THE PARADIGMATIC A SPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND EDUCATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Within the framework of the research of the issues of teacher training and professional development, the paradigmatic aspects of the issues of the environment and sustainable development have been analysed with special attention given to the field of education, i.e. education for the environment and sustainable development. The global conception of sustainable development and the contemporary environmental issues represent an important field of both reflection and action, particularly within the framework of educational paradigms. The Cartesian or the modernistic and humanistic-ecological or the postmodernistic paradigms are at the very core of the novel ecological conceptions, and have been attempting to respond to the challenges of contemporary lifestyles. It has been possible to follow their development through the last few centuries, with their paradigmatic "conflict "having become the focus of this study. From the perspective of paradigms, the differences in the approaches of one's reflections on man and nature, as well as the "adoption" of the paradigmatic features of the environmental and sustainability issues point to its exceptional global importance, particularly in the field of education. A change in paradigmatic worldview indicates a change in one's relationship to one's environment, as well as a change in one's both reflection and action on education. Forming as an inseparable constituent of the concept of sustainable development, education for sustainable development is the logical answer and absolutely essential path on which, while reconciling paradigms, to build a possible - and sustainable - future.