Promoting the inclusion of sustainable development in secondary schools’ curricula and training the students (aged 12-16) and the teachers from lower & upper secondary schools on sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
Context
According to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nation, climate change is already causing many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe, having caused irreversible damages. The EU Commission is more than ever engaged in this battle and is taking various measures to prevent the degeneration of climate change. The set of initiatives launched with the Green Deal are aimed to make Europe the 1st climate-neutral continent by 2050, and to achieve this objective, it is important to start from the assumption that the change is not just an economic project, but a new cultural project for the whole of Europe is needed.
Education and training help citizens and local communities to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for these challenges and they cannot be left out in this movement for change, as there can be no cultural revolution without education.
What UpSpace wants to build is a real space for growth that allows the development of a culture oriented towards experimentation, knowledge and care of the territory. The fight against climate change supporting teaching and students professions through the development of key competences is a battle that must be waged by all European citizens in the shortest possible time.
As highlighted by UNESCO in its initiative launched in 2020, “Education for Sustainable Development a Roadmap – ESD 2030”, educators are a fundamental key in the transition of the new generations to a sustainable lifestyle and their role as educators makes them natural vehicles of knowledge. It is therefore necessary to equip them with knowledge, experience and values that they can then transfer to pupils.
They will be provided with intellectual and practical tools that will ensure the sustainability of the project trying to integrate sustainable development in secondary schools’ curricula, also investigating national policies and approaches and boosting policy cooperation and the exchange among key decision-makers, stakeholders and experts.
Moreover, through the participation in UpSpace activities, the students will be stimulated to develop critical and conscious thinking on reinforcing their green skills and key competences, promoting and supporting also green employment and providing them more opportunities for future career.
Objectives
- Train the students and the teachers on sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources, increase their awareness on sustainable consumption;
- Enhance the teachers’ and students’ green skills and key competences on upcycling and urban regeneration processes;
- Mainstream sustainable development in secondary schools’ curricula boosting policy cooperation;
- Raise local, national and European awareness about the environment issues and climate change challenges.
Activities
- Delivery of 2 training courses (for teachers and students) on sustainable development & efficient use of natural resources;
- Implementation of Upcycling Workshops and Urban Regeneration Labs for students after providing teachers with the right skills to guide them;
- Consultations and events with key stakeholders to promote the involvement of sustainable development in the educational curricula;
- Transnational raised- awareness campaign;
- Final local events and International Conference.
Resources
- Collection of best practices on sustainable development and efficient use of natural resources;
- UpSpace e-learning platform with Future Oriented Curricula for teachers and students;
- Upcycling Workshop booklet and Urban Regeneration Lab Guidelines for teachers;
- Cross-Country Study on EU sustainable policies;
- Synopsis Report of consultations with key decision-makers and Policy Recommendations for sustainable education;
- Social media awareness campaign;
- Final local events and International Conference.
Impact
- 48 teachers involved in online TC on sustainable development & efficient use of natural resources;
- 160 students involved in Blended TC on sustainable development & efficient use of natural resources;
- 12 people (staff members & teachers) participated in the International training event;
- 80 students, 8 teachers, 8 experts in the field of environmental sustainability involved in Upcycling Workshops;
- 80 students, 8 teachers, 8 experts in the field involved in Urban Regeneration Labs;
- 20 students (aged 12-16), 8 teachers, 8 experts in the field participated in the EU contest about the Urban Regeneration projects;
- 60 policy-makers involved in consultations and events (5 policy-makers interviewed, 10 policy-makers involved in 2 roundtables per partner country);
- 80 experts & other stakeholders participated in targeted events – 10 stakeholders and experts in the field involved in 1 half-day Thematic Seminar per country (40) and 10 involved in the 2 Social Cafè per partner country (40).
Partners
- CESIE ETS (Italy, coordinator)
- Appworks Doo Beograd (Serbia)
- Stimmuli For Social Change O.E (Greece)
- Blended Learning Institutions Cooperative (Germany)
- Istituto D’Istruzione Superiore Einaudi Pareto (Italy)
- Osnovna Skola “Mihailo Petrovic Alas” (Serbia)
- 5o Gymnasio Thessalonikis (Greece)
- Förderverein RUZ Reinhausen e.V. (Germany)
