Abstract:

In today's educational landscape, fostering sustainability and inclusivity are imperative goals for preparing students to navigate a complex and interconnected world. In 2021, the Council of the European Union published a resolution outlining a strategic framework for European cooperation in education, emphasizing its essential role in shaping a cohesive, inclusive, digital, sustainable, and resilient society. This framework led to a review of the educational system in Spain, resulting in the approval of Decret 175/2022 in Catalonia, which established a new curriculum for primary education.

Following the goals established by the European Union and UNESCO, the new Catalan primary school curriculum places a strong emphasis on sustainability. This includes fostering a deep awareness and understanding of sustainability and respectful practices towards the environment among students. The curriculum seeks to encourage students to actively seek solutions in response to the pressing challenges posed by the climate crisis. However, it falls short in addressing topics related to accessibility and raising awareness of individuals with different abilities.

This presentation will review the current Catalan curriculum and identify the gaps found in accessibility and sustainability education. It will introduce how accessibility and sustainability principles can be included in the current curriculum through the pilot methodology CROMA-GreenSCENT, developed through a series of workshops designed to train prospective primary school teachers in Catalonia. These workshops equipped trainers with the tools to integrate the principles of sustainability and accessibility using 360º storytelling into their teaching. In doing so, trainers were able to prepare students not only to understand and tackle environmental issues but also to recognise the barriers that can hinder access to important environmental information.

Keywords:

Education, sustainability, accessibility, curriculum.