This project arose from a vision of smart, sustainable economic development, in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy. Championing a socially and environmentally sustainable form of development has implications for both what is taught in our schools and the way it is conducted. This highlighted the 'bottleneck' of there not being enough teachers who have the competence to teach education for sustainable development (ESD). The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) developed a framework of educator competences for ESD. This, however, remained a theoretical tool that had not been (i) translated into concrete, measurable actions or (ii) tested against other pressing economic priorities. This project brought together six committed institutions, to achieve the following objectives: 1. Develop a practical accreditation model that teacher educators could use in any European context so that pre-service educators could demonstrate their competence in ESD through a widely-recognised model of accreditation 2. Develop and disseminate a ‘tools and guidelines’ document to help teacher educators implement the accreditation model in a variety of contexts and give pre-service educators the opportunity to demonstrate their competence in a concrete, measurable manner 3. Enhance mainstream educator training programmes with a wider set of competences that more accurately reflect the role of formal education in supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive economic development. This would, inter alia, increase the capacity of participating institutions to: a. Recognise and validate a broader range of competences among student educators including generic and transferable skills b. Embrace a wider range of social and environmental concerns within their programmes c. Work in an inter-disciplinary manner d. Recruit students attracted by the institution’s participative approaches e. Develop strategies to enhance organisational learning f. Work internationally using digital media on a regular basis 4. Conduct a thorough, formative and summative external evaluation of the project 5. Conduct research into the impact of engagement with the competence framework on pre-service teachers. By working closely with practitioners in a range of different contexts, the project facilitated the engagement of teacher educators (target of 50) and pre-service teachers (target of 400+) in the practical application of the ESD competences. The specific objective of creating a pan-European qualification was not achieved; this is because we found no accrediting body that covers the entire EU and responses to our external evaluator stated that “flexibility and adaptation to countries’ needs” were fundamental. The 'tools and guidelines' publication ensures that those who wish to use the accreditation model are supported in their efforts to integrate sustainable development into their mainstream programmes. These outputs were developed through the practical implementation of prototype models, closely monitored through regular discussion with partners in which challenges and triumphs were shared openly, and through periodic transnational meetings to finalise outputs and map out next steps. The outputs were disseminated via the project website but also through a series of national launch event during the final months of the project. Participating pre-service educators learned to recognise the way in which their own values could be reflected in their teaching and are now better able to integrate ESD into different aspects of their teaching whatever their subject specialism. Teacher educators better understand the principles and rationale behind ESD and have become advocates for this process in their work. The project has enhanced existing educator training programmes with a wider set of competences that reflect more accurately the role of formal education in supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive economic development. By being able to provide accredited learning alongside any programme of educator preparation, the project has provided a readily accessible solution to the problem of teachers and other educators being ill-equipped to prepare their students for a sustainable economy.

The first phase of ‘A Rounder Sense of Purpose’ (RSP) was funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme from 2015 to 2018. The project partners developed and tested a framework of competences for educators – of any discipline – who wish to educate for sustainable development. This was already an important contribution to the international debate on educator competences. Calls for a more sustainable model of development have become ever more urgent and there is wide recognition that education will have a pivotal role to play in achieving this. Many teachers and other educators are, however, ill prepared for this role. What it means to be an educator for sustainability has not, until recently, been defined in clear terms. An earlier framework developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) defined 39 educator competences for education for sustainable development (ESD) but this proved too unwieldy for most educators to work with, hence the significance of developing an accessible and workable competence framework. The second phase of this project (RSP II) set out to: - Develop and implement the RSP framework for different phases of education aligning it with the SDGs and related international development;- draw upon and contribute to research to tackle deep-rooted that could not be addressed fully in Phase I;- provide a tangible and accessible legacy in the form of a book that would include the theory and practice behind the RSP framework.Each of the project’s eight partners became immersed in the task of implementing the RSP framework in a range of contexts. These include: -Student educators (UK; Netherlands; Switzerland)-Higher education tutors (Spain; Germany; Netherlands)-Tutors of student educators (Netherlands; Switzerland)-Community educators (Italy)-Primary school teachers (Netherlands; Cyprus)-Primary school principals (Cyprus)-All teachers via a national programme of compulsory continuing professional development (Hungary)In this way, the RSP framework has become permanently integrated, either whole or in part, into a range of programmes that have reached several thousand individual educators. This work, together with an extensive mapping exercise using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), led to the creation of a large database of activities linking RSP competences and specific SDGs that could be used with different age phases. All of this is searchable and feely available through the RSP website: https://aroundersenseofpurpose.eu/ This constitutes Intellectual Output 1. Alongside this work, partners conducted research that has led to a string of publications in line with our proposed Intellectual Output 2. This exceeded our expectations of ten peer-reviewed papers and/or conference papers several times over (see dissemination list). Thirdly, the production of the book (Intellectual Output 3) provided an opportunity for partners to showcase their work alongside other key researchers in the field. The book, being published by Springer, forms part of their series on the SDGs and promises to make a significant contribution to the field. The book is in English with French and Spanish versions available in PDF form via the RSP website. In Phase I we realised that it was currently not possible to create a Europe-wide qualification so in Phase II we have worked to embed RSP into accredited programmes so that it underpins qualifications in each partner country. This has led to every partner finding ways to embed RSP into modules or whole programmes while in Hungary and Cyprus it now underpins national professional development programmes for all teachers. Our aim in Phase II was to broaden and deepen engagement with the RSP competences among new audiences both within our partner countries and beyond. Again, we have been pleased to see how our efforts have been rewarded with widespread recognition of the framework. As RSP has continued to be disseminated across the EU and beyond, various translations have been made in support of programmes external to our own. The basic framework has so far been translated into 17 languages (Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Catalan, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian). Finally, the work of RSP was showcased across the higher and further education sectors by becoming the winner of the 2020 Green Gown Award and the International Green Gown Award in the category ‘Learning and Skills for the Next Generation’.

The EU energy system strongly relies on centralised electricity generation and on fuel imports, with 95% of its oil and 84% of its gas consumption sourced from outside the EU. The REPowerEU Plan proposes a set of actions to reduce the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels and diversify its energy supply ‘well before 2030’. The three pillars of the plan are to ramp up the production of green energy, diversify our energy supplies, and reduce our demand for fossil gas, coal and oil. Renewable energy valleys are understood as decentralised renewable energy systems that offer a viable and efficient solution to these challenges mentioned above. By implementing a high degree of renewable energy sources as well as storage technologies and intelligent management algorithms for synergetic use of a wide variety of technologies, they can be 100% self-sufficient on a yearly basis. For the next 5 years, the REFORMERS project aims to develop, implement an exploit such an energy valley in the Boekelermeer next to the city of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, that serves as a living lab for testing and validating technologies, business models, stakeholder ecosystems, including industrial partners, DSO, the municipality, and residents, and user acceptance in real-life circumstances, in a peri-urban and industrial environment. Furthermore, the project aims to support the deployment of multiple self-sufficient energy valleys throughout Europe beyond the flagship in the Netherlands. Therefore, it will deliver a roll-out blue print and replication toolbox that encompass: (i) Energy System Design, (ii) Environmental Impact Assessment, (iii), Stakeholder Engagement and Social impact assessment, (iv) Governance and policy assessment, and (v) Business modelling, and allow other sites and regions to develop a pathway towards a carbon neutral and self-sufficient energy valley, that can be fed into e.g., a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan.