398
O. Khalaim and S. Urenje
platform for interdisciplinary communication not only between teachers of different
specialties, but also belonging to different universities of the Baltic region. Secondly,
the course provides a clear roadmap to induce sustainability changes into teaching
practice by developing and realization of a concrete small-scale individual change
project. Finally, it brings a set of transformative learning methods to be practiced
and afterwards introduced by course participants into their teaching work.
To enhance further the course achievements at the university level, a comprehensive and clear starting list of indicators to achieve basic CCESD knowledge
and skills could be introduced. As proposed in UNESCO document “ESD Goals:
Learning Objectives” (2017), three groups of learning objectives could be used: (1)
cognitive learning objectives (related to the crucial understanding points); (2) socioemotional learning objectives (related to capabilities to encourage, collaborate, and
share the common understanding); and (3) behavioral learning objectives (related to
ability to anticipate, estimate, and act). Here again we can observe a clear shift to the
transformative approach to climate change learning as capability, more than steady
knowledge on climate change-related issues.
Moreover, as suggested by Mochizuki and Bryan (2015), a number of key learning
capabilities associated with CCESD could be introduced in a systemic manner. The
list can include critical thinking, systems thinking and problem solving skills dealing
with rapid change and uncertainties, assisting in analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information, as well as management skills and life-long learning skills together
with information, media and technology skills (Mochizuki and Bryan 2015).
In the twenty-first century, teaching and learning locations and processes are
not merely about understanding social change; classrooms are catalytic incubators
where personal and social transformation is generated and pursued. In order for these
efforts to succeed, ESD has to consciously address and account to local context by
initiating learning processes needed for achieving local sustainability challenges. The
BUP ESD course provides a learning environment for experimenting on tools and
approaches that university teachers can draw on to support students in developing
the skills, capacity and capabilities needed to foster social transformation, becoming
change agents in the face of local and global environmental challenges like climate
change.
6 Conclusions and Recommendations
In 2020, the majority of universities worldwide are facing a transition period towards
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in order to be capable to meet global
threats and address the students’ demand of being good citizens rather than barely
good specialists in their field of study. Ukrainian universities are in the same process,
as could be concluded by the given research in general.
On the one hand, there is an essential gap in the formal framework and regulations
regarding ESD implementation in Ukrainian higher education. Since Education for
Sustainable Development and Climate Change Education neither are clearly visible in
O. Khalaim and S. Urenje
platform for interdisciplinary communication not only between teachers of different
specialties, but also belonging to different universities of the Baltic region. Secondly,
the course provides a clear roadmap to induce sustainability changes into teaching
practice by developing and realization of a concrete small-scale individual change
project. Finally, it brings a set of transformative learning methods to be practiced
and afterwards introduced by course participants into their teaching work.
To enhance further the course achievements at the university level, a comprehensive and clear starting list of indicators to achieve basic CCESD knowledge
and skills could be introduced. As proposed in UNESCO document “ESD Goals:
Learning Objectives” (2017), three groups of learning objectives could be used: (1)
cognitive learning objectives (related to the crucial understanding points); (2) socioemotional learning objectives (related to capabilities to encourage, collaborate, and
share the common understanding); and (3) behavioral learning objectives (related to
ability to anticipate, estimate, and act). Here again we can observe a clear shift to the
transformative approach to climate change learning as capability, more than steady
knowledge on climate change-related issues.
Moreover, as suggested by Mochizuki and Bryan (2015), a number of key learning
capabilities associated with CCESD could be introduced in a systemic manner. The
list can include critical thinking, systems thinking and problem solving skills dealing
with rapid change and uncertainties, assisting in analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information, as well as management skills and life-long learning skills together
with information, media and technology skills (Mochizuki and Bryan 2015).
In the twenty-first century, teaching and learning locations and processes are
not merely about understanding social change; classrooms are catalytic incubators
where personal and social transformation is generated and pursued. In order for these
efforts to succeed, ESD has to consciously address and account to local context by
initiating learning processes needed for achieving local sustainability challenges. The
BUP ESD course provides a learning environment for experimenting on tools and
approaches that university teachers can draw on to support students in developing
the skills, capacity and capabilities needed to foster social transformation, becoming
change agents in the face of local and global environmental challenges like climate
change.
6 Conclusions and Recommendations
In 2020, the majority of universities worldwide are facing a transition period towards
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in order to be capable to meet global
threats and address the students’ demand of being good citizens rather than barely
good specialists in their field of study. Ukrainian universities are in the same process,
as could be concluded by the given research in general.
On the one hand, there is an essential gap in the formal framework and regulations
regarding ESD implementation in Ukrainian higher education. Since Education for
Sustainable Development and Climate Change Education neither are clearly visible in