On April 17-18 2012, within the framework of ERASMUS lifelong learning programme, Daugavpils University was visited by a delegation from the State School of Higher Professional Education in Plock (Poland). The group was led by the school’s vice-rector for studies doc. Dr Jan R. Kalinowski; among other delegates were institutional Erasmus coordinator Monika Fronczak, inter-faculty Erasmus coordinator Michal Panowski, lector Liliana Tomaszewska and public relations manager Agnieszka Grazul-Luft. The guests discussed the possibility of signing and inter-university agreement which would exantail organisation of joint conferences and seminars, joint publications, student and faculty exchange and creating joint practice placements for students.
May 22-25, 2012
University of Eastern Finland, Savonlinna, Finland
We are proud to announce the 10th international conference "Sustainable Development. Culture. Education" of JTEFS/BBCC (Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability/Baltic & Black Sea Circle Consortium in Educational Research) and UNESCO Network on Reorientation of Teacher Education towards Sustainability.
The first conference took place at the Daugavpils University in 2003 and it was closely intertwined with the establishment of the European Network of the UNESCO/UNITWIN project. From 2004 to 2011 the Conference was organized by the members of BBCC – Tallinn Pedagogical University (Estonia), Vechta University (Germany), University of Helsinki (Finland), University of Debrecen (Hungary), Anadolu University (Turkey), Daugavpils University (Latvia), UNESCO (Paris) and Siauliai University (Lithuania).
The association "Education for Sustainable Development" established in 2007 by the Institute of Sustainable Education (Daugavpils University, Latvia) will work in close cooperation with the host universities to ensure the successful work of the Conference.
Preliminary list of host universities and organizations: University of Eastern Finland (Finland), Daugavpils University (Latvia), Tallinn University (Estonia), University of Vechta (Germany), University of Debrecen (Hungary), Institute and Academy for Multimedia (Slovenia), Siauliai University (Lithuania).
All those institutions who feel that they can contribute to the making of the 10th JTEFS/BBCC conference are welcome to send in their proposals to the president of BBCC network prof. Ilga Salīte. The list of host universities and organizations will thus be complemented by and by as our other partners send in their proposals for co-hosting the Conference.
On December 19, 2011 at the Faculty of Education and Management and Institute of Sustainable Education an open meeting was held in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO and the 90th anniversary of Daugavpils University. During the event the newest issues of the scientific journals of the Institute of Sustainable Education were presented: “Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability” (included in data bases Scopus, CABI, Educational Research Abstracts Online (ERA), The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (CEJSH), Higher Education Abstracts) and „Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education”. The students and candidates for the scientific degree of the doctoral study programme ‘Pedagogy” presented the results of their recent research. The event was also highlighted by the demonstration of a video prepared within the Year of Ethics of the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO.
Additional information:
Dzintra Iliško
DU FEM ISE
dzintra.ilisko[at]du.lv
From September 11-23, 2011 the associate professor of DU Institute of Sustainable Education Inga Belousa participated in the international summer school “Implementation of Sustainability into Research and Teaching of Higher Education Institutions in Eastern Europe” which was held in Lüneburg, Germany. The summer school was organised by the Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication (INFU) of the Leuphana University Lüneburg and UNESCO Chair "Higher Education for Sustainable Development".
Daugavpils University was also represented by the professor of the Faculty of Education and Management Elfrīda Krastiņa and several doctoral students of pedagogy: Olga Arhipova, Antra Balode, Ingrīda Bolgzda, Sregejs Čapulis, Nataļja van Gejeka, Liene Kvedere, Ieva Lazda, Līga Mateusa, Baiba Reinberga, Ojārs Rode, Ruta Silapētere, Eugeniusz Switala, Aļesja Šapkova, Jevgeņijs Ustinskovs, Skaidrīte Ūzuliņa, Sandra Zariņa. Participation of doctoral students was financially supported by ESF project “Support to Implementation of Doctoral Studies at Daugavpils University”, agreement No. 2009/0140/1DP/1.1.2.1.2/09/IPIA/VIAA/015.
The 9th JTEFS/BBCC conference “Sustainable Development. Culture. Education” is to be hosted in Savonlinna (Finland), 2012.
Participation in the international mobility within ERASMUS program was grounded on the necessity to share the unique experience as well as to promote the international recognition of the Daugavpils University and Institute of Sustainable Education (ISE) in the field of scientific research. Suggested courses included the reflection on the results of research work by ISE and the outcomes of studies and academic work of the author of the courses. The course „Academic Writing/Reviewing in Education” was based on the experience of the author serving as the editor of peer-reviewed international journal and working on the Editorial Boards of several indexed journals.
 | This issue of the JTEFS consists of ten papers that demonstrate the range of methodologies which can be applied to studies in teacher education for sustainability and provide ideas and results from a number of different national and cultural perspectives. I would like to thank all the members of the Editorial board for their hard work reviewing and commenting out the articles that we receive. My thanks are also due to the contributors to this issue for their hard work in the long process of preparing articles for publication. The first paper in this issue by Buchanan and Griffin focuses on students‟ views of opportunities and barriers with regard to maintenance of grounds and management of resources in a tertiary institution context. A cohort of approximately 140 third year primary teacher education students were surveyed to ascertain their views on the value of, barriers to and opportunities for practical sustainability projects conducted by students in their tertiary context. |
BBCC Mission – Reorientation of Teacher Education and Research in Education for Sustainable Development
May 18-21, 2011
Siauliai University, Lithuania
On February 11, 2011, Mr Alexander Leicht, Head of the Secretariat for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development from German National Commission for UNESCO, visited Daugavpils. He was accompanied by Ms Baiba Moļņika, the Education Programme Director of Latvian National Commission for UNESCO.
UNESCO officials attended an academic discussion at the Institute of Sustainable Education where future cooperation opportunities between UNESCO and the Institute of Sustainable Education were considered. One of the highlights of the meeting was the presentation of the book “Tomorrow Today” issued by UNESCO in November 2010 and containing the best practices of implementing the aims of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), including the story of the experience of the Institute of Sustainable Education.
The international summit was initiated by WISE foundation in 2009 as a forum for meeting of experts from various fields, united by interest in the novel in education and its implementation in educational practice. This year 1200 participants attended the summit (eight of them from Latvia).
 | To mark the middle of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), in close cooperation with the publishing house Tudor Rose, UNESCO have prepared and published a book “Tomorrow Today”, containing outstanding ESD related experiences and good practices from various institutions and organisations around the world who share their vision and approach to taking action today in order to bring about a more sustainable tomorrow. Institute of Sustainable Education form Daugavpils University was one of the few education and research related institutions in the Baltic area which were granted the honour of presenting their experience in this notable book. |