Half a hundred teachers from primary and secondary schools participating in the project to create a Network of sustainable schools in Melilla attend the training sessions ‘Towards a sustainable education’.
This initiative, organized by the Educational Programs Unit (UPE) of the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFPyD), addresses the novelties of the LOMLOE with respect to education for sustainable development and global citizenship.
These days are the starting point for the development of the project of sustainable centers with the purpose of complying with article 110 of the LOMLOE to promote a culture of environmental sustainability and social cooperation to protect our biodiversity.
At these conferences given by the Technical Advisor of the General Subdirectorate of Territorial Cooperation and Educational Innovation of the MEFPyD, Silvia Velázquez Rodríguez, Vocational Training teachers from all the centers of the city have also attended.
The Provincial Directorate has organized this course with the intention of guiding the centers in the design and implementation of their projects as well as to start VET teachers who, according to the new Vocational Training Law, must teach the module of ‘Sustainability’ in Middle and Higher Degree cycles.
Among the objectives of the course are to undertake a critical reflection on what Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship means, to understand the idea of a comprehensive school approach for sustainability and global citizenship as well as resources for the implementation of the network project of centers, with practical and contextualized examples.
Recognition of Sustainable Educational Centers
Along with this subject, the Provincial Director of the MEFPyD in Melilla, Juan Ángel Berbel, has reported that the Ministry headed by Pilar Alegría has called for the ‘Recognition of Sustainable Educational Centers’, aimed at those centers that promote the integral school approach for sustainability, assuming a firm and unequivocal commitment to sustainable development.
The recognition will be granted in the form of a financial endowment of 75,000 euros, being able to recognize up to a maximum of ten centers and in addition to the financial endowment, an accrediting diploma will be given that recognizes them as a sustainable educational center.
Centers wishing to participate in the call must submit the application and the documentation required in the resolution through the electronic headquarters of the MEFPyD (https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/catalogo/centros-docentes/premios.html) from May 23 and until June 19.
As Berbel has explained, in order to facilitate the integration of the ecological transition and sustainability in schools, the European Commission, within the framework of the European Green Pact, adopted in 2019, proposed a Council Recommendation on learning for the ecological transition and sustainable development that points out among its considerations that there are not always, sufficiently, comprehensive institutional approaches to sustainability that address all areas of activity.
Such approaches may include teaching and learning, governance, research and innovation, infrastructure, facilities and activities, and should involve students, staff, families, the local community and wider communities.
It also recommends that Member States continue to support education and training centres in effectively integrating ecological transition and sustainable development into all their activities and work, taking into account measures such as promoting and providing effective approaches to sustainability, including the centre as a whole.
The role of educational centers in this scenario, explained Berbel, is to build a space that generates a transformative education, which takes place both inside and outside them.
With this recognition, he stressed, “it is intended to favor in the centers actions aimed at incorporating learning for environmental sustainability throughout the educational institution, such as promoting the continuous training of teachers in sustainability, incorporating active and participatory methodologies, promoting the participation and responsibility of students, individually and collectively, as well as families and the educational community, in the decision-making in the educational center, promoting that the infrastructures and the educational environment are sustainable and resilient, facilitating the collaboration of the center with the entities and institutions of the environment and promoting networking with other centers, entities and/or institutions.”