the community by formal education, and by
researchers. As society gradually ‘learns its way forward’, shifting its values, norms,
beliefs, and strategies towards a more sustainable model of development, it offers an
array of opportunities for learners of all ages to witness, critique, be inspired by and
become a part of the changes taking place around them. If we are fully to understand the
effectiveness of such community-based programmes and initiatives, and help these grow
and develop, then educators and educational researchers need to be much more
intimately involved than they currently are.