RCE Severn recently completed a unique EU-funded collaboration project “University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD)” with 53 partners across Europe. UE4SD focused on professional development of academics to advance ESD in tertiary education and has mapped policy and best practices, published new resources and piloted a training academy in ESD.
The online toolkit contains a range of practical materials of use for anyone who teaches, supports learning, or works in staff development, particularly in the HE sector. It is suitable for beginners as well as specialists, in any subject. Its focus is Education for Sustainable Development, an approach to rethinking education and transforming learning, to support societies in tackling sustainable development concerns.
The platform contains a selection of practical examples of professional development initiatives to support teaching staff in universities in ESD. These examples were collected from across Europe and offer the latest thinking and practice in how to develop university teachers and extend their capabilities in ESD. It includes:
- quick guide to the UE4SD project and its focus on ESD professional development
- mapping policy landscapes for the project and examples of recent ESD in HE policy
- what ESD is and what it means in practice for university educators and their professional competences
- examples of ESD professional development across Europe and the UE4SD Academy created by this project
- learning from this project and futures for ESD professional development
- further reading, relevant literature and useful websites