Implementing the idea of sustainability into teaching and learning in Adult education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Implementing the idea of sustainability into teaching and learning in Adult education

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Energy and resources; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

In many European countries adult education centres cover broad levels of the population nationwide. Since the initiation of the UN World Decade “Education for Sustainable Development” adult education centres aim to enable learners to act sustainable. However, topics in the field of sustainable development are often only treated sporadically and separately or in discipline-specific courses. But the concept of education for sustainable development emphasises the importance of multidisciplinarity – therefore topics should be treated by a comprehensive approach to sensitise for sustainable acting.

However, there is a lack of suitable materials for adults – materials which illustrate the complexity of social, economic and ecological issues adequately and which are related to the everyday life.

The objective of the project is to develop teaching and learning materials which support the distribution of interdisciplinary knowledge as well as creative competence in the field of sustainable development. The main focus is on adult learners in language courses. By integrating relevant topics and questions in language teaching learners are inspired to think about the issue and their own actions. The project aims to achieve a long-term change in behaviour of the learners. Because of the complexity of the different topics the development and testing of the materials is limited to language courses. In order to develop the broadest possible effect the materials will be free of charge and freely accessible to all teachers on the internet after the project.

For the implementation of the project idea, it is planned to establish a consortium of adult education centres from six EU countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 234966 Eur

Project Coordinator

Thüringer Volkshochschulverband e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• EDUCA – vzdelavaci centrum, s.r.o.
• Escola Oficial d’Idiomes de Palma de Mallorca
• FOLKUNIVERSITETET STIFTELSEN VID LUNDS UNIVERSITET
• Verband Österreichischer Volkshochschulen
• THE MAYOR AND COMMONALTY AND CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF LONDON
• Lancashire County Council