In 1992, UN member states signed the Agenda 21, which is the basic document describing the sustainable development on the planet Earth. States decided to implement this document through the document Local Agenda 21. The Sustainable Development Agenda was officially approved by the United Nations Summit on 25 September 2015 in New York. 17 Sustainable Development Goals represent program of development for the next 15 years (2015 – 2030).In order to achieve SDGs, it is crucial not only to solve problems, but to prevent them. Education plays a key role in this on the local level. Even though the document was signed three years ago, there is no comprehensive and effective system in the participating countries to teach educators to gain skills for Sustainable Development Education(SDE). The problem with SDE is that it focuses not only on information but also on the development of skills and attitudes. This requires high demands on the educator's skills. Although there are good SDE educational programs in Europe, it is regularly shown that even the best methodologies and seminars are not enough for the permanent acquisition of skills for educators. We meet a large number of educators who download the methodology and attend training, but it does not have a lasting impact on improving their teaching. Educating only through courses is problematic, because after returning to school, the teacher collides with its reality and it is very difficult to implement the gained skills into school environment. Therefore their teaching has a small and, above all, short-term effect. For a long-term effect, it is necessary to look for paths that meet the specifics of each school, or the teacher's style of education. As a suitable way seems to be a model, where teachers cooperate and support each other, learn from each other, so that the whole team grows, and education adapts to school conditions and has a long-term effect. In our work, we collide with barriers - small number of pedagogical leaders with experience of mentoring and lack of skills for collegial support among teachers in schools in CZ, SK, AU. The goal of the project is to change this situation - to support selected leaders, create programmes and methodologies for educators. Educators in this project will together plan, attent and reflect teaching, developing their experience with active teaching methods in the SDE area and their skills for leading and mentoring colleagues. Our primary aims: • Develop and disseminate a methodology on: o how to adapt the ESD methodologies to the needs of individual schools. o how to effectively develop pedagogical competences for sustainable development education through collegial support. • Train Pedagogical Leaders - Develop Pedagogical Skills for CollegialSupport and mentoring in Education for Sustainable Development. • Contribute to the implementation of the SDGs with a new methodology for educators in European countries. Within the project there will be developed 5 days long course for 20 coach participants from partner countries – they will deepen their skills in mentoring and collegial support. After completing it they will become external mentors for 4 involved schools in each country and will lead them through process of implementation of sustainable development education (SDE) into their teaching through mentoring. This phase will last 1 school year. Based on coaches‘ experience we will create a methodology on development of coach competences. Further there will be created 2 connected courses for 21 teachers, where they will get basic information and skills for working with SDE programs and mentor competences. Teachers from 9 school school will then create a team of 2-4 teachers in their schools, who will implement the SDE program through mentoring and collegial support – common planning, realization and reflection taking into account the school needs. During this process they will recieve support from coach – external mentor. There will be created methodology for Pedagogy leaders in the field of SDE, based on this work and experience. In the second year we will test the ready methodology in 3 schools with less experience. Outputs of the project will be disseminated through 3 conferences, educational online video and webinar to coaches, universities, educators, so we could extent awareness about how to effectively develop teachers‘ competences for working with SDE programs. Outputs will be available online.
The project contributed to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG´s) through service learning (learning for the place, developing cooperation at the local level…). The aim of the project was to support selected team leaders (internal mentors), program development and creation of methodologies. In this project, educators together planned, observed and reflected on, developed their experience with active teaching methods in the field of Sustaianble Development Education (SDE) and their skills for leading and mentoring colleagues. Our primary aims were: 1) Develop and disseminate a methodology for: - how to adapt ESD methodologies to the needs of individual educational institutions. - how to effectively develop competencies for education in the field of sustainable development through collegial support. 2) Training Team Leaders - Developing skills for collegial support and mentoring in education for sustainable development. 3) Contribute to the implementation of sustainable development goals with a new methodology for educators in European countries. At the beginning of the project, a course was held for consultants from partner countries (6 participants), who deepened their skills in mentoring and collegial support. Thanks to the course, they became consultants - external mentors for 6 participating educational institutions (2 in each country) and guided them through the process of implementing Sustainable Development Education (SDE) into their teaching through mentoring. There was a need to respond to the covid-19 pandemic and individual training proved effective. Based on their experience, a methodology for consultants was created as one of the outputs of the project. There were also 2 courses for educators (one with personal participation and one online), where they acquired basic information and skills for working with SDE programs and mentor competencies. Internal mentors from 6 educational institutions then created teams of 2-4 educators who implemented the SDE program through mentoring and collegial support - joint planning, implementation and reflection. During this process, they were supported by a consultant. Based on this work and experience, a methodology was created for internal mentors in the field of SDE and promotional video as further outputs of the project. In connection with the changes due to the covid pandemic, three more originally unplanned outputs related to the topic were created (conference proceedings, online tips for educators and consultants, adapted material for Austrian educators). The outputs of the project were disseminated through 3 conferences (two online and one in person) among universities, other educators, consultants, etc. Their content included debates, lectures, workshops on how to effectively develop the competencies of educators to work with SDE programs. The evaluation of the project (in the form of a questionnaire) shows the benefits of the project at several levels. On the one hand, it is a shift in the behavior of the participants themselves (from the point of view of sustainability), and on the other hand, in the area of skills development. Furthermore, the team leaders also emphasize the enthusiasm and activation of the participants when working on the project. Respondents note that, thanks to their involvement in the project, their teams are able to cooperate well in carrying out project tasks, which has also helped to improve communication, unity and further functioning of teams in the future. According to the answers, the project was motivating for the participants and helped them achieve challenging goals. The international context of the project is also perceived and appreciated. It is obvious that the project had the intended results, especially in the area of motivating participants to make greater use of collegial support, to implement projects and in the area of participants' ability to implement and manage projects. During the project, a larger number of members of local communities were also involved in various ways, thus laying the foundations for future active cooperation of educational institutions and communities or strengthening this cooperation.