Shaping the Future - el mundo - Nachhaltigkeit in Studium und Lehre

Insights

Each month the whole team meets on Zoom to discuss the progress of our endeavors.

Here is a screenshot from our March 2025 Monthly

Recent project meetings

In May 2025 we are meeting in Munich for two days to get to know each other better and to start working on our handbook on Service-Learning for Education for Sustainable Development. We look forward to learning from each other’s experience, our conducted interviews and research. All this expertise will profit our educational framework.

Before the end of our project in May 2026 we will meet in Romania to discuss the implementation and dissemination of our findings collected in the handbook. We will also reflect on the whole project and our transnational, transcultural collaboration on Service-Learning for Education for Sustainable Development.

Service-Learning (SL) is a form of teaching and learning that combines the – social – engagement of students with subject-related learning.

Service-Learning projects are planned together with the partners from civil society, non-profit organizations, public authorities or the private sector. Students can apply what they have learned at school or university, take on responsibility and acquire useful skills such as collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Reflecting on learners’ experiences and linking them to the curriculum is an important part of SL as well.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global blueprint to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity by 2030. They were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and require action from all sectors and stakeholders.

→ SDGs overview poster

Here you can find out more about the SDGs: sdgs.un.org/goals

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a global education campaign which aims to empower individuals to think and act in a sustainable way and to enable all people to understand the impact of their own actions on the world and to make responsible, sustainable decisions.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; see above) and also the Inner Development Goals, IDGs – a framework co-created by more than 1.000 experts, scientists and practitioners that aims to help people understand what inner development can look like and what inner skills are needed for sustainable development – are important for ESD.

→ IDGs framework

Here you can find out more about the IDGs: innerdevelopmentgoals.org

However, ESD is a pedagogical, methodical, didactically concept. Next to the SDGs, IDGs participative methods are characteristic. Since Service-Learning (see above) is all about student participation, it can be a great teaching-learning format to support sustainable development. Our Erasmus+ project will combine SL with ESD and explore its potential.

Our Objectives

What do we want to achieve by implementing our project?

This project aims at using the potential of (International) Service-Learning for Education for Sustainable Development. An educational concept will be created and tested, which equips universities and other teacher training institutions to implement high-quality trainings and seminars on SL for ESD. The concept also assists teachers to implement SL projects focusing on sustainability and sustainable development with their pupils.

Our Motivation and Focus

What is our motivation behind this project and what do we focus on?

At the core of this project is a fundamental understanding of the potentials of (International) SL for ESD and how this approach can be used and adapted for an international educational framework for teachers.

A special focus will be on how to address global problems and goals on a local level and how to use civic engagement on the local level to reach curricular requirements whilst working towards a more sustainable community/world and reflecting upon global challenges.

Since sustainable development should concern all actors around the globe and ESD or the SDGs were designed for global implementation, we see the potential adding cross-border components to the teaching and learning method Service-Learning when linked to sustainability. While SL projects can be designed best by the students themselves (accompanied by teachers) with a direct local impact, we are convinced – in regard to establishing strong alliances for democratic citizenship – that SL for ESD should also be developed as well as trained on a transnational setting.

This believe sparked our project. We, the four project partners, are designing an educational framework which we will publish as a handbook concerning this endeavor. The goal is to equip teachers and teacher trainees with the necessary competences and methodology to implement border crossing SL projects on ESD.

Not the success of each SL project is at the core. The learnings made while working on a project, balancing conflicting goals and providing a service as well as the reflection are most relevant and will enrich all actors involved.

Our Goals

What results do we expect our project to have?

The project results and outcomes will be:

An educational framework for Education for Sustainable Development through (International) Service-Learning

… on the basis of which we will derive:

A concept for a seminar on SL for ESD at LMU (target group teacher trainees)
A concept for a teacher training on SL for ESD in Romania (target group teachers)
A concept for a teacher training on SL for ESD in Germany (target group teacher trainers)

Project Implementation

What activities are we going to implement?

1. Experiences of teachers having implemented SL projects – in the context of ESD – will be collected & analyzed.

2. We will focus on developing an educational framework that makes the concepts accessible & outlines its synergies: In a handbook we will highlight the potential of SL for ESD, make clear where difficulties lie, include examples and suitable methodological approaches. Also the opportunities of International SL will be included.

3. This framework will be used to design and implement seminars and trainings.

About Us

Who are the project partners and who is leading the project?

LMU EL MUNDO

As one of Europe’s leading research institutions the LMU (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) in Germany, Munich addresses the great questions affecting people, society, culture, the environment and technology. The el mundo branch focuses on sustainability in studying and teaching. Central to our Erasmus+ project is the ESD (education for sustainable development) certificate program which is currently transformed into a permanent extension subject for teacher training students. In winter 2024/25 a Service-Learning module was included in the curriculum. Now, the el mundo program consists of 45 ECTS and prepares the future teachers for the challenges of a globalized world and sensitizes them for aspects of sustainability in school teaching and operation. The implementation of practical experiences is crucial. Thus, we look forward to learning from our partners in this project and are happy to share our great ESD expertise – el mundo started in 2019 and went through several rounds of implementation, evaluation, revision and enlargement. We are already cooperating with around 15 partner schools and organizations in the Munich area in the field of sustainability and ESD. We are leading this project together with our three partners Stiftung Lernen durch Engagement, New Horizons Foundation and School Pavel Dan.

STIFTUNG LERNEN DURCH ENGAGEMENT

The Stiftung Lernen durch Engagement (LdE) is a German NGO set in Berlin with the goal to develop and promote the learning and teaching method Service-Learning so that young people, regardless of their backgrounds, can experience high-quality education while taking an active part in our democratic society.

For example LdE trains so called SL coaches. In 2022, LdE started the initiative to establish an informal European SL network which consists of ten different national SL organizations active in the development and promotion of SL in school education. Within the German SL network, several SL projects on the SDGs have been implemented. In addition, some members of the network conducted teacher trainings on the nexus of SL and ESD. The network comprises over 240 schools and over 70 partners from civil society.

NEW HORIZONS FOUNDATION

The New Horizons Foundation (NHF) is a Romanian NGO that promotes top quality experiential education models to advance life skills among youth as a means for sustainable development.

NHF has more than 20 years of experience in the field of Service-Learning. Their IMPACT program promotes youth development and social engagement, particularly in the areas of active citizenship, employability and social entrepreneurship. More than 100 clubs are active in schools at the national level. The IMPACT program functions as a best practice for other organizations in over 25 countries. The Service-Learning into the Classroom program empowers Romanian schools and teachers to implement SL projects on any of the 17 SDGs with their classes.

SCHOOL PAVEL DAN

Pavel Dan is a Romanian state institution with 70 years of experience in the field of educational services. In total just under 1.000 students are taught at the elementary, secondary and upper-secondary level in Cluj county. Pavel Dan’s mission is to ensure an education that assists pupils to become citizens capable of contributing to the sustainable development and welfare of the community.

Since 2021, Service-Learning activities have been part of the formal – like Service-Learning into the Classroom (New Horizons Foundation) – as well as non-formal education at Pavel Dan. To support the SL experience and make real, authentic activities, connected to the own community possible, the Aha Impact Club was founded.