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Education is the most effective means that society possesses for confronting the challenges of the future. Indeed, education will shape the world of tomorrow. Progress increasingly depends upon the products of educated minds: upon research, invention, innovation and adaptation. Of course, educated minds and instincts are needed not only in laboratories and research institutes, but in every walk of life. Indeed, access to education is the sine qua non for effective participation in the life of the modern world at all levels. Education, to be certain, is not the whole answer to every problem. But education, in its broadest sense, must be a vital part of all efforts to imagine and create new relations among people and to foster greater respect for the needs of the environment. |  |
Source: UNESCO (1997) Educating for a Sustainable Future: A Transdisciplinary Vision for Concerted Action, paragraph 38.
Overview
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multimedia teacher education programme published by UNESCO. It contains 100 hours (divided into 25 modules) of professional development for use in pre-service teacher courses as well as the in-service education of teachers, curriculum developers, education policy makers, and authors of educational materials.
UNESCO, and the international community in general, believes that we need to foster - through education - the values, behaviour, and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is rooted in a new vision of education that helps students better understand the world in which they live, addressing the complexity and interconnectedness of problems such as poverty, wasteful consumption, environmental degradation, population, health, conflict and human rights that threaten our future.
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future will enable teachers to plan learning experiences that empower their students to develop and evaluate alternative visions of a sustainable future and to work creatively with others to help bring their visions of a better world into effect. It will also enhance the computer literacy of teachers and build their skills in using multimedia-based resources and strategies in their teaching.
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is available in two multimedia formats – a CDROM and an Internet programme <www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/>.
60 Million Agents of Change
There are over 60 million teachers in the world. Each one is a key agent for bringing about the changes in values and lifestyles we need. For this reason, innovative teacher education is an important part of educating for a sustainable future. The multimedia format of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future means that it can be accessed and used in a great many ways by teachers, student teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, education policy makers and authors of educational materials.
An Innovative Programme
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Access The multimedia format of Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future means that it can be used by teachers either independently or in small self-study groups ‚ even in isolated locations ‚ thus avoiding traditional barriers of access to training and new information. |
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Cost Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is virtually cost free to users as UNESCO has absorbed research and development costs. |
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Adaptibility Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future can be translated into different languages. Its contents can also be adapted to different national and regional contexts. UNESCO encourages translation and adaptation. Guidelines are provided in the programme for that purpose. |
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is published initially in English with adaptations to suit different national and regional contexts as well as versions in additional languages planned.
UNESCO, Educating for a Sustainable Future
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is one of several programmes initiated by UNESCOís programme on Educating for a Sustainable Future. It has been developed by UNESCO in its function as task manager for the International Work Programme on Education, Public Awareness and Training for Sustainability of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Copies of this programme or further information on this or other UNESCO activities in this area may be obtained from:
UNESCO, Educating for a Sustainable Future
7 Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France.
Use the link below to download the promotional brochure, programme handbook, CDROM package and label in PDF format.
