Training Ecological Responsibility in the Present Sustainable Development Context of the Romanian Society, in Pre-university Education☆

Abstract The contemporary society is characterized by a fast, global and hardly predictable evolution of all its sectors, which has led to the appearance of some major challenges, which can no longer be ignored, such as: demographic explosion, environmental quality degradation, increasing natural resources consumption, modification of the geopolitical and economic structure on a planetary level, etc. Today's education is called to provide an answer to these stressful problems, preparing the future citizens, who need to be able to find optimal solutions to these challenges. Yet, it is becoming increasingly clear that these solutions cannot be found by means of sequential, divided approaches and engagements, but by means of a holistic, comprehensive approach, able to go over the paradigm of the traditional, formal education and to last during the whole life, permanently adapting itself to the situations the society is faced with.