BUSTIC EDU - Building Sustainability Competences in Education
Description
Sustainability topics have been a focal point for European Union policies and education in particular, flagging the need for a systemised approach to introducing sustainability competences in European curricula. To support education stakeholders (policy makers, national, regional and local authorities, schools, School Heads, teachers, and related institutions) in strengthening sustainability competence development and fostering its systematic integration into education and training, the BUSTIC EDU (Building Sustainability Competences in Education) project will develop a nature-positive programme for integrated teaching, with sustainability as the underlying topic.
BUSTIC EDU’s Sustainability in Education Programme will address the European Sustainability Competence Framework (GreenComp) in all subjects of its three streams: early childhood, primary, and secondary education (students aged ~3 to 18), The streams will be complemented with continuous professional development opportunities for teachers on:
- Integrated environmental sustainability teaching and learning;
- GreenComp;
- The Sustainability in Education Programme;
- Assessment methods.
The Programme will be tested across 60 schools in 5 countries – Italy, Malta, Turkey, Serbia, Spain, and refined based on assessment outcomes. Schools implementing sustainability competences will also have the chance to join the project’s Sustainable School Expertise recognition programme.
BUSTIC EDU will supplement its outputs with assessment to review how embedding sustainability in a competence-based education helps students acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes to think, plan and act with empathy, responsibility, and care for our planet. In this way, a nature-positive attitude will be promoted across the education sector in Europe, with potential for the Programme to be replicated by the Sustainability competences in education (SCE) community that the project will build, for the benefit of all European citizens.
Basic information
Coordinator
Partners
- INDIRE ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI DOCUMENTAZIONE PER L'INNOVAZIONE E LA RICERCA EDUCATIVA (INDIRE)
- MINISTRY FOR EDUCATION, SPORT, YOUTH, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (DCM)
- MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION (TKMoE)
- FONDACIJA TEMPUS (FT)
- CONSEJERIA DE EDUCACION DE LA JUNTA DE CASTILLA Y LEON (JCYL)
- COMUNIDAD DE MADRID (CAM)
- EUN PARTNERSHIP AISBL (EUN)
Programme
Erasmus+ (programme-erasmus-plus)
Project Acronym
Target groups
education authorities, general public, policy makers, researchers, teachers, trainee teachers, university lecturers, other
Topic
Applied sciences, Earth science, Ecology, Environmental sciences, Education
Start year
2025
End year
2028
Contact person
Alessia Rosa (INDIRE)
Through desktop research and interviews with key education stakeholders, BUSTIC EDU will analyse the current availability of teaching and learning materials and activities in the European education sector, as well as identify the related gaps and needs. The outcomes of this research be crucial for forming the operational basis for future BUSTIC EDU actions, including providing a complete programme of activities addressing all GreenComp competence areas at the three education levels (early childhood, primary, secondary education) the project operates at. In addition, an Initial report will compile the results of desktop research on the existing methods for assessment for sustainability competences (including GreenComp as applicable) across schools and education institutions in Europe, with a focus on early, primary and secondary education levels.
Papers
BUSTIC EDU will develop teaching and learning materials (e.g. learning scenarios, actions plans, etc.) and education activities (e.g., webinars; a series of workshops; a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on sustainable competences (GreenComp) open to all teachers, with the opportunity to learn how to create and peer-evaluate Learning Scenarios linked to any of the GreenComp competence areas. The materials and activities will target pre- and in-service teachers at early childhood, primary, and secondary education levels.
These resources will also complement the Sustainability in Education Programme, which will connect the topics (early childhood), areas (primary) and subjects (secondary) to the GreenComp framework through competency-based integrated teaching and different approaches, among which the whole school approach. BUSTIC EDU will also design Guidelines to help teachers and Heads of Schools implement the Programme.