08.4.2021

Seminar on Education for Sustainable Development: Pedagogy and Reflections

On 23 March, 2021 took place a Seminar on Education for Sustainable Development: Pedagogies and Reflections, in Spanish.

The panelists of this Seminar were Mirian Vilela, María Vilches and Carla Sabbatini. The moderator was Alicia Jiménez.

130 people participated in the event live, distributed on the zoom platform and YouTube channel.

Find in this link the recording of this event

Panelists:

Mirian Vilela is Brazilian, lives in Costa Rica and is the Executive Director of the Earth Charter International Secretariat and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development. It has been involved with the Earth Charter Initiative since 1996, she is a global reference on the Charter.

María Vilches Norat is Puerto Rican, Professor in the Department of Humanities at the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico. It offers courses on Culture, Environmental Education and Environmental Communication. She is a facilitator for the EC Center for ESD.

Carla Sabbatini is from Argentina, she works at the School of Education at the University of San Andrés, in Argentina, where she coordinates the Education for Sustainability Program. She is currently studying a doctorate where she focus on the role of youth in building an Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship agenda.

The event began with an introduction by the moderator, who shared that this event was held under the new UNESCO ESD 2030 framework. She continued saying that the Earth Charter has been contributing to the implementation of ESD, through educational programs for young people and for educators, with materials and publications, and a number of webinars. One of the contributions has been the Conference held at ECI facilities in Costa Rica in 2019, which initiative the dialogue on the Earth Charter, Education and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). A book with 25 chapters and 29 authors from 11 countries is the product of this conference. The book shares information and ideas about the type of educational practice for worldview transformation necessary to address current challenges.

Find here more information of this book.

During the seminar, the moderator asked the panelists three rounds of questions. Then, additional questions were brought up from the public.

  • Each one of you has done research on ESD, can you tell us some key points and results of your research?
  • Another relevant aspect of your experience is teaching. María and Mirian, as facilitators of the Diploma in Education for Sustainable Development in virtual format, can you comment on what aspects of this professional education programme you find innovative? Is transformative learning is practiced in this programme? How do you assess your online experience with ESD? Carla, what have been relevant aspects of your teaching experience with ESD?
  • How has the Earth Charter influenced your work with ESD?
  • Do you consider that your work is contributing to ESD 2030? How?

The interaction between the panelists and the public was very enriching, many resources and practical advice were shared with the aim to support efforts to promote ESD as quality education encompassing content, pedagogy and the learning environment.

We invite you to deepen your knowledge about ESD with the Online Certificate on Education for Sustainable Development (next cohort January 2022).