Conor Galvin is a researcher and a lecturer at UCD Dublin where he directs the PhD Education programme. He is also an official member of the EU working group on sustainability in school education that has been set up by the European Commission. The group is composed of representatives from ministries of education and the environment, social partners and stakeholder organisations from more than 30 European countries, and it discuss how schools, communities, education policies and programmes can best support learning about and for the environment and sustainability.
As you will learn listening to Conor, he is personally convinced that the existential crisis (his words) we are facing requires us to rapidly review the objectives we assign to education and the way we organise it: “we have to completely reinvent the reasons that kids go to school”.
But in his opinion, we should not take things for granted. There is indeed still work to be done to convince people in every country about the scale of the challenge, also because various political agendas are sometimes conflicting and make things harder, awareness being even hampered by disinformation.
Conor invites us to stay positive and to consider some important international initiatives promoted by the European Commission (Education for Climate Coalition included) and the UN, but he does not stop here his review. There are also some very interesting national and local initiatives (for instance in his country, Ireland) all of them showing a very positive trend, confirmed over the last 5 or 6 years, towards a better integration of sustainability in education.
01:35 Could you tell us about your past experience and professional background, and explain your particular interest in issues relating to sustainability in education?
05:15 Based on you vast experience on the field, what are in your view the biggest challenges and obstacles we face when it comes to embedding sustainability in education systems?
11:30 What are the initiatives that deserve our attention? What are your main recommendations to boost green competences and contribute to the transformation of our education systems to make them more sustainable?
Follow this link if you want to learn more about the work being done by the EU working group on sustainability in school education: https://education.ec.europa.eu/news/first-meeting-of-eu-working-group-o…
Are you interested to watch previous episodes? Check the Education for Climate TALKS
Totally agree with Conor Galvin.
Global warming, accelerated digital revolution, growing inequalities, devastating pandemics... And the list goes on. These are just some of the most pressing challenges that we are facing today in our world.
And our current global education system is "failing" to address these alarming challenges and provide quality learning for everyone.
In class we try that education today is fulfilling its promise to help us shape peaceful and sustainable societies. That is why it has never been more crucial to reimagine (or REINVENT) the way we teach/learn, what we teach/learn and how we teach/learn. It’s time to transform education.
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