This document discusses sustainability education in Australia and initiatives that aim to promote understanding of sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It provides information on how sustainability is addressed as a cross-curriculum priority in the Australian curriculum and various resources available to educators including programs, online courses and challenges related to the SDGs.

1. U.N. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
TOWARDS 2030: TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD, TRANSFORMING OUR SCHOOL

2. SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Through the lens of teachers: Understanding the
implementation of sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority
in Western Australian schools

3. SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
“There has been a lot
of misunderstanding
about the cross-
curriculum priorities
and the general
capabilities.
They are not ‘add-
ons’ to the learning
areas but in fact
enrich the content
that is taught.”
https://www.educationmattersmag.com.au/the-dimensions-of-the-australian-curriculum/

4. SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
https://youtu.be/4Pnpn8fE2lw
“What’s the relationship between the
three dimensions of the Australian
Curriculum? Find out as ACARA’s CEO,
David de Carvalho, takes us through
the connection between learning areas,
cross-curriculum priorities and general
capabilities. The review will look to
declutter the curriculum by improving
the relationship of the general
capabilities and the cross-curriculum
priorities to the content of the learning
areas. The review timeline includes two
public comment windows in 2021 on
proposed content changes.”

5. PISA GLOBAL COMPETENCE
The PISA 2018 Global Competence assessment measures students’ capacity to examine
local, global and intercultural issues, to engage in open, appropriate and effective
interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and
sustainable development.
Why is it important for students to develop Global Competence?
Global competence can help young people:
• develop cultural awareness and respectful interactions in increasingly diverse
• recognise and challenge cultural biases and stereotypes, and facilitate harmonious
living in multicultural communities;
• prepare for the world of work, which increasingly demands individuals who are
effective communicators, are open to people from different cultural backgrounds,
build trust in diverse teams and can demonstrate respect for others, especially as
technology continues to make it easier to connect on a global scale;
• capitalise on inherently interconnected digital spaces, question biased media
representations, and express their voice responsibly online;
• care about global issues and engage in tackling social, political, economic and
environmental challenges.
Global competence thus supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) both by
providing the vision of education the SDGs advocate for, and by encouraging young
people to act in the general interest of collective-wellbeing and sustainable development
that the SDGs embody.
https://www.oecd.org/pisa/innovation/global-competence/

6. UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (2000-2015)
 “The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the eight goals set by the 189 UN member states in September 2000 and
agreed to be achieved by the year 2015. The Millennium Declaration was signed at the September global summit held at the UN headquarters
summit held at the UN headquarters in New York and the 149 international leaders in attendance committed to combating disease, hunger,
committed to combating disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination against women and environmental degradation. The MDGs were
environmental degradation. The MDGs were derived from this Declaration, and specific indicators and targets were attached to them.
targets were attached to them.
 The following are the eight Millennium Development Goals:
 1. to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger;
2. to achieve global primary education;
3. to empower women and promote gender equality;
4. to reduce child mortality;
5. to promote maternal health;
6. to fight malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases;
7. to promote environmental sustainability; and
8. to develop a universal partnership for development.”
https://www.mdgmonitor.org/millennium-development-goals/

7. UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (2015-2030)
“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people
and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed
call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand
other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate
economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Official UN Websites:
 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
 https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals
 https://en.unesco.org/sustainabledevelopmentgoals
 Resources for Educators:
https://en.unesco.org/themes/education/sdgs/material
https://sdgs.un.org/goals

8. https://sdg-tracker.org/

9. http://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgatlas/

10. THE GLOBAL GOALS
https://www.globalgoals.org/
“We all know that we face big
challenges in today’s world: poverty,
hunger, inequality and climate change
are just some of the issues we need to
address urgently. Big challenges need
bold action to overcome them, and
that is where the Global Goals come
in. They are a plan agreed to by all
world leaders to build a greener, fairer,
better world by 2030, and we all have
a role in achieving them. Get to know
each of the Goals and the targets
attached to them here.”

11. UNESCO FUTUURES OF EDUCATION
https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation
“With accelerated climate change the
fragility of our planet is becoming
more and more apparent. Persistent
inequalities, social fragmentation, and
political extremism are bringing many
societies to a point of crisis. Advances
in digital communication, artificial
intelligence, and biotechnology have
great potential but also raise serious
ethical and governance concerns,
especially as promises of innovation
and technological change have an
uneven record of contributing to
human flourishing.”

12. WORLD’S LARGEST LESSON
https://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/
“World’s Largest
Lesson promotes use
of the Sustainable
Development Goals in
learning so that
children can
contribute to a better
future for all.”

13. PURPOSEFUL PEDAGOGIES: GLOBAL GOALS IN ACTION (AISWA)
“Project Description
This publication originated as an interdisciplinary Professional Learning
experience for teachers of the Humanities, English, Languages, Science,
The Arts, and Technologies. Within this resource you will find socially
purposeful teaching and learning, exploring real-world issues from
content embedded in the Australian Curriculum and linked to at least
one Cross-curriculum Priority. AISWA would like to acknowledge and
thank all the contributors to this publication, particularly the classroom
teachers from AISWA member schools who willingly shared their
stories, teaching and learning programs, resources and student work
samples for this Action Learning project.”
https://www.ais.wa.edu.au/global-competencies-action

14. UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (WA)
WA EDUCATION PROGRAMS
https://www.unaa.org.au/about/state-teams/western-australia/wa-what-we-do/wa-local-programs/wa-education-programs/
WA EDUCATION REFERENCE GROUP
UNAAWA established the Education Working Group in 2013 to promote awareness in WA
educational institutions of the work of the United Nations. This group joined with the
Yolande Frank Art Award committee to form the Education Reference Group (ERG) which
aims to:
•Build partnerships with educational institutions and organisations in the wider community
•Encourage schools and other educational institutions to join UNAAWA as organisational
members
It does this by running a number of Programs for Schools. The UNAAWA Education
Reference Group can be contacted by email at, gcs@unaa-wa.org.au or via the Office.
Click here for the profiles of 2020 ERG committee members.

15. REAL LIVES WORLD
https://reallivesworld.com/educators/home.html
The Largest Gamified Simulation Engine of Human Experience on the Planet

16. SDGACADEMYX
https://www.edx.org/school/sdgacademyx
edX offers around
300 online courses
focused on
Sustainability across
many disciplines.

17. PRIOR LOCAL ACTIVITY
Balance of the Planet is a project from Curtin University that connects learners from
around the globe and invites them to learn valuable skills, compete for scholarship
funds and prizes, and gain university-endorsed recognition by solving real-world
problems associated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

18. GLOBAL CHALLENGE PLATFORM - ANALYTICS

19. GLOBAL GOALS CHALLENGE
Global Goals Challenge - is a three-day challenge-based workshop that engages students
from Learning Futures Network and Innovative Schools Consortium member institutions to
engage in an intensive design process to identify and suggest solutions to problems related
to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Student participation is facilitated by a hosting
teacher and an experienced educator from Curtin University and includes mentoring
opportunities with experts from academia, industry, community and cultural organisations.

20. SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSSED PROJECTS IN TIDES
TIDES has engaged students to develop more than
150 projects in the past 15 months that all relate to
the UN SDGs at local, national and international levels.
Most student project teams in 2022 will be focussed
on challenges that connect with the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.