Description
To protect the health of our planet and our public health, it is crucial to integrate sustainability into our education and training systems.
As educators, we have the responsibility to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to act responsibly and create a more sustainable future.
Sustainability is more than just environmental awareness – it requires systems thinking, future-oriented skills, and the ability to take meaningful action.
Based on the European Sustainability Competence Framework (GreenComp), published in 2022, this course is designed to empower educators to teach with and about sustainability.
GreenComp provides a structured approach to teaching sustainability.
It identifies a set of sustainability competencies to integrate into education programs to help learners develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that promote ways to think, plan, and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet and public health.
Building on a common understanding of sustainability can act as a catalyst for action. The robust framework consists of 12 competencies organized into the four areas below:
- Embodying sustainability values: Valuing sustainability; supporting fairness; promoting nature;
- Embracing complexity in sustainability: Systems thinking; critical thinking; problem framing;
- Envisioning sustainable futures: Futures literacy; adaptability; exploratory thinking;
- Acting for sustainability: Political agency; collective action; individual initiative.
The course will help participants bring GreenComp into practice step-by-step through interactive workshops, real-world case studies, and hands-on activities. They will first reflect on how personal values influence the way we teach sustainability.
Through gamification, participants will learn to use system thinking skills to understand the interconnectedness of complex world issues. They will be introduced to concepts and methods, including megatrends and scenario building, to explore multiple possible sustainable futures.
By the end of the course, participants will take away some useful toolboxes to bring GreenComp into practice. They will gain the competencies and knowledge to inspire and empower students to think critically about sustainability, embrace complexity, envision a sustainable future, and take responsibility for shaping a sustainable world.
What is included
Learning outcomes
The course will help participants to:
- Foster a sustainability mindset;
- Reflect on personal values that influence teaching sustainability;
- Use systems thinking tools to unfold the complexity of sustainability challenges;
- Develop future thinking skills;
- Use future-oriented teaching strategies to help students envision sustainable futures;
- Use hands-on, experiential learning methods to teach sustainability across different subjects;
- Design student-centered sustainability projects that promote agency and responsibility;
- Implement practical, feasible actions to improve sustainability at school;
- Empower students to lead sustainability initiatives and become active global citizens.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Introduction to the course
- Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
- Icebreaker activities;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools.
Sustainability in Education: why it matters
- Understanding GreenComp: Key competencies for sustainability;
- Sustainability Identity Map: How do personal values influence the way we teach sustainability?
Day 2 – Embracing complexity: systems thinking for sustainability
- Understanding sustainability as an interconnected system;
- System thinking strategies and games;
- Circular Economy challenge.
Day 3 – Envisioning sustainable futures
- The power of future thinking in sustainability education;
- Megatrends and scenario building: Exploring multiple possible sustainable futures;
- Our world in 2050: Ways to inspire students to take a long-term perspective and think beyond immediate challenges.
Day 4 – Taking action for sustainability
- Identify political responsibility and accountability for unsustainable behaviors;
- Sustainability audit: Explore the opportunities to act for change in collaboration with others;
- Strengthen your own potential for sustainability and actively contribute.
Day 5 – Bringing GreenComp into your teaching
- The Futures Wheel: Evaluating the long-term impact of sustainability actions;
- Co-creating sustainability lesson plans and interdisciplinary projects;
- Peer feedback and action planning for implementation.
Day 6 – Course closure and cultural activities
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
- Excursion and other external cultural activities.
