Learning and assessing competencies in education for sustainable development: ESD-NET 2030 learning webinar

This session on Learning, teaching and assessment for ESD competencies will address how ESD learning competencies can be included into learning content and outcomes, pedagogy, assessment and the learning environment. Speakers and facilitators will discuss various methods and examples of practices in pedagogical approaches and learning assessment for sustainability competencies, how sustainability competencies are integrated into teaching and learning, and how different forms of learning assessment can play a role in hampering the transformative aspirations of ESD. Participants will be able to learn good practices and case examples of teaching, learning, and assessing ESD competencies from across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. 

ESD, as a holistic and transformative approach to education, aims to empower learners with the knowledge, skills, competencies, values and attitudes required to make informed decisions and responsible actions for sustainable futures. Much progress has been made in determining what principles and objectives should guide learning processes in ESD framed around addressing the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioural domains of learning. The variety of competencies supporting this holistic education include critical and systemic thinking, analytical problem-solving, creativity, working collaboratively, the ability to understand the interconnections and relationships within systems, as well as to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems (UNESCO, 2017).

However, less attention has been paid to the kind of pedagogies, didactics, and teaching/learning practices, including learning assessments, that effectively support the development of these skills and competencies. Innovative and alternative teaching and learning approaches include student-centred learning such as team- and project-based learning, experiential learning, as well as outdoor education (UNESCO, 2019).  Designing assessments that effectively capture the various sustainability competencies across the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioural domains of learning present a significant challenge compared to traditional teaching and learning methods like testing and exams as it requires innovative, integrative approaches that embrace the concepts of assessment for and as learning, rather than assessment of learning.

The learning webinars will focus on providing concrete and practical ESD activities in line with the five priority action areas outlined in the ESD for 2030 Roadmap:

1. advancing policy
2. transforming learning environments
3. building capacities of educators
4. empowering and mobilizing youth
5. accelerating local level actions