NEWS – Global Schools Program: ADVOCATES GRADUATION CEREMONY 2023

After being nominated as Advocate of the Month in October (click here for more information) and following the launch of the new Casnati for ESD project in December (click here for more information), the first five months of Ms. Quartesan’s Advocacy as part of the Global Schools Program have led to the participation of the 2022 cohort in the Advocates Graduation Ceremony that took place via video conferencing on Saturday January 14th, 2023.

The Global Schools Program Team organizes the event each year to award the Advocates who have helped their schools to successfully implement the United Nations SDSN program both nationally and locally by planning and guaranteeing the long-term integration of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) within their school community.

With her work carried out at Centro Studi Casnati, Ms. Quartesan is among the best Advocates in her cohort. She was invited to appear as a speaker before the entire Global Schools Program team and about 200 Advocates from 80 different countries.

Below is the full text of her address.

Greetings everyone,

this is Federica Quartesan, a High School Science teacher at the Centro Studi Casnati in Como, Italy.

For my school, an important lesson learned during the Advocacy journey was the integration of ESD in its whole didactic structure and the development of a new program – in collaboration with the GSP- to inspire online communities.

To build up our new project, we implemented an action strategy addressed to 3 main targets: my students, my colleagues, and the online community.

  • For my students, along their path of study, ESD will mean achieving all the UNESCO’s learning objectives for each SDG and developing all UNESCO’s transversal skills.
  • For my colleagues, ESD will mean specific teachers’ training, integration at the educational planning level, and the management + measurement of project-based learning activities and peer-to-peer mechanisms.
  • For online communities, reached thanks to our new project’s website, ESD will mean learning and being inspired about SDGs from the storytelling of our students’ school-wide experiences

For me, an important lesson learned during the Advocacy journey was to start fusing together all the “inductive” knowledge collected through the years in several fields of study such as:

  • sustainable development
  • active learning strategies
  • international teaching frameworks
  • strategizing skills

Being an Advocate for the Global Schools Program, and the development of the new youth-focused program has instilled a new sense of meaning: a unique project, through which structuring knowledge and experiences – led by me, my school, and my students.

I thank the GSP Team for having given me this opportunity, and for all the dedication and support.

I want to thank also my Mentor Advocate, Stella Ficai, and you all.

Thank you.

READ the news about the event on the United Nations SDSN website: https://www.unsdsn.org/global-schools-advocates-reach-73-000–students-in-their-mission-to-teach-sustainable-development

WATCH the full event recording:

#CasnatiforESD #wearecasnati