Learning About Care and Learning to Care in Continuing Education

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_17How to use a DOI?

Keywords

care; global citizenship education; teacher training; sustainability

Abstract

Caring for one another and growing together, fostering and building just, equitable learning environments that are livable in all dimensions and enable success, must be the fundamental purpose of teacher training programmes. Our experience as the Network of Educators for Global Citizenship shows how necessary collaborative and networked reflective processes are for teachers, through action research, grounded in their own practice. In this sense, rethinking the world, fighting against inequalities, and facing the ecological crisis requires teachers who view education as a participatory, reflective, and transformative practice. This implies a change of perspective in the design of initial and continuous teacher training based on the pedagogy of care, human interdependence and eco-dependence. It is essential to develop a profile of the educator for sustainable development and global citizenship that interweaves being, being with others, knowing, and knowing how to act. This paradigm shift translates into results such as the strengthening of networking through collaboration; the exchange of experiences; the creation of innovative educational materials; and greater influence within the educational sphere. Educators with this profile promote active learners and protagonists who lead social and environmental change. This focus on care, trust, and love builds resilient educational communities in the face of global challenges. In conclusion, it is not enough to teach technical knowledge about ecology; care and hope must be integrated as fundamental pillars of education. Sustainability can only exist if there is care. The self-awareness, commitment, and creativity of educators can bring about profound change in future generations.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - María del Carmen Afonso
AU  - Desiderio De Paz
AU  - Israel García
AU  - Mercè Gil
AU  - Joan Pere Guzmán
AU  - María Esther Gutiérrez
AU  - Joaquín José Martínez
AU  - Rosana Miraglino
AU  - Marta Montesinos
AU  - Lorens Witty
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/23
TI  - Learning About Care and Learning to Care in Continuing Education
BT  - Proceedings of the Conference of Growing up the Future: Education for Sustainability (GROUFES 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 203
EP  - 212
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_17
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_17
ID  - delCarmenAfonso2026
ER  -