The purpose of this article is to share information about the Costa Rican Marine Education Programme in relation to the quality criteria for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Schools. We found that the application of these criteria is feasible, not only to the organisation and management of schools that are looking to become ESD Schools, but also for the analysis of different projects seeking to educate students from the perspective of sustainable development. The way in which the criteria were adapted in this case to the area of teaching and learning proved both easy and effective, following the conceptual document produced by Breiting, Mayer and Mogensen in 2005. We therefore recommend that proposals of this kind be disseminated more widely and more attention be paid to their potential to contribute to education systems. As to the Marine Education Programme, the analysis performed highlighted its pertinence and conceptual orientation, and provided an insight into the methodology applied during its constituent workshops; however, in this case, the approach adopted was not tailored in accordance with quality criteria for ESD.