Overview of the Summit Series Project
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Research to Practice Case Study
The global movement known as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) represents a great hope and daunting challenge for wholesale transformation of local and global educational systems. That is because ESD recognizes that in order for actions, policies, and practices around the world to address the most pressing issues of our day, we first must acknowledge the inextricable linkage between environmental, economic, and sociocultural aspects of sustainability.
To translate this paradigmatic commitment into credible action, we must:
- introduce new content into the myriad of educational contexts, but transform along the way the processes through which teaching, training, and learning occur;
- start first with the rising generation of learners, but not before engaging teachers to appraise and cultivate their own capacities;
- focus on demonstrable knowledge and skill acquisition, but only after understanding better who learns what and why, and under what circumstances;
- develop innovative pedagogical methods that are consonant with the values and principles of ESD, but only in the context of overarching standards that are designed to promote quality and rigor across the educational system; and
- apply and translate all we learn in order to impact teacher education policies and practices, both locally and globally, but through a necessary and sufficient commitment to methodological sophistication and ecological validity.
In 2018, Summit Series participants were asked what their areas of interest were, given our mission and ongoing activities. The figure in the following, downloadable pdf document offers a good sense of how a representative sample of Summit Series invitees (N = 78) wished to allocate their time and efforts. Findings such as these will be used to help us identify priority areas of emphasis as the Summit Series moves forward from here.
Areas of Interest: Survey FindingsProject Areas of the Summit Series
- Human rights
- Sustainability
- Global education
- Religious and cultural understanding
- Making Sense of Beliefs and Values course
- Teacher preparation
- Applied Global Studies
- Study abroad
- Professional growth and development
- Enhancing well being
- Civic engagement / discourse
- Facilitating gender relations
- Leadership / organizational development
- Child / youth development
- Artistic expression
- Eco Kosovo
- Criminal justice
- Social justice
- Journey Around The World
- Liberal Arts Education
- High Impact Educational Practice
References for the Summit Series Project