Leeds’ team wins the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Bootcamp
School of Education team wins UNESCO IESALC and ALDESD bootcamp for its design of Education for Sustainable Development curricular elements.
An Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) team from the School of Education, comprising Dr Syafiq Mat Noor, Dr Chris Ostrowdun, Dr Indira Banner, and Durdona Karimova, participated in the Spring edition 2024 of the eight-week Learning Design and ESD Bootcamp and has been awarded the overall winner. The team also wins the best learning design in the People’s Choice Award and their mentor, Dr Romas Malevicius from King’s College London also won the Best Mentor Award.
The Bootcamp, co-organised by the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) and the Association for Pedagogical Design and Education for Sustainable Development (ALDESD), is aimed at academics in higher education institutions designing curricular elements that incorporate Education for Sustainable Development into their activities using a model of transformative pedagogies.
The Bootcamp has been participated in by more than 39 universities in the UK and worldwide over the last five years. In this year’s Spring edition, the University of Leeds’ team, led by Dr Syafiq Mat Noor, participated alongside other universities. The eight-week Bootcamp is structured to enable higher education institutions to integrate ESD within curricula and pedagogical strategies, with a focus on a vision that reinforces the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ESD for 2030
UNESCO is the United Nations leading agency for ESD and is responsible for the implementation of ESD for 2030, the current global framework for ESD which takes up and continues the work of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) and the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD (2015-2019).
ESD gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change, loss of biodiversity, unsustainable use of resources, and inequality. It empowers learners of all ages to make informed decisions and take individual and collective action to change society and care for the planet.
From left to right: Dr Syafiq Mat Noor, Durdona Karimova, Dr Indira Banner, and Dr Chris Ostrowdun.
This award is a testament to the School of Education’s commitment to supporting the net zero target and aligning with the University of Leeds’ academic strategy, ‘Universal Values, Global Change’. We aim to harness our expertise in student education, scholarship and research to address global challenges through education and contribute to shaping a better future for humanity, echoing the strategy’s overarching goal of leveraging the university’s resources to benefit society.
School of Education’s module on ESD
In the Bootcamp, the University of Leeds’ team designed a newly developed module on ESD, EDUC5010M Education for Sustainable Development, which will be offered to MA Education programme students as a Semester 2 optional module starting in the next academic year, 2024/25. The module aims to impart knowledge about ESD, develop critical analysis skills, and enable students to design sustainable solutions to real-world educational challenges.
We are committed to our student education strategy in providing the best educational experiences for all of our students, both home and international. We ensure that our curriculum is highly relevant, innovative, imaginative, and sustainable, helping students gain the knowledge and skills they need to make a positive impact in the world. This aligns with the University Curriculum Redefined (CR) programme to create a truly exceptional learning experience for our students.
