Escolas Abertas para a educação para o desenvolvimento sustentável

Open schooling has been suggested to have strong potential to empower students with the key competences in sustainability (KCS) needed to anticipate and address sustainability challenges. Open schools have also been claimed to be hubs for innovation, leading to sustainable community changes. But studies have yet to effectively measure the learning outcomes and impacts of Open Schooling models, particularly in Portugal. More importantly, the sustainability of Open Schooling models is still to be proven and the implementation of these models in schools worldwide is still scarce, compromising Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). To address these knowledge gaps and contribute to the implementation and enhancement of open schooling in Portugal, OpenSchools will answer the following research questions (RQ): RQ1) How to enhance the long term sustainability of open schooling initiatives? RQ2) How can the impacts of open schooling be enhanced in students' and community members' learning outcomes and KCS development? To answer these RQ and simultaneously contribute to enhance the sustainability and impacts of existing Open Schooling initiatives OpenSchoolS will pursuit the following objectives (Obj): Obj1) Perform a comparative analysis of existing models of Open Schooling to create a roadmap for educators to use these and to identify their potentialities, supporting factors, and potential barriers to implementation. Obj2) Analyze Portuguese case studies of Open Schooling and collaboratively develop and evaluate solutions and tools to enhance the long-term sustainability and impacts of these projects in the communities. Obj3) To empower diverse stakeholders to promote Open Schooling initiatives across diverse educational contexts in Portugal. Through an action research approach we will develop and evaluate solutions to enhance Open Schooling initiatives in terms of their impacts in the community’s ESD and KCS, their sustainability and potential scalability to other Portuguese settings. The innovative aspect of our research lies in our approach towards sustainability, which encompasses not only the implementation and assessment of existing open schooling models but also on the development of processes to promote its continued adaptation to the communities needs, ensuring their long-term viability and scalability. While numerous initiatives have introduced innovative strategies and approaches, our project addresses the critical gap in sustaining and scaling these innovations to make tangible and lasting impacts on communities. For this we will apply a transdisciplinary research approach and cutting-edge participatory action research methodologies such as co-creation workshops and participatory co-planning sessions to ensure that the voices and needs of stakeholders are actively integrated into the innovation process. Leveraging our team's diverse and complementary expertise and building upon the scientific, practical and normative knowledge held by our team members, OpenSchoolS will produce transformation knowledge on how to move from the current state of Open Schooling scarcity to a more desirable future where these initiatives are frequent and effective. Through this approach, OpenSchoolS will contribute to empower students and community members with the KCS needed to address complex sustainability problems such as climate change and biodiversity crises, ultimately contributing to communities' resilience and well being.