Viewpoints

In this article, Dr Mary Roche shares her personal journey on how she discovered action research and how it has enriched her career as a teacher and academic.

The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector in Italy is currently undergoing an important reform, moving from a split to an integrated system.

There is little point keeping young people in school if their school environment is unsafe and can even harm their mental health and well-being. Similarly, there is little point ensuring educational goals are met if, upon finishing school, young people lack basic skills and key competences. Cosmin Nada comments on the attitude shift that underlies the European Commission’s Pathways to School Success initiative.

Over the past few weeks, around 5 million Ukrainians have crossed the border into the European Union. While Ukraine’s Ministry of Education has done a stellar job of setting up online learning for all secondary school pupils, there are still other hurdles to overcome. Mialy Dermish from the SIRIUS Network reflects on social and linguistic inclusion for Ukrainian students and their pathway to educational success.

Blended learning in schools today usually means the use of digital technology to supplement traditional methods of teaching and learning. Martyn Rawson explains that Steiner Waldorf education understands blended learning in a broader sense – one that starts from direct, bodily experience and progresses to the use of digital media.

The pandemic has inspired much reflection on distance learning and the use of digital tools in Europe. INDIRE researcher Giuseppina Cannella explores Italy’s new digital landscape and the changed role of the local community and cultural spaces.

‘Frankly, when I first saw the title of the EU’s recent proposal for a Recommendation on learning for environmental sustainability, I wondered: “Why focus on environmental sustainability – isn’t that missing the point of sustainability?” Sustainability cannot be achieved by only looking at the environment, the economy, society or culture: we need to consider all these dimensions and how they interact.’ Professor Arjen Wals outlines the transformation that education should undergo to deal with the planet’s existential threats.

Agustín Bastida Rodríguez, director of the Centro De Formacion Ambiental, Madrid and moderator of the SENSE eTwinning Group, recently spoke with us about the importance of technology in environmental education and the various sectors where environmental education can take place.

Our current model of environmental education focuses more on awareness-raising than action. We focus more on the logistics of an activity than its learning outcomes. Dr Pramod Kumar Sharma of the Foundation for Environmental Education relates some experiences that made him critically reflect on the discipline and how it is taught.

Let’s all be more productive, effectively chase our goals, and of course… continue to grow and learn! This seems to be one of the most important mantras of the 21st century. But is it justified? Dr. Jeltsen Peeters weighs up the options.