A Sustainable Europe

A Sustainable Europe: Content, Competencies & Approaches for Secondary School Teachers

This introductory LTP provides secondary-level teachers and teacher educations with a foundation in education for sustainability in European schools, in theory and in practice, through four complementary units. In unit 1, participants explore sustainability values, sustainability thinking, sustainable futures and sustainability actions. Unit 2 outlines European measures for sustainability, and how teachers and students can be directly involved.  Unit 3 focuses on education for sustainability, including values, beliefs and practices. Unit 4 addresses decoloniality, sustainability and linguistic and cultural diversity in European schools. Many activities are also suitable for use with secondary-level school students 

Methodology

This LTP includes a range of activities for engaging secondary level educators and students with sustainability, sustainability education and the question of a sustainable Europe, in theory and in practice.

 

Author(s): Rachel Bowden, Denise Hornig, Katrin Lange & Ulrike Lange (TU Dresden), Conor Galvin & Katelyn Stainforth (University College Dublin) 

Credits: Jacob_09 / shutterstock.com 

ECTS Credits: 2


LTP Overview

Overview 
   Überblick 
   Visão geral 
   Επισκόπηση 

⬇️ Below, you can view and download the Learning and Teaching package with all the activities included, in English ⬇️

Unit 1. Sustainability and Me

Unit 1, ‘Sustainability and me’, engages learners to consider what sustainability and sustainability education mean to them in European and international discourses. It is intended for use with secondary-level students, but some activities may be adapted for use with primary level and/or for student teachers.  The unit is divided into four main sections: sustainability values, sustainability thinking, envisioning sustainable futures and acting for sustainability.

Activity 1 ‘Me map’
Activity 2. Perspectives on sustainability’
Activity 3. ‘Sustainability values’
Activity 4. ‘Web of life’
Activity 5. ‘Investigating the SDGs as systemic issues’
Activity 6. ‘What concerns you?’
Activity 7. ‘Thinking systematically’ 
Activity 8. ‘Advice for the future’
Activity 9. ‘Ideal futures’
Activity 10. ‘Impact/feasibility matrix’
Activity 11. ‘River diagram’
Activity 12. ‘SMART action plan’

Click to see and download Unit 1
     Click to download Handouts for Unit 1

Unit 2. Envisioning a Sustainable Europe

Unit 2 “Envisioning a Sustainable Europe” invites participants to imagine the European Union (EU) as a sustainable society while diving deep into the current risks towards a sustainable EU and opportunities that are being taken to contribute to one. It poses several key questions: Why is it important to be sustainable? Why should we know the risks? Why and how can certain opportunities for a sustainable Europe be created? This unit aims at exploring the role of teachers and students in how they can act for change in collaboration with others, also identifying their own potential for a sustainable Europe.

Activity 1. Your vision for a sustainable Europe 
Activity 2. Sustainability Bingo  Development
Activity 3. Greenwashing – how to spot climate lies. 
Activity 4. Drastic about plastic workshop 
Activity 5. Are we paying big companies to kill us? 
Activity 6. Role-Play Decision-Making
Activity 7. Our Right. Our Planet! 
Activity 8. Reflection with students
Activity 9. Reflection on Teacher Practice

Click to see and download Unit 2     Click to download Handouts for Unit 2


Unit 3. Education for Sustainable Futures

Unit 3, ‘Education for Sustainable Futures’, engages educators to critically consider the potential of education to support the transition to more just and sustainable futures. The unit is divided into four sections: ’Education and Un-sustainability’; ‘Decoloniality and education for sustainable futures’; ‘Identities and discrimination in education’; ‘Future-oriented reflection and action’.

Activity 1. Debate and deliberation: ‘education can transform society’
Activity 2. Education and un-sustainability
Activity 3. Sustainability competences
Activity 4.  Theory of change
Activity 5. The house that modernity built

Activity 6. Personal and social identities
Activity 7. Privilege walk education
Activity 8. Further reflection and discussion questions
Activity 9. Reflection-action questions

Click to see and download Unit 3
     Click to download Handouts for Unit 3


Unit 4. Multilingual Education for Sustainability

Unit 4 ‘Multilingual Education and Sustainability’ explores multilingual education and the connections with sustainability in theory and practice. It is intended for use in teacher education (with student teachers and serving teachers). Premised on the recognition that language is intertwined with almost every aspect of education (including our construction of social contexts and activities, and pedagogical processes, goals and activities) this unit is of relevance for educators of all curriculum subjects.

Activity 1. Our languages
Activity 2. Language ideologies and realities
Activity 3. How can we use language so that everyone can participate and learn?
Activity 4. Metaphors of multilingualism 
Activity 5. Orientations to multilingualism and educational practice
Activity 6. Exploring multilingual pedagogies
Activity 7. Multilingual education and sustainability 

Click to see and download Unit 4
     Click to download Handouts for Unit 4

LTP1 - A Sustainable Europe
Rachel Kate Ann BowdenConor Galvin

LTP1 - A Sustainable Europe

This LTP equips teachers, student teachers and teacher educators with knowledge, skills and perspectives and ‘hands-on’ experience to strengthen education for sustainability in their contexts of practice, through four units with distinct and complementary emphases. Unit 1 provides a foundation in the concept of sustainability, and opportunity for creative and critical engagement in relation to real-world challenges and responses. In unit 2, participants envision ‘a sustainable Europe’, learn about European measures for sustainability, and how they and their students can be directly involved. Unit 3, focuses on the relationship between education and sustainability, provides an overview of relevant topics, perspectives, pedagogical approaches, and whole-school approaches, and guides participants to plan a BNE intervention. Unit 4 focuses on linguistic and cultural diversity as central to education for sustainability. Participants explore ideas about language and culture and how to recognise and respond to linguistic and cultural diversity across curriculum subjects and the whole school. All units reflect a view of teachers as reflective practitioners, whose experience and expertise is the basis for professional learning. In each unit, participants engage with their current beliefs, values and practices in relation to international policy and research-based insights and experience participatory and action-oriented methods, such as participatory system mapping, Theory of Change and visual methods for critical and collaborative thinking. Through the 4 units, participants are guided to identify strengths and areas for development in their context of practice and to plan, do and review action for improvement. Most of the activities in these units are directly adaptable for use with secondary school students.