Geopark certified as education provider for sustainable development

The GrenzWelten National Geopark can be pleased about a very special award: the State of Hesse has certified it as an "Education Provider for Sustainable Development". District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst and Geopark Director Kim Peis were happy to accept the certificate. It not only offers considerable advantages in the acquisition of funding, as the District Administrator pointed out, but also allows the Geopark to draw on a broad network and ensures ongoing quality control.

"We already applied for certification with GrenzWelten at the end of 2021," Kim Peis reports. Six months later, in June 2022, representatives of the certification commission of the Ministry of Culture, Social Affairs and the Environment visited the Geopark. Offers and educational concepts were put to the test and led to successful certification and a target agreement for the next three years.

The offers of the GrenzWelten National Geopark are truly impressive. It works with three certified Geopark schools and a Geopark nursery. There is also cooperation with the ESD diploma "Clever macht Zukunft" (Clever makes the future) of the specialist service for schools and education, as well as with numerous educational institutions in the entire Geopark setting. Since 2021, research booklets for children and young people as a separate thematic series and modern augmented reality offers have appealed in particular to a young, digital-savvy target group.

The latest offer for 3rd and 4th grades of primary schools is the ESD module "The Earth in Motion". With this, the Geopark comes to the schools to introduce the pupils to numerous topics such as the shape of the earth, continental movement and fossils in four school hours. All materials come from GrenzWelten and are brought along; a guide for preparation and follow-up is also provided on request. Interested schools, but of course also day-care centres, can contact the Geopark project office.

Background

Education for Sustainable Development
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) enables children, young people and adults to think and act in a sustainable way. It enables people to assess how their own actions will affect future generations or life in other regions of the world. In this way, ESD enables people to make responsible and sustainable decisions. In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

ESD certification
As a comprehensive educational concept, Education for Sustainable Development places high demands on pedagogical practice and the entire organisation of educational work. In 2013, Hesse was one of the first federal states to introduce ESD certification. In order to receive the certificate "Education Provider for Sustainable Development", the applicants must fulfil defined quality criteria and prove within the framework of a self-evaluation that they reach the primary target groups of school and pre-school with their offers and take into account the underlying educational standards.

The certification is valid for an initial period of three years, the procedure is free of charge for the applicants. The certificate is the prerequisite for working in the education projects of the Ministry of the Environment - all project participants in climate education, the advisory institutions of the environmental schools, the coordinating bodies of the ESD networks and the partners in the state's ESD Pact are ESD-certified.

Keywords:

Geopark GrenzWelten Education for Sustainable Development Specialist Service Environment and Climate Protection