The iLEGEND III seminar “The benefits of an intercultural and holistic approach to education for sustainable development: a North-South perspective” provides a space to reflect on our education systems. This year, it takes place in Malta on 19 April, occuring back-to-back with the North-South Centre’s Global Education Network annual meeting which gathered the national coordinators for two days.

Teaching for sustainable development entails more than teaching about sustainable development. It tries to include a diverse range of knowledge, frameworks, examples, and best practices to be integrated into sustainability education. Still, tensions arise when prioritising basic educational needs or preparing students for employment in sectors that may not priorities sustainable practices. These tensions mirror the broader debate surrounding the balance between economic development and environmental conservation.

This year’s seminar provides a space for policymakers, practitioners, and experts to identify through interactive exchanges how to enhance intercultural learning in sustainability education, thus teaching for sustainable development.

It aims at incentivising dialogue, cooperation, peer learning, and collective engagement at all levels of society, sharing examples and best practices stemming from unique cultural perspectives from Europe, Africa, the MENA region, and indigenous communities. This means strengthening the link between education for sustainable development, human rights protection, and global citizenship.

The outcomes of the Seminar will contribute to the North-South Centre’s design of a Long-Term Training Course on “Global Education and Sustainable Development” and a Tutored Online Training Course on “Global Education and Climate change”.

The recommendations of the seminar, comprising relevant perspectives from the global South, will also feed the reflections of the newly created Council of Europe working group on “Education for Sustainable Development and the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture”.

The Thematic Seminar is part of iLEGEND III: Intercultural Learning Exchange through Global Education, Networking and Dialogue (2023-2026), a Joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe: co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. The overall objective of the project is to increase the active engagement of citizens, in particular young people, of EU member States, candidate and potential candidate countries’ in safeguarding sustainable development and confronting global challenges and inequalities at local and global level.