Learning and teaching for a sustainable future

Abstract

Education and continuous learning are one of the keys for sustainable development. A sustainable development not only calls for transformative research, but also for new transformative education that disseminates the values and principles that are the basis of sustainable development. “Schools@University for Sustainability + Climate Protection” is an educational format at Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) that has taken up the call for education for sustainable development (ESD) in 2005 by creating an innovative inter and transdisciplinary program. In this framework, young students and their teachers are invited to FUB twice a year to gain in-depth knowledge on sustainability issues, learn critical thinking skills and be empowered to effect changes within their everyday world and in society at large. The educational format Schools@University has played a pioneering role and its accomplishments have been recognized with prizes from the UN Decade of ESD three times. This chapter reflects the experiences and key challenges of the project’s ten year history, the goals, didactic approach as well as topics and methods of the educational format. Moreover, it explains how the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) has met the challenge of developing this innovative approach with Schools@University and how its messages and activities have become a role model, encouraging other universities to adopt these exemplary ideas.