Fundisa for Change Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Teacher Education Conference and Launch took place February 2014. The theme of the 2014 Fundisa for Change Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Teacher Education Conference was ‘Building a national system of teacher education engagement for transformative environmental learning and education for sustainable development’. The Fundisa for Change Conference and launch took place over two days, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The launch was convened by the DEA in partnership with GreenMatter and the Fundisa for Change co-ordination hub.
The Fundisa for Change Conference and Launch was a significant national event aimed at strengthening the national system of engagement for transformative environmental learning and ESD through teacher education. It was an opportunity for the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) (as the lead organisation for environmental education in South Africa) and associated stakeholders in the Fundisa for Change partners, and potential partners from across the national teacher education and environmental sectors, to share information with an overall goal to strengthen transformative environmental learning through teacher education.
The specific aims of the conference were to:
- Exchange information regarding teacher education and transformative environmental learning and ESD in the sector;
- Look at the national system of teacher education and the contributions that the Fundisa for Change partnership programmes and activities can make to this system;
- Obtain synergy and co-ordination between teacher education institutions, the national teacher education policy system stakeholders, and environmental sector stakeholders who support transformative environmental learning and ESD in South Africa
- Identify and deliberate as a teacher education community of practice how to address the need for teacher education programmes that address the two key problems identified in the national Human Capital Development (HCD) studies;
- Showcase successes and progress made to date with transformative environmental learning/ESD and teacher education in South Africa;
- Contribute to the review and ongoing development of teacher education initiatives and the Fundisa for Change partnership processes and activities.
- The Fundisa for Change Teacher Education Conference is co-ordinated by a task team comprised of staff in the Fundisa for Change co-ordinating hub located at the Environmental Learning Research Centre at Rhodes University, DEA and GreenMatter.