Future education: How schools promote sustainability and a sense of responsibility

Future education: How schools promote sustainability and a sense of responsibility

The increasing importance of sustainability in education and society is becoming increasingly clear these days. The term is often associated with environmental friendliness, but it goes far beyond that. It also includes long-term thinking, social justice and global responsibility, such as blog.uni-regensburg.de reported. In order to shape a sustainable future, future generations need important skills, including empathy, the ability to deal with conflict and the ability to convincingly represent points of view.

Schools play a key role in promoting these skills. The concept of “Education for Sustainable Development” (ESD), which is a global initiative of the United Nations, should be seen in this context. 70 countries are already taking part in this campaign. The main goal of ESD is to enable students to actively and independently shape their future.

The role of foreign language teaching

The importance of foreign language teaching in ESD was discussed in an episode of the “Gasthörer” podcast, in which Dr. Carola Surkamp, ​​Professor of Foreign Language Didactics, has her say. This makes it clear that language teaching should not only promote language proficiency, but also the development of intercultural and social skills. This means that curricula must increasingly integrate elements that help students understand the complexities of global challenges.

The literature emphasizes that intercultural foreign language teaching should also aim to sharpen understanding of different perspectives. As Bredella (1999) describes in his work “Objectives of intercultural foreign language teaching”, the goal is not only language acquisition, but also the promotion of an open and knowledge-promoting learning atmosphere.

Initiatives and perspectives

The German Commission for UNESCO has launched numerous initiatives to actively promote ESD. Their document “Agenda Education 2030” outlines the framework for action for educational institutions to support the long-term goals of ESD. These goals include increasing the skills of both teachers and students. Publications and studies, such as those by Hellberg-Rode and Schrüfer (2016), show the importance of teachers' skills in the context of ESD in order to provide students with a well-founded education.

The connection between language, culture and sustainability is a dynamic process that must be constantly developed further. The challenges facing global society require an interdisciplinary approach that should be integrated into training at an early stage. In this way, future generations can not only acquire linguistic skills, but also become active contributors to a sustainable future.

In summary, it can be said that foreign language teaching can make a significant contribution to education for sustainable development. This is in line with the recommendations of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, which emphasize the importance of sustainable education not only in the environmental area, but also in social and cultural aspects, as can be found in the KMK document: kmk.org.