Our Shared World

The urgency of addressing complex and interrelated global challenges such as climate justice, the COVID-19 pandemic and racial and economic justice cannot be overstated. These challenges, plus the student climate strikes, #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter have revealed the pressing need - and opportunity - to ensure that both formal and non-formal education systems include stronger elements of active citizenship.

SDG 4.7 outlines the high-quality education for sustainable development and global citizenship that is needed to support and motivate people - especially young people - to tackle these global challenges. Set within the wider framework of the SDGs, SDG 4.7 emphasises the connections between global challenges - for example; to address the climate emergency, we also need to understand its connection with other issues such as poverty or girls’ education.

Convened in 2019, OSW is a broad network of nearly 100 organisations including universities, INGOs and local NGOs, teacher and student unions, subject associations and UNICEF.

All share a common vision based on the educational themes of SDG 4.7 and recognise that how we educate is as important as what we educate about. Co-chaired by TGLN and SEEd, OSW is a directed network with distributed organisation involving a dynamic governance structure. In 2021, the network is focusing on the first two of its objectives: shifting the narrative on the purpose of education and sharing evidence about successful approaches to SDG 4.7. There are five working groups who deliver on these objectives:

• Social movement building group
• Action Learning and Research group
• Coordination group
• Purposeful policies group
• Evidence and Research group
   

The OSW network includes:
British Quakers
British Red Cross
Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group
Create 2 Inspire
CoDEC
Columbans UK
Development Education Research Centre UCL
Education and Training Foundation
Fairtrade Foundation
Flooglebinder
Global Action
Global Learning London
Inspiral Education
Journey to Justice
Manchester Metropolitan University
UK National Association for Environmental Education
Native Scientist
National Association for the Teaching of English
Oxfam
Peace Pledge Union
RSPB
SAPERE
SEEd
The Big Think
Think Equal
UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award
University of Worcester
Values and Visions Foundation
Votes for Schools
 

Our Shared World is currently chaired by SEEd, the University of Worcester, ThoughtBox Education and Oxford Brookes University.

For more information or to join the network and support one or more of these working groups, please contact us: ann.finlayson@se-ed.org.uk