Society is currently facing new challenges due to globalisation and fast-paced technological development. Now more than ever, there is a need to train citizens capable of looking critically at the world, identifying world problems such as the increase in ultranationalism and its authoritarian models, forced migration, the hegemony of a deregulated market, which citizenship and politics are “naturally” invited to become subordinate to, the inequalities in access to opportunities related to differences in geography, gender, ethnic or cultural belonging or religious beliefs, environmental degradation, the possibility of the break-up of the European Union, the obstacles to compliance with the right to education, and the urgency of truly sustainable development. These issues should be a priority target of in-depth reflection, capable of challenging ourselves to understand the complex existence of their causes and consequences, preparing us to build alternative responses for the worlds we live in today through active, high-intensity citizenship.

This training for attentive, responsible and active citizenship takes place in every aspect of our lives and can be in a formal or informal environment.

In the case of formal education, it is undeniable that it is now up to schools to prepare children for an uncertain/unpredictable future, developing “skills that will allow them to question established wisdom, integrate emerging knowledge, communicate efficiently and solve complex problems” (Decree-Law 55/2018, page 2928). It is therefore even more pressing to hone the perception that “education and training are fundamental pillars for the future of people and of the country”, as can in fact be read in the National Strategy of Education for Citizenship (2017, p. 1).

The Portuguese education system has been paying attention to these changes, responding with educational reform that has been taking shape in different documents published in recent years – particularly in the profile of students when finishing compulsory schooling (2017), in Essential Learning and in the National Strategy of Education for Citizenship (2017) – where there was a pedagogical experiment through the Autonomy and Curricular Flexibility project in 2017, extended to all schools by Decree-Law 55/2018, of 6 July.

The new framework has the curricular component, Citizenship and Development, which is an integral part of every year of school, from primary and middle school to secondary school, where “it is the mission of teachers to prepare their students for life, to be democratic, participatory and humanistic citizens, at a time of increasing social and cultural diversity, in order to promote tolerance and non-discrimination, as well as to overcome violent extremism” (Primary, Middle and Secondary School. Citizenship and Development, 2017, p. 2).

To put this new area into operation, the documents recognise that “the humanistic training of teachers becomes fundamental as it facilitates the interconnection between learning the

 subjects and areas to be covered in this component of the curriculum” (idem). Other factors that should be taken into account by the teaching staff on this curricular component are also underlined: “training in the area of citizenship, motivation for approaching this area and for the use of project methodologies and experience in the coordination of pedagogical teams” (Primary, Middle and Secondary School. Citizenship and Development, 2017, p. 3). Even so, there is a recognised need to invest in teacher training to better prepare them for this fundamental and undeniable challenge placed before education by society.

But the role required of training and education is not reserved to the criterion of a so-called “formal” school. In terms of formal or informal education, there are also concerns about the comprehensive training of each person and critical reflection on the social phenomena around us. It is along these lines that tertiary sector organisations or social economy organisations emerge, very often with clear guidance to work in a particular sector described as being in need. This is the case with associations, cooperatives, non-governmental development organisations, etc. Working nationally or internationally, these organisations are faced daily with social problems that require a complex, yet urgent, response. This work needs citizens with increasingly demanding levels of skills and expertise in order to continue to act positively to resolve the social problems of today and deal with emerging challenges.

The training presented is thus aimed at overcoming these needs, providing a space where teachers and other professionals linked to education, whether formal or informal, can encounter ways forward, based on the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations and, nationally, by the National Strategy of Education for Citizenship and the many other references available to them. This postgraduate course is a result of the consolidated experience of ESE-IPVC in the area of Education, Development and Global Citizenship for more than 20 years. This experiment and its pioneering nature in this area led to ESE-IPVC being invited in 2011 by the then Portuguese Development Support Institute (now CAMÕES, Instituto de Cooperação e da Língua, I.P) to coordinate the monitoring process of the National Strategy of Education for Citizenship (ENED), which made it a key player in this area in Portugal. This role and experience have been reinforced since 2015 through participation in the European project, Global Schools: Learning to live and let live, and the Get up and goals! project since 2017. Global education time: an international network of learning and active schools for Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at the integration of Education for Development and for Global Citizenship in primary and middle school curricula, with a special focus on the areas of the Sustainable Development Goals.

ESE-IPVC has been involved in the Transformative Schools: Contributions to Social Change through Education for Development and for Global Citizenship, funded by CAMÕES, Instituto de Cooperação e da Língua, I.P. since 2018. These projects have allowed ESE-IPVC to gain experience in initial and continuous teacher training, in the preparation of resources for curricular integration, in the promotion of events involving school clusters and research and scientific production on these subjects.

The experience accumulated over all these years has served to reinforce the certainty that it is necessary to train teachers, both in formal and informal education, so that they can develop and facilitate educational processes with more intent and intensity for comprehensive training of citizens capable of responding to the challenges of a constantly changing present, taking part in the building of fairer, more equitable and more caring world(s).

Prospectus: Education for Development and Global Citizenship: learning and alternatives