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= Education for Sustainable Development in Thailand = Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Thailand is defined as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all.

Thailand’s own unique interpretation of sustainable development as the ‘philosophy of sufficiency economy’ has played a leading role in shaping policy, including the National Economic and Social Development Plan and the National Education Act, which also impacts policies relating to including Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in school curriculum. ESD is highly integrated into the curriculum of primary and secondary education in Thailand through the framework of sufficiency economy. The National Curriculum of Thailand, which integrates the country’s ‘philosophy of sufficiency economy’, is an important case in point. Since 2002, the country’s education plan has promoted the inclusion of ESD in five distinct ways. First, ESD topics and content are incorporated into the eight main subject areas of the curriculum, with ESD learning standards defined in a scaffolded manner for each subject area. Second, student character development is defined by eight characteristics including active learning, sufficiency lifestyle and public mindedness. Third, the plan aims to provide specific project-based learning activities, such as natural preservation and environmental clubs and camps. Fourth, ESD-specific learning modules are developed and incorporated, such as renewable energy or the philosophy of sufficiency economy. Fifth, following structural reforms in 2008, Thailand now has a 30 per cent inclusion rate across the entire curriculum for decentralized, locally based subjects and teaching. These should address topics pertinent to the local context and often include issues relating to sustainable lifestyles and the sufficiency economy (Didham and Ofei-Manu, 2012a).