Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
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Issues and Trends in Education for Sustainable Development Year of publication: 2018 Author: Alexander Leicht | Julia Heiss | Wonjung Byun Corporate author: UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is globally acknowledged as a powerful driver of change, empowering learners to take the decisions and actions needed to build a just and economically viable society respectful of both the environment and cultural diversity.This publication comes at a moment of heightened global interest in addressing sustainability challenges through education in order to achieve the targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. ESD is not only recognized as a key enabler of sustainable development but an integral element of all quality education. By exploring key issues related to ESD policy and practice, UNESCO aims to help accelerate the reorientation of education towards achieving a sustainable and resilient world. 
CONFINTEA VI Mid-Term Review: Report of the Conference Year of publication: 2017 Author: Clinton Robinson Corporate author: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) The Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI), held in Brazil in 2009, closed with the adoption of the Belem Framework for Action (BFA), which recorded the commitments of Member States and presented a strategic guide for the global development of adult learning and education. The third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE 3), published in 2016, drew on survey data to evaluate progress made by countries in fulfilling the commitments made in Brazil.The CONFINTEA VI Mid-Term Review, held in Suwon, Republic of Korea, in October 2017, took stock of progress made by Member States in the past eight years, looking ahead to GRALE 4 in 2019 and CONFINTEA VII in 2021.This report summarizes the discussions that animated the Mid-Term Review conference and gives readers a brief survey of the key issues concerning progress against the BFA, across all world regions. 
Interrupting Extremism by Creating Educative Turbulence Year of publication: 2014 Author: Lynn Davies Corporate author: Curriculum Inquiry This article begins from the premise that it is important to explore how people unlearn, as well as learn, specifically in terms of extremist or violent attitudes. Three different country examples are given of intergroup encounters that interrupt rigidities in attitudes: working across ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, tackling religious divides in Northern Ireland through shared classes, and initiatives to prevent violent extremism in the United Kingdom. Pedagogical implications of unlearning involve working with the four Ds of deradicalization, debiasing, disengagement and desistence. 
Beyond Bali Education Package Year of publication: 2012 Author: Lily Taylor | Saul Karnovsky The Beyond Bali Project funded by Building Community Resilience (BCR) aims to develop and produce an education resource for secondary school students (years 8/9) on the Bali bombings and the Bali Peace Park. The resource is designed to build social resilience to violent extremism by: - providing students with the skills and tools to critically analyze and challenge violent extremism, its causes and consequences - raising awareness and education on the social impacts of violent extremism - encouraging students to think about how societies can resist the influence of violent extremism - engaging students through activities and discussion about the Bali Peace Park as social resistance to terrorism. 
Accountability in Education: Meeting Our Commitments: Global Education Monitoring Report, 2017/8 Year of publication: 2017 Corporate author: UNESCO The second edition of the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) presents the latest evidence on global progress towards the education targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.With hundreds of millions of people still not going to school, and many not achieving minimum skills at school, it is clear education systems are off track to achieve global goals. The marginalized currently bear the most consequences but also stand to benefit the most if policy-makers pay sufficient attention to their needs. Faced with these challenges, along with tight budgets and increased emphasis on results-oriented value for money, countries are searching for solutions. Increased accountability often tops the list.The 2017/8 GEM Report shows the entire array of approaches to accountability in education. It ranges from countries unused to the concept, where violations of the right to education go unchallenged, to countries where accountability has become an end in itself instead of a means to inclusive, equitable and high-quality education and lifelong learning for all.The report emphasizes that education is a shared responsibility. While governments have primary responsibility, all actors – schools, teachers, parents, students, international organizations, private sector providers, civil society and the media – have a role in improving education systems.The report emphasizes the importance of transparency and availability of information but urges caution in how data are used. It makes the case for avoiding accountability systems with a disproportionate focus on narrowly defined results and punitive sanctions. In an era of multiple accountability tools, the report provides clear evidence on those that are working and those that are not. 
