From where we come:

Universities

Public educational administrations

Public environmental administrations

NGO

International Institutions

International projects

National projects

………………….

To what we are interested?

EE ESD

What is ESD

Quality (for a subject as ESD that is in discussion)

Policy

Strategies

Practices

Curricula and schools

Formal-informal education

Roel Van Raaij

Karin Sollart

Michela Mayer

WORKING GROUP C

What are the QC for ESD in the light of national and International Educational Quality Standards?

KEY PRESENTATIONS

Karin Sollart: Report form the UNECE expert group on indicators for the effectiveness of the implementation of the strategy

Daniella Tilbury: IUCN-CEC/UNESCO/MacQuarie University project, to assist the task of monitoring progress and achievement for the Decade in the Asia Pacific Region.Michela Mayer : The search for Quality criteria as a participatory learning strategy – an Italian proposal for Interregional quality indicators systems for EE oriented to SD.Karin Sollart: Example from Flemish Belgium. Quality Criteria for ESD. Target group: teachers and educational tools producer.

Next practices

Best practices

Good practices

MACRO MICRO

Conclusions

Discussion on Quality

• In Education Quality is related more to ‘processes’ then to ‘products’. Educational processes cannot be captured in strict standards

• ESD ask for a mind shift about what is needed in quality evaluation, from ‘accountability’ to evidence based quality development

• We accept that ‘numbers’ are often not meaningful, other ways of evaluation such as ‘examples’, good practices, descriptions are more underpinning the evolving concepts of ESD

• ESD will contribute to the changes of behaviors needed for SD. It is an important component of the complex approach that is needed but cannot be evaluated by the attained changes.

• The outcomes of ESD is ‘education as such’: more critical thinker, more action competences, ….

What our needs are?

• Quality indicators could be an important instruments for quality enhancement of ESD, because they ask for reflection and action research on the meaning and on the practice of ESD. But they require time and they change with time.

• International collaboration and exchanges could guide/help the process of finding meaningful “local” indicators

• There is a need for an information exchange mechanism on ESD (eg. a clearing house) to insure the transparency and exchange of information on policy, legislation, research, good practices, etc., for experts and policy makers at international and national levels

Main question: How we can convince decision makers of the need of this mind shift and of a new approach to quality evaluation?

Recommendations to EU

More possibilities/funding for: • International/European exchange on good practices on ESD Evaluation and

Quality• Research on changes and on how education can contribute to changes

Integrate ESD and ESD evaluation needs with other cross-curricular themes (as citizenship, democracy, …): changes happens at ‘the borders’

Provide opportunities to discuss and integrate the ESD vision of quality in different departments and at different governmental levels

Integrate explicitly ESD competencies (and possibly use them as an umbrella) in the on going projects on European Key-competences (in citizenship, but also in entrepeneurships, as proposed by Australian experience)

Use existing European or International tools (as PISA, eurobarometers,,..) for collect more information on changes in knowledge and attitudes useful for SD and ESD