This book addresses the changes in education practices, especially basic education, necessitated by the global challenges of climate change and sustainable development and in a context characterized by increasing poverty and inequality, migration and refugees. 

Written by a range of international scholars, scientists and grassroots practitioners from Africa, Latin America, Asia (India, China, Malaysia) and Europe, the individual contributions focus on education policies and child development in various social contexts. Case-based experiences from both developed and developing countries provide inspiration and shed new light on the fundamental changes needed to adapt existing school systems and teacher training to face the challenges of the future. In this regard, the need to empower children themselves is emphasized.

All contributions are based on a Workshop hosted in November 2015 by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican entitled Children and Sustainable Development: A Challenge for Education and follow three other significant events on sustainable development in 2015, namely the publication of Laudato Si, the Encyclical Letter from Pope Francis, the release of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the COP21 Conference in Paris. 

 

Part 1: Environment, Climate and Education.- Chapter 1.Educating Children to Bend the Curve: For a Stable Climate, Sustainable Nature and Sustainable Humanity.- Chapter 2. Children as Agents of Change for Sustainable Development.- Chapter 3. Notes on Child Labor and Education: A Personal Statement.- Chapter 4. Scholas Citizenship.- Chapter 5.Learning, Literacy and Sustainable Development: Inclusion, Vulnerability, and the SDGs.- Chapter 6. Educating Students to Sustainability: The Experience of La main à la pâte.- Chapter 7.Evidence Based Education and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2016-2030.- Chapter 8. The Sustainable Planet: Towards an Education for Sustainability.- Part 2: How Could Education Evolve in a Diversity of Conteexts?.- Chapter 9. Structures, Processes and Agents of Educational Changes.- Chapter 10. Low Attainers in a Global Knowledge Economy.- Chapter 11. Unequal World, Unequal Education.- Chapter 12. Fe y Alegría and the Educational Challenges and Opportunities of Our World.- Chapter 13. A Bright Star for Every Child Education in Rural China.- Chapter 14. AmritaRITE: A Holistic Model for Inclusive Education in Rural India.- Chapter 15. The Assumpta Science Center Ofekata Owerri (ASCO).- Part: 3.Children, Students and Teachers.- Chapter 16.- Formative Childhood from a Neurobiological Perspective etc.