Global Education Monitoring Report, 2016: Planet: Education for Environmental Sustainability and Green Growth Year of publication: 2016 Corporate author: UNESCO PLANET: Education for environmental sustainability and green growth, a publication taken from the full 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, explores the knowledge and skills needed for sustainable and inclusive economic growth that does not damage our planet.This publication demonstrates how education can help people understand and respond to environmental issues and climate change. Environmental education can increase green knowledge and build sustainability practices. The publication warns that while education contributes to economic growth, education systems must be careful not to encourage unsustainable lifestyles and all learners must acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.It also argues that we must continue to learn throughout our lives in order to make production and consumption sustainable, and to provide green skills for green industries. Creating green industries relies on high-skill workers with specific training, yet by 2020 there could be 40 million too few workers with tertiary education relative to demand. Higher education and research should also be oriented towards green innovation and growth; innovation depends on cooperation in higher education and investment in research and development to transform production in vast swaths of the economy.It also recognises that education must change in order to keep up with the changing face of work. Green and transferable skills should be taught in both school and the workplace. The greening of industries requires not only the production of more high-skill workers, but the continued training and education for low and medium skill workers, often on the job. “To ensure the Sustainable Development Goals are implemented, everyone involved needs to think, to work, to organise, to communicate and to report in ways that are completely different from what has been done up till now. Education truly is key to a wide appreciation not just of the SDGs but the new ways of thinking and working that are going to be necessary to fulfil them. So the challenge to all of us is to re-learn, and that does not just apply to educators, but it applies to all of us.” 
Supporting Change in Practice: Case Studies on the Use of the ACER-APCEIU Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit: Country Case-Republic of Korea Year of publication: 2025 Author: Suyeon Park | Sunmi Ji | Yoonyoung Lee Corporate author: APCEIU APCEIU is pleased to announce the release of its new publications, Supporting Change in Practice: Case Studies on the Use of the ACER-APCEIU Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit, which shares key findings from the research conducted in Australia and the Republic of Korea. The two reports, based on case studies from two countries, build upon the three-phase Asia-Pacific GCED Monitoring Project (2022–2024) jointly undertaken by ACER and APCEIU to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of GCED and support progress toward SDG 4.7 across the region. The three phases of the initiative identified enabling conditions for GCED, validated the regional GCED Monitoring Framework, and developed the ACER-APCEIU GCED Monitoring Toolkit. The reports for each phase can be found here: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III. The newly released reports move the project forward by examining how the Toolkit can be practically applied in real educational settings. The study aimed to examine how the Toolkit could be used to support collaboration among key education stakeholders—teachers, school leaders, and education supervisors—in 1) goal setting, 2) planning, 3) implementing, and 4) reflecting on GCED practices. Through this process, the research sought to understand how the Toolkit could help strengthen the connection between policy commitments and everyday educational practice, supporting teachers, school leaders, and system leaders to embed GCED more systematically and sustainably within their existing framework. Both studies conducted in Australia and the Republic of Korea have been guided by the following research questions: 1. How does the GCED Monitoring Toolkit support key stakeholder groups to collaboratively embed GCED in policy and practice? a. What aspects of the Toolkit enable or challenge stakeholders to achieve their GCED goals and objectives? b. How do key stakeholders perceive its usefulness? 2. Are there any aspects of the Toolkit that stakeholders would change to improve its usefulness in supporting the implementation and contextualisation of GCED in policy and practice?The reports demonstrate how a GCED Monitoring Toolkit can be translated into actionable processes within real educational settings. It offers valuable insights for policymakers, school leaders, teachers, and researchers aiming to monitor and strengthen GCED implementation and systematically embed GCED within their educational ecosystems. 
