Under the slogan: “Educating for a Sustainable Future”, the 28th Congress of Catholic Education, organised by the CIEC (Inter-American Confederation of Catholic Education), took place in the city of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) from the 11th to the 13th January. The Secretariat of Marist Education and Evangelisation was present at the meeting, with more than 1200 participants from 21 countries, through Brother Niño Pizarro and the Executive Secretary of Champagnat Global, Dr. Javier Llamas.
The congress was a great opportunity to reflect on the great task of promoting integral sustainable development, in line with the Magisterium of Pope Francis through the Global Education Pact, and at the same time to see how to contribute as a Catholic school to respond to the challenges of society and to the construction of a more fraternal world.
The reflections of the congress have revolved around the conviction that Catholic education must empower learners to transform themselves and the society in which they live by adopting sustainable lifestyles, making them active and participatory citizens of the world who contribute to creating a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, safe and sustainable world.
Some of the specific proposals of the congress revolved around the need to integrate Education for Sustainable Development with public policies through strategies and educational programmes that guarantee a successful implementation in accordance with the needs of children and young people in the continent.
Reference was also made to the importance of implementing a transformative, action-oriented pedagogy. It is about pedagogical approaches and the development of methods as a key to learning in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Interested parties can access the lectures, TED Talks and educational experiences of sustainability that were presented at the congress at the following link.