Conference Program

This contribution addresses the panel’s focus on educators as agents of change by proposing an institutional ecosystemic model of Transformative Education (TE) developed at the University of Trento. Building on transformative learning theory (Mezirow 2000) and education for sustainable development (Vare and Scott 2007), we situate TE within a ‘postdigital’ society characterized by ‘permacrisis’ – from climate emergencies to democratic backsliding – in which education is increasingly called upon to cultivate critical, participatory, and justice-oriented forms of citizenship.

While policy frameworks such as the UNESCO’s 2024 Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development (UNESCO 2024) and SDG 4.7 call for the integration of global citizenship, sustainability, and democratic engagement into formal education systems, educators often lack the institutional conditions necessary to align their practice with these expectations. Moving beyond ‘soft’ approaches to global citizenship education (Andreotti 2006), we argue that teacher agency cannot be sustained as an individual disposition alone. Instead, we see it embedded within an ongoing cycle of continuous professional development and transnational practice, supported by institutional structures that enable teachers to act as agents of change.

Our analysis focuses on the interplay between two European initiatives: GrACE – Green Europe: Active Citizenship and the Environment (GrACE, 2023–2026) and Schools beyond Regions and Borders (SBRB, 2021–2026). We conceptualize these not as separate projects, but as a circular ecosystem linking theoretical reflection, professional development, and transnational civic practice

GrACE functions as the theoretical hub, offering educators cyclical webinar programmes and residential intensives focused on the environmental humanities, climate justice, European policy, and the psychology of the climate crisis. It also equips them with transformative methodologies – ranging from systems thinking to media literacy, from Philosophy for Children to structured debate – while explicitly positioning the teacher as a ‘climate citizen’ and political subject.

SBRB serves as the ‘living laboratory’ where these competences are enacted. By connecting secondary schools across Europe in sustained collaboration, it enables teachers to operationalize their training in real-world, multilingual, cross-border contexts. Within this framework, teachers move beyond content delivery to co-design teaching materials, facilitate structured dialogue, and guide students in critical discussions on themes such as gender equality, social media literacy, sustainability, constitutional democracy, and peacebuilding.

We argue that the iterative movement between theoretical reflection (GrACE) and transnational practice (SBRB) constitutes the enabling condition for sustaining the ‘educator as agent of change’. This ecosystem allows teachers to experiment with bold, innovative pedagogies in a supported environment, transforming the classroom into a space of active democratic participation. We highlight how connecting local educational pacts with European networks helps educators overcome the paralysis often associated with global crises, fostering a sense of professional efficacy and transnational solidarity. Drawing on multiple sources of evidence – teacher questionnaires, collaboratively produced lesson plans, teacher feedback on project-designed materials, and student-created artifacts – we identify the institutional and pedagogical conditions required to sustain such an ecosystem. We conclude by offering this model not as a project-based intervention, but as a scalable institutional framework for embedding TE within formal schooling systems.