This unique programme is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to deepen their understanding, knowledge, and skills to integrate Education for Sustainable Development and Education for Global Citizenship into classrooms, schools, and curricula. It contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a specific focus on SDG 4, target SDG 4.7; and can serve for those working in primary and secondary education, universities, and non-formal education settings.
Unlike most programmes in sustainability, here, the Earth Charter (EC) is used as a central feature of this approach. The EC provides a broad, inclusive and powerful values-based orientation that can be infused within the missions and purposes of most educational programmes. The methodologies introduced are ones that can be applied to all learning across the curriculum and across grade levels.
This six-month four-course online programme, implemented under the under the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter, counts on great and highly experienced facilitators, and unlike most programmes in sustainability, the Earth Charter (EC) is used as a central feature of this approach. This Programme offers great flexibility for participants, so they can carry out the coursework when it is convenient for them.
Participants who successfully complete this Online Programme will be invited to join the Earth Charter Educators Network and to become a Verifier of the Earth Charter & ESD School Seal.
This 9th edition of our Online Certificate Programme on Education for Sustainable Development, will run from 22 January to 9 July 2025.
Participants profile
This Certificate Programme is aimed at K-12 teachers (primary and secondary educators), education professionals, and academics in different areas and levels of education (in formal or non-formal education settings).
Methodology
This is an online Certificate Programme; therefore, sessions follow the model of asynchronous learning, where participants have the flexibility to complete the sessions when it is convenient for them.rnrnIn addition, there will be six real-time seminars, one at the beginning of the programme, one at the end of each course and the final seminar.
Also, each course facilitator will organize a contact meeting during each course, to give the possibility for participants and facilitators to meet and interact in real-time.rnrnIt is expected that participants take a minimum of 4-hours per week to complete all courses work. Plus, the implementation of a final project, which can be connected to the participant’s day to day work, and can be done individually or in a group.
Courses
The courses provide a balance of theoretical and practical analysis and include video chats offered by facilitators, individual study materials, and forums where participants have the opportunity to share their views and experiences on the subjects.rnrnThe four courses offered are:
| 1 | The Global context for Education for Sustainable Development: understanding sustainability and the planetary boundaries |
| 2 | Values and Principles for Sustainability: The Earth Charter as an Ethical Framework and a Call to Action |
| 3 | Transformative Learning, Worldviews, Sustainability: Experiential Education and the Earth Charter |
| 4 | Transformative Learning and ESD: A Holistic Pedagogy Grounded in the Neurosciences |
Schedule
Seminars and live sessions: Wednesdays at 7:00am Costa Rica time
| Activity | Facilitator(s) | Date |
| Introductory Seminar | 22 January | |
| Course 1: The Global context for Education for Sustainable Development: understanding sustainability and planetary boundaries. Session 1: 22 – 28 January Session 2: 29 January – 4 February Session 3: 5 -11 February Live Session in Zoom: 5 February (tbc) Session 4: 12 – 18 February Session 5: 19 – 25 February | Maria Garcia | 22 January – 25 February |
| Transition Seminar 1 | 26 February | |
| Course 2: Values and Principles for Sustainability: The Earth Charter as an Ethical Framework and a Call to Action Session 1: 26 February – 4 March Session 2: 5 – 11 March Session 3: 12 – 18 March Live Session in Zoom: 19 March Session 4: 19 – 25 March Session 5: 26 March – 1 April | Mirian Vilela and Alicia Jimenez | 26 February – 1 April |
| Final Activity Preparation – Assignment | 2 April | |
| Transition Seminar 2 | 2 April | |
| Reflection week | 2 – 8 April | |
| Seminar: Education Policies for Agenda 2030 | 9 April | |
| Course 3: Transformative Learning, Worldviews, Sustainability: Experiential Education and the Earth Charter Session 1: 9 – 15 April Session 2: 16 – 22 April Session 3: 23 – 29 April Live Session on Zoom: 23 April Session 4: 30 April – 6 May Session 5: 7 – 13 May | Mark Hathaway | 9 April – 13 May |
| Transition Seminar 3 | 14 May | |
| Reflection week | 15 – 20 May | |
| Course 4: Transformative Learning and ESD: A Holistic Pedagogy Grounded in the Neurosciences Session 1: 21 – 27 May Session 2: 28 May – 3 June Session 3: 4 – 10 June Live session on Zoom: 10 June Session 4: 11 – 17 June Session 5: 18 – 24 June | Sam Crowell | 21 May – 24 June |
| End of courses Seminar | 25 June | |
| Final Project due date | 7 July | |
| Final Seminar | 9 July |
*Every course session starts on Wednesdays.
