Teachers implementing Education for Sustainable Development ESD, Who are they?!
The holistic vision of Sustainable Development (SD) is considered now the most systemic approach while considering the development of all nations in this globe. By adopting the “5 Ps” that shape the SDGs: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnerships, SD should be the agenda of all policymakers in this globe.
Practically, the implementation of this agenda starts by creating citizens who are equipped with all the required SD competencies, that’s why we can say it starts by implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
When thinking of our educational goals while implementing ESD, we should remember the profile of the good active citizen whom we want to build; the active citizen who is: a) well knowledgeable with a deeper understanding of sustainable norms and values, b) a critical thinker who can evaluate the context based on the SD norms, c) a good researcher who is able to collect valid and reliable data, d) an innovator, problem solver and social entrepreneur who can create sustainable solutions, model them, and have project management skills to implement in real-world, e) a professional public speaker who can use argumentation skills to convince others with his/her sustainable models and f) a value-based leader who can develop awareness campaigns, lead students in student council, and plan strategically and do effective partnerships for implementing sustainable solutions.
Then, what is the profile of an ESD teacher?!
1. A well knowledgeable leader with a deeper understanding of sustainable norms and values. When dealing with education for sustainable development (ESD), a teacher is supposed to transform the noble sustainable values and norms to all school students. This requires tackling various leadership approaches integrated simultaneously in all the teacher’s practices: Authentic, Transformative, and Democratic, and above all Value-based leadership. These approaches should be tuned by effective emotional intelligence. The teacher should enjoy credibility, model values, and sustainable norms, and be aware of all student’s needs to maintain his/her well-being. He/ She must be an inspiring public speaker who is able to extend his/her influence beyond regular classes.
2. A curriculum designer. The main compass of an ESD teacher is to design content that is governed by three main SD standards:
a) The learner understands and evaluates the importance of having a sustainable community and its criteria ( considering the 17 SDGs),
b) The learner is able to critically evaluate his/her context based on sustainability criteria and to become a change maker by researching the causes, innovating and implementing practical and effective solutions,
c) The learner is able to be an active citizen who is readily engaged in awareness campaigns and an active participant in decision making.
The ESD teacher is able to design unit plans based on social, economic, environmental, and even political happenings to equip learners with all their needs to overcome the current context at different levels: personal level, community level, national level, and even global level.
3. A community activist and social entrepreneur. The ESD teacher allows integration of ESD into all the disciplines and assesses his/her students’ learning through a problem oriented project (POP) that should be implemented in the community. The ESD teacher is characterized by project management skills and the ability to develop partnerships with the community members to facilitate students’ projects implementation.
4. A strategic planner. The ESD teacher should use instructional strategies that engage students and insure a deeper transformation of learning. Through specific learning strategies and performance-based evaluation, different skills that are foundational to ESD should be integrated like discussion, argumentation and debating, researching, inquiry, problem-solving, cooperative learning, and system thinking. Through performance-based evaluation, active citizenship competence is reinforced in authentic contexts.
5. A creative and innovative facilitator. ESD teachers should be aware and able to employ all strategies that reinforce creativity and innovation like biomimicry, cradle to cradle, Eco designs, and all STE2AM.
6. A critical thinker. The ESD teacher is a person who is able to analyze the context and anticipate the upcoming events by studying the scientific data.
7. A person with metacognitive skills. The ESD teacher is capable to do reliable self-evaluation and reflections to develop at both personal and professional levels.
8. An expert in educational technologies that reinforce inquiry and students’ engagement.
9. A coach. An ESD teacher should facilitate students’ development process of executive function skills that will help them become autonomous learners and free thinkers.
Based on what was mentioned, What are the best ESD Teachers’Training Programs ?!
The ESD Teachers’ Training program should include all the content that will prepare teachers to have the ESD teacher profile mentioned. Entrepreneur Academy Lebanon is an institution that offers ESD teachers’ training program that is based on practical strategies.
