Community Action

An NFA /Branch/Club could identify an issue on education for sustainable development in its community/province/state/country. Propose a special project on this issue and find out if one or more of the other Project Five-O organisations in the community/country would be willing to be a partner in the project.

The project could be a workshop, a seminar, a series of seminars, a research project with the preparation of a report and recommendations to government.

Education for Sustainable Development
and the Curriculum

A. An NFA/Branch/Club could find out whether the school curriculum in the country/state/province provides for education on sustainability.

• Is it part of the primary curriculum or just in the secondary curriculum?
• Is it a separate subject within the curriculum or is it treated as a cross-curricular subject?
• Which subject teachers teach it? Are teachers trained to do this work?
• Is it well-resourced? How could resources be improved?

If it is not part of the national curriculum, plan to mount a campaign to introduce education for sustainability into the curriculum in ways suitable for primary and secondary students and appropriate to your country, its needs and curriculum policy.

Visit the UNESCO website for more information on Education for Sustainable Development.

B. Find out what courses or programmes on sustainability are offered in tertiary education institutions.

• Are there departments/faculties that specialize in Environmental Science?
• Is sustainability treated in a cross-curricular manner across a number of departments/faculties?
• To what extent are cultural values incorporated in sustainability programmes?

Arrange to have someone come and speak to your group about any one of these issues.

Higher Education

Two special initiatives resulted from the UNESCO Higher Education Colloquium held in Paris in 2006.

A. The UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge organized several regional research seminars in the spring of 2007.

An NFA should find out if there was a seminar in their region and, if there was, is a report available. If so, disseminate the information in the report among your NFA members and discuss the implications of the report. Is there any action that your group might undertake?

If there is no report available, contact UNESCO to find if and when there will be one.

B. The Forum will compare national research systems in 56 developing countries in order to help strengthen their capacities to better manage their developing processes.

Your NFA can find out if your national research system will be assessed and consider options as to how to cooperate.

Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA): Assessment of quality of education

An NFA/Branch/Club could find out if the country is participating in the Organisation of Economic Coordination and Development's Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) surveys. The PISA is an internationally standardised assessment administered to 15-year-olds in schools in participating countries. It assesses whether students are well prepared to meet the challenges of the future and looks at ways of improving the quality of education. The assessment indicates competences in the domains of reading, mathematical and scientific reading, and problem solving skills.

Countries that have participated in the assessment can study their results and judge how they are implemented and their effect on the quality of education in the country. If the country is not yet assessed in the PISA survey, find out how to encourage participation.