Supporting Change in Practice: Case Studies on the Use of the ACER-APCEIU Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit; Country Case-Australia Year of publication: 2025 Author: Rachel Parker | Karena Menzie-Ballantyne Corporate author: APCEIU APCEIU published Supporting Change in Practice: Case Studies on the Use of the ACER-APCEIU Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit, which shares key findings from the research conducted in Australia and the Republic of Korea. The two reports, based on case studies from two countries, build upon the three-phase Asia-Pacific GCED Monitoring Project (2022–2024) jointly undertaken by ACER and APCEIU to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of GCED and support progress toward SDG 4.7 across the region. The three phases of the initiative identified enabling conditions for GCED, validated the regional GCED Monitoring Framework, and developed the ACER-APCEIU GCED Monitoring Toolkit. The reports for each phase can be found here: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III.The reports move the project forward by examining how the Toolkit can be practically applied in real educational settings. The study aimed to examine how the Toolkit could be used to support collaboration among key education stakeholders—teachers, school leaders, and education supervisors—in 1) goal setting, 2) planning, 3) implementing, and 4) reflecting on GCED practices. Through this process, the research sought to understand how the Toolkit could help strengthen the connection between policy commitments and everyday educational practice, supporting teachers, school leaders, and system leaders to embed GCED more systematically and sustainably within their existing framework. Both studies conducted in Australia and the Republic of Korea have been guided by the following research questions: How does the GCED Monitoring Toolkit support key stakeholder groups to collaboratively embed GCED in policy and practice? a. What aspects of the Toolkit enable or challenge stakeholders to achieve their GCED goals and objectives? b. How do key stakeholders perceive its usefulness?Are there any aspects of the Toolkit that stakeholders would change to improve its usefulness in supporting the implementation and contextualisation of GCED in policy and practice?The reports demonstrate how a GCED Monitoring Toolkit can be translated into actionable processes within real educational settings. It offers valuable insights for policymakers, school leaders, teachers, and researchers aiming to monitor and strengthen GCED implementation and systematically embed GCED within their educational ecosystems. 
Educator's Guide to Global Citizenship Education from Asia-Pacific Perspectives Year of publication: 2025 Author: Athapol Anunthavorasakul | Keith C. Barton | Sicong Chen | Suzanne S. Choo | Thippapan Chuosavasdi | Li-Ching Ho | Aigul Kulnazarova | Mousumi Mukherjee | Mousumi Roy | Tania Saeed | Tanya Wendt Samu | Kyujoo Seol | Jun Teng Corporate author: APCEIU Educators’ Guide to Global Citizenship Education from Asia-Pacific Perspectives is designed to translate rich discussions from Rethinking Global Citizenship Education from Asia-Pacific Perspectives (2024) into a more accessible resource for educators. This Guide supports educators by presenting scholarly insights in practical and actionable ways. Serving as a bridge between theory and practice, it helps educators grasp key ideas of global citizenship education (GCED) from Asia-Pacific perspectives, reflect on their relevance to their own contexts, and apply them through concrete activities, stories, cases examples, and instructional strategies. This Guide, which is grounded in the diverse philosophies, religions, and lived realities of the Asia-Pacific region, is intended to serve as a practical companion that helps educators understand GCED from a decolonial perspective, adapt its ideas to their own contexts, and translate it all into meaningful learning experiences for their learners. It is our sincere hope that this Guide fosters ongoing dialogue, experimentation, and collaboration, and that it contributes to nurturing learners who think critically, act with empathy and justice, and participate responsibly in shaping a more harmonious and sustainable world. 
Global Education Monitoring Report 2024: Gender Report; Technology on Her Terms Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO | Global Education Monitoring Report Team The 2024 Gender Report tells the increasingly positive story of girls’ education access, attainment and achievement, which is helping reverse decades of discrimination. But there is much more to say on gender equality in and through education. A companion to the 2023 GEM Report, this report looks at the interaction between education and technology with a gender lens. First, it looks at the impact of technology on girls’ education opportunities and outcomes. Although many instances are seen of radio, television and mobile phones providing a learning lifeline for girls, particularly in crisis contexts, gender divides exist globally in both access to technology and in digital skills, although the latter are smaller among youth compared to among adults. Biased social and cultural norms inhibit equitable access to and engagement with technology in and outside of school, with girls always left on the wrong side of the divide. While technology offers many girls opportunities to access important education content in safe environments, for instance on comprehensive sexuality education, technology in practice often exacerbates negative gender norms or stereotypes. Social media usage impacts learners’ and particularly girls’ well-being and self-esteem. The ease with which cyberbullying can be magnified through the use of online devices in the school environment is a cause of concern, as is the biased design of artificial intelligence algorithms. Second, the report looks into the role of education on the shape of future technological development. It shows that women struggle to pursue STEM careers, which manifests from an early age in the form of anxiety in mathematics and develops into a reluctance to study STEM subjects, ultimately resulting in a lack of women in the technology workforce. Women make up only 35% STEM graduates, and hold only a quarter of science, engineering and ICT jobs. Ensuring women participate on equal terms in shaping the world’s ongoing digital transformation will ensure that technology works for everyone and takes into consideration the needs of all humanity.