Social Change through Sustainable Communication in LifeLong Learning in Schools and Society

ongoing

Currently, EU societies are facing many challenges: global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges connected to socio-cultural integration of migrants and refugees, increasing income inequality, … This causes growing social and political polarisation in and among societies. As stated in the Horizon 2020 BRAVE project: “building resilience to vulnerabilities that result from polarisation will likely require greater educational resources that address what it means to belong in the 21st century, beyond nativism and nationalist exclusivism.” There is a need for new means to train and support competent, motivated and highly qualified teachers, trainers, educators and school leaders. This teacher academy, TASC , will provide future and current teachers with the necessary skills to become reflective and agile European teachers capable of preventing, or eliminating violence, discrimination, polarisation, exclusion and bullying. We summarise these skills as sustainable communication skills. Bringing sustainable communication into schools can be the start of the social change we want. The TASC wants at first to develop competences of teachers in sustainable communication and will enroll in a joint training programme of 20 ECTS on sustainable communication. TASC wants to enable and fully integrate mobility models in initial teacher education and continuing professional development education in a green and inclusive way. The TASC wants to develop a European sustained and structured partnership between the providers of initial teacher education and continuous professional development. Finally the TASC wants to formulate guidelines for policymakers to implement sustainable communication as a crucial cross-cutting competence for teachers and teacher trainers. The consortium established for the TASC involves 12 partners of 7 countries, all involved in (initial) teacher training and/or continuous professional development.