project_esdassess

Cover detail of the UNESCO policy paper 'Rethinking learning assessments for ESD' (2026)

What Gets Measured Matters: A UNESCO Policy Paper on Rethinking Assessment in ESD

In a new policy paper published by UNESCO, led by Daniel Fischer (Leuphana University Lüneburg) together with Jordan King (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) and Aaron Redman (Arizona State University), we set out why Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) needs a different approach to assessment, what is currently going wrong

Pencil drawing: two teachers work with three open handbooks and sticky notes.

From Global Guidance to Local Practice: UNESCO Launches Three New ESD Guidance Tools

UNESCO releases three new guidance tools for Education for Sustainable Development (17 September 2026), developed through the Transforming futures action research project. Our contribution, the DARE ESD learning assessment framework, was co-authored with Jordan King and Aaron Redman.

Group picture of the UNESCO Global Expert Symposium on ESD Beyond 2030, Munich, 1–2 September 2026

Beyond 2030: Shaping ESD for Safe and Just Futures

Daniel Fischer joined the UNESCO Global Expert Symposium on ESD Beyond 2030 in Munich (1–2 September 2026) — a good occasion to share learnings and think ahead about how ESD can shape transformative education contributing to safe and just futures beyond 2030.

Portraits of the speakers Aaron Redman, Daniel Fischer and Jordan King

UNESCO Chair Lecture: Aaron Redman, Daniel Fischer and Jordan King on the DARE Approach

How can educators assess what matters in ESD? On 24 August 2026, the second event in our UNESCO Chair Lecture Series on assessment in ESD will take up this question. Following the first session held on 1 June, where Aaron Redman from Aalborg University and Caleb Mandikonza from the University

Portraits of the speakers Aaron Redman and Caleb Mandikonza

UNESCO Chair Lecture: Aaron Redman and Caleb Mandikonza on Assessment in ESD

Why has it taken ESD so long to turn its attention to assessment? We are happy to share the recording of the first event in our UNESCO Chair Lecture Series on assessment in ESD, in which Aaron Redman and Caleb Mandikonza traced the history of assessment in ESD and discussed where it could

Print of a round sieve in which a few larger stones remain while many small pebbles fall through.

What Truly Matters: Rethinking Assessment in ESD

In a commentary published in the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Daniel Fischer (Leuphana University Lüneburg / UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development) together with Jordan King (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) and Aaron Redman (Arizona State University) argue that learning assessment in ESD is critically underdeveloped — and