a)

Align, in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders, strategies and plans in education and training with the green transition and sustainable development, including those related to curricula and assessment and educators’ initial training and continuing professional development. Support implementation of national and other strategies and policies, including on related concepts such as education for sustainable development, through mechanisms for follow-up and monitoring.

b)

Invest, where appropriate, in and provide training on green and sustainable equipment, resources and infrastructure (buildings, grounds and technology) for learning, socialising and recreation to ensure healthy, safe, inclusive, creative and resilient learning environments.

c)

Raise awareness of the benefits and opportunities of learning for the green transition and sustainable development, and support formal and non-formal education and training institutions, including early childhood education and care, to make climate change, environmental protection, biodiversity and sustainability issues relevant to the daily lives of their learners and foster a culture of sustainability.

d)

Develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of learners of all ages to live more sustainably, promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, adopt healthier and more environmentally-conscious lifestyles and contribute individually and collectively to the transformation of our societies.

e)

Support and enhance teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development by providing infrastructure, digital tools and resources and supporting educators’ digital competences.

f)

Involve all learners in meaningful and coordinated ways in proposing and co-creating approaches to what, how and where they learn about – and for – the green transition and sustainable development. Encourage a gender-balanced participation of learners from all backgrounds, including those with fewer opportunities. Empower all learners to participate in and engage with decision-making at the level of their institution as well as their local and wider communities.

g)

Develop and support, in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders, curriculum programmes and frameworks, allowing the time and space for learners to develop sustainability competences (17) from an early age. Intergenerational learning and local examples, problems and responses can make curricula more relevant to learners, demonstrating that climate change, biodiversity, environmental protection and sustainability are local and actionable.

h)

Support cooperation and networking on sustainability, environmental protection and biodiversity, involving for example local authorities, youth work and youth organisations, centres of environmental education and training, centres of global learning, forests, parks, farms, museums, libraries, non-governmental organisations, research, consumer organisations and business, thus strengthening the links between formal, non-formal and informal learning.

i)

Support scaling up of good practices and pedagogical research on teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development at all levels and types of education and training.

a)

Provide learners, from the time they are in pre-school, with opportunities to understand, engage with and value the natural world and its biodiversity, create a sense of curiosity and wonder and learn to act for sustainability, individually and collectively.

b)

Strengthen, including through financial support in accordance with national financial support schemes, high-quality lifelong learning for the green transition and sustainable development, including traineeships, apprenticeships, volunteering, extra-curricular activities, youth work activities and other forms of formal, non-formal and informal learning and the links between them. Stimulate and recognise civic engagement actions and programmes in that regard.

c)

Facilitate learning methods and approaches that are collaborative, experiential, practically oriented and relevant to local contexts and traditions and support interdisciplinary and cross-curricular activities. This includes giving learners hands-on opportunities to observe and care for nature, and to reduce, repair, reuse and recycle, thereby helping them to understand the importance of sustainable lifestyles and the circular economy.

d)

Provide fact-based and accessible information on the climate, environmental and biodiversity crisis and its drivers, as agreed under the Aarhus Convention (18).

e)

Develop problem-solving and collaboration skills; foster critical thinking, media literacy skills and systems thinking; and support positive action, including volunteering, to confront and reduce the fear and disempowerment that learners might experience in the face of the planetary crises.

a)

Recognise that all educators, whatever their discipline or sector of education, are sustainability educators who need to support their learners in preparing for the green transition. Enable them to raise their learners’ awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals. Include, consult and support educators on curriculum and programme development and other educational reforms related to the green transition and sustainable development and on the design of appropriate professional development.

b)

Support integration of the green transition and sustainable development into initial teacher and trainer education programmes; in continuing professional development programmes; and in teacher professional standards and frameworks, in order to support educators’ competence development with regard to sustainability.

c)

Support mentoring schemes and professional development programmes at the level of the institutions. Support educators in using digital tools and technologies in their practice to enhance teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development.

d)

Further develop and explore opportunities and incentives for educators to take part in professional development programmes related to sustainability, for example by considering them in career progression and development and creating roles for educators such as sustainability coordinator.

e)

Support educators, including by providing the necessary time and space, in adopting pedagogies that enhance teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development in interdisciplinary ways and develop the socio-emotional aspects of learning, so that all learners can become agents of change and learn to reflect and act, both individually and collectively, locally and globally, for a more sustainable world.

