Thanks

Djapo aims to support children and young people in developing their disposition to deal with our societal issues. We don’t tell them what society should look like. Rather, we give them the opportunity to work with these issues, in the classroom and at school. This enables them to develop the systemic, transformative, social and reflective dispositions needed to want and be able to make conscious choices.

This is achieved within the formal education system by working closely with teachers and schools, teacher trainers, supervisors and researchers. We start from their reality, and the opportunities and obstacles they experience. The schools are a crucial link in this process. They provide quality education on a daily basis and reach all children and young people. Djapo also involves educational umbrella organisations, networks and policy makers. Our approach takes into account the expectations of policymakers and society regarding education, young people and sustainable coexistence.

Fed by the constant interaction of theory, practice and policy, Djapo focuses on the development of didactic and pedagogic frameworks, methods and tools. We find our inspiration in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD is based on scientific research, is practised internationally and receives explicit attention in the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For Djapo, ESD emphasises on the one hand that school is a place where children and young people can develop and exercise their skills relative to societal issues. On the other hand, ESD highlights the impact these same societal issues have on the purpose of education. After all, the issues in our society are urgent. So, there is a need for education that enables children and young people to develop the ability to actively and resiliently deal with societal complexity and to make conscious choices in this regard.

We don’t think that a sustainable society is capable of definition. We all have our own idea of sustainable society. And these diverse ideas cannot be captured in a single image of the future. Moreover, the path to that future society is ambiguous, complex and dynamic.

ESD stimulates and supports children and young people in forming their own image of sustainable society. At the same time, it offers opportunities to gain experience in shaping society according to that image, in the safe training ground that is school.

In this publication, we discuss the most important concepts related to quality ESD. We have consulted the latest and best scientific findings on ESD and compared them to our own, practical experiences. This has given us a theoretical framework, on the basis of which we want to form ESD. It provides guidance for the development of didactic methods and tools for use in the classroom and the school. The aim is to create a powerful learning environment that provides opportunities for developing ESD disposition.

This initiative is an invitation to everyone concerned with quality education to engage in the conversation. We want to open the way to a dialogue about the goals of education, the ways to achieve those goals and the added value that ESD can bring to this process. It’s our hope that this dialogue will stimulate continued research into the theory and practice of ESD, providing the impetus for further experimentation, substantiation and innovation.

We see this theoretical framework as a starting point that indicates what is currently possible and where our knowledge still needs deepening and broadening. It is the basis from which we can deploy and continue to innovate our practice. Conversely, we will also continue to use dynamic, learning practice in order to develop its theoretical basis.

You are invited. Let us begin.

This text is the result of intensive teamwork within Djapo - and the critical eye of some honest friends. Its development was a process of trial and error, and a process that will continue, unabated. We thank all current and former Djapo employees who contributed to this text, and the external experts who fed our reflections. Djapo thanks, in particular, the following for sharing their thinking with us:

Dr Angela Salmon - Prof. Dr T. Arjen Wals - Arne JanssensProf. Dr Arthur L. Costa - Bea Merckx - Ben HolvoetDr Bena Kallick - Bert Massa - Brigitte Pycke - Christophe

Calis– Dr David Hyerle - Dr David Perkins - Delphine Vervenne - Dr Dries Verhelp - Eef Thoen - Eleni SinakouEllie Lefèvre - Hilde Stroobants - Hugo VandenbrouckeImke Deleu - Prof. Dr Dries Verhelst - Eef ThoenEleni Sinakou - Ellie Lefèvre - Hilde Stroobants - Hugo Vandenbroucke - Imke Deleu - Prof. Dr Jelle Boeve-de Pauw

- Dr Jeroen Lauwers - Prof. Dr Katrien Van PoeckDr Kevin Goris - Kwinten Keulemans - Prof. Dr Leif Östman - Liesbet Van den Driessche - Lotte MichielsenLut Favoreel - Marleen Dierickx - Miette Plessers - Patrick

Malfait - Patrick Vleeschouwer - Pieter Lievens - Prof. Dr Danny Wildemeersch - Roos Steeman - Dr Shari TishmanTom Uytterhoeven