Arts for Transformative Education: Seeking Survey Participants 

Author: Benjamin Bolden | Image: UN Sustainable Development Goals – Overview, Target 4 UNICEF

UNESCO’s concept of transformative education unites education initiatives that advance peace, human rights, sustainable development and global citizenship. Transformative education addresses target 4.7 of the United Nations Agenda 2030 by encompassing Education for Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship Education, Heritage Education, Education for Health and Well-Being and other focused education priorities, recognizing that the issues they address are interconnected and mutually reinforcing.  

Transformative education involves teaching and learning – inside and outside schools and across the life-cycle – that inspire and empower people of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes they need to fully develop their human potential. The arts have tremendous potential for enabling transformative education.  

To be transformative, education needs to spark deep learning that engages both cognitive and social emotional processes. It needs to provoke the dissonance and discomfort necessary to shift thinking and trigger action. The arts, with their capacity to activate emotion, are powerfully positioned to fuel transformative learning and propel action. Arts learning can integrate head, hand, and heart. 

At the core of UNESCO’s idea of transformative education is the overarching goal of building learners’ capacities and motivating them to take action for a more peaceful and sustainable world. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identify specifically what those actions need to address. Together, the SDGs indicate how we can achieve the sustainable development of our planet.  

Our research team is seeking the perspectives of teachers around the world to better understand how arts learning can support sustainable development. Please allow us to include your voice in articulating how arts education can contribute to education for a better world. 

 

Seeking Survey Participants: Arts Learning and UNESCO goals for Education 

· If you teach the arts, please follow this link

· 15-minute survey to build knowledge: how arts education can support UNESCO goals for education

· You may access the survey in English, French, or Spanish

· All arts educators are welcome, including generalist teachers who sometimes teach the arts

· Survey results will inform the training and support of teachers

 

With thanks, Dr. Benjamin Bolden, UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning at Queen’s University, Canada

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Radically Mine! 2024 Winnend object juryprijs Leerlingenwerk vso De Berkenschutse (Heeze) Van Abbemuseum Foto Damion Thakoer (fragment)