Insights

Education can play a vital role in enabling young people to understand and acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes to address the global challenges that they will increasingly face during their lives. Education for sustainability tackles issues such as climate change, sustainable transportation, cultural preservation and features increasingly in national and EU level education policies and actions.

Educational institutions contribute to the development of socially conscious citizens. Teachers can enrich pupils’ understanding of their social responsibilities and abilities.

Global sustainability problems and changes related to artificial intelligence can increase pupils’ uncertainty about the future. Teachers can help pupils understand these issues and manage their future anxieties.

To safeguard the long-term sustainability of Europe’s countryside, we need forward-thinking agricultural vocational education and training (VET) to train the younger generation of rural Europeans for the green and digital transitions.

In January 2022, the European Commission published GreenComp, a reference framework for sustainability competences. To support its take-up and strengthen sustainability competences, a community of practice has been created for individuals and organisations to exchange and work together on green competence development.