f)

Encourage and enable, where appropriate, transformative and interdisciplinary teaching and learning using both traditional and innovative learning approaches, including hands-on learning, the STEAM approach (19), hackathons, service learning and gamification.

g)

Develop and make available resources to support educators, including regarding assessment. Support educators in using traditional and new tools and materials to teach and train for the green transition and sustainable development in a range of indoor and outdoor, and digital and non-digital, settings. Provide access to centres of expertise, including centres for environmental education and training.

h)

Encourage the research and innovation community to engage with formal, non-formal and informal education and training providers to support educators in the green transition and sustainable development. Support participation in exploratory projects and research related to the climate emergency, environmental crisis and sustainability.

a)

Encourage and facilitate effective whole-institution approaches to sustainability which encompass teaching and learning; vision, planning and governance; active learner and staff participation; involvement of families; management of buildings and resources; partnerships with local and wider communities; and research and innovation. Support education leaders in managing organisational change with dedicated professional development and guidance for their roles.

b)

Support education and training institutions in designing, monitoring and evaluating their sustainability strategies and/or embedding sustainability in existing processes and measures (e.g. school development plans, higher education mission statements and strategies). Recognise that this is a long-term process requiring small measurable steps which are monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis, including through self-evaluation by the institution.

c)

In accordance with their institutional autonomy, encourage and support early childhood education and care centres, schools, higher education institutions, VET providers, adult learning institutions and other education providers to take part in eco-label initiatives which can bring environmental, social, educational and economic benefits. Provide support structures for such schemes, e.g. agencies or bodies to support whole-institution approaches, mentoring and networking, templates and guidance, and financial support.

d)

Focus part of the internal and/or external review and quality assurance mechanisms of education and training organisations on sustainability. Recognise effective engagement by higher education institutions through appropriate means, including, for example, funding mechanisms.

e)

Further embed the green transition and sustainable development into programmes, syllabuses and modules in VET and higher education (in accordance with institutional autonomy and academic freedom), across a range of disciplines, including business studies, social sciences, pedagogical sciences, humanities, arts, architecture and engineering, land use planning and management. Make use of resources and materials developed by environmental and educational non-governmental organisations and other relevant bodies.

f)

Support higher education, VET and adult learning institutions in the development of small and tailored learning courses on the green transition and sustainable development, that can lead, among others, to micro-credentials, in order to deepen, broaden and update professional competences.

g)

Promote partnerships with all disciplines and actors, including business, the arts, farms, cultural heritage, sport, youth, research institutes, civil society organisations, the educational resources industry (including technology, publishing and other curriculum equipment) and educational research. Support the development of extra-curricular, summer and other programmes while providing support for internships in, for example, laboratories, businesses, research institutions and non-governmental organisations.

h)

Support programmes that promote sustainability innovation and entrepreneurship. Strengthen higher education and VET institutions to establish or reinforce sustainability hubs that will enhance innovation and entrepreneurship for the green transition and sustainable development, the circular economy and biodiversity.

a)

The strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030) (20), where education and training for the green transition is a key priority area.

b)

Disseminating and encouraging the use of opportunities to promote, support and enable formal and non-formal education and training for the green transition and sustainable development within EU funding programmes, such as Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps, LIFE, European Social Fund Plus, European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, Horizon Europe, including Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, the Development Education and Awareness Raising programme and the Technical Support Instrument.

c)

Sharing good practice from Erasmus+ staff exchanges, projects and networks, including through the European Universities alliances, the eTwinning online community, the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies, as well as the Centres of Vocational Excellence, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

d)

Identifying, documenting and sharing good practices, including through existing online platforms (21) , and supporting the networking of national and other organisations active in education and the green transition and sustainable development in formal and non-formal education and training.

e)

Involving young people in the implementation of the Recommendation, in particular through the European Year of Youth 2022 and the EU Youth Dialogue, to ensure that the opinions, views and needs of young people and youth organisations are fully taken into account.

f)

Creating synergies with the Education for Climate Coalition and the New European Bauhaus.

a)

providing resources and support materials for voluntary use on the European School Education Platform, EPALE and the European Youth Portal;

b)

recognising outstanding efforts in teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development through EU award schemes, including the European Innovative Teaching Award, eTwinning Prize and the European Vocational Skills Awards.