UNESCO Chair at York University Toronto, Canada

06/01/2026

📬 The York University UNESCO Chair newsletter for June 2026 is now available!

🌍 Explore the latest developments in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), quality education, and international collaboration, including updates on ESD beyond 2030, new publications, upcoming events, and opportunities from across our global network.

🇮🇩 We are particularly looking ahead to the Times Higher Education Global Sustainable Development Congress in Jakarta, where colleagues from around the world will come together to discuss the role of higher education in shaping sustainable futures.

👉 Read the newsletter: https://www.yorku.ca/unescochair/newsletter-06-2026/

05/29/2026

Congratulations to Paul Pu and Jim Slotta on the launch of:

📚AI Era: Redefining Teaching and Learning 📚

An important contribution to the conversation on education, purpose, and learning in an age of AI. The UNESCO Chair at York University Toronto, Canada was pleased to have contributed the foreword.

In many discussions about AI, we focus on what technology will do to education. The more important question may be what education is for in the first place. Paul and Jim describe this as "educational drift". As answers become increasingly available at the click of a button, we need to ask ourselves: what do we really need to learn, and what is the purpose of education?

In this context, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) becomes even more relevant. Questions about the future we want, whose voices matter, how we live together, and what responsibilities come with technological change will remain fundamentally human questions. While AI can generate information and identify patterns, education helps develop compassion, agency, judgement, and the capacity to act.

As we navigate rapid technological change, schools and universities have an important role as learning communities that connect knowledge, experience, responsibility, and action. They help us find direction, even when technology is changing the landscape around us.

The Erindale Academy
University of Toronto
York University - Faculty of Education

05/27/2026

The IAU is pleased to announce that it will conduct the 4th Global Survey on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development in 2026.

05/19/2026

Today at York University - Faculty of Education, we had the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Mary Mugwe Chui from Mount Kenya University for a conversation on the future of higher education, sustainability, and future pathways for collaboration and research.

Conversation in Canada and Kenya are quite similar around leadership, transdisciplinary collaboration, addressing societal challenges while being challenged with limited funding.

Higher education has an important role to play in creating spaces where different perspectives, experiences, and realities can meet and create exchange about knowledge and the future we all want. We hope this conversation is the starting point for new projects and action 🌍

05/17/2026

Outdoor and experiential education have long played an important role in helping learners connect knowledge with lived experience. Toronto’s residential outdoor education programs, including the Toronto Island Natural Science School and Boyne River Natural Science School, were internationally recognized examples of educational innovation that enabled students to learn in, from, and with their environments. Toronto is world known for these efforts.

At a time when global education discussions increasingly emphasize sustainability and experiential learning, preserving opportunities that connect learners with their environments remains essential.

Thank you to the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) with their President Peggy Cheng for calling on the Ontario Government to reverse the cuts to outdoor education.

05/17/2026

Outdoor and experiential education have long played an important role in helping learners connect knowledge with lived experience. Toronto’s residential outdoor education programs, including the Toronto Island Natural Science School and Boyne River Natural Science School, were internationally recognized examples of educational innovation that enabled students to learn in, from, and with their environments. Toronto is world known for these efforts.

At a time when global education discussions increasingly emphasize sustainability and experiential learning, preserving opportunities that connect learners with their environments remains essential.

Thank you to the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) with their President Peggy Cheng for calling on the Ontario Government to reverse these cuts.

👉 Learn more about the closures:

The Toronto District School Board is ending outdoor education programs at five centres that it says require tens of millions of dollars in maintenance and repairs.

05/04/2026

The York University UNESCO Chair Newsletter for May 2026 is out now 📩

From post-2030 education discussions and greening education initiatives to new publications and upcoming opportunities for engagement, the newsletter offers insights of where Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is heading and what it means for institutions, educators, and learners.

Read the latest from York University's UNESCO Chair 🌍
👉 https://www.yorku.ca/unescochair/newsletter-05-2026/

05/04/2026

The York University UNESCO Chair Newsletter May 2026 is here!

https://www.yorku.ca/unescochair/newsletter-05-2026/

Check out news around Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) - events, publications, and other opportunities - in one email per month.

04/25/2026

Two days of exchange at the International Association of Universities (IAU) HESD Cluster Workshop in Carthage (Tunisia) reinforced an important message: higher education is not only a contributor to sustainable development through teaching, research, & community engagement, higher education is a societal actor with a responsibility to help shape the global, regional and national policy directions that will guide the years ahead.
As we move closer to 2030, universities have a critical role in connecting knowledge, education, research, and community engagement with the realities of social, environmental, and economic change. This calls for stronger partnerships, clearer policy positioning, and a shared commitment to institutional transformation.
The conversation is no longer only about implementing the SDGs. It is also about defining what comes next, and ensuring higher education has a meaningful voice in shaping a post-2030 agenda grounded in social justice, sustainability, and collective responsibility for shared futures.

York University - Faculty of Education
York University - Sustainability
York University Go Global
Canadian Commission for UNESCO / Commission canadienne pour l'UNESCO
International Association of Universities - IAU
UNESCO

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day 2026 🌍✨ Our Power, Our Planet™ 💚

Every action counts, from classrooms to communities, we shape a more sustainable future together 🌱