Futures of Education – Learning to Become 2021
22 & 23 April 2021 · online, hosted by VIA University College
Welcome
Welcome to the archive site of Futures of Education – Learning to Become 2021 (Futures21), a free two-day online research conference held 22–23 April 2021 and hosted by VIA University College, Aarhus, Denmark.
The overall theme of the conference was Education for and as Sustainable Development in the Anthropocene. The conference was inspired by two global UNESCO initiatives, ‘Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs’ (ESD for 2030) and ‘Futures of Education – Learning to Become’.
Please note: this is an archive of a past, online conference. For the current FECUN conferences, the FECUN journal and other activities, see www.fecun.net.
What
UN’s organisation for international collaboration in Education, Sciences, and Culture, UNESCO, has recently announced two ambitious global initiatives. The first, ESD for 2030, is a 10-year global framework for Education for Sustainable Development. The second, Futures of Education – Learning to Become, expands the idea of sustainability of education, learning, and edification into a perspective beyond the SDG2030 agenda, with a horizon of 2050 and beyond.
The two UNESCO initiatives constituted the background for the conference. They were examined and debated from three overall thematic perspectives:
- Theme 1: The Anthropocene, visions for the future(s) and the development of the intergenerational contract
- Theme 2: Sustainable development, equality, diversity, and ESD
- Theme 3: Sustainable Development, edification and ESD of poly-technical Education
Futures21 was the inaugural conference of FECUN (Futures of Education, Culture and Nature – Learning to Become), a ‘nomadic’ series of recurring conferences, alternating between the Global North and the Global South, together with an international journal.
When & Where
The conference took place online (Zoom) on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 April 2021, hosted by VIA University College, Denmark. All sessions were scheduled in CEST (Central European Summer Time).
Who
The conference had 4 keynote presentations, 17 invited presentations, 17 selected presentations and 3 special sessions, with contributors from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania.
Concept Note
You can read more about the background and the three themes of the conference on the concept note page and in the original concept note.
After the conference
Selected papers and articles from the conference went through an editorial review and are published in a conference issue of FECUN, The International Journal on Futures of Education, Culture, and Nature.