Abstract:

Within the UNESCO Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, we have implemented students´ project with various shareholders and have found projects and the Prepared Projects Method (PPM) to be an efficient and effective tool for education. We analyse the various skills and competences imparted by means of projects especially in the framework of shaping competence (Gestaltungskompetenz).

Within a huge number of students´ projects at Aalen University and within several projects on implementing education for sustainable development at universities in South Africa and Germany and also in schools within the "green eel" environmental management system, the project method has proven to be a powerfull tool to teach skills and competences.

The relevant competences in education for sustainable development are summarised with the notion of shaping competence (Gestaltungskompetenz). These are the competences needed to asses effects of sustainable and non-sustanable development and also to initiate, plan and implement sustainable development projects. The competences include skills from the ethical assessment of values to project management.

We analyse the various components of shaping competence, show how these are taught via the project method, and derive a general framework for project learning in education for sustainable development.

Keywords:

Projects, education for sustainable development, education, sustainable development, project method shaping compentence, competences, Gestaltungskompetenz.