AIS introduces to new Ateneo Grade School teachers the culture and pedagogy of sustainability in Ateneo

Last 11 June 2025, the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability (AIS), through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Program, handled the sustainability education sessions in the Introduction of New Teachers to Roles and Obligations (INTRO) program of the Ateneo Grade School (AGS). The session entitled “Unpacking Sustainability and Embedding Values in the Classroom” engaged the new AGS teachers in understanding the principles of integral ecology aligned with the Ateneo context and in exploring ways to integrate sustainability in age-appropriate classroom activities.

The first part of the session focused on familiarizing the new faculty members with the University’s sustainability initiatives through an introduction of AIS and its programs. Following this, an icebreaker activity “Anong Issue Mo?” encouraged the participants to individually reflect on their existing knowledge on sustainability and collectively discuss relevant issues closest to their hearts.

Afterwards, the facilitators further deepened the participants’ understanding of the world’s pressing issues through a lecturette on sustainability, systems thinking, and interdisciplinarity. Simple actions contributing to sustainability in the personal and institutional level were also discussed through a lecturette on ecology in daily life. The participants were also introduced to the Sustainable University Master Plan that is being developed by the AIS. 

The final stretch of the session put emphasis on the role of educators in the pursuit of the SDGs through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The facilitators echoed UNESCO’s vision for ESD to empower people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary to shape a sustainable future. Furthermore, strategies and examples for integrating sustainability across the different lesson were shared. 

The event ended with a group activity that challenged the new teachers to adapt the ESD framework into their own pedagogical practices. From featuring the impacts of logging activities in math word problems to depicting the effects of climate change in a sample sentence for the degrees of comparison, the new teachers demonstrated creativity and enthusiasm in incorporating integral ecology into their specific subjects. 

The session is part of AIS’ goal for a whole-of-society approach to sustainability education by introducing and deepening Ateneans’ understanding of integral ecology at different levels of their academic stay in Ateneo de Manila.