Challenges and Opportunities in Combing the Competences of Formal Education and NGOs for Teaching Sustainability

Although the decade for Education for Sustainable Development has been well promoted in Germany it still finds itself in a rather marginal position, both in the formal and in the informal educational sector. This is at least partly due to the status it is given in the political debate that leads to different expectations by different actors who operate in different frameworks. Thus teachers in formal education will have to take general requirements of education for citizenship into consideration while NGOs are often focused on improving environments and living conditions. Nonetheless there are numerous efforts for the two to join forces. These efforts can be fruitful, if actors on both sides understand the needs and restrictions the other side faces. In this article we want to explore the opportunities and challenges of cooperation between the formal and informal educational sector with a view of giving partners a chance to better use their often scarce resources.