In a time when the world faces many difficult, interconnected problems - from climate crisis to ever-increasing inequality - our current models of education are falling short. The discipline-specific, compartmentalised curricula of old do not prepare students with the systems view, ethical compass and collaborative capacities required to understand and influence an interconnected world.
The ‘Symposium on Education for Sustainable Development and the Core Curriculum’ is an attempt to address this problem. Meeting in London in 2026 and hosted by the University of Westminster, this Symposium is based on the premise that we need to modernise and accelerate sustainability efforts. The Symposium therefore seeks to be a catalyst for change, calling on educators, policy makers and innovators to join together in fundamentally reimagining the central feature of the curriculum by focusing it around interdependence, justice and resilience so that education becomes the principal vehicle through which we equip students for a more sustainable and equitable future.
The need for the event
The symposium is needed to fill the void between theory and practice of sustainable development. We need to move beyond simply adding ‘sustainability’ to the curriculum and instead fundamentally rewrite learning from the ground up. The event is a great opportunity to accelerate change in education so that we can better develop the systems thinking, ethical reasoning and collaborative action among young people, prepare them to live in – and shape - a more connected world.
The vision of the symposium will be towards a common understanding of what this ‘rewritten’ education should look like. This means we need to develop and champion an aspirational graduate profile that goes beyond academic attainment, and focuses on ecological literacy, ethical reasoning, futures thinking, action competence and rooted global citizenship in order to reshape what educational success looks like.