International award success for Learning for Sustainability Scotland and partners
We’re delighted to share our recent success in the 2022 Regional Centres of Expertise in Education (RCE) Awards for Innovative Projects on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
Our ‘Agents of Change Toolkit’ received an ‘Outstanding Flagship Project’ award, and our ‘Connecting Youth Work and Learning for Sustainability’ initiative received an ‘Acknowledged Flagship Project’ award.
Established in 2012, the RCE Awards celebrate projects and programmes on ESD across our Global RCE Network; honouring RCEs who have made outstanding contributions to address local sustainable development challenges in their regions.
The Awards recognise projects and programmes that bridge local and global perspectives on sustainable development, those that engage with transformative learning and research, and initiatives that contribute to community engagement, research & development and capacity development of stakeholders and partners.
The power of partnerships
Working in partnership is a key part of our ethos as Scotland’s RCE – and a key element of these Awards – and this recognition is very much due to the expertise of the partner organisations that we worked with to deliver these two initiatives:
1. The ‘Agents of Change Toolkit’
The Agents of Change toolkit (ACToolkit) was developed in 2020 in a project funded by The Scottish Universities Insight Institute to accelerate progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Scotland. It does this by helping educators to:
- a) build SDG-related improvements into their local plans;
- b) identify relevant expertise and work with other players within and beyond schools to implement change projects; and
- c) evaluate the impact of change processes and outcomes.
ACToolkit was designed by a core team from Learning for Sustainability Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, University of Dundee and Glasgow School of Art; supported by professionals from primary and secondary schools in Scotland, staff from Edinburgh Council and international experts. Our warmest thanks goes to everyone involved in making this such a success.
2. ‘Connecting Youth Work and Learning for Sustainability’
This partnership programme of online participatory workshops was developed through collaboration between Learning for Sustainability Scotland and Youthlink Scotland, Scotland’s national agency for youth work representing voluntary and statutory youth work organisations.
A successful and well-attended ongoing series of themed participative online workshops has been delivered, building on the impetus provided by the COVID-19 pandemic and the hosting of COP26 in Glasgow. Themes to date have included:
- Introducing Learning for Sustainability and Youth Work
- Supporting young people to take action
- School – Youth Work Partnerships
- Beyond COP26: LfS and Young People in Scotland
- Co-creating a fair and green future with young people
- ‘Putting young people at the centre’ round table
A diverse range of organisations have contributed to the content of these sessions; including Scottish Government, Children’s Parliament, Young Scot, North Lanarkshire Council, Youth Scotland, Education Scotland, ScotDEC, St Modan’s High School, Stirling Council, FARE Scotland, St Mungo’s Primary School, The Outward Bound Trust, The Conservation Volunteers, Highland One World and The John Muir Award. Once again, our warmest thanks goes to everyone involved.
Find out more about the RCE Awards in the following video: