AN ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY CURRICULUM IN TERMS OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A CASE FROM TURKEY

Sustainable development (SD) has been one of the overarching objectives of the United Nations. Member countries and stakeholders are reorienting education at all levels of the system to overcome the environmental, social and economic challenges that the world faces, and to achieve a sustainable future. There has been a strong increase in the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into secondary education; however, research is needed to assess the relevance of the curriculum to meet the environmental, social and economic dimensions of ESD. With this article, we attempted to analyze the learning objectives of the Turkish secondary school chemistry curriculum in terms their relevance to ESD. Content analysis was used for assessing the objectives of the curriculum; and the criteria set is comprised of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of ESD. The results of the study indicate that the objectives of the curriculum are lacking in addressing the economic and social aspects, and the objectives focused more on the environmental aspect of ESD. In addition to this, the objectives of the advanced chemistry course don't contribute to the general objectives those are aligned with ESD. Hence, Turkish secondary school chemistry curriculum needs improvement in its relevance to ESD.