World Class
Education for Sustainable Development
Empowering Youth to Learn,
Any time, Any place, with Anybody,
through Any device
to create a more Sustainable Society
Since 2004.
Empowering Youth to Learn,
Any time, Any place, with Anybody,
through Any device
to create a more Sustainable Society
Since 2004.
The OPEDUCA Project is an ongoing initiative, dating back to 2004, to create regional Alliances of Industry, Education, Science and Governmental bodies in order to realize the best possible education for Youth - their development is believed to be the most effective pathway toward a more sustainable society. The focus is on students aged 14-24, enabling and empowering them to learn Anytime, Anyplace, with Anybody, through Any Device on future-defining themes to become the entrepreneurs and citizens of a future only they can imagine and create.
'OPEDUCA' stands for 'OPen EDUCational Area', referring to youngsters' social-demographic home region throughout which sources of education are brought and bound together for their development. From there the learning process spans the globe, crossing borders and binding cultures in a joint strive towards sustainable development.
The OPEDUCA-concept became groundbreaking as it bases education and schooling on ESD (Education for Sustainable Development), re-establishes the value of 'School' as a nexus of learning, invests in the professionalization of Teachers, sees to an effective contribution of Industry in education, bridges the worlds of schooling and work, realizes a 'Whole Student Approach' and provides the foundation for local-to-global learning- and action for sustainable development.
Starting in 2004 en finding its way to the world of ESD as of 2007, it can be concluded the OPEDUCA Project and -Concept was
many years ahead of time in the development of ESD, conceptually but also effectively. Today's key priorities have been studied and put into practice between 2007 to 2018 already, providing valuable insights and experience.
A series of original and still unparalleled contributions of the OPEDUCA Project (all of which are extensively introduced on this website) found their way to national and global policy programs:
Watch the video-recording of the UNESCO Webinar March 2023
‘The Activation of ESD-based Education – from Promise and Paperwork to Practice’
facilitated by Dr. Jos Eussen, Maastricht University .
Seeking for progress in the formal realm of research- and policy development in 2022, progress in ESD has been found extremely slow; the ongoing conferencing and reporting witness that a sense of urgency still lacks, making the application of ESD suffer. Furthermore, we see that the transformative capacity of ESD tends to whither away further now that outdated approaches are brought to the stage as new insights by visionaries who are none, claiming position while opportunities for change vaporize further. An informed critical perspective learns that contemporary notions such as 'ESD Competences' and a 'Whole School Approach', let alone the way regional and (inter-)national cooperation and the involvement of industry is imagined, appear to be(-come) more a threat than a change for ESD and sustainable development in general.
It is therefore important to make clear what has already been said, discussed, developed, and been done, also by those dedicated to the course before 2004. For the better good of ESD it is crucial to point out where contemporary i.e. popular ideas will likely not work and delay the transformation even more. Hence, these pages contain a proud retrospect to honor those truly involved in the effectuation of ESD for decades, word worries about progress and propose again a hopeful road ahead by pointing out possibilities still not merged in national and global policy programs.
Observing the state of affairs regarding ESD anew in 2023, we saw reason to pick up where we paused in 2018 and make ESD truly live up to its transformation promise.
Following the development of a multi-disciplinary partnership of all relevant sectors in society as of 2004 and the successful application of a jointly developed instrumentation in daily educational practice between 2008 and 2016, the OPEDUCA Project has been a unique effort. Over 2.300 students from 55 schools in Primary, Secondary and further education as well as more than 400 teachers and school leaders directly participated in the development and testing of the OPEDUCA concept and instrumentation, taking in the opinion of over 400 scientists, managers of more than 140 large- and midscale companies and experts in various other disciplines. Development and testing in daily practice expanded over 12 countries.
While academic research proceeded since 2016 the concept expanded as did the network of experts and practitioners, finding ever more supporters in education, industry and science around the world.
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The OPEDUCA-concept sees to a full-scale transition of education- and school practice towards 'ESD-based Education', building on present capacity and meeting contemporary standards while effectuating future possibilities. Respecting Youth as the Future itself the concept is truly student-centered while Teachers are not downgraded to mere coaches but reach further mastery as world-wise Educators; a re-valuation of the profession integral to the effectuation of the concept.
OPEDUCA delivers on the transformative promise of
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by placing a transdisciplinary pedagogy at the core of schooling, building on the original 2004 vision that conceptualized ESD as an ongoing learning pathway, a continuous thread throughout the educational system, from primary up to and including higher education, intertwined with local and global society.
The OPEDUCA Project and -Concept are found to remain unchallenged and unparalleled, while schools around the world are more challenged than ever, we see the time right to start the 2nd phase of The OPEDUCA Project. You are welcome to learn and join this not-institutional, open and ongoing societal effort - reach out if you have a question, proposal, remark or critical note, we look forward to your ideas, contribution and friendship.
The OPEDUCA Project was made possible
through a multi-disciplinary partnership
that supported its development and
numerous practices over the course of the years.