Abstract
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) offer a framework for educating future generations to address global challenges such as climate change. However, limited research explores their effectiveness in primary education. A balanced primary curriculum fosters a well-rounded foundation in academics and holistic development. However, enriching the curriculum with focus on real-world issues will help to develop international mindedness through the exploration of topics such as environmental issues, human rights and global interdependence. The UN SDGs, is a set of 17 goals that provides a framework to equip people with the knowledge of a more sustainable and equitable world. Integrating a programme to complement the core curriculum will provide learners with the skills to develop characteristics of an internationally minded learner - action oriented, empathetic and engaged. This qualitative study investigates how utilising the UN SDGs, particularly through a 5 to 6 month project will provide learners with the skills to become responsible and engaged in relevant, real world issues. The evidence will be a descriptive qualitative case study collected through the perspectives of teachers, students and parents on their experiences of the integration of the UN SDGs into their education. With the limited research existing on the effectiveness of embedding the UN SDGs, this paper aims to contribute insights by exploring those directly involved in the process through data collected from interviews and reflections. The findings of this paper suggest the development of the student’s ability to better understand the challenges we are facing in the world, an awareness of the UN SDGs, as well as passion and awareness to engage in societal and climate issues.
Author Information
Maria Tiffany Thee, Tunas Muda School Meruya, Indonesia
Paper Information
Conference: ACEID2025
Stream: Primary & Secondary Education
This paper is part of the ACEID2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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