*All Seminars are on Wednesdays at 7:00am Costa Rica time. They last 1.5 hours
Facilitators
Dr. Sam Crowell
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Dr. Crowell is professor emeritus of education at California State University–San Bernardino and a founder and co-director of the MA in Holistic and Integrative Education and the Center for Holistic and Integrative Learning. He has worked as an elementary school teacher, a principal, an administrator, and a university professor. He considers himself a holistic educator and an advocate of the artistry of teaching. He has been actively engaged with Education for Sustainable Development and the Earth Charter and co-authored the book, “The Re-Enchantment of Learning: A Manual for Teacher Renewal and Classroom Transformation” published by Corwin Press, and just released his new book, “Emergent Teaching: A Path of Creativity, Significance, and Transformation.”
Maria Garcia- Alvarez
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Maria Garcia- Alvarez (Spain) is a Senior lecturer by the Global Project and Change Management BBA program at the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She is a lecturer in Geopolitics u0026 Globalization and Global Challenges, using the Earth Charter to teach on values approach to sustainable development. She is co-developer and coordinator of the educational concept Value Creators, awarded by the Dutch Ministry of Education with the higher award on education innovation. She is an Earth Charter certified ESD Educator and she is involved in other international networks working on Sustainable Development, such is UN SDSN, UN Habitat, Wellbeing Economy Alliance and the IDGs initiative. She is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy, Anthropology and Education at the University of the Basque country, where she carries research on innovative learning environments to foster Education for Sustainable Development. She is also a guest lecturer for the Master of Leadership and Sustainability Aldatuz, faculty of Economics at the university of the Basque Country, where she lecturers on alternative futures for sustainable development. She has authored and co-authored different articles published internationally in the field of ESD. At the moment, she is also Special Editor for Springer Nature series on Discover Sustainability, where she guides an edition highlighting tools and concepts to overcome barriers for a full implementation of ESD in higher education. In the Netherlands, she is member of the Board of Directors of the National Comenius Network, fostering innovation in higher education.
Dr. Mark Hathaway
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Dr. Mark Hathaway is an adult educator with extensive experience in both Canada and Latin America. He is the principle author (along with Leonardo Boff) of The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation (Orbis, 2009) which integrates perspectives from economics, ecology, social justice, spirituality, and post-modern cosmology. Mark is currently a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar in the Adult Education and Community Development Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada. His doctoral research explores the cultivation of ecological wisdom – along with the intersections between transformative learning, worldviews, ecopsychology, and engagement for sustainability – by examining the significant life experiences of 24 environmental educators and activists.”
Dr. Mirian Vilela
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Mirian Vilela is Executive Director of the Earth Charter International and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter. Mirian has been working with the Earth Charter Initiative since early 1996. She served as a member of the UNESCO Expert Reference Group for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) and has been a professor on Sustainable Development at the University for Peace since 2005. She has a Master´s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and a PhD in Education from La Salle University of Costa Rica.
Dr. Alicia Jimenez
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Alicia Jimenez is Director of Programmes at the Earth Charter International (ECI) in Costa Rica. She is a biologist with a MSc in Resource Development from Michigan State University (USA) and a PhD in Education from La Salle University (Costa Rica). She has done research in assessment methods for values-based education processes, and created the Earth Charter School Seal certification. Since 1998 she has been working in the field of conservation and sustainable development, worked in the IUCN Mesoamerica’s Regional Office and the National University of Costa Rica, and has been involved as a visiting professor at the University for Peace. She joined the Earth Charter International in 2006 and since then has been involved in the work on Education for Sustainable Development.
