This project is about promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and Global Citizenship (GC) in adult education. It aims to develop a strategic approach and build capacity in education and training organisations by developing a competency framework for sustainable development and global citizenship, and improving staff competences. Within this broad aim the project will achieve the following objectives during its lifetime: 1. Develop a sustainable development competency frameworks for (a) Adult Educators (b) Adults 2. Provide practical guidance to adult educators on approaches and methods of reflecting sustainable development and global citizenship in the core curricula 3. Produce teaching and learning resources in which sustainable development and global citizenship are embedded 4. Improve adult educators’ knowledge and understanding of sustainable development issues, and their pedagogic competence to deliver ESD 5. Mobilise social capital to promote ESD and global citizenship to adult learners 6. Improve the intercultural competence of participants. The project was developed against the background of what is arguably the largest set of complex and multi-faceted challenges that humans have ever faced including: climate change, depletion of natural resources, human rights violations, pollution, environmental degradation, the widening gap between rich and poor, food security, violent conflicts and the impact of globalisation. Following Agenda 21, Kyoto Agreement, COP 21, The MDGs and now (SDGs) countries have been working towards “sustainable development”, defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 43). Sustainable development efforts are now focused on achieving the 17 SDGs, and most countries have a sustainable development strategy, which stresses the important role of education in achieving the goals. Education is seen as having a key role to play in achieving the SDGs, not only in terms of informing and encouraging engagement with SD, but crucially, in acquiring the skills and competence to act and bring about the required changes in the social, economic and environmental domains of sustainable development. The need for ESD is exemplified by the fact that all EU member states have the equivalent of a sustainable development strategy, and ESD now forms part of the school curriculum in compulsory and in some higher and further education institutions. Global Citizenship (GC) and sustainable development are inextricably linked, as their overarching objective is similar in trying to build a better, more sustainable and just world. GS is about understanding that local actions can have impact around the world. The world faces challenges that require global solutions. These interconnected challenges call for far reaching solutions and changes in how we think and act in the wider interest of humanity. In this context education for global citizenship (EGC) aims to equip people for critical and active engagement with the challenges and opportunities of life in a fast-changing and interdependent world. It is transformative, developing the knowledge and understanding, skills, values and attitudes to participate fully in a globalised society and economy, and to secure a more just, secure and sustainable world than the one they have inherited. This project promotes ESD and GC in adult education by improving the capacity of organisation to deliver high-quality ESD and GC. It will develop a whole organisational approach to embedding the SD in adult education at organisation and curriculum level, and provide new opportunities to learn about, and engage with SD. It will develop a curriculum and competency framework that enables adult educators to improve their pedagogical competences and design programmes to enable adult learners SD development competences and develop suitable learning programmes and activities for adult learners.
This project was about promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and Global Citizenship (GC) in adult education. It aimed to develop a strategic approach and build capacity in education and training organisations by developing a competence frameworks for sustainable development and global citizenship to improve staff competences. The main objectives of the project were to: 1. Develop a sustainable development competency frameworks for (a) Adult Educators (b) Adults 2. Provide practical guidance to adult educators on approaches and methods of reflecting sustainable development and global citizenship in the core curricula 3. Produce teaching and learning resources in which sustainable development and global citizenship are embedded 4. Improve adult educators’ knowledge and understanding of sustainable development issues, and their pedagogic competence to deliver ESD 5. Mobilise social capital to promote ESD and global citizenship to adult learners 6. Improve the intercultural competence of participants. The project was developed against the background of what is arguably the largest set of complex and multi-faceted challenges that humans have ever faced including: climate change, depletion of natural resources, human rights violations, pollution, environmental degradation, the widening gap between rich and poor, food security, violent conflicts and the impact of globalisation. Following Agenda 21, Kyoto Agreement, COP 21, The MDGs and now (SDGs) countries have been working towards “sustainable development”, defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 43). Sustainable development efforts are now focused on achieving the 17 SDGs, and most countries have a sustainable development strategy, which stresses the important role of education in achieving the goals. Education was seen as having a key role to play in achieving the SDGs, not only in terms of informing and encouraging engagement with SD, but crucially, in acquiring the skills and competence to act and bring about the required changes in the social, economic and environmental domains of sustainable development. The need for ESD was exemplified by the fact that all EU member states have the equivalent of a sustainable development strategy, and ESD now forms part of the school curriculum in compulsory and in some higher and further education institutions. Main project activities included 4 Individual Outputs: ESDGC Competence Framework for Adults, ESDGC Competence Framework for Adult Educators, A Course in ESDGC for Adult Educators, Teaching Learning Resources in the form of embedded materials and Guidance for Adult educators. It involved two training activities of a week's duration for adults involving 20 participants and for adult educators involving 12 participants at which the two competence frameworks and the materials were piloted and evaluated. The overall feedback from the multiplier events was that the project would make a valuable contribution to helping adults understand some of major challenges facing us with training organisations, especially NGOs expressing an intention to engage more actively with the whole issue of sustainable development. One unexpected benefit or outcome from the project was the importance attached to role of digital skills in adult education in general and education for sustainable development and particular, and the need for adult educators to have digital skills so can include the use of digital technologies in the their teaching.