A Rounder Sense of Purpose: Integrating ESD educator competences into educator training Erasmus Project

Project Title

A Rounder Sense of Purpose: Integrating ESD educator competences into educator training

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

This project arose from a vision of smart, sustainable economic development, in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy. Championing a socially and environmentally sustainable form of development has implications for both what is taught in our schools and the way it is conducted. This highlighted the ‘bottleneck’ of there not being enough teachers who have the competence to teach education for sustainable development (ESD).

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) developed a framework of educator competences for ESD. This, however, remained a theoretical tool that had not been (i) translated into concrete, measurable actions or (ii) tested against other pressing economic priorities.

This project brought together six committed institutions, to achieve the following objectives:

1. Develop a practical accreditation model that teacher educators could use in any European context so that pre-service educators could demonstrate their competence in ESD through a widely-recognised model of accreditation

2. Develop and disseminate a ‘tools and guidelines’ document to help teacher educators implement the accreditation model in a variety of contexts and give pre-service educators the opportunity to demonstrate their competence in a concrete, measurable manner

3. Enhance mainstream educator training programmes with a wider set of competences that more accurately reflect the role of formal education in supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive economic development. This would, inter alia, increase the capacity of participating institutions to:
a. Recognise and validate a broader range of competences among student educators including generic and transferable skills
b. Embrace a wider range of social and environmental concerns within their programmes
c. Work in an inter-disciplinary manner
d. Recruit students attracted by the institution’s participative approaches
e. Develop strategies to enhance organisational learning
f. Work internationally using digital media on a regular basis

4. Conduct a thorough, formative and summative external evaluation of the project

5. Conduct research into the impact of engagement with the competence framework on pre-service teachers.

By working closely with practitioners in a range of different contexts, the project facilitated the engagement of teacher educators (target of 50) and pre-service teachers (target of 400+) in the practical application of the ESD competences. The specific objective of creating a pan-European qualification was not achieved; this is because we found no accrediting body that covers the entire EU and responses to our external evaluator stated that “flexibility and adaptation to countries’ needs” were fundamental. The ‘tools and guidelines’ publication ensures that those who wish to use the accreditation model are supported in their efforts to integrate sustainable development into their mainstream programmes.

These outputs were developed through the practical implementation of prototype models, closely monitored through regular discussion with partners in which challenges and triumphs were shared openly, and through periodic transnational meetings to finalise outputs and map out next steps. The outputs were disseminated via the project website but also through a series of national launch event during the final months of the project.

Participating pre-service educators learned to recognise the way in which their own values could be reflected in their teaching and are now better able to integrate ESD into different aspects of their teaching whatever their subject specialism. Teacher educators better understand the principles and rationale behind ESD and have become advocates for this process in their work. The project has enhanced existing educator training programmes with a wider set of competences that reflect more accurately the role of formal education in supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive economic development. By being able to provide accredited learning alongside any programme of educator preparation, the project has provided a readily accessible solution to the problem of teachers and other educators being ill-equipped to prepare their students for a sustainable economy.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 398669 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE & Country: UK

Project Partners

• KUTATO TANAROK ORSZAGOS SZOVETSEGE
• TALLINN UNIVERSITY
• Italian Association for Sustainability Science
• MESOKELEAS LTD
• STICHTING HZ UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
• Stichting Duurzame PABO