Review of the Vision and Mission statement of your institution and Sustainable Development Goal Number 4

Sustainability Starts with Teachers Learning Action 1: ESD Policy, Context and Competences Review Review of the Vision and Mission statement of your institution and Sustainable Development Goal Number 4

Step 3 – Work together to review the vision and mission of your institution from an ESD perspective

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Source a copy of your institution’s Vision and Mission statement. Use the following questions as a guideline to review it.

To what extent does it reflect your understanding of sustainable development?
To what extent does it reflect the definition of sustainable development that reads “Sustainable Development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”? Do you think this is needed or not?
To what extent does your institution’s Vision and Mission statement reflect the objectives of ESD and the GAP?
How would you reframe/restate your institution’s Vision and Mission statement to more substantively reflect SD and ESD (based on your understandings of these concepts and your context)?

Step 4 – Review Sustainable Development Goal Number 4, especially Target 4.7 and consider its implications for your Change Project

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Always keep the qualities of a good change project in mind when working on your Change Project!

As we discussed in the Change Project Orientation, the following qualities of a good ESD Change Project can serve as guidance for conceptualising and planning your ESD Change Project. They can also be used for reviewing and evaluating ESD Change Projects.

Should respond to and potentially contribute towards relevant national and institutional policies and strategies
Should be aligned to national and institutional curricula frameworks and potentially contribute
Should have a clear learning (ESD) thrust
Should enhance inter-departmental engagement and communication
Should have a whole institution approach where possible
Should focus on a variety of learning domains
Should foster life-long learning and engagement with communities

On the website www.globalgoals.org you will find more information on the SDGs, and in the next Learning Action we will review these in more detail. As discussed in the Introduction of this course, there are 17 SDGs. Of interest here is Goal 4, which focuses on Quality Education.

Figure 1 The Sustainable Development Goals

Click here to open a summary of the Sustainable Development Goals

UNESCO (2015:2) describes quality education like this:

Quality education fosters creativity and knowledge, and ensures the acquisition of the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy as well as analytical, problem-solving and other high-level cognitive, interpersonal and social skills. It also develops the skills, values and attitudes that enable citizens to lead healthy and fulfilled lives, make informed decisions, and respond to local and global challenges through education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCED).

Sustainable Development Goal Number 4 reads: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UNESCO, 2015:7)

Under this goal, there is a target (4.7) which reads:

Target 4.7:

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

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