TakingITGlobal: Inspirar, Informar, Envolver

The idea behind AEIFORIA is to encourage a change in people's attitudes and involvement in the context of global sustainability, as well as to foster the development of new ethical perceptions, through new and constantly evolving educational paradigms.

The central pillar on which...
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The idea behind AEIFORIA is to encourage a change in people's attitudes and involvement in the context of global sustainability, as well as to foster the development of new ethical perceptions, through new and constantly evolving educational paradigms.

The central pillar on which this idea rests is, following the conclusion arrived at in the Context section, participation:

• A wide participation throughout society is very beneficial for solving problems effectively. It helps to better understand the problems themselves, it gives a greater variety of solutions and it provides the resources necessary to implement them.
• Participation is a fundamental element of the learning process and it enhances the sense of responsibility in people. This is especially true when considering the complex issues related to the idea of sustainability, which connect the sphere of abstract ethical considerations with practical action in multiple interrelated dimensions.
• Furthermore, we stress that a fundamental aspect of the ethical and educational paradigms on which we base our thinking, and the practical mechanisms that are developed around them, is that they are subject to constant evolution. In this sense, we may consider them to be alive, and this is precisely what makes them useful. Naturally, participation is the motor of this evolution. Therefore, it is essential to provide the flexibility necessary for opportunities to open for all individuals to express their own subjectivity as a singular but essential contribution to the whole.

We give special emphasis to a holistic approach to education:

• We believe in the "creativity of diversity" principle, which is stimulated by interdisciplinary and multicultural efforts.
• We acknowledge that the learning process is a dynamic one, and the paradigms on which a holistic education is based are subject to constant evolution.
• The collaborative processes that emanate from the "creativity of diversity" principle are themselves just as important as the actual results these processes yield. This idea follows from the virtues of the participative approach described above. The "creativity of diversity" thus stimulates the evolution of paradigms referred to in the previous point.
• We aim at enhancing the social ability of learning by improving the methods and mechanisms of education. That is, we believe it is important not only to concentrate on the content of the education, but also on the structure and tools of the education system, and to investigate the changing challenges and opportunities of education.

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The approach of AEIFORIA to the promotion of educational change is focused around two broad areas:

1. To serve as a global forum on sustainability for the education community. AEIFORIA aims to enhance the networking ability of the education community -educators and students- by...
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The approach of AEIFORIA to the promotion of educational change is focused around two broad areas:

1. To serve as a global forum on sustainability for the education community. AEIFORIA aims to enhance the networking ability of the education community -educators and students- by facilitating discussions on ethics, sustainability and education, at both the theoretical and the practical level.

2. To actively encourage the development of renewed education systems.

The process should reflect the ideas put forward and the work carried out by the education community with the aid of the networking tools provided by AEIFORIA.

• It involves adapting the curricula of the formal education systems so that they give adequate consideration to sustainability issues from a holistic standpoint.

• Sustainability and the holistic approach should also be promoted through non-formal education mechanisms -training programmes, courses on the different aspects of sustainability, field trips, cultural exchange programmes.
This is also one of the areas of activity of AEIFORIA. There are currently several ongoing projects in association with AEIFORIA to promote general awareness on sustainability issues.


Sustainability projects

In addition to the two previous areas which are centred on education mechanisms and contents, AEIFORIA carries out projects related to different aspects of sustainability, not necessarily purely educational.
An example of such projects is the Sustainable Universities project to promote the implementation of Local Agenda 21 in university campuses (currently only at NTNU, Norway).

AEIFORIA also provides an environment for independent projects to be designed, developed and promoted.


The website of AEIFORIA is a central node for all these activities, for which it provides a number of networking tools. Following the "creativity of diversity" principle, AEIFORIA aims to offer all individuals a place to contribute with the singularity of their mindsets in an environment of fertile cooperation.

The areas presented above are reproduced at the local level by teams -local groups- that bring the principles of AEIFORIA into action, adapting them to the local context.
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