Seminar objectives
The objectives of the event are to foster collaborative discussions and knowledge exchange, focusing on curriculum development, pedagogical strategies, competency frameworks, and evaluation methods of ESD, in order to equip future educators with the skills and knowledge to promote sustainable development, and to create recommendations to innovate teacher education for sustainable development. To achieve these objectives, the event will promote the exchange of ESD researchers and the development of young researchers.
Please download the concept note and tentative programme here.
Please download the seminar flyer here.
Seminar expected outcomes
- A comprehensive recommendation document about teacher education for sustainable development, outlining best practices, innovative approaches, and actionable strategies for its innovation.
- Enhanced collaboration and networking among experts and practitioners in the field.
Background for the seminar
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) occupies a prominent place in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN). It is “a vital means of implementation for sustainable development” and “a key enabler” of all the SDGs, as affirmed by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 72/222. Educators including teachers have a crucial role to play in this global pursuit of sustainable development through education. As UNESCO’s new ESD promotion measure “ESD for 2030” recognizes, educators are “key actors in facilitating learners’ transition to sustainable ways of life.” They can facilitate learning for sustainable development.
Recognizing the critical importance of educators in the SDGs, Okayama University, the only UNESCO Chair on ESD in Asia, obtained a grant sponsored by the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO (FY 2018-2019), and it developed the “Asia-Pacific ESD Teacher Competency Framework” and a guide for effectively disseminating the framework in collaboration with 34 institutions in 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific region and with the support of UNESCO Bangkok, UNESCO Beijing, and Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO. The framework currently comprises a programme guideline for developing ESD teacher education in the Asia-Pacific region and its research and educational achievements.
Subsequently, with the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (FY2021-2024), the University is working on “Formation of a Network of Advanced Centres of Excellence in ESD Teacher Education” in collaboration with institutions in Europe and North America and elsewhere. The objective is to accelerate the global promotion of ESD teacher education, presenting basic policies for this objective and discussing measures for its dissemination, as well as promoting mutual exchange of researchers and fostering young researchers who will be the core of the next generation. Through joint seminars organised so far in Slovenia in 2022 September and in Norway in 2024 March, these objectives are close to being achieved.
Centre of Excellence to Promote Teacher Education for ESD: Towards Achieving SDGs
Leuphana University Lüneburg (Germany), Inland Norwegian University of Applied Sciences (Norway), York University (Canada), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Okayama University have formed a centre of Excellence to promote teacher education for ESD. The program is designed to create world-class research hubs in research fields considered to be cutting-edge and internationally important in Japan and fostering the next generations of trailblazing young researchers. The overall objective of this research exchange is to share the resources and experiences of teacher education for ESD and propose a global framework of teacher education for ESD in collaboration with a core institution in the Asia-Pacific region (Japan), core institutions in Europe (Germany, Norway and Slovenia) and North America (Canada), sub-core institutions in Africa and Latin America and other cooperating institutions around the world.
For more information about the Centre of Excellence, please click here.
Contact information
Centre director at the Centre for Collaborative Learning for Sustainable Development
- robert.didham@inn.no
- Phone
- +47 62 59 79 63