Mission 4.7 chats with teachers at ICSD 2021

On 20 September 2021, the Mission 4.7 Secretariat hosted a plenary session as part of the International Conference on Sustainable Development in the context of the Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development.

Adopted in May 2021 at the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the Berlin Declaration states that ESD, “anchored in SDG 4.7 and as an enabler for all 17 SDGs, is the foundation for the required transformation, providing everyone with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to become change agents for sustainable development.” It calls on governments to embed the principles of ESD--and its corresponding themes of Global Citizenship Education (GCED), 21st-century skills, and other subjects named in Target 4.7 (referred to collectively as “Transformative Education”)--into education at all levels. Achieving this ambitious goal requires the input, dedication, and—above all—the ingenuity of educators to ensure that learners of all ages are equipped with the “knowledge, values, and skills” called for by the Berlin Declaration and a global community of transformative education advocates.

In this session, we heard from four such advocates, all outstanding classroom teachers and Global Schools Teacher Advocates, who spoke about the obstacles, opportunities, and impact of teaching the next generation to understand and address the world’s greatest challenges.

George de la Cruz, a teacher from the Philippines, spoke about the importance of case-based learning to localize the SDGs. Santha Nair, a primary school ESL teacher from Malaysia, spoke about her work using language education to introduce students to sustainable development and global citizenship topics, and also shared the Environmental Education Playbook for Educators, which she created along with 25 other Malaysian teachers. Javeria Rana, a primary and secondary school teacher from Pakistan, presented a variety of social action projects her students undertook to understand and advocate for more sustainable practices. Lilian Oloo, an early childhood educator from Kenya, who explained how she teaches the three pillars of sustainable development--environmental, economic, and social--to “our youngest global citizens.” Finally, all four teachers shared their thoughts on how education must change to enable more successful education for sustainable development.

The session was moderated by Chandrika Bahadur, Director of the SDG Academy and Chair of the Mission 4.7 Secretariat; and Julia Zimmerman, Program Officer at the Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens and Member of the Mission 4.7 Secretariat.

Watch a recording of the session below.