Education is a powerful tool to prepare societies for the global challenges that climate change brings. The United Nations Climate Conference, COP24, which took place in Katowice, Poland, last December 2018, dedicated one Thematic Day, to education and the pivotal role it plays in global responses to climate change. Education has two obvious effects on the fight against climate change. Firstly, it impacts individuals’ general awareness of the issue, and secondly, it determines how enabled they are to develop the necessary solutions and innovations to overcome climate change. However, there is an alarming gap between awareness and action on climate change. To bridge this gap, ACTION develops a holistic framework to boost the acquisition and development of global and transversal skills on climate change related topics, among VET providers, local authorities and NGOs. ACTION partners (CCSC/France, AEVA/Portugal, CEDRU/Portugal, CSI/Cyperus, CWEP/Poland, EGS/UK, GOI/Turkey, INFODEF/Spain, MEATH/Ireland, and SYMPLEXIS/Greece) truly believe that climate change education must consider the need to provide educators and community leaders and professional with learning opportunities and up-to-date facts, new and innovative training processes, cutting-edge resources and digital era tools, to better empower their learners and citizens as ‘agents of change’ and promote closer links between education and local communities. The following objectives are defined: - Develop a culture of sustainability, creating the background so organisations can define and implement suitable action plans to act on climate change education - Upskill the educators and community leaders with competences that has the required impacts in how climate change can be taught and integrated into targeted VET sectors (i.e. Tourism, Health and Energy) but also in community-based actions - Provide a set of innovative and cutting-edge training curriculum and educational resources, available in digital and open media, to empower educators, community leaders, learners and citizens - Boost European dimension and cooperation, through the participation of nine countries representing various regions who are experiencing climate change´s impacts and organisation of two transnational experience exchanges with peers - Engage associated partners, experts and key stakeholders in development, validation, dissemination and mainstreaming actions, through the local working groups and multiplier events. ACTION is built in cooperation with a local working group bringing together experts, target groups and stakeholders. The project involves over 180 educators and community leaders and 180 learners and citizens, and 300 stakeholders in its activities related with intellectual production, validation, testing, piloting, dissemination and exploitation. A set of 20 case study videos are produced and more than 1500 stakeholders across Europe reached through the project dissemination activities. ACTION is available in French, English, Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish, and free accessible online as a reference resource for climate change education.
* DEVELOP a culture of sustainability and enable organizations to define and implement appropriate action plans to act for climate change education *ENHANCE THE SKILLS of educators and community leaders with those that will have the necessary impact on how to teach and mainstream climate change in targeted VET sectors (ex Tourism, Health, Energy) but also in actions for the community *PROVIDE a set of innovative and cutting-edge training programs and educational resources, available in digital and open media, to empower educators, community leaders, learners and citizens *STIMULATING the European dimension and cooperation, through the participation of nine countries representing various regions affected by the effects of climate change and the organization of two transnational exchanges of experiences with peers *ENGAGE associated partners, experts and key stakeholders in development, validation, dissemination and mainstreaming actions, through local working groups and multiplier events
The ACTION project aimed to empower educators and community leaders to take action on climate change. It was based on a theme which is of increased importance for all European citizens as well as for trainees in vocational training While education is a powerful tool to prepare societies for the global challenges posed by climate change, an alarming gap was identified between awareness and action on climate change. Climate change education needed to take into account the necesity to provide educators and community leaders with learning opportunities and up-to-date facts, new and innovative training processes, state-of-the-art resources and the digital age, to strengthen the empowerment of their learners and citizens as “agents of change” and promote closer links between education and local communities. ACTION proposed a holistic approach to stimulate the acquisition and development of global and transversal skills on topics related to climate change, among VET providers, local authorities and NGOs.