Sustainable changes for a greener education and a for a better future

One of the main challenges that we have to face nowadays is climate change, with all of its consequences and future threats. Due to its relevance, the debate around sustainability cannot be left outside of the classroom and it is time to raise awareness and to promote green habits, as well as green skills, starting from education.

The new edition of the course “Green skills for education: promoting environmental awareness and sustainable actions in the classroom”, took place in Palermo from 10/09/2023 to 16/09/2023, with 5 participants from 3 different countries: Stelios from Ministry of Education in Cyprus, Lisa from Zentrum für Förderpädagogik in Belgium, Beata and Hassan from Carlo-Schmid-Oberschule in Germany and Caroline from Paritätisches Bildungswerk Landesverband Thüringen e.V. in Germany.

At the beginning of the week, the focus was set on the vocabulary of sustainability, discussing about the definitions and meaning of key terms such as Sustainability (and its pillars), Green Skills and greenwashing. Concerning the latter, we investigated the different practices related to this phenomenon and tried to sort them into the right categories.

Later, the Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were presented and discussed. In particular, we focused on 7 goals related to sustainability. Each activity carried out during the week was designed to be connected to a specific goal among these 7.

Through practical activities, the participants could personally experience how to make a difference starting from one daily small step, as well as ways to engage young students and adults in the sustainable development topic. While performing these tasks, they also found out more about global warming, carbon footprint, and tipping points, and other aspects related to climate change.

An important amount of time was dedicated to outdoor activities and to encourage creativity. Non formal education activities were carried out to promote critical thinking and engagement. For the same reason, the debate technique was encouraged throughout the training course and applied to the different topics covered.

A significant aspect that was very cared for was the use of ICT tools to support the activities and to generate more engagement and effectiveness (in the classroom or at a workplace) but especially as a way of reducing the waste of paper and other materials, as part of our daily green practices.

Another topic covered was Project Based Learning (PBL) as a tool to raise environmental awareness during the classes and to promote a green transition, as well as a possible way to introduce the sustainability topic in the curricula.  

Finally, the participants had the opportunity to share opinions not only about sustainability and environment, but also about their (different) jobs in the education field. The sharing of best practices was particularly important and deeply valued by this group of professionals who were able to make the most of these moments. They had good ideas on how to promote sustainability both inside and outside the classroom and were constantly trying to implement these ideas with inspirations and strategies gained during the training course, taking into account the advice given by their colleagues.

Teamwork and network were for sure two of the many key words that can describe this inspiring week. We are certain that each participant will be able to apply effectively the knowledge acquired to change our environment for the better.
 
Discover more about this course here.