Educational social responsibility in the practice : new pathways in Argentina's training of principals

Abstract

Promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) requires institutional engagement of the whole school community and especially of the Principals and school heads. Educational Social Responsibility (ESR) constitutes a high-impact approach for the management of educational institutions aligned with ESD vision. Resolution 72/222 (2017) of the United Nations General Assembly recognized that ESD is an integral element of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) and decisively enables the achievement of all other SDGs (UNESCO, Framework for the implementation of ESD after 2019, n.1). In the training of directors of educational institutions in Argentina and Latin America there is a gap in relation to ESD. We present two initiatives of higher education institutions that seek to fill this vacancy: a postgraduate degree for principals of educational institutions that includes the ESR approach and a joint award between a State and a private university that recognizes best practices in schools. We analyzed the project proposals presented by principals and school heads attending de ESR seminar and asked them to reflect on the real impact and improvement opportunities in institutional management. We also present the impact of the ESR award in the community and the contribution to improve the knowledge of SDG.