On 3rd February, Aide et Action participated in the teachers' workshop organized by Step Into Action. Usually, the event is part of the Youth Summit, a meeting that brings together 600 to 1000 young people, about 40 teachers, 25 civil society organizations and about 40 young volunteers to reflect and exchange on the issues and challenges related to sustainable development. This year, due to the pandemic, the workshop was organized independently. Aide et Action was invited to take part in the debate, as an international association for development through education, in order to share with the teachers the importance and the central role of education, through its projects in the field.

Step Into Action is an organisation for young people (15-19 years old) whose aim is to encourage the new generation to reflect on various societal issues and to make young people actors of change. Indeed, today, our society is facing major challenges that we can only face together: climate change, growing inequalities, the progression of digital technology, etc. Young people can also make their contribution by providing solutions with their energy, dynamism and inventiveness. And this awareness begins at school with their teachers.

Teachers: Shapers of the future

For some years now, in the canton of Geneva, the Department of Public Education (DIP) has integrated Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into the school curriculum at primary, secondary 1 and 2 levels. ESD is an approach applicable to all branches of education and to the school as a whole. It promotes holistic learning processes with the help of future-relevant questions. Through analytical and participatory methods, it promotes the acquisition of key competences for sustainable development. ESD combines various elements, such as themes, competences and pedagogical principles, pedagogical objectives, methods and means of learning. In this way, young people learn to shape the present and the future in the direction of sustainable development through critical thinking and